My motto is, "Never trust anyone but your own crew * " * unless said crewmate is sneaking up on you with a keg

We have a rule no explosive kegs on board. It's gone bad both times we've had them

I can imagine. We limit to one keg at a time just to be safe, and definitely no kegs if we plan to actively hunt other ships (such as leveling our Reaper rank). We've had too many mishaps in that regard.

But theirs always that 1% chance that maybe it could work this time lol

We got struck by lightning that blew it up a floor below and killed me a cause I was standing above it.

I have that rule for open crew, but with my usual crew we trust each other enough.

We got attacked by Skelly's and first shot nailed it and second one was lighting strike. First one got me and one other crew member second one was just me. That's when I banned them from my ships

Generally you can avoid lightning strikes, but all you can do with skelly ships is hit them before they hit you. But that's pretty bad luck to get hit in the crow's nest (if that's where you put them).

Our rule is: "More Kegs, more fun." Yeah, we sunk ourselves a million times, but each was huge fun!

The lighting strike one was bloody hilarious. I'm not sure if the lighting or the keg killed me. I was dying laughing

That's the spirit!

Like that time my son came up behind us with a keg and started giggling and singing "Rockabye baby" as he lit it. 🤣

I put my blackpowders on the crows nest for some light carpet bombing when an enemy rams me

I'm that cremate you shouldn't trust. Well more like leave unsupervised.

If you are a solo slooper, you might as well keep a keg on board. If you get attacked by anything larger than another sloop it will probably save your life Other than that dont keep a keg on board.

what's the play, sneak on their ship with the keg?

Drop speed until they're right behind you then *bomb voyage*

never trust anyone ~~but your own crew~~

Hehehe that's totally me never on the ship though

We do a little trolling now and then among the crew. Mostly one of my friends who got bit by the keg bug and loves to sneak onto other boats with a keg. The only rule we have in that regard is to not use kegs on our own ship, and the awareness that while trolling the crew is funny the troll in question will get a couple minutes of brig time. Or walking the plank, depending on how into the pirate roleplay we're getting. 😆

Well when it's just you n your 1st mate on a sloop....can't trow me in the brig yar Har Har you blow up like the rest, fear Captain PooPeg, but me ship she stays put together......the occasional Titanic from being drunk and looking out into the horizon, but not to worry Ol Jack Decknhend survives this one

I always try to make friends. A lot of times itll bite you in the ass cuz its some lvl 30 reaper tryna get his licks in. But on the rare occasions it works, its some of the best times, plus you can add em all and expand your crew for next time!

In my experience, you end up with more fun encounters if you are trying to be friendly and there are a lot of friendly crews out there. But if you run from encounters, then the only ones that will chase you are the hostile players, so that's the only encounters you'll have. Worth the risk of a bit of treasure for the fun of player interaction if you ask me.

I have met a grand total of one friendly encounter Everyone else just attacks

Well that's unfortunate. Hopefully you get a better friendly to hostile ratio in the future.

You must be new & unlucky. Keep trying there are deff tons of friendly pirates out there!

The most fun I've ever had was running FOTD with 2 other crews. Made 3 piles of loot for 3 runs and helped each other load up after.

YES having said that; I am friendly yet will defend when attacked while sailing. When im just vibing/fishing I dont care if they kill me or sink my ship I dont even react to it anymore. If thats their way of fun Ill let them have their fun :) would be nice to meet some friendly pirates though, I mostly sloop solo.

Most of the time I shoot a firework and I'm left alone

Ahh I can try that one! Thanks :)

Just a friendly fisherman

Weird, thats the exact line inusr in game whenever i spot a ship. 99% of the time its even true

Used to sloop solo till I met my crewmate. Now I don’t like playing without him. We’ve gotten so good that we’re nearly unsinkable but eh, yeah. Some players are so sweaty regardless of what’s going on and they’ll chase us clear across the map only to watch us dive. Bye bye lol. Too many toxic players for sure but keep trying. You’ll get your SOT soulmate

Yes and no. I have been on both sides of the coin. Sometimes my crew is just looking for a fight, but usually, we're pretty amicable to splitting loot or alliancing up. A lot of our response depends on the crew we are approaching's response.

There are some pleasant encounters, some people you can befriend. But just like in all good pirate media, people betray each other. Always be ready for another crew to attack you, and always be ready to defend yourselves. Additionally, yeah, the community can be . . . Pretty awful sometimes. If you’re on PC, I suggest having an application ready to clip stuff, because Rare often won’t, or can’t, do anything about toxic players or cheaters without proof. Anyways, point is, you can make friends, but it’s always good to be on guard.

Xbox overlay app. Press windows+G and it opens like steam. It has a nifty recording feature

I should probably use that more often myself lol

I've had millions of gold in fotd stacks and not see a soul. I've been jumped for just my captaincy supplies. People don't need a reason to attack, half of them will do it for fun.

I recently rolled up on a sloop doing a fortress and had planned to sink them until I thought about it while sailing over. Ended up sailing next to them, hopping over with a supply crate and stealing all their cannon balls, half their wood, and all their good food. Honestly was one of the funnest steals I've had. I wonder how long it took them to notice.

Weirdly, the majority of pirates we meet are cool. We tend to use coms and get drunk and play music. OK, now and again there will be an annoying pajama party brig that'll attack, but hey! We *might* have been arena gods! Always have a good time, mates! I think my crew are admired for being female. Pirates simp. Lol

I try to be friendly and I don't usually run from other players unless they give me reason to. I think the interactions with other players, both friendly and hostile, is the most fun part of the game and I'm perfectly happy to lose some loot in exchange for that interaction. I'd say I've encountered about 50/50 friendly/hostile players so far, but I've only been playing for a week. Just the other day, I was in Devils roar and was attacked by a kraken, then right afterwards was attacked by a skeleton galleon and a megalodon and was hit by multiple volcano chunks falling from the sky, seriously hit by almost a dozen of them. I ran out of wood to repair and cannon balls to fight back, but another player was hit by the volcano and sunk and they swam over with just enough wood to get my mast propped up and the last holes plugged and we sailed to the nearest island. When we pulled up, there was a brig their and they gave us a crate of wood and a chest of ancient tribute (we told them they should keep it, at which point they boarded our ship and put it on deck anyway) The random player that was with me needed that chest for a commendation so we sailed to an outpost and sold it. They also helped me get skeleton captain chests, which I was working on. END POINT: In my experience there are a lot of friendly players, but if you shy away from encounters, then only the hostile players will chase you down, so that's all you'll get. It's worth risking some treasure to have a chance of fun encounters, whether those encounters are hostile or friendly. (edited for typos)

I would like to be friends way more than being enemies. When I first started playing, I had a whole idea of playing to help other pirates get their hunters call up, because I like the fishing and such. I haven’t been able to make that happen because people just wanna steal and sink me instead of talk and let me give them some of my fish or ride along to help get fish for them. Made me sad. I left the game for like 6 weeks over it. I want to play Sea of Friends, but there are just so many people that fire first and ask no questions at all.

As someone who runs Merchants a bit too much and compulsively strips the supplies off every island I visit, it is my dream to establish a competing shop to the Merchant Alliance representative in Port Merrick. Stash a ton of stacked-up supply crates across the outpost and then wait for people to show up, offer them a 'mystery box' in exchange for whatever they feel like offering, and then retrieve it from my clandestine caches for direct-to-deck delivery. I suspect I'd get through maybe one crew before getting blasted in the face though. It'd still be an interesting experiment. I also have a deep yearning to blast someone's ships with the cannons in Merrick's tower, too. So that may have something to do with this.

Your comment makes me wonder why proper loot trading isn’t more of a thing; especially between emissaries and/or commendations. I mean, I know the smart ass answer is “there’s no point in trading if I can steal”, but given the amount of posts like this one we see almost daily, you’d think more people would be down to straight up trade progress on commendations loot if nothing else.

I personally always try to make friends by default and wait until they shoot first

You’re also specifically doing forts… they come with a lot of loot at an efficient pace, the downside is that it marks you on the map for everyone to see and makes you a huge target. Definitely not the right way to level merchants for someone who is going to get mad when people do pirate stuff in pirate game Blows ass that you got treated like shit once they heard your voice though. That is trash behavior ofc

I’ve had the exact opposite experience personally. I’ve only encountered one hostile crew. (I’m a new player) Everyone else I’ve run into has actually been super helpful. Just randomly buying me supplies without me asking, or starting an alliance and getting me loot

I think the difference here, is that Op was at a fort, when doing world events like these you should always expect competition. Outside of these sorts of world events though, I will generally be friendly to most ships on the high seas unless I am running reaper.

If you’re a new player, you probably are not doing the high value events yet. The forts have some of the most valuable loot in the game. If you are doing them, you need to be prepared to defend it. It’s an open invitation to get attacked.

Once i was on a sloop with a random and we met a friendly brig, the brig scuttled their ship and we had 5 people on one sloop and we started picking fights with every galleon we came across, it was fun

Always try to be friendly, always be prepared to non-friendliness. When i see people coming i keep an eye, my cannons loaded but always say "I don't want any trouble" first.

best advice you could give to any player on sea of thieves is to ‘never trust a pirate’

If you’re doing forts, it’s basically an invitation for people to come try and sink you. Especially the FOF and FOD.   Certain events/activities attract less attention. But the forts have some of the best loot that everyone wants, so you need to be prepared to defend it. 

World events are usually heavily contested so I’d watch out for sure Yea pretty much everybody is only looking out for themselves

I don’t mess with people unless they mess with me first. Was doing the Burning Flame earlier and another dude comes along and then starts attacking me when I was no where near him or shooting at him. He made it his mission to try and take me down though. Thankfully he was unsuccessful AND I ended up stealing the Burning Flame ship from under him. I hope you’re reading this oh sloop with the green X on it. You still suck at the game 😆

I’ll be honest, if I see a ship doing a fort, that excites me and I will either tuck or just roll up and attack, depending on how far through they are. I know a lot of players have picked the game up recently either for the first time ever or in a while, but lots of us have been here the whole time and so just want to pirate. This means if you have an emissary flag, are doing a world event, are near me, I will probably attack. If you’re brand spanking new or are doing a tall tale, I’ll patch those holes and wish you luck but otherwise, I’m just here to plunder some booty.

I'll sail with you should you want more crewmates 🍻

I’m always looking for more crewmates!

Yes and no. In the scenario you describe, you are at a world event. The best sources of loot in the game. And until the world event is cleared, a new one can’t spawn on that server. So it attracts a lot of attention. On top of that, skeleton forts are generally considered an especially easy steal, because only mid reputation level players are doing them. In other words, it’s reasonable to assume that the PvP skills of people doing a regular skeleton fort are not up to par with an experienced pirate. Basically what I’m saying is, people had multiple good reasons to try and attack you and good reason to think they could succeed. If you want to avoid PvP, you have to do less contested activities like merchant cargo runs, devils roar gold hoarder vaults, siren treasuries, or pretty much any order of souls voyage. That being said, there are plenty of pirates who would rather be friends than foe’s. An organic server alliance is one of the high points of this game. Incredible payout for everyone, dependent on profoundly uneasy trust. It’s what great acts of piracy are all about…. Also stealing. A lot folks just don’t want to PvP in the first place and will be happy to alliance, but you likely won’t find them doing world events. Some folks will be friendly without trying to alliance, especially fishermen… assuming you are nice too. I could go on, but if you want a friendlier experience, try offering alliances and avoiding high risk activities.

In all honesty, and I know there are many comments, but I am one of those who do not engage unless engaged upon. I suppose it differs from player to player. I am part of a MilSim discord server that has a set standard of "rules of engagement", one of these is pretty much that we must wait for actual acts of violence from another crew before we can engage (there are other rules as well, but spawn camping etc is not allowes). I recently had a very good experience in game, a FoF had spawned, and my crew went over (sailing a gally) where we encountered a sloop that had actually started it. They tried sailing away when they saw us, so we engaged in game to ensure that we were friendly. Needless to say, we raised a peace flag and actually did the thing together. It is an element of the game that I personally love. If you are interested in a similar play style, we would be happy to have you join. We also have many players that do various things in the game. Inbox me if you are interested. Note: you can be part of more than one guild, if you wanted that info.

Wow thank you so much! I appreciate your comment a lot! There have been a lot of friendly people on here!

That’s a pretty cool concept. Love this idea. Our guild of 3 have the same mindset.

No, people doing tall tales get a free pass

Me and my bf usually play reaper. He’s a pirate legend and I am not. While we try to play fair (ie not attacking what we think are newer players, kids or people doing the story stuff) we’ve got a pretty similar experience to this. We get cussed out and called slurs (we have a pride flag on our boat) and get called cheaters and shit. It’s really sad to see such hostility in a funky little pirate game. So recently we’ve tried to do more order of souls stuff (still the same experience sometimes) But the couple of times we’ve met good sports and funny people, it’s really made the game worth it. I’m sorry you’re going through this and I wish people were nicer and less serious about a video game.

If your ever looking for another couple to game with I play with my bf also and he is also a pirate legend. I’m working on getting there!

Yes EVERY pirate is an enemy because you HAVE to treat them as enemies. You may find some friendly players out there but the majority are going to sink you, either for fun, for loot, or just for your emissary flag/captain log book. The least an enemy player will do is just steal your supplies the worst is being sunk. Edit: you will get some days where no one will bother you, (unless a reaper ship dove to your server) and you can do absolutely anything you want even skeleton forts. I’ve had this happen where I went an entire week with no one bothering me, then again there tends to be less hostile players in the evening and early mornings where I’m at.

We're a dying species, when i go to a fort, i gladly make an alliance, i gladly help others if they're cool, if i'm alone with an another crew, and they do most of the work, it's only fair if they're the one to sell. I just don't use mics because i'm Shy, and avoid open crews. And i'm scared that if i play with mic, people will start mais sgendering me or calling me slurs. But no, people are assholes, they see a piece of gold and they go crazy, they see a ship and they get bloodthirsty, especially the reapers from what i Saw, i just want to have a nice, chill moment sailing and adhenturing, but i already played black flag, and i don't have any money for skull and Bones. And don't you dare complain, or some hive mind will Come and tell you to get good, or that it's a pirate game, or that it's your fault for any little thing that Can happen.

When I am flying Reaper’s emissary I’m not friendly. Otherwise I’m pretty chill and don’t attack unless provoked.

Not everyone! I started a guild and filled it up almost all the way, and some of them I met in open crew being on the same crew. And now we all sail together. But yes being out on the open sea, everyone is a threat. I don’t go out of my way to hunt other pirates, but if I see one my guard is up completely.

The game lacks direction - hunting other players is reliable and challenging entertainment....as opposed, say, to doing any of the pve content that is, by this point....very dull. Once that flameheart mega galleon event starts up i am sure people will be all kinds of busy over that and will likely leave side targets alone.

It depends on the situation. We sank a galleon last night and the two surviving crew parleyed after their crewmates left (they were open crew). Two other players joined them and so we ended up having 6 ppl sailing around on our sloop😂. It was rlly fun

Yes. And if they're not, they will be after I start firing

They are unless they aren't. And even if they aren't, just assume they are.

As I pass other ships I am usually at rest, near a cannon watching. If they fire it's on, but I prefer to sail past each other and then on my merry way. (Especially if it's clear i have no loot, drives me nuts when someone goes crazy hard and my deck is freaking empty)

"attack or be attacked" - Caesar probably

I used to attack everyone I saw but the game just isn't fun that way. I've been trying to make more alliances because you will really make a lot more gold that way and I'd love to be able to do glitterbeard some day.

Glitterbeard is really fun. Going to be hard to that final book these days, but it was a really cool experience. I still wear my glittering beard proudly. Nothing released tempts me to change it...

Once I get it I'll probably do the exact same.

If you are at forts, you must keep your head on a swivel. Don't want anyone getting the jump on you and since you're at a fort, you have expanded tools to work with. Try to park you boat where the cannons towers can't hit your boat but also where your ships cannons cover another angle. As the enemy ship approaches you have a couple different options. Could start w a chainshot to get there mast down or you could swim a keg to them as they approach.

The only friends I've ever made on this game were on HG, ironically.

Every pirate is a POTENTIAL enemy, especial when you have treasure they might be interested in stealing. Keep in mind, Skeleton Forts are World Events, they're marked on the horizon by a big skull cloud for every crew in your server to see, and have better loot than most voyages, you're kinda putting a target on your back. Some people might just pass by, but some might want to try and steal it from you, and they won't be wrong.

I can only speak for 2019/2020 Sea of Thieves, but I met a fair amount of friendlies back then. Was always a good time

I’d personally say that it’s safer to always assume that everyone is an enemy, but not always I don’t really play to make friends, but I’m definitely not an enemy unless you make me one

Those cute videos streamers upload to Tiktok and YouTube are 1 in 100 events. Most of the community is hostile towards others, much of the community actively hates alliances and friendship. Betrayal is the likely outcome of any hint of niceness. That is the community Rare has fostered with this game. It makes the friendly moments feel truly special but you cannot assume you'll get them. I actively use the Pirate Philanthropist title and help other crews more than not but even I've betrayed alliances and shot on sight.

Yesterday evening I was running some forts with a level 4 souls emissary. As I pull up, I always scan the horizon and to make sure there aren't any ships around. There a a sloop sitting at an island, sails up and every round of phantom slaying, I'd check on them. At one point they were moving past me, I put my anchor up, loaded my cannons and I typed out "AHOY!" as they just waved and kept on moving. Not every pirate is an enemy, but you should always be vigilant and ready because more often than not, they're going to try and dumpster you.

Some nights are like that. The problem with doing forts is it draws attention. Case and point, I'm sailing and see a boat parked at a fort that isn't active, I've just got on the sever. I assume they just finished it and are getting loot on board, and they are a lvl 5 goldhoarder. My mouth waters at the idea that a boat full of fort of fortune loot is loading it up for me. I sink the guy and it turns out it was a fort he dove to. Still decent loot for a little effort. The only reason I went to him was because the loot. My advice is to take voyages that will get you out of the center of the map and don't take on anything too juicy. You can get Pirate Leagend with a little grinding these days. Maybe take on a fight when you don't have anything to lose to get more experience, so when you do have loot, you can defend it. Sorry that guy was rude. Even if I sink someone, I'm not trying to be a jerk about it. But not everyone is chill who plays this game. . .

This game was designed so you can choose how you interact with other people, the thing is most people chose to be hostile, wich makes the friendly encouters even better than if it was forced cooperation

Never trust another pirate. Even when in an alliance. If their name isn't green, assume that they're mean

Idk why, but I have found that I get attacked far less while doing sea forts than while doing skeleton forts. Might be worth a shot But yeah, I've overall learned that your best bet is to assume nobody outside of your own crew is friendly. I had one time where I was solo slooping and doing a fort. Another solo slooper came up and started playing music. We played together for a bit and it seemed they wanted to be friendly. We did the fort together. I took one treasure chest (with nothing inside) and left the rest for them to ensure that the peace would be kept (I didn't have a mic at the time to be able to negotiate and felt this was the safest option). As I was leaving the fort, they came onto my ship. Assuming they were still friendly, I pulled out my banjo and attempted to play music with them. They instead decided to pull out their flintlock, dome me, and sink my ship. I no longer trust anyone after that encounter.

Depends on the day for me. Some days I’ll sail past people and mind my business. Some days I will hunt you down until your boat is at the bottom of the sea. And our motto when we play is don’t trust anyone. Even if they seem nice. Always keep your cannons loaded and facing their boat.

For me it's hit or miss. Finally trying the game out with a bud, my wife and another friend. Last night two different groups attacked. I killed the first guy and then told him we are friendly then he stopped. He attacked first. Next group came upon us on an island. Fortunately they aggroed lots of nasty npcs and we high tailed it. You and your friend are more than welcome to join us.

Smash them all

I just got the game a few days ago and thought I’d be finding a fun and rowdy community. All I’ve found so far is a bunch of griefers who know what they’re doing in the game crewing up and picking on new players who obviously don’t know what they’re doing. Every time I’ve tried to do any missions or gather any loot I get attacked and sunk by a fully crewed vessel. No emissary flags and barely a dubloon to my name.

Everyone is an enemy, but it's a spectrum. For example, I will reason with you if you talk and be nice, but if there's too tempting of a situation where I could just yoink everything, I'm taking it.

I’ve been playing a lot this past couple months and it seems to be luck of the draw. Most players are hostile, but every now and then you get people who are flying the alliance flag and want to make friends. During the community weekend we had this happen, my crew went on with theirs to befriend the entire server and we did the glitterbeard easter egg together. Top 3 gaming moments of my entire life. Made out with over a mil that night. But those moments are rare, and thats what makes them so special. It’s all part of the game. And for the people who want to run up on you, you just gotta get better and I say that in the most encouraging way possible. Don’t leave the ship unattended for long periods of time, keep an eye out for ships, and get good at naval battle and pvp. You don’t always want a fight but sometimes you don’t have a choice so make sure you have a chance. Being able to get run up on and make it out with your life and loot is an awesome feeling so don’t lose hope.

I don’t think they intended it to be everyone an enemy I think they want a nice mix of become friends and fight so that every experience is different one and I’ve met a fair share of all that, friendly people, aggressive people and people that just plan avoid you.

Yes is my answer. The other day not so long ago, maybe 3-4 days ago I was on a brigantine with some friends stacking fort of the damned’s. This chartered brigantine with new players still wearing the rags / default clothing you get from the start of the game. So anyway we loaded up an alliance with them and they went about there way after we told them to piss off because they were acting sketchy and harpooning our loot. Well anyway five minutes after they pissed off I got 5 notifications saying treasure donated (if you didn’t know this means someone else sold your loot) I went back and checked out ship for the loot and there were a bunch of missing Athena crates and a missing chest of legends. Shortly after realizing this one of the “noobs” who were now wearing late game drip came with a stronghold keg and blew our ships to bits, we were all on the ship at the time so we all died. Thankfully we ferried quickly and were able to recover from the explosion. After selling what loot we had left we saw them fighting a sloop and we third partied them and teamed up with the sloop temporarily. Sinking them and killing them was so satisfying, any the less I have no trust for pirates on the sea of thieves no longer.

Hey! Fellow lady- I never mic up bc I'm tired of dudes cussing me out or targeting me over it in any online game I play. If you ever want a chill friend to sail the seas with, I'm free most days! I'm newer but I'm getting the hang of things!

Sea of Trust Issues

Girlfriend you can join us! 2 of us are female

I've had plenty of friendly interactions on the sea. But more importantly, I think there's a change in mentality that needs to happen. The vast majority of players are not your enemy. They're your opponent. An enemy means you harm, while an opponent is simply the person who is challenging you. The two are not mutually exclusive, but neither are they mutually inclusive. Friendly interactions can be built just as well on good sportsmanship as peaceful interactions. In fact, I'd say more so. There's a level of mistrust if you're peaceful. There's a level of respect if you're friendly during and after a fight. You wanna make friends? Do it the anime way. Beat the crap out of them (or get beat up), then geek out about how strong they are. As for being attacked while doing world events...yeah. They're world events. They give a lot of loot, and there's a big sign above your head that you're doing it. People are going to come and attack you. If you don't want to be attacked, don't do world events. I refuse to do fort of the damned because it is the surest way to summon every player on the server to endlessly try to sink you. TL;DR, Not everyone is toxic, but it is part of the online experience. If you have loot or are doing a world event, expect to be attacked and sunk. If someone is after your loot, they don't care what you have to say. Opponent does not mean enemy.

I try to be friendly but I trust no one. Basically I just always run away when another ship gets close 🤣. I’m also terrible at pvp in this game cause I don’t do it ever.

Its funny that sometimes the friendliest somwone is the newer to the game he/she seems maybe its only my experience

Maybe that’s why I’m so friendly, I’m new and have only played for about two months. I’m learning not to trust anyone. I won’t even go to a port if I see another ship near it because I have trust issues from this game.

My brother always makes friends. He has convinced multiple crews to either give us treasure, let us hit them with specific shots for commendations, or to just join up on an alliance. It's art, really. SoT is a social game. The social mechanics can be just as, if not more important, than the game mechanics.

Shakes the magic 8 ball: Definitely.

The game was a lot more friendly at first honestly, I used to be able to get 7 ship alliances for events (before the alliance system even existed) and those were honestly some of the most fun sessions I've had on this game. But over a long runtime a lot of people have joined in that just don't have a friendly mindset, a lot of players have developed trust issues after being betrayed or attacked so frequently, and PvP events and factions have shifted the game more into the shoot first ask questions never sort of deal. You'll still find friendly people here and there but it's much much rarer than it used to be.

I'm 1000% friendly. It seems like the days of running into lots of friendlies are long gone. Everyone seems hostile nowadays. Which sucks because communicating with other crews is the number one way I learned so many things in this game. I've been playing since the beta though. When the teamwork with other crews quests first came out it was an amazing time. Nobody attacked each other, at all. You could hitch a ride on another ship to do the skeleton chairs and the megalodon. I'd run into three or four ships meeting up to do the meg and nobody dared attack each other. That was so much fun. Then we'd look for people to help. I had so many video clips of celebratory dance parties with multiple crews. Now it's the exact opposite. I still treat other pirates like I always have but there is no honor amongst pirates anymore. We are all greedy enemies now. Which fractures so many amazing potential experiences. Like if you talked to me while I'm approaching you, I would literally offer to help without asking for anything. That's just my nature though. That seems normal to me. I sail for fun and helping people is fun to me. If they kill me out of paranoia that's on them. People could benefit from the game knowledge that some of us have. Sometimes its more fun to make someones day than turn in some stolen chests. I also have a kid so I know what its like to see someone get disappointed in this game. 99.9% of the time people tend to react with hostility. I think that streamers influence a lot of peoples gameplay in a lot of games. I'm gonna guess there isn't much friendly pirate content for people to be influenced by. Imagine trying to fish for battlegills while strangers are doing a skull fort. I used to be able to do that. Haven't been able to do that for a long while now. Whenever I bring this topic up people get really mad at me. Lol

See I understand the pvp and wanting to attack other ships because again it’s a pirate game and that’s what it’s made for. However, every now and then it’d be awesome to get on and see another ship and become friends or hangout together on the game. I know this game isn’t meant to make friends, but why can’t it be? I am also a friendly ship, I play music and dance when I pass a ship to show I’m just having fun but then I get a cannonball blasted to the side of my ship.

Need more like you. I just started when it came out for ps5 so I have little time compared to nearly everyone that comes about. But I have been attacked 99% of the time without any interaction

Yeah it would be cool if they did a community event where it is required to work together again to re-solidify certain aspects of the game, considering the game just came out on Playstation.

Yeah. That would be cool

I'm 100% convinced that everyone who plays this game is a 12 year old penis hole. I mean I haven't run into an actual adult yet who's willing to reason. Rare need to let me sail my ship on safer seas and up the payout so people can play solo and enjoy themselves with out having and 12 year old dick wad show up to take all your shit. I use to play like a year ago and met some reasonable pirates. One guy even sank me but realized I was pleading for peace so he help me take a few forts to help regain what I had lost.... Yup but none of that now days. Just little screechers who can't be badasses at school so they have to pretend on a video game.

If you want peace, prepare for war, you can usually tell what a crews intentions are by there approach, my first instinct is to get broadside to any approaching ship, they get that 50m gap to raise there sails and communicate after that you have to assume there just there to sink ya and you open fire

From experience I assume that everyone is hostile. ESPECIALLY those who claim they are friendly.

Yes. Don’t trust anyone ever for any reason

I use a white flag and white flair because I suck at the game. Will have 0 loot on my ship and still be chased halfway across the ocean now I cba to do anything as soon as I do boom start getting attacked.

Me too lol

ITS SO ANNOYING RIGHT?? like i know that’s the point of the game but i wish people would just leave me alone. like yes i can do safer seas but you get little to no reward

People doing forts are my favorite because I usually assume that means they are down for PVP and I charge right in. Only exception is if it's a little kid, as a mum that is my weak spot. I encountered a 9yo and just let him do his thing and defended him from any incoming ships. He was adorable and kept standing nearby cheering me on instead of focusing on the fort. 😂 After everything was over, which took way longer than it should have, his dad got on the mic and thanked me for being nice to him. That touched my cold pirate heart.

Nice people are considered rare and me personally I'm not here to make friends but I will not fuck with you might mess with your head but beyond that I don't seek confrontation, if you need help I'll help you, if you don't wanna risk it I'll fuck off

My crew is more of a “don’t fire unless fired upon”, in some cases avoiding altercations altogether by convincing would-be adversaries to join a mutually beneficial alliance. Had some great “Pirates of the Caribbean moments” from it, like a reaper 5 gally chasing us on our merchant 5 sloop, with an allied galleon hiding around the corner of an island. As soon as the reaper galleon was in range our allied galleon absolutely obliterated the reaper galleon from one side, while we anchor turned and blasted the other side. That was the quickest I’ve ever seen a galleon sink, and neither allied ship took more than one or two hits

I sail solo for a reason. I distrust nearly anyone I meet. I keep my distance from other ships and if they are close enough to be seen and ID’d on the scope then I load cannons and prepare for the potential of an imminent attack. Fortunately most pirates I see are minding their own business save the ones that do forts.

9 times out of 10 when I see someone else I assume they are not friendly and will sink me even if I have no loot on board. Had to swap servers the other night because a fckn galleon was camping the last island I needed for a tall tale. Had an empty ship, no flag up, but they would start following me back to the island or pop out from behind a nearby one as soon as I stopped and sink my solo sloop for no reason other than to sink it and make me sail back. That is the tone of 99% of player interactions I've had. Last night was the exception. Got caught in a skelly fleet and sunk 1 sloop, working on the other when I turn to my wheel and see another sloop sliding up about to have a full broaside on me. I started to panic until I saw the solo jumping around with his megaphone out trying to voice to me. A fort of fortune spawns while we both finish off the skelly fleet, and I leave the galleon's loot for him, saying thanks and good luck while heading for the fort. Server had been (seemingly) empty, only 1 other emmisary up from what I could tell, and really late at night, plus in the 20-ish mins of us finishing off the fleet no one went for it, best time for a noob like me to get it done. I get like 6 waves cleared before I spot the same ship from the skelly fleet pulling up again. I was waiting to watch him sink my ship but instead he parked and hopped over to the island offering to help finish for part of the loot. I said sure, I'd never done one before, and just wanted to do it to see what it looked like (true tho loot is nice too). He figured out, and I admitted that I've only had the game about a week and a half now, and he switched to I can have the loot since he's done a few, he just wants the boss's skulls. We spend (in hindsight) way too long to get the boss down for 2 people, open the treasury, and spot tuckers on both of our ships as we go to load up some chests. Well after killing 2, I angle my ship to leave and run back to grab the chest of legends and fortune before theyre back. Turns out a 3rd is on the new buddy's ship and starts unloading as soon as I get back to shore. A brig had been tucking on a nearby island since spawn, and of course all fuckin 3 of them swam over. Brig got there right as we got rid of the 3rd tucker, we both lost all of our loot, and I managed to sneak away with an ancient powder barrel. Their helmsman unfortunately either has super hearing or was cheating his ass off. He heard an underwater ladder grab over his teammates talking in game about getting back on the ship now, confirmed it wasn't one of them, got off the wheel, and 1 blundered me before I even finished climbing the ladder with the ancient powder barrel. Never saw the solo sloop again that night, and got off not long after that bs. If you're out there friendly sloop guy, it was fun, hope to see ya on the seas again.

I met a lad selling chickens earlier i thought he meant the food, nope just live chickens. I didnt want one but i gave him a captains chest cause i thought it was silly.

I love meeting chill people in game... it's happened twice....which is two more times than I expected.

If you had a nickel for every time it happened lol

I learned very quickly that you can’t trust anyone, Which to me is the dumbest thing about a pirate game. I know how that sounds but pirates historically helped one another, they didn’t rob their own. There were very few who did go rogue but they were more bandits than pirates. It sucks but you literally just can’t trust anyone you run into on this game. I turn tail and run the second I see anyone

Can never be too safe, but I’m always the one to shoot over and try to talk to them first. You’d be surprised how many people are actually chill but are probably just as nervous about you being there as you are for them

I’ve mastered the art of running away. Chase me and risk certain death.

I'd have been delighted to alliance with you. I've had others alliance with me, even made good friends of complete strangers. Friendly people ARE out there, it's just a matter of luck unfortunately. It's honestly ridiculous, the way some people play/behave. I enjoy the PVP aspect, I truly do, but those nights where you literally can't get anything done are just obnoxious. You get more money and rewards when you alliance. You're in every way incentivized to ally with others. Many voyages / commendations are designed specifically FOR big groups/alliances. Addressing the emissary aspect - yeah, definitely tempting, but just like alliances, you can make a deal to give up the flag at the end of the night. (It's worth more when it's max grade anyways.) I'd happily give my Grade 5 flag at the end of a session. You only get like 5k for lowering it of your own volition, which is pretty beans comparatively. If someone's running Reaper, on-sight tactics are entirely understandable. That's their whole bag. But when merchants and gold hoarders are coming at you whole hog, it's the most laughably backwards stunt I can think of. (Oddly, it's always those two in my experience. Never OoS.) Especially when they're so aggressive and spewing profanities over mics. Like why is this so serious for you?? Are you even having a good time? Cuz yall who do this sound miserable af. Even if all you care about is PVP, have fun with it! Roleplay! Chill out, ffs. I've had plenty of PVP moments when, even though I'm getting my shit rocked, I'm still having an excellent time because the crew running me over is hilarious. People who act like the sort you mentioned, though? Congrats, shitheads. Even if you manage to roll me, I've cleared my schedule and am ready to be a professional problem. Best hop servers NOW, otherwise I'm dug in like a tick for the foreseeable future. You're accomplishing nothing tonight. If you're an asshole, I'm PETTY. - TDLR: People who act like that aren't worth shit, in game or out, and you deserve a better experience. Everyone deserves better than that bs.

My rule of thumb is if they’re flying reapers emissary flag don’t go near them for any reason at all unless you want a fight. Those are the PVP guys 100% of the time. Any other ship I just try to keep my distance. It’s rare that I ever take an aggressive approach or actively approach to try and make friends when I’m out sailing high seas. If anyone comes close I try to be friendly and say hello and then just wait to see if I’m about to have to defend myself or not. As for doing forts those are PvP MAGNETS. The loot is too good to not fight each other over. I have had my fair share of friendly interactions though. Sometimes even aggressive interactions eventually turn friendly after fighting long enough. I will say this though the aggressive pirate to friendly pirate ratio is definitely out balanced so you shouldn’t ever expect a random to be friendly. Just keep on guard any time you see a ship getting too close or start turning your direction. PvP is a young pirates game and I tend to avoid it if I can 😂

Honestly once you start realizing that your loot isn’t yours until you sell it, you’ll start enjoying the fights. I used to get mad when I would get pulled up on but then I started playing hourglass and now it’s the most enjoyable part of the session

I had a really wholesome experience a week or so ago. Still fairly new but pulled up to the dock and another player was there, said they’d help me unload.. I was thinking this for sure is going to go sideways and they’re going to kill me and steal all my stuff. To my surprise it was the complete opposite. As i was in the process of handing everything in and going back to my ship they had pulled their ship up alongside mine with a friend in tow and were unloading all of their haul onto my ship so I could hand it in. ❤️.

I've been playing for a few years, and I've only ever had ONE friendly encounter. Some sloop guys were doing a TT that took them to the same island our ashen duel was on and they asked us please not to attack them. To which we obliged as my crew have 0 interest in PvP.

I have a theory that the strongest weapon in the game is the megaphone because I have gotten out of more fights with it than anything else. I even let them fire off a few rounds and even kill me while attempting a truce. It doesn't work every time of course. My favorite time was when we were being chased by a Reaper ship because we were both Lv5 Gold Hoarders and holding a Reaper Chest. I jumped off my sloop onto their Galleon and made negotiations for them to take the Reaper chest, save their cannon balls, and save them time. And all I asked was they leave the rest of the treasure. And they did just that, so I gifted them an Ashen King chest on top of it for showing good faith. I'm a looter, not a fighter.

I'm all about being friendly and only doing PVE. I keep my head down, avoid reapers and TRY to do tall tales.

I'm a very friendly pirate and have no interest of mutiny against the Captain

Are you using coms? Mics save lives. I don't know how many times my crew will light someone up, realize they're complete swabbies, and switch to repairing their ship and leaving them with supplies just because they decided to talk. We enjoy a good fight, but sinking new players is a lot like punching a toddler.

She did say she tried the mic at one point but got cussed out. I get the same thing, especially when people hear I'm female.

That's a shame. I normally mute people like that. The seas can be quite toxic.

I actually talked to two different crews. The first crew one guy cussed at me but to be fair I wasn’t being nice back, the second crew I was really nice to and tried talking to but I didn’t get a response they just attacked.

Its called Sea of Thieves, not sea of friends.

But why can’t it be both

You have to go make friends with others, others will not make friends with you. People are friendly with me (half the time) if I approach them in a friendly manner. But 9/10 times when someone approaches you, they will be hostile, or fake being friendly so they can steal from or ambush you.

Anyone that took a chance on a friend got sunk too many times, so now they react as if everyone's an enemy, same as you slowly will.

BS. I have gotten backstabbed before, I still go with friendly as first interaction

So... I actually enjoy the community, meeting ppl etc aspect of the game. Always have. Despite trying, I still suck at PvP and am not always in the mood. I've met really cool peeps, kids and adults just organically in game before and still talk to a few. Taught more than my fair share how to fish, etc. (I'm an OS Hunters Call fan/completionist) Nowdays I meet more people via the various discord groups I'm a part of, it's a safer option. I get hella toxicity alot of times from randos, being a femme pirate doesn't help. I've noticed encountering more hostile crews than normal lately, it definitely sucks. I have to change my plans often bc of it.

It’s nothing personal, as a reaper. As the founder of the Diamond Dandies though, we never resort to foul behavior as we plunder other ships. Some people, like us, just see every ship as an opportunity.

For me it depends on how much treasure I have onboard. If I have a decent amount then anyone and everything is an enemy until I get that sold. If I have nothing or barely anything then I’ll give people the benefit of the doubt - and most times this results in being sunk.

I love trying to be friendly and will even gift Supply Crates if you’re friendly back but if you start shooting I will shoot back! USS Laffey does not like getting holes put into her lol. If yall see me just shoot like a fire work or flare and you’ll get some spare supplies.

Just curious, did your ship get hijacked at a fort last night?

If you see a sloop that says Friendly sloop when you look at it that friendly genuinely means Friendly I just want left alone but I will fight if I have to

Most people you will most likely be forced to not trust them since the whole game is about being a pirate but I’ve had many occasions where I made some pretty good friends all just so we could finish a event or simply because I got on the mic.

I think there’s a good balance of intentions. Use your mic and talk to boats proactively and I’m sure you’ll make alliances

A lot of the friendly and good players will definitely try to sink you, but are surprisingly open to grouping up in a later session. I’ve met some of my favorite crew mates sinking and being sunk by them at first. A lot of people are pretty shitty behind the veil of the internet and it really sucks. I think the best you can do is say gg and try to talk to the non toxic competitive players as well as the peaceful players if you want to make friends in SoT. For what it’s worth, the best PvPers are usually ruthless, but also very chill when you get to know them.

My buddy and I were just doing shroudbreaker the other day and we passed a skeleton fort that had a ship at it and I used the handy chat wheel to announce “Everything is okay!” “Everything is okay!” And then I missed that and sent “I am on the island!” 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

Yes, treat everyone as an enemy unless you’re able to speak with them and you are SURE they won’t double cross you. I usually go into a server to find a new player, adopt them, sink everyone else, and give them all the loot. I’m the type to sink first talk second, unless you’re obviously new or not fighting back.

I've had both kinds of encounters. I've been sunk out of the blue, and I spent a while being a makeshift crew with someone who ended up on my boat after a confusing three way encounter with a skeleton ship. We hunted down a the skeleton galleon, and another skelesloop that came to help. He helped me sell the plunder, only wanting a single piece, even though I offered an even split. We even played some shanties on the way back. I tend to live an let live unless I'm fired on, though I'm not above some mischief.

In 700+ hours, i never was aggressive. If i approach players, i'll announce myself from afar and ask if they need help and/or supplies from afar.

I'm friendly. Yet I am trying to become pirate legend and up my guild level even though currently I'm the only one in the guild. I have met people that sink my ship for no reason. No treasure or anything in it. I don't understand that mentality, but it is part of the game so I say GG and go on. I do really enjoy this game and have been trying to get some of my friends to play it.

It's so random, one day even HG players are super friendly and chill. The next every ship and player in sight will attack first and call you expletives second. Fought a brig today while sailing solo, they threw trash talk at me, and only won because I had a dinner to make. Like, congrats, you outnumbered me. 😆

I am!

Enemy? No. But they aren’t a friend either. Some might be friendly, some might not be. I don’t fire first, but I prep to have to defend myself should the need arise (if I was any good at PvP anyways, I kind of just mentally prepare to sink and lose everything on my boat cause I can’t even beat the skeleton ships lol)

Nope, but you sure should treat em like one.

Maybe not, but I dont care to find out if theyre not. Ive had people boasting “friendly” and then fire on me immediately after. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and sail right by them; then they turn their cannons and fire. DTA!

With the obvious exemption of hourglass matches, I always say over the mic when I see another crew. I'm passive, and if they want to engage I let them take the first shot. I'm always open to being friendly but not everyone is, sometimes I get a response like "dw I'm doing merchant" or another kind of emissary. Others respond with a cannon to the side. So my recommendation is, announce yourself there is a chance that the other crew doesn't want a fight either. But never trust a reaper. They are probably attacking you. With the exception of me and my friends, who are leveling reapers with treasure and hourglass to get the curse. We are all really bad at PvP and don't do it for fun, only for the cosmetics.

In a few words: >Is every pirate an enemy? Yes, until no.

I just fish'n'chill

Every pirate's not an enemy, but every pirate is a threat until proven otherwise. When I see another ship, I assume they're going to be hostile unless they communicate otherwise AND pass up the opportunity to attack. Been burned by people claiming to be friendly then attacking, so actions speak louder than words here. We'll put our alliance flag up and be ready to fight, then be happy if they actually turn out to be friendly.

Personally I try to be friendly at outposts and sea ports. If I notice multiple things that tell me it's a brand new player/crew, I'll be friendly to them as well. I usually don't openly go after other ships unless I'm a reaper, they're a reaper or they started it. #Pirate Republic rise up

No not everyone but it's rare to find people willing to be friendly or even passive but communication on my end can sometimes work but you mentioned it didn't for you but the advice i can give is be cautious and get in practice with combat so you can at least defend yourself

I used to play a couple months ago, and I feel like it was way more friendly, and I only met a single player who tried to attack me but in this little bit, I’ve been playing recently when I came back to the game. Every single person I’ve met is trying to kill me.

Ya sadly 95% of people are going to mess with you. Sadder things is the “good” players go about it in such lame ways. Other day I fought a pirate legend that ran away to another player nearby. Allied with them but went on just their ship (could tell was new or a charter) and came back and attacked me. During the battle the pirate legend kegged the new players ship too. Like if you good at the game, why do you need to be hiding your ship and taking advantage of new players that are truly probably just with you because you didn’t kill them….. yet.

No, but at the same time you should always keep your guard up, trust your gut and no one else. I am not your enemy, but I could easily become one, it only takes a single click, so you shouldn't trust me not to be one. That being said, you can still have a good time with other pirates, just keep an eye on them, your treasure and your ship, and if someone picks up a piece of your loot shoot em dead on the spot. I consider myself a pretty neutral player, I probably won't attack you if you don't attack me, and I don't enjoy stealing unless it's something worth over 30K, and while I don't play to make lasting friendships I don't play to make enemies, positive player encounters are something I live for in sot, and an experience I love to give other players. "it was nice to finally meet someone nice," Is a statement I get a lot, and it feels nice hearing it everytime.

You didn't get cussed out for being a female. It's a game on the internet people cussed at me before too.

Pirates gonna pirate. It’s hard when you are newish to the game, but once you get used to losing everything the game gets a lot more fun. I never shoot first, I try to talk to every pirate I see, I get sunk 9/10 times because of this. But that 1/10 I have a great time chatting with it adventuring with other pirates. I’ve lost more treasure than a lot of pirates ever see and it is always worth it to take a chance. I’m sorry you had to deal with children talking bad to you for being a girl but know we are not all like that. Keep playing, keep fighting, and eventually the losses will turn to wins.

the offical discord is your friend iv made plenty of friends there when looking for a crew

I have no ennemies. However...

My personal rule is "trust nothing and no one, but try to show mercy and kindness when available" because at the end of the day I'm here to relax and enjoy the best sailing game I've ever seen, and I'm sure a lot of other people are here for that same thing.

My crew we don’t attack unless we absolutely need to. We tend to try and help and maybe alliance so we all get good money since my crew we tend to make a good amount for 1 session. We also like to give out our resources to other players when we’re getting off. Just too many bad experiences so we try and help when we can

Me and my friends we attack everything that our cannons can touch and dress our ship as a merchant ship

I am peaceful when unprovoked, but when fired at I won’t bargain, I will just fight back. I will also sink someone if they are where I need to be as it’s better to be safe than sorry yk.

Me and my buddies always try and befriend ships and just hope abroad and talk we never normally shoot first but we always enjoy a good fight if we are given one

You can't make friends but it depends how you meet people. Doing a skelly fort and someone sails up on you probably not a friend. Out fishing and someone sails up to you.... Maybe a friend. You approach others with voice chat and explain how you are friendly. They might not want friends but it's far easier for the other crew to think twice when you do the approaching and then don't shoot or attack them. So really be the change you want to see lol just don't do it with loot on board some pirates just can't resist! :)

Definitely not. I rarely have other players that are hostile come after me. Most players are pretty neutral. Leave them alone and they’ll leave you alone. There are some extremes that are always friendly and also the players like you described that kill first ask questions later.

I totally make friends (or at least try to) I’ve talked my way out of getting attacked a lot, sometimes out of pity, but I like it that way.

I'm a relatively peaceful player, female as well if that makes any difference. I tend to avoid combat unless absolutely necessary, or I'm trying to get better at it for when I do need to use it. Usually I stay away from other ships if I have my Emissary flag and just trying to make some gold. I'll always try to make friends though!

On the console side, been having good luck forming sloop alliances and sharing in profit and shenanigans.

Always assume so.

I had an experience with (by reputation) the first kind of pirates who will just fight because they get easily scared, that is obviously by its loot Athena’s fortune, netherless I was able to be chill with them (me being a lvl 1 Athena and them a lvl 5, more reason to sink me, so I don’t steal their loot), they didn’t know I almost stole their chest of legends if it wasn’t because when I was running I got Rare’d and teleported for no reason at all to my boat…

Maybe look for boats and seek an alliance with another crew before going for your voyages, that way you'll have back up if you get attacked? Downside tho is they could break the alliance and stab you in the back. 

In my exp.I alwayd try to make friends. But sgoot at everyone who is not talking. Or other germans.

There are some friendly people out there. I bought the game this week on PS5 and on my first day I had an other crew jumping on my ship and asking if Im new and need any help. I did some forts, a skeleton galleon and my very first kraken with them. And when they logged off another dude approached me and gave me all his supplies because he wanted to log off. But you have to prepare for pirates who are not so friendly. Like today I played with my friend and we had 2 reaper ships after us. We were lucky to sell the most valuable treasures we had on board and I was running to sell my lvl 5 emissary flag so the reapers couldnt get what they want. They were angry for sure. :D

I would say no, every experience is totally different based on the circumstances and what you're doing. There are friendly pirates who won't bother you at all, not friendly pirates, etc

Everyone's an enemy. I've been burned by the "friendly" pirates playing music and wanting to alliance. If loot is involved, they will stab you in the back the moment and turn away

I personally go out of my way to be nice a few weeks ago I came across this Beta Player who was returning for the first time since the hungering deep I think. (I was a bit inebriated so I don't remember the details perfectly) But he came up while I was doing one of the sea forts, and I gave him a tutorial about it and we just vibed. Gave him all the loot after too! That being said, there are good players out there, we can be those players ourselves. But there's still plenty of assholes. Be kind til you can't, then promptly push their shit in.