Why Did I Get Attacked?

[Temmypoos]

the other thing that may have happened, is an 'elite' npc attacked you. some have unique names so you could have mistaken it for a player

[shadman1972]

Ignore this one

[shadman1972]

Originally Posted by CJFlint Are in the pirate faction? If you were you may have been sailing a prema flagged ship, without knowing it. Allot of pirate low levels make that mistake.

I guess I was. I *think* I was in the Limberg Flute when it happened, and I've since learned that's one of these so-called perma flagged ships. The same thing happened again today, and this time I was in a Atlas Bark. I'm assuming this is perma-flagged too. This time a 50 ate me up... sigh...

Originally Posted by Remus A cutthroat in a Limberg is the only example I can think of. Why on earth would the OP take a Limberg to do missions. And how could a Limberg possibly run from a level 21 attacker? Or were they in a Postillionen? How bizarre.

lol... well I'm a noob at this game, and I'm still learning. That's why I was sailing a tank with terrible turn and slow speeds. Butttt, it had like 300 more hull, and it was like 4 lvls above my last ship, that's why I took it. And for PvE, it was much better than my last ship. I do generally look for better firepower and speed. But I can settle for slow turn and speed when I can take a lot more pounding.

[shadman1972]

Originally Posted by Remus If shadman1972 is still following this thread and if you really were sailing a Limberg flute (and for anyone else interested), two things you might like to know: if you are not sure what ship to get next (and a Limberg is only of value for its cargo capacity), then download Ships Skills and Outfitting in my sig. Even if you don't use it for anything else, the Ship Stats by Level sheet gives enough information for most players to select a ship while levelling. The stats to look for are: Acceleration: this is the best indication of manoeuvrability. Time to Sink: this is a general indication of how tough the ship is and how hard it is to hit. Max Raw Damage: this is the hardest you can hit up close. Usually when you are levelling, up close is where it matters, but at lower levels DPS is more important. DPS: Damage per second. This takes reload into account. If you are hauling then you will look at Capacity, and if you are interested in (avoiding) PvP then Max Speed may be important, but it has little relevance for missions. In the next build players will get a warning when they try to enter the Open Sea when they are flagged for any reason. Useful for levelling pirates I am sure, but I expect everyone else will turn it off - and the forget when they are flagged.

Sweet, thanks for that. Since I dread PvP so much, which ships on that list are per-flagged so I can avoid them?

[Georgiana Jennings]

Originally Posted by shadman1972 Sweet, thanks for that. Since I dread PvP so much, which ships on that list are per-flagged so I can avoid them?

You can see it when you hover the mouse over a captured deed. You can also see it when you use the ingame help (F1), if a ship is restricted to another class you can still capture it but it will be permaflagged.

The final way to check is to look at your effects bar (under the ship's health bar) and see if you have an effect called Invalid Ship when you're on the Open Sea. Invalid Ship means you are permaflagged.

[Remus]

Originally Posted by shadman1972 Sweet, thanks for that. Since I dread PvP so much, which ships on that list are per-flagged so I can avoid them?

In the Ship Stats by Level sheet there is a Class column (at least I think it is called that). Most ships are Any but a few are restricted and these have little colour codes. If you are a cutthroat you need to pick Any (white), Cut (grey) or Pirate (black). Buccs can also pick Pirate of course but they have a lot more freedom as they can sail F/B (maroon) and Bucc ships without being flagged. Now I wonder what colour I gave Bucc-only ships ... brown?

In practice though you only need to worry about the FT (green) and F/B (maroon) ships as these are the only ones NPCs sail that you can capture.

However I thought there was already a warning if you try to capture an invalid ship. But maybe not (I don't play Pirate at the moment) and it might just be if you try to launch a deed.

[shadman1972]

Originally Posted by Remus In the Ship Stats by Level sheet there is a Class column (at least I think it is called that). Most ships are Any but a few are restricted and these have little colour codes. If you are a cutthroat you need to pick Any (white), Cut (grey) or Pirate (black). Buccs can also pick Pirate of course but they have a lot more freedom as they can sail F/B (maroon) and Bucc ships without being flagged. Now I wonder what colour I gave Bucc-only ships ... brown? In practice though you only need to worry about the FT (green) and F/B (maroon) ships as these are the only ones NPCs sail that you can capture. However I thought there was already a warning if you try to capture an invalid ship. But maybe not (I don't play Pirate at the moment) and it might just be if you try to launch a deed.

Thanks. There is no warning, but now that I know what to avoid, and how to see if I have a perma-flagged ship, it's all good.

[Georgiana Jennings]

In practice though you only need to worry about the FT (green) and F/B (maroon) ships as these are the only ones NPCs sail that you can capture.

Actually, he won't have to worry about it just yet, but at higher levels he can capture Privateer Mignones from NPC.

However I thought there was already a warning if you try to capture an invalid ship. But maybe not (I don't play Pirate at the moment) and it might just be if you try to launch a deed.

It's displayed in the Captured Deed's tooltip. Right below the line where it will say "You must be a Pirate", it will says
"This is a captured class specific ship that will flag you for PvP.
Invalid Ship: Cutthroat"

[Branko_de_Brus]

It's a invalid ship for pirates (it is displayed in the deed info, says "you will be flagged for pvp"). Most hauling ships are invalid for cutthroats, and indiamen are invalid for Bucaneers. Captured ships of the line are also invalid for pirates.

If I remember correctly, you were semi-afk stuck into a coast and you had 3 other players helping you by joining in the fight, one of which was level 24. It was actually an interesting fight

[Alcarondas]

Originally Posted by shadman1972 I *think* I was in the Limberg Flute when it happened, and I've since learned that's one of these so-called perma flagged ships. The same thing happened again today, and this time I was in a Atlas Bark. I'm assuming this is perma-flagged too.

I understand you're a new player, and there is a huge learning curve to this game, especially if you're not familiar with sailing ships but... wow.

From a Limburg to an Atlas? Those are by far the weakest, slowest, worst-handling ships in their level ranges. I'll chalk it up to just bad luck that you ended up with these two cargo tubs when what you needed was a good combat ship.

By directing you to his awesome spreadsheet, Remus put you on the right track. If you're not handy with Excel, you can also use the ship comparison tool at potbs-companion.net - it lets you sort the ships by dozens of different criteria and stats. It's not always as up-to-date as Remus's work, but it will quickly give you a good grasp of what the different ship types are for, and what their strengths and weaknesses are.

Generally speaking, the ship families are:

Sloop/Schooner - Small, light basic ships with balanced abilities
Skuda/Ketch - Small merchant ships with some combat ability
Cutter/Corvette - Light, nimble combat-focused ships
Snow/Brig - Square-rigged ships that are generally rugged and sail well downwind
Flute/Bark/Galleon - Cargo ships with poor speed and handling and weak guns
Indiaman - Cargo ships with better weapons, armor and performance
Xebec/Polacre - Fast attack ships with good handling and firepower, but weak armor
Frigate - Warships and that are slower but well armed and armored
Lineships/Rates - Huge warships with heavy armor and many guns but poor handling
"Refit" - A ship that has been modified to make it much more powerful than normal

There are exceptions in each case, but those are the basics.

For doing missions and other PvE things, your best bet is to use sloops or ketches up to Level 12 or so, and snows or brigs through the teens. From there on, stick with frigates the rest of the way. As a Cutthroat, you can steal a new ship every 2 hours, so just stay in one that's near your level and you should be fine. If you prefer lighter, faster (but flimsy) ships go with xebecs and poleacres.

As others noted, pay attention to the buff/debuff icons under your health bar. If you are open to PvP, there will be an icon there to warn you of that fact.