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Forculus
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Dark Seas Early Access Open!

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We're excited to announce the start of the Dark Seas Early Access! You can download the new client on steam:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/552110/Puzzle_Pirates_Dark_Seas/

All new pirates begin in Port Venture of the Greywaters archipelago, a relatively safe place to begin getting your sea legs before venturing further out into the Obsidian ocean. To the left of the dock, you'll find a Shadow Fleet recruiter, and to the right, a Defiant Armada recruiter, where you can whisk directly to their Stronghold islands and start to decide on which faction you'd like to support. Each crew must choose a faction at the time it is created. Crews can not currently switch factions, but pirates are free to change crews at any time.

If you encounter any bugs, please use the "/bug" command so that we can take a look at your client logs and fix any problems. If you have any ideas or suggestions for how we can improve Dark Seas, please let us know in the Game Design forum! This is just the very beginning of this adventure, and we'd like to hear from the players to help steer the ship and make the best Puzzle Pirates experience possible.

FAQ:

Will this ocean require using Steam after testing finishes?

Yes, after testing concludes, the game will be accessed exclusively through Steam. All players will need a Steam account in order to access the game.

Do we need doubloons for this testing period?

Yes, we'd like to test how the doubloon economy fits into the Dark Seas world. However, we will be seeding the Doubloon Exchange with some cheap doubloons that can be purchased with Pieces of Eight, in order to facilitate initial testing.

How long will the testing last?

We don't have a fixed timeline yet, we'll continue making changes and updates as long as needed.

Will this ocean be wiped after testing?

We don't currently plan to, but we reserve the option for a wipe in the event that drastic changes are needed. In this unlikely event, we would restore any purchased doubloons + 10%, after the wipe takes place.

Do we need to bring rum to attempt Cursed Isles?

Yes, even though rum-consumption is temporarily disabled to make general activities more accessible, you will still need to have rum to counteract the effects of the fog in Cursed Isles. Remember that just acquiring a sea monster map is not a guarantee of success, it is your responsibility to make the necessary preparations!

Do purchases on Obsidian grant access to the Ice ocean?

No, because Dark Seas uses a separate billing server from classic Puzzle Pirates.

Work in Progress:

The interior scenes for the new Shadow Fleet and Defiant Armada buildings are still being created, so we're currently using placeholders.
The new "War" tab of the Notice Board is still being constructed and redesigned. Let us know if there's certain info you'd like to see here.
There will be a series of trophies added for assisting a faction that has fewer online pirates.

Overview of changes:

At the time a Crew is created, it must choose one of two factions to support: Shadow Fleet or Defiant Armada.
Pirates will receive a faction icon next to their name once they join a crew.
Pirates are free to change crews at any time. Pirates without a crew are considered "neutral".
Crews that support different factions are automatically and permanently at war. There will be no truce.
Ships that are defeated by an opposing faction will be completely sunk, except for in the Greywaters archipelago. Bottled Ships can still be salvaged like usual.
Flags can declare war (and make peace) with other flags in the same faction. This works the same as in classic Puzzle Pirates.
Flags can not invite crews aligned with the opposing faction.
Both factions have a single "Stronghold" island that is used as their base of operations. These two islands can not be blockaded.
Pirates who are associated with a faction can whisk directly to their Stronghold for free using the "Crew" tab of the Sunshine panel.
The maximum Poker buy-in has been largely reduced.
A poker "rake" will be in effect for this ocean, which will take 3% of the pot at the end of the hand, before winnings are distributed. This percentage may be adjusted in the future.
Governors now have the power to close down shops on their islands. If they do so, the shop will immediately go dark. A notice will be displayed in the "Building" tab clarifying that the shop was shut down by the governor.
If the shop remains closed down for 30 days, it will be destroyed. Governors can open the shop back up at any time before it's destroyed, if they so choose.
The ownership of the Inn will automatically transfer to whoever conquers an island.
Sea Monsters and expeditions will only spawn in the Wild Eastern Seas, Wild Western Seas, and Ye Bloody Bounding Main.
Sea Monster zones will now be "rotated" in order to focus activity into one particular zone each week. Only one type of Sea Monster map will drop from pillaging battles during that week. The enabled map type will change each Sunday.
The order is currently Atlantis -> Cursed -> Haunted -> Kraken but this may change without warning.
Bravery Badges and Pirate Badges are not required on this ocean.
There is a new "/faction" chat channel that can only be used and seen by pirates associated with that faction. This channel can be toggled with "/fmute".
There is now a limit of 10 shops that can be placed on large islands.
All blockades in Dark Seas (other than event blockades) are sinking.
Many new islands have been created by our awesome Island Designer volunteers. Some islands from the other Oceans have been reimagined so that we could include them on Obsidian.
The installer images, login panels, client icons, and intro music have all been reworked for the Dark Seas theme.
The color of the ocean will change when one of the two factions controls at least 60% of the blockadeable islands. The water around the two Stronghold islands will continue to match the faction, however.
Faction icons will now be shown on Pirate, Crew, and Flag pages in YoWeb.
Adding a "War" tab to the Notice Board where players can see an overview of the ongoing battle and which side is winning. This page is WIP and still being designed.
Faction icons will be displayed on the Voyages panel to allow players to choose if they prefer to job for one faction or another. However, there is nothing preventing individual pirates from jobbing for the other side if they so choose.
A warning will now be shown if a player moves off a ship they own that was left unlocked. This is because of the increased likelihood of the ship being sunk in Dark Seas.
Dark Seas uses a separate Doubloon database than classic Puzzle Pirates, so doubloons can not be transferred from Obsidian to other oceans (or vice versa). We want to try and give a level starting environment to players who try out Puzzle Pirates for the first time.

Changes made for Dark Seas and recently brought to classic Puzzle Pirates:

Sea Monster zones will no longer drop items that are normally ordered and constructed by shops (such as swords, mugs, bludgeons, clothing, furniture).
These items will need to be built using pirate labor.
Vessel deeds can no longer be traded while vessels are currently sea.
Ship captains can pay a Pieces of Eight bribe in order to port their vessel at embargoed islands.
When a ship is sunk, the vessel logs will include a list of the pirates who were on board at the time that the skirmish started.
Commodities can no longer be "paved" when placing new buildings.
Added Global and Trade chat channels for ocean-wide broadcasts.
Added a sorted list of all colonized islands on YoWeb, including links to the Governors.
Added the island's property tax on the island info page.
The client window will now show at 2x scale automatically when puzzle pirates is run on a 4k monitor.
Several exploit fixes related to puzzle competition scoring.
Greenies and unsaved guest accounts will no longer be able to job in blockades; pirates will also need at least Narrow experience in 2 or more piracy puzzles. Pirates that do not meet these requirements will not be able to "Apply" for blockade jobs that are listed on the Voyages panel.

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[Edit 7 times, last edit by Cronus at Sep 15, 2017 4:52:44 PM]

[Jun 30, 2017 9:37:10 AM]

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Cronus
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Joined: Jul 17, 2003
Posts: 1344
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Re: Dark Seas beta test!

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Welcome to Obsidian!

As usual, requiring drink to sail will be turned off for the first week or so. This gives you the ability to pillage until the player economy is up and running.

We have 2 upgraded shipyards. These will not be producing ships at all to begin with. When the first player island(s) to be colonized have built shipyard shops, we will enable these so that war frigates can be ordered by other flags - at a relatively high price! This ensures that one flag does not have complete domination over the ocean as they have the only large ships.

The usual startup settings will apply:

Requirements to create a crew and join or create a flag will initially be lowered. The requirements to start a crew during the startup period is: Narrow experience in Swordfighting and Bilging. Own a vessel. Own a Captain's Badge.
Stats- and performance-based trophies will not be given out for a while.
Navy pay will be at enhanced rates.
Stalls will be cheaper to begin with, and tax will initially be at 0% on our islands.
No brigand king blockades or flotillas for a while.
We will provide sloops from the palace at discounted rates for the first couple of weeks, as usual. PoE price will increase every few days. Doubloon cost remains at 20 doubloons. Other sizes of ships will not be available save from player stalls. Other sizes of ships will not be available save from player stalls, see also note above regarding our shipyards.

Names:
Please avoid taking names which you know belong to other pirates, your cooperation is appreciated in helping to get the ocean up and running as smoothly as possible. Reserving names for other pirates is not helpful!

If you have a name on 3 of the other 5 production oceans (Emerald, Cerulean, Jade, Opal, Meridian ) and someone takes it, you may petition to request it.
Please note in your petition which accounts these names are on for each ocean, if they're not all on the account you are using to petition. We need to be able to check that this is really your name!
It may take some time to free the name for you, please only petition if you're going to be on for a while after that to claim the name when we have released it.
This offer will end on Friday, July 7th at 11:59 PM pirate time (PST) - if you wish to claim your name, please do so as soon as possible!
If you have a pirate removed from your account for this reason, please petition again from your new pirate listing your possessions, and we will transfer them to your new pirate.

Claim Your Inheritance mission
As per this post , the mission is not available on Obsidian.

Any changes or updates to the above or the OP will be posted here.
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[Edit 2 times, last edit by Demeter at Jul 3, 2017 8:37:30 AM]

[Jun 30, 2017 9:50:18 AM]

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