Only pirates sailing black, official privateers, and official naval vessels may “demand” that other ships stop their ships.
Combat on land follows general Atlas PvP rules, but the seas are a dangerous place where piracy is always a risk when out on open waters. All PvP actions that ships can take at sea depend on the current color of their sails. All ships must abide by the sail color classifications and aggressive ships must utilize “far render” sail skins.
All players must abide by the server’s nautical flare code when at sea. These flares must always be respected, and may never be used to falsely lure players into a trap. Abuse of flare codes is considered griefing. All other flare colors are up to the individual group.
Never excessively spam flares against other ships in an attempt to blind the onboard players.
The raising of sails and stopping of a vessel, indicates the request for peaceful communications or surrender to previous aggression. This can be coupled with coded flares. Attempts at vocal conversation should occur as soon as all parties are within VOIP range.
Enemy ships must cease all fire the moment their target raises sails. Failure to cease fire and continuing to further destroy the ship or cause extra unnecessary damage (beyond breaking containers for loot), can result in admin action. If a ship complies to demands, even if the crew is shot and downed during the RP, the ship cannot be further damaged. Only a combative or fleeing ship can be sunk.
Unarmed civilian ships (ships without cannons or artillery) have no way to defend themselves and will not pose a serious threat to aggressive ships. Due to this, unarmed civilian ships should be disabled and stopped, not sunk. Once the target ship is stopped, they should be allowed opportunity for repair.
*An unarmed civilian ship that continues to flee following parley or being disabled or takes aggressive action, may then be sunk as stated in 3-c.
Reengagement: If at any point, the ship that signaled for peaceful communications takes further aggressive action (including attempting to escape), the attackers may re-engage and sink the ship, regardless of any further surrender (even if an unarmed civilian ship).
Naval combat is the only time you may ignore New Life Rule and immediately return to combat. However, if you were not originally on the ship, you may not exploit this to join the battle. Naval combat is defined as active ship combat at sea.
If you die while gliding to deliver an explosive attack or while arming explosives on an enemy ship you are subject to the standard 15 minute NLR and you may not return to the current battle (even if it goes on for another hour). This is a high risk tactic.
Once combat has ended due to surrender or sinking, players on both sides must resume standard New Life Rules and you may not continue to respawn. If your ship has clearly been boarded and the enemy has taken control of the situation, you may only choose to respawn as a captive.
Ships cannot abuse the ‘shimmer’ between servers to gain an advantage in battle. Not all players load at the same speed.
Whitelisted players may not abuse the shimmer between public and whitelist to escape naval combat. This would be equivalent to combat logging. If you accidentally enter into whitelist during the heat of battle, immediately pass back through the shimmer to resume combat.
Ships cannot pass the shimmer, then stop and wait for the other ship to load in order to get a cheap shot on the ship or avoid combat. If you are being chased (or have been pushed) through the shimmer, you must continue moving. Both ships must pause briefly after passing through the shimmer to resume battle.
Ships cannot travel parallel with the shimmer and weave in and out of loading to avoid battle, hide from an opponent or as a tactical maneuver.
You may only attack anchored, unmanned ships in specific situations in order to further the roleplay for everyone’s benefit. Sinking anchored ships in all other situations is considered griefing due to the time investment necessary to build these ships.
Pirates who successfully force a ship to surrender can choose to perform player robbery or prisoner roleplay. For more in depth information and additional regulations please visit our player Combat rules.
All ships that are sunk at sea are up for looting by anyone that finds them.