Ships Guide

Buying a Ship | Decay | Launching & Boarding | Navigation | Security | In Combat

Reasons to Own a Ship

What are some reasons for buying a ship?

• You may be a miner planning to mine the cliffs around the shores from your boat, storing the ore for later smelting.
• You may wish to hunt for sunken treasure
• You may plan to undertake some peaceful fishing trips, delivering cargo for the fishmonger’s on shore
• You may see yourself hunting down pirates
• You may even be a pirate, hunting down the peaceful merchants sailing the seas.
• On a shard where you have no house you might consider a ship as a way to extend your available storage beyond your bank box, however boats decay. The need for regular refreshing may mean that your boat and all its precious cargo may disappear. Should your vessel suffer this fate you must discard or overmark any runes associated with it. The runes do not distinguish between dry docked and decayed and can prevent the launching of a new boat.
• Or you may simply need to cross the sea while engaged in a trader’s quest
• You will be sharing the seas with a number of NPC Vessels

Buying a Ship

You can buy a classic ship deed from the shipwright in most towns for around 12-15k, depending on the size (small, medium or large) The shipwrights on Sea Market will also offer Tokuno or Gargoyle ships at a cost of 150 – 200k or a simple rowboat for around 7k. Traditional sailing vessels also offer a choice between regular ships, and dragon ships (they have a carved dragon on the prow). Large classic ships hold a few more people on them at once (when under a felucca ruleset), while smaller ships are a bit easier to dock. All classic ships have a hold capacity of 400 stones.

Decay

If not refreshed your ship will sink/disappear. Refreshing is done through opening the plank on a small ship, or double clicking the rope on a galleon. Since publish 110, March 2021 refreshing can also be done by initiating mouse movement or opening the ship’s cargo hold.  Ship decay follows the same steps as house decay, in the following time sequence:

• Slightly Worn – 3 days
• Somewhat Worn – 3 days
• Fairly Worn – 3 days
• Greatly Worn – 3 days
• In Danger of Collapsing – 1 day

This means the ship will ‘sink’ at the end of the 13th day.

Orc Ship

This unusual vessel can only be obtained by collecting the plan to construct it. There are 8 pieces to the plan, they are rare rewards from Bigglesby’s Pirate Quests

Britannia Ship

This extremely large ship is obtained via donations to the Britain Library Collection (fisherman) or by purchase from Origin Store. In addition to 9 cannon placements, a Britannia Ship has 2 placement spots for house add ons. These may include:

• a small forge
• an elven forge
• an anvil (east or south)
• a pickpocket dip (east or south)
• a training dummy (east or south)
• a spinning wheel (east or south)
• an elven spinning wheel (east or south)
• an elven oven (east or south)
• a warrior statue (east or south)
• an arcanist statue (east or south)
• a squirrel statue (east or south)
• a parrot perch

A “Map of the World” from the mapmaker can make shipboard navigation much, much easier. If you are able to obtain a world map from a player with GM cartography that would be even better. A comparison of the purchased world map and that drawn by a cartographer is below. Sea charts for specific areas can also be helpful

A Sextant from the tinker’s shop is also a useful acquisition. A sextant will give you your exact position in the world with a simple double-click.

Launching and Boarding Your New Ship

The docks can be crowded, making launching difficult, a stroll along the shoreline in search of an unobstructed spot from which to launch would be advisable. When you find a safe spot with an unobstructed path to the open sea, double-click on the deed and select the direction you want the ship to face from the gump

(this may take a few tries, if the shoreline is rugged).

When you finish launching your ship, you will find a key (for a classic ship), or a rune (for a galleon) in your pack (and another in your bank vault). This ‘free’ rune only appears when you launch your ship from the deed. Drop the rune into a rune book to be sure not to lose it. New runes can be marked by a mage on the ship’s deck.
Classic ships need to be unlocked before you may board them, do this by double-clicking on the key, and targeting the plank location. This is next to the mast; there is one on each side. Once the ship has been unlocked, you can double-click the side of the ship at the plank location to lower it, then double click on the plank to board. Caution you must ‘walk’ aboard. If your character is set to ‘always run’ you will not be able to board the boat.
To board a tall ship double click on one of the ropes coiled on the deck. Boarding a boat via the plank or mooring line also refreshes the boat and its contents.

Alternatively you can simply cast recall, gate or sacred journey and target the master key in your backpack. You will then recall onto the deck of your boat. Sailors with little magery skill may wish to carry a few recall scrolls just for that. If you regularly recall to your boat don’t forget to refresh it periodically by clicking on the rope or plank, initiating mouse movement or opening the ship cargo hold. .
A ship rune may be dropped into a runebook. (interesting note, the color of the text in the rune book will change dependent on which facet the boat is on when you recall to it)

The Tillerman

This permanent crew member has two different context menus. When accessed from ashore he will offer the option to dry dock the ship, when aboard he offers a chance to rename or repair the ship on a classic boat, with the additional option to set security or move the tillerman on a tall ship. Mouse over reveals the decay and damage state of the vessel

When dry-docking your ship you will not receive a deed like that which you bought from the shipwright, instead you will receive a small model of the ship in your backpack.

Customizing

Having named your ship, you may also decide to give it a coat of paint, or two, or even three. Boat paint is bought from a boat painter, found on Sea Market. Each tub of paint will cover the boat once, subsequent tubs will deepen the color, up to a maximum of three. The grey paint being the exception. Five coats of this can be applied, giving an almost black boat. The boat painter also sells paint remover if you are unhappy with the results. Sea air is harsh and causes paint to fade (by one shade). You will need to re-apply every 2 weeks to maintain your ship’s chosen color. To apply the paint double click the paint tub and target the main mast.

Navigation

As you stand on your ship, facing the front (bow) with the back (stern) behind you, the side to your left is ‘port’, the side to your is right ‘starboard’

To move the ship, you have three options:

1. By giving the tillerman Sailing Commands, corresponding nautical commands are in italics. These can be set to macros for ease of movement.
   • Forward (Nautical: Unfurl Sail when starting from stopped )– Moves the boat forward at full speed, until you tell it to stop
   • Back – Moves the boat backward at full speed
   • Right – Moves the boat to the right
   • Left – Moves the boat to the left
   • Forward One (or Back One, Right One, Left One) – Moves the boat one tile in the direction commanded
   • Forward Right One (or Forward Left One),
   • Backward Right One (or Backward Left One)
   • Slow Forward (or Back, Right, Left) – Moves the boat slowly in the direction commanded)
   • Forward Right (or Left) – Moves the boat on a diagonal path forward
   • Slow Forward Right (or Left) – Moves the boat in a diagonal path forward slowly.
   • Backward Right (or Left) – Moves the boat on a diagonal path backward
   • Slow Backward Right (or Left) – Moves the boat in a diagonal path backward slowly.
   • Start Tracking (only if you have the High-Seas expansion) – Makes the boat start to track other ships
   • Stop Tracking (High-seas required) – cancels the tracking command above
   • Stop (Nautical: Furl Sail)– Stops the boat from moving
   • Turn Around (Nautical: Come About) – Makes the boat turn around to face the opposite direction
   • Turn Left (Nautical: Port) – Turns the boat to face the left of your current direction
   • Turn Right (Nautical: Starboard) – Turns the boat to the face right of your current direction
   • Remove Name – Removes the name off the boat
2. By charting a course on a “Map of the World” or “Sea Chart”.
   These can be written by players or bought from npc mapmakers. Double-click on your map to open it, then click on the “Plot course” text along the top. Take a look at your current position, and where you want to go, then plot a course in straight lines avoiding islands. Be prepared to take control of the ship manually when you hit any kind of obstacle (Dolphin, water elemental, sea serpent, buoy).Each pin that you stick in the map is a position to which your tillerman will sail. You should try to stick as few pins in the map as possible, while still charting a course that will take you around anything which would obstruct your ship’s progress. (Note: When charting a course you do not need to set a pin at your current location, you only need to set pins where you want your ship to go).After the course is set, drop your map on the tillerman. The tillerman will now obey the following commands:
   • Start – The tillerman will do his best to make it to your final destination, travelling to each of the map points in turn.
   • Continue – Should the tillerman meet with an obstacle in his path you will need to revert to the sailing commands above to work around it. Once clear this command will re-instate the map and he will continue to sail the marked course
   • Goto #(number) – This command will cause the tillerman to sail directly to the map pin specified and continue the marked course from there, allowing you to join a previously marked route part way through (example: goto #5).
   • Single #(number) – This command will cause the tillerman to go to the pin specified and then stop. caution using the command ‘continue’ after clearing an obstacle will cause the tillerman to sail the full course from the pin specified instead of stopping. (example: single #2)

   Once the tillerman has set on a course, you should not “clear” the map and attempt to chart a new course. This will cause the tillerman to forget where he’s going. 🙂

3. Take hold of the wheel (double click) and steer the boat yourself using your mouse. This method is the only one available for rowboats, as these do not have a tillerman. You can not steer the boat in this way while mounted (or flying if the character is a gargoyle).

Security

Security on classic ships simply consists of keeping the plank locked with the key, but on tall ships setting the group security levels, and viewing/editing the Access List, are done via the Tillerman’s context menu. You may grant or deny access to your ship to the public, to members of your party, to members of your guild, and to specific characters.

For each group access there are 4 available settings:

• N/A: This setting does not grant or deny privileges aboard the ship
• DENY ACCESS: revokes all privileges aboard the ship, overriding all other permissions
• PASSENGER: allows boarding the ship using the mooring lines or by recall/gate travel
• CREW: allows operation of the ship’s weapons and piloting the ship
• OFFICER: allows access to the cargo hold, and installation or dismantling of weaponry.
• CAPTAIN: grants all privileges, including dry docking and changing security settings.

Adding an individual to the Access List is done via their context menu, this opens the third page of the boat security menu. Only those in the explicit access list can be set to CAPTAIN

Multiple security settings may apply to specific characters. In these cases, if any matching setting is “Deny Access” then that character is not allowed any access to the ship. Otherwise, that character receives the highest applicable level of access. For example, if you allow members of your guild Passenger access and members of your party Crew access, then a member of your guild who is also in your party will be considered Crew.

If you set Public to DENY ACCESS then ONLY the OWNER may access the ship. This setting even denies access to those in the access list who are given CAPTAIN access.

The maximum setting allowed for any group is OFFICER.

For classic ships, if you have a key then you are considered OWNER. Otherwise, you are considered PASSENGER.

Rowboats copy their security settings from the ship owned by the placer of the rowboat, but only when the rowboat is placed on the same subserver as that ship. Otherwise, they get default security settings.

When a ship is drydocked and placed back, it will retain its security settings, but will change ownership to the person who last placed the ship. Anyone who holds a drydocked ship can place the ship and put it in the water, regardless of security settings (i.e. security settings do not apply at all to drydocked ships!)

Combat Situations

Security

When ships are severely damaged, it becomes impossible to deny access. The effective minimum security level becomes PASSENGER when in Trammel ruleset areas and OFFICER when in Felucca ruleset areas (e.g. in a PvP battle the victor can come aboard and raid your cargo hold and steal your cannons). The DENY ACCESS setting no longer applies in any case (even explicit individual bans) when the ship is immobilized!

Damage

During combat all types of ships take damage, this can be repaired via the tillerman’s context menu and requires wood and cloth. Less resources are consumed if the character undertaking the repair has carpentry skill. Damage levels are ‘slightly’, ‘moderately’, ‘heavily’ ‘severely’. An undamaged ship shows its condition as ‘pristine’.

There are two levels of repair, emergency repairs can be carried out at sea, a ‘scuppered’ vessel is immobile until such repairs are undertaken. The boat must return to shore in order to make permanent repairs.

Damaged tall ships have the following graphics:

• A slight – moderately damaged Tokuno Ship
• A slight – moderately damaged Gargoyle Ship
• A slight – moderately damaged Orc Ship
• A heavily – severely damaged Tokuno Ship
• A heavily – severely damaged Gargoyle Ship
• A heavily – severely damaged Orc Ship

When severely damaged your tillerman will cheerfully inform you that the vessel is ‘scuppered’, at this point you may be boarded by the attacking forces.

To fight off invading forces you will need Cannons which can be fired individually from the menu or in a broadside using the command “fire port broadside” or “fire starboard broadside”

Sea Market Parking

Control rules are as follows, if your boat is at the dock for 20 minutes your boat will automatically be teleported past the buoys that are placed on the outer edge of the Sea Market region. Your boat will not teleport if a players is aboard, standing on your boat for one minute will refresh the timer.

Reaching Lost Lands

Lost lands are accessed through the Serpent’s Pillars east of Trinsic at 111.37’S 116.26’E and west of Jhelom at 145.22’S, 63.46’W. When you reach the pillar you must use the password ‘doracron’. Return is via the password ‘sueacron’ east of Ophidian Lair at 36.7’N 2.15’E and west of the Desert at 30.50’N 47.23’W.

Tracking

Finding other ships if you are hunting pirates, or if you are a pirate hunting prey, is not easy on the open sea. The command ‘start tracking’ will track up to 5 nearby ships for a period of 1 minute.

The Harbormaster

The harbormaster can help with two tasks, accessed through his context menu

• Abandon Ship
  • Abandoning your ship will cause the ship to decay within 5 minutes if there are no players on the ship.
  • Once your ship has decayed discard or overmark any runes associated with it, you will then be able to place a new ship.
• Ship Recall Rune
  • Selecting this option for Tokuno, Gargoyle, Orc or Britannia ship will cause a recall rune to your ship to be placed in your backpack, a fee of 100 gold will be removed from your bank.
  • Selecting this option for a large, medium or small classic ship will cause a key to your ship to be placed in your backpack, a fee of 100 gold will be removed from your bank.  As is normal for this type of ship, the key will only work until the ship is dry docked.

The Lighthouse

This year 5 veteran reward can recover any ship except rowboats that are linked to it. (Ships placed by this account will now be linked to this lighthouse when they decay. Lost ships will be found in your house moving crate.)

• All weapons (ie cannon) will be saved
• House add-ons that currently allow you to dry dock your ship will be saved
• All other items will be destroyed (ie anything in the ship’s hold)
• The ship model can be found in the house moving crate