News, updates and info from the Sea of Thieves.

Fire, exclamation mark

Noted leaker James “BIGsheep” Thomas spills the beans again. Tidbits
Attentive Sea of Thieves watchers will know Rare developer, James “BIGsheep” Thomas, as the man whose belligerence gave us mermaid gems, and who also accidentally confirmed parrots as pets on a live stream that time. Well, pirates, he’s done it again. On this week’s weekly stream, James glanced at the chat, and then spilled the beans: I think the biggest thing we’ve announced that’s coming soon is fire Andy Preston quickly looked at him, saying “Is that announced yet?” James: “Are you kidding me?” The reactions are priceless. Look out it's happened again. šŸ”„šŸ”„šŸ”„ pic.twitter.com/uJb3z8XeV6 — Sea of News šŸ“ā€ā˜ ļøšŸ“œšŸŽ£…

This… is… Sparta!

Getting the full Spartan ship set has never been easier. News
In June, Rare revealed the Spartan ship set as part of E3. Obtaining the set was as easy as playing Sea of Thieves at least once over a few days. And now it’s back, this time with cannons, capstan and wheel in tow! Obtaining the set is, once again, a walk in the park: set sail on the seas any time from August 20th-24th, either Adventure or Arena. Play Sea of Thieves at any time during Gamescom next week (August 20th-24th) to earn the complete @Halo Spartan Ship Set! Already have the items from E3? This will add the wheel,…

Dev Update (video)

The August release, Dark Relics, and a little bit more. Dev Update Videos
Hooray, this month’s release is here! Here’s a summary of all of Joe’s utterances: Monthly Updates Moving forward, the game update will happen on the 2nd Wednesday of every month (meaning the next update will be the 11th of September). With this in mind, players will know when to expect new content and voyages, as well as being aware of the end dates of each event. Dark Relics The Dark Relics voyages, commendations and rewards are all time-limited. The Reapers Chest This chest will appear around the world, signalled by glowing, swirling lights. When you bring it aboard, all other…

Release Notes – 2.0.6

Dark Relics! Mercenary Releases
[Link] Dark Relics Duke has been asked for help by the Order of Souls! Despite boosting their arsenal with gunpowder kegs last month, the Order found themselves raided by a nefarious crew of skeletons who stole a set of powerful artefacts known as Dark Relics, spiriting them away to far-flung corners of the sea. The Order didn’t have time to determine the full extent of these Relicsā€™ mystical properties, but they could prove to be incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands… As if that wasnā€™t enough, shipments of a mysterious new chest emblazoned with the Reaperā€™s Mark are now turning…

Official Tall Tales Q&A

Mike Chapman and Andy Preston answer questions from the community. Roundups
On Wednesday the Sea of Thieves community team hosted a Q&A with the Tall Tales design team. I’ve collected all of the answered questions below, lightly edited. You should note that a small handful of questions were answered only with smiley faces – these have been omitted from this roundup due to their overly ambiguous nature, but you can go looking for them here. I’ve arranged the answers by topic for your convenience: Tease + future content Tall Tales (questions, comments, ideas) Developing Tall Tales Lore     Tease + future content   Q. Has the team considered adding elements…

Dev update (video)

A huge cache of upcoming features! Dev Update Videos
In a huge dev update, Joe Neate takes us through a raft of upcoming features. As always, it’s a great idea to watch the full video above. For reference, heres a full summary: Digital Business strategy – AKA in-game purchases Rare have been upfront about pets being paid additions to the game right from launch. Now, with pets coming to testing soon, Joe has confirmed Sea of Thieves’ broad monetisation strategy. The stated principles for digital purchases are: No power advantage Nothing that will “separate players” Completely optional Know what you’re buying – no loot boxes. Pets will be hitting…

Hit registration is being worked on

Yes, it’s an issue. Yes, it’s being improved. But there’s “no silver bullet”. Roundups
Update – 14 July 2019: Hit reg improvements are now in testing with Insiders. Hey! We have our Hit Reg improvements in Insiders right now, jump in and come hep us test out the latest improvements! Joe describes the improvements as “significant” and “super promising”. Original post: Longtime players of Sea of Thieves know that hit registration in the game has always been a bit patchy. You shoot, get the hitmarker, but no damage is done. This kind of thing happens a lot in online games, but many feel that Sea of Thieves can be worse than most. The arrival…

Sea of Tease Roundup

Reconnect, emotes, pets and more. Tidbits
Sea of Thieves Executive Producer, Drew Stevens, is the most active dev on Reddit – even though many more of the team seem to be heavy lurkers. Drew – aka Sonicbob – usually tends to be most active in the period after game updates. After the release of Black Powder Stashes, he’s dropped in to reply to a few questions and comments. It’s been a while since we’ve had any real “Sea of Tease” from the devs, but there’s a small handful of tidbits here: A reconnect feature is in development A common complaint, especially among solo pirates, is that…

Twitch Rivals: Sea of Thieves

Watch the event across two days to get the Obsidian ship livery! News
Sea of Thieves has partnered with Twitch to present “Rivals“, a two day Arena competition with $100,000 in prizes up for grabs! Taking place from July 23rd-24th 2019, the Twitch RivalsĀ Sea of ThievesĀ Showdown is a series of four distinct contests starring some of the worldā€™s best-known streamers andĀ Sea of ThievesĀ Arena players, each battling for a share of a true pirate fortune: $100,000 in prize money. Cannons will roar, blades will sing and cutting remarks will almost certainly be made during this no-holds-barred Arena encounter, so be sure to tune in and catch the mayhem live on Twitch for a chance…

Black Powder Stashes Content Update (video)

Boom kegs go boom! Trailer and Announcement Videos
We’re kicking off monthly game updates with Black Powder Stashes, an explosive good time for everyone! Visit Duke to pick up new voyages, all paying out gunpowder kegs. Turn them into any Trading Company for reputation. Boom! Job done. As if the smorgasbord of features that landed with the sea of thieves anniversary update weren’t enough to keep even the busiest of pirates occupied, we’re throwing even more into the mix with the introduction of our new monthly content updates – starting with Black Powder Stashes. Duke has word that the various trading companies are looking to stockpile explosive gunpowder…

Release Notes – 2.0.5

Black Powder Stashes Mercenary Releases
[Link] The latest update is here! Read on for the complete breakdown of changes coming in with update 2.0.5 which introduces Black Powder Stashes, the first in a series of planned Monthly Content Updates forĀ Sea of Thieves.Ā  Black Powder Stashes Reaperā€™s Black Powder RunsĀ ā€“ Duke is challenging crews to face off against rivals in an explosive new Reaperā€™s Run, the ā€˜Reaperā€™s Black Powder Runā€™. These dangerous new voyages task crews with hopping from Fort to Fort finding Gunpowder Kegs, buried Merchant Crates and even guaranteed Stronghold Kegs! With two routes to pick from, crews should keep watch for rival crews…

Dev Update (video)

Black Powder Stashes! Dev Update Videos
A summary: How the game will be updated moving forward An acknowledgement that updates have been sporadic since launch. Rare wants players to understand the rhythm of updates, so they’ve moving to a cadence of monthly content updates. Each update will bring “new voyages”, “new rewards”, “quality of life updates”. Any new Tall Tales, updates to Arena, or new mechanics will drop into these monthly releases. Black Powder Stashes Update A new set of voyages which send you to forts to collect kegs and other rewards. A ‘lost shipment” of mermaid gems are washing up around the world. A range…

Dev Update (video)

More of what’s coming on July 17th… Dev Update Videos
I summarise, you read: Black Powder Stashes: July 17th. “It’s going to be very explosive.” Duke will send players around the world to collect merchant creates, gunpowder barrels and stronghold barrels. What else is coming in the update? “A range of areas” have received some additional balancing: The Hunter’s Call will have increased rewards The Skeleton Lords have been better tuned for various crew sizes Megalodons have been better tuned for various crew sizes Megalodons generally” have been tuned so you’ll see more “distinct behaviours” Cursed cannonballs have received balancing “Upped the rewards for exploring” More details on all balancing…

The AI of Sea of Thieves

A four-part series exploring the AI systems behind the game. Videos
Tommy Thompson of AI and Games has just released the final video of his four part series on Sea of Thieves. Thompson interviews some of the programming team at Rare, and covers subjects like enemy AI, quests and voyages, pathing in Unreal Engine, and much more. You can watch the whole series here. For posterity, here are a few points of interest from the series: Only skeletons, pigs, chickens and snakes are controlled with Unreal’s built-in AI framework; for everything water-based, Rare had to custom-build support by extending Unreal via access to the engine’s source code. Voyages (islands, bounty targets…

The Hunter’s Call Gold and Rep will be increasing soon

Expect this to land on July 17th. News
If you’ve been selling endless Splashtails to Merrick for the last two months for an absolute pittance, you now have something to look forward to. Lead Designer, Shelley Preston, has revealed on Twitter that an increase to gold and reputation is coming to the Hunter’s Call Trading company in Sea of Thieves. Well, good news Hunters! Iā€™ve had a long chat with Merrick and all those Ruby Splashtails youā€™ve been delivering have given The Hunterā€™s Call the capital to give out greater Gold and Reputation rewards. Coming soon to a Seapost near you! šŸŸšŸ šŸ”šŸŸšŸ šŸ”šŸ¬šŸŸšŸ”šŸ¬šŸ  — Shelley Preston (@residentveg) July 8,…