Raging Tides is now in full swing, and it is time to bring some additional improvements to the game.

With Update 1.3, we bring a host of much-requested quality-of-life gameplay improvements and fixes, while addressing key issues reported by the Skull and Bones community and improving the player experience.

Highlights

Extension of Season 1

• Season 1 is extended by a week, and will now last for a total of 13 weeks.

Voice & Text Chat

• We re-enabled group voice chat, group text chat and world text chat.

Dev note: We've previously disabled voice and text chat as it was causing major stability issues. We have fixed the underlying technical issue and have observed no major stability impacts relating game to voice & text chat so far in internal tests, and we are confident in re-enabling group voice and group/world text chat again as part of this update.

Open-world PVP

Dev note: Outside of the regular event modes, this is one of the first ways you can engage in PVP with others in the open world. In the future, we hope to expand upon the use of the PVP Flags.

• Players can now opt-in for Open World PVP through the Set Sail screen before embarking from outposts and dens.
  • Turn the PVP FLAG ON to engage in combat with other players that also have their PVP flag on anywhere out at sea, even outside PVP activities.
  • PVP FLAG ON players (and their current kill streak) can be identified by a red skull icon beside their profile names.
  • Hitting a group mate also with PVP ON will damage them (friendly fire).
  • PVP FLAG ON players are unable to deal damage to players with PVP OFF and vice versa, except if they are both participating in a common PVP activity e.g Cutthroat Cargo, etc.
  • While players have PVP FLAG ON, they can see all other players with PVP FLAG ON as a red arrow on the map.
  • Ship Rank of players is ignored during PVP combat in Open World PVP.

Dev note: With the introduction of Open-World PVP, we also wanted to take the opportunity to improve the PVP experience and fine-tune some of the mechanics based on player feedback and data that we have with regards to PVP activities.

Additional PVP changes

• Updated matchmaking criteria to account for the last-selected PVP FLAG ON/OFF preference when attempting to match players together. Players that are more inclined to PVP will have a higher likelihood of being matched to the same server, and vice versa.

• Updated damage matrices for PVP damage and repair (affects all PVP, including Open-world PVP, Cutthroat Cargo, and Helm Wager).

• Added UI feedback for when a player target cannot be repaired by another player.

Gameplay Updates

Combat

• Improved the visual clarity of the rocket aiming reticle.

• Reduced the duration of Torn Sails effects from Brigantine's Bullhorn perk from 80% to 40%.

• Increased the duration of Torn Sails for players to 10s.

• Increased the slow multiplier of Torn Sails for players from 0.5s to 0.66s.

• The following Gear Score changes have been made to make it easier to reach Ship Rank 12 with a wider variety of builds:

  • Gear score threshold to reach SR12 reduced from 1670 to 1630.
  • Base ship rank points of Padewakang & Snow ships increased from 560 to 570.
  • Gear Score of Common Tier 5 weapons increased from 90 to 95.
  • Gear Score of Uncommon Tier 3 weapons increased from 98 to 105.
  • Gear Score of Rare Tier 5 weapons increased from 105 to 110.
  • Gear Score of Scurlock's Long Nines, Al Rammah's Legacy increased from 110 to 120.
  • Gear Score of Carronade, Blue Specter increased from 120 to 125.
  • Gear Score of Auxiliary Uncommon Tier 3 weapons increased from 120 to 125.
  • Gear Score of Auxiliary Rare Tier 3 weapons increased from 53 to 54.
  • Gear Score of Auxiliary Epic weapons increased from 55 to 56.

Activities & Events

Dev note: Previously, Cutthroat Cargo was one of the few ways players could be exposed to PVP activities. Hence it was designed to be an accessible PVP game mode. With the Open-world PVP now available, we are making Cutthroat Cargo fairer by restricting fast travel and participation after the activity has started.

Cutthroat Cargo:

• Players can now only opt-in to the activity during the pre-activity countdown period; players are unable to opt-in after the activity has started.

• Participants are now unable to fast travel during the active period of the activity.

• The target outpost destination can only be viewed by participants.

• Removed the speed debuff for the Cutthroat Cargo carrier.

Helm Wager:

• Removed the speed debuff for the Helm Wager carrier.
• Only full manufactories (100%) will now offer a chance (15%) to trigger Helm Wager.
  • Dev Note: Our goal with this change is to ensure Helm Wagers are triggered only when players have a significant amount of Pieces of Eight in their cargo, and increase the risk vs reward aspect of Helm Wagers as an activity.

Legendary Heist:

• Increased chances of Legendary Heists opportunity spawning.

• The Manufactory that is rewarded after a successful Legendary Heist is no longer restricted to the region where the Heist takes place. However, only Manufactories from unlocked regions will be awarded.

La Peste:

• Reduced damage dealt by explosive minion ships of La Peste to La Peste himself.

  • Dev Note: A rebalance was done as the damage dealt to La Peste from the minion ships was higher than expected. The option to use the minion ship against La Peste remains a viable strategy for players to utilise.

• Added recommended ship rank and recommended number of players to the map panels for high difficulty activities and events.

The Helm

• Opportunities will continue to be generated for players that have owned all Manufactories.

• Increased funding duration and storage space.

Contracts

• A Shipwrecked Soul - Added Rogue ambushers.

  • Dev Note: We fixed a couple of unintended behaviours related to this contract, please see details below in the 'Bugfixes' section.

• Brokered Ground - Reduced number of caches required to be delivered from 3 to 1.

• Brokered Ground - Added a new step to collect the reports from Lanitra.

• Moonsmoke Queen - Reduced damage and health of General Van Kinckel's ship.

  • Dev Note: Van Kinckle as the final main contract boss was far too difficult to complete as a solo contract and became a point of frustration even with the Unbound Support. We have reduced the damage and health since to make it more accessible.

• Tools of the Trade - Added a new low level gatherer ship that drops Acacia near Sainte Anne.

  • Dev Note: In response to the lack of acacia spawn points around Sainte-Anne, players can hunt this ship with a hunting spear to fulfill requirements for the contract.

Inventory & Trade

• Changed the default 'Open' behaviour for silver pouches and chests to open all pouches/chests in the stack.

• Adjusted outpost vendors' store inventories to be persistent across different servers and different platforms.

• Added an option for players to 'Cycle Inventory' while in NPC shops in outposts and dens, allowing players to buy and sell items directly from their warehouse.

UI

• Activity invitations will no longer be shown when players are already in an existing activity.

• Delayed activity notifications in several menus (e.g. Set Sail, interaction with settlements, NPC, Store).

  • Dev note: We're aware that more can be done to address overlapping notifications in menus. We're introducing these quick changes while we work on a long-term solution.

• Added signs and feedback when approaching or spyglassing a depleted resource node.

• Prevented objective tracker from automatically closing if the player manually opened it for various activities.

• Added settings for hiding HUD elements, including: Quick Action Wheel widget, interaction prompts, stamina gauge, hostility indicator, all HUD.

• Removed the 'Report Player' button in Voyage Ended screen.

  • Dev note: Based on player reports and data, we deemed that this option was being abused in some scenarios, leading to unfair bans. Players are still able to report players for legitimate reasons through the social menu.

World

• Reduced the wind rotation speed and frequency. Wind now rotates by 15 degrees over 10 seconds, at an interval of 180s.

• Increased the damage and firing frequency of DMC fort towers.

• Increased the loot obtained from Megafort Oosten.

Additional Updates and Bugfixes

Graphics

• Improved DLSS quality on NVIDIA graphics cards.

Activities & Events

• Fixed an issue where La Peste events could spawn close to Sainte Anne.

• Fixed an issue where Zamaharibu could not be killed in some scenarios.

• Fixed an issue where Kuharibu is unable to move normally if it's being attacked repeatedly.

Audio

• Fixed an issue where footsteps' audio was only audible on the left side of headphones.

• Fixed an issue where ship crew would incorrectly play a line indicating that the player's cargo is full.

• Fixed an issue where placeholder voices could be heard when players spyglasses a Padewakang.

Combat

• Fixed an issue where Greek Fire could unintentionally trigger the weakpoint damage multiplier multiple times.

Contracts

• Fixed an issue where players may be unable to interact with the Distillery during the 'A Tight Ship' contract.

• Fixed an issue where non-leader players playing in a group could get stuck in a dialogue without UI when the group leader finishes the 'A Seaworthy Ship' contract.

• Fixed an issue where non-leader players playing in a group would be rendered unable to accept contracts if they close the game and rejoin the group from the main menu.

• Fixed an issue where 'Liaisons' and 'Attacks' tabs were missing in the Supply Network menu when the player begins the 'Sink or Swim' contract.

• Fixed an issue where players were unable to interact with Houma in the "Hoist the Mizzen" contract.

• Fixed an issue with the 'A Shipwrecked Soul' contract where players could continue to receive goal rewards even though the goal was completed.

• Fixed an issue with the 'A Shipwrecked Soul' contract where players were unable to interact with Lada after harvesting shipwrecks.

• Fixed an issue where contract items for some seasonal contracts were lost upon dying, leading to contract failure ('The African Ailment', 'Peste Control', 'The Pursuing Plague', 'The Encroaching Epidemic').

• Fixed an issue where Step 3 of the contract 'The Devil's Gambit' is being locked from completion if a player joins a prior Fort-du-Lys plunder after Stage 4 has already been completed.

• Fixed an issue where the player's camera could be stuck within the ship in certain conditions during the 'The Devil's Gambit' contract.

• Fixed an issue where players were unable to proceed in the 'Moonsmoke Queen' contract after destroying General Van Kinckel in some scenarios.

• Fixed an issue where the Plaguebringer Captain's Head was being automatically added to the Cargo during the 'Peste Control' contract in some situations.

Controls

• Fixed an issue where players' character and ship could move automatically when using a controller.

• Fixed an issue where the player's walk mode could reset from Toggle to Hold after interacting with an NPC.

Graphics

• Fixed an issue where the lighting abruptly changes after leaving the interaction with Yanita.

• Fixed an issue where some hull colors would disable emissive effects on sails.

• Fixed an issue where equipping sail cosmetics on the Snow caused visual issues on the sails.

• Fixed an issue where ship wheels could visually clip with ship elements on the 'Crew looks' screen in the ship cosmetics menu.

The Helm

• Fixed an issue where the upgrade "Efficient Shipping" was wrongly applying bonus additively rather than the intended multiplicative bonus on each trade route bonus.

  • Dev Note: This fix will significantly reduce the bonus applied to manufactories linked by a or multiple trade routes with this upgrade. Where previously, the bonus obtained from the upgrade was added on top of existing trade route bonus (g 5% trade route bonus + 50% upgrade bonus = 55% bonus total), now the upgrade bonus will be applied to the trade route bonus directly (e.g 5% trade route bonus x 50% upgrade bonus = 7.5% total bonus)

• Fixed an issue where non-Kingpin players were able to progress past the 'Growing Ambitions' contract and access content earlier than intended.

• Fixed an issue where the Empire Management menu was not available while affected players were stuck on the step "Progress with Yanita to unlock".

• Fixed an issue where players could be locked out of the Empire Management menu after rebooting the game.

• Fixed an issue where Rogue ambush ships were dropping slightly less loot than intended.

• Fixed an issue with long loading after players back out from Yanita's conversation after fulfilling certain conditions.

• Fixed an issue where Pieces of Eight were not received when sinking smuggler ships while having an active Order.

• Fixed an issue where Sovereigns were not being awarded from the Seasonal Leaderboard in some situations.

• Fixed an issue where excessive amounts of Helm materials were acquired after sinking roving supply ships.

• Fixed an issue where players were unable to proceed with Helm Contracts because a Manufactory that has already been owned before is required in the next objective.

• Fixed an issue where the distillery timer resets and players receive the finished product immediately when they encounter a network disconnection.

Items & Equipment

• Fixed an issue where the blueprint description for Port Powder Kegs and Bracing Furnace were showing incorrect stat values.

• Fixed an issue where players were unable to pick up treasure maps.

  • For players who had treasure maps stuck in other ships, these maps will be moved to the players cargo up to a limit of 5 maps.

• Fixed an issue where players' treasure map quantity would become abnormally large.

• Fixed an issue where treasure maps that were taken out of player trade would not show up in the inventory.

• Fixed an issue where maps appear to consume slots in player trade and quantity selection screens.

• Fixed an issue where several furniture incorrectly had a weight of 1.

• Fixed an issue where Helm commodities were not correctly transferred when players attempted to transfer an amount of Helm Commodities that would exceed the inventory limit from the warehouse.

• Fixed an issue where Rum was not correctly added to the inventory upon collecting Rum from the Distillery.

• Fixed an issue where the Helm Wager chest does not appear in the inventory when the player possesses 5 Treasure Maps upon initiating a Helm Wager.

• Fixed an issue where players could get kicked from the game server after performing an inventory action.

UI

• Fixed an issue where players could get stuck if they fast travel to any outpost through the map after interacting with the Smuggler Pass NPC.

• Fixed an issue where players were unable to interact with anything after fast travelling.

• Fixed an issue where the Store could be accessed even though it has not been unlocked by the player.

• Fixed an issue where players could be redirected to the wrong menu tab when selecting an option to buy the premium Smuggler Pass.

• Fixed an issue where the incorrect currency was displayed when attempting to purchase a Premium Smuggler Pass bundle.

• Fixed an issue where incorrect information was shown for the Action Wheel tutorial in the codex.

• Fixed an issue where the Seasonal Reset timer in the Leaderboards tab and the Upgrades tab were displaying different countdown durations.

• Fixed an issue where players could purchase more Smuggler Marks from the store than they could use to complete Smuggler Pass tracks.

• Fixed an issue where players could see an active Interact prompt for settlements but were unable to interact with them due to non-faction AI combat.

• Fixed an issue where players were seeing a 'Visit Store' message for items already purchased in the ship cosmetics menu.

• Fixed an issue where debug text was shown when selecting some vanity items in the ship cosmetics menu.

• Fixed an issue where the rarity was incorrectly being shown for some Vanity Items in the Black Market.

• Fixed an issue where the infamy lock tabs were overlapping with other options when players select the 'Provide Material' option and return to the previous menu at the Refinery.

• Fixed an issue where a 'Boarding successful' message remains on screen.

• Fixed an issue where players were unable to fast travel immediately after abandoning a Supply Network opportunity.

• Fixed an issue where La Peste's portrait was missing from the spyglass panel.

• Fixed an issue where the compass would be missing when players spawn or disconnect while in the Atolls.

• Fixed an issue where some players could not accept contracts in the Atolls after disconnecting.

• Fixed an issue where equipment comparison arrows were sometimes not updated when entering the screen.

• Fixed an issue where a low-resolution ship icon was shown on the 'Change Ship' pop-up when players craft the 'Barque' ship.

• Fixed an issue where the Supply Network & Order Registry map disappears at maximum zoom level.

• Fixed an issue where objective descriptions were missing for multiple Vendor and Regional contracts.

• Fixed an issue where placeholder text was present in some cases in the mailbox.

• Fixed an issue where Sovereign prices of some vanity items were incorrectly displayed in the Vanity Atelier and Shipwright.

World

• Fixed an issue where players could be kicked from the server when transitioning from Atolls to Sainte Anne.

• Fixed an issue where Rogue Waves could spawn very close to land.

• Fixed the periodic rotation of makeshift faction camps.

  • Dev note: We previously disabled this feature as we encountered an issue where it was causing a major server crash. This has since been fixed, and we are ready to re-enable the feature.

Other fixes

• Fixed an issue where the 'poor network' icon would be shown more often than intended.

• Fixed an issue where PlayStation trophies could not be re-earned and unlocked after meeting their requirements during the Free Trial.

• Fixed an issue where some players could not access their ships after crashing.

• Fixed various gameplay exploits.

• Fixed various crashes.

• Fixed various performance-related issues and performance/frame-rate optimizations.

Changes in previous versions

The following changes were introduced with previous server maintenances:

• Pieces of Eight can now be collected by players while they are under faction hostility.

• Scaled difficulty of rogue ambush ships by spawning higher ship ranks if players carry a high amount of Pieces of Eight.

The following issues were fixed with previous server maintenances:

• Fixed an issue where players were sometimes unable to proceed in the 'Nose for Business' contract.

• Fixed an issue where players were sometimes unable to proceed in the 'A Covert Initiation' contract.

• Fixed an issue where players were unable to proceed in the 'Under a Storm' contract if they already had the required equipment equipped before reaching a specific step in the contract.

• Fixed an issue where players were unable to retrieve loot after hunting any wildlife at sea.

• Fixed an issue where Helm Wagers would target Sainte Anne or Telok Penjarah as the destination.

• Fixed an issue where Rogue and La Peste ambushers were more aggressive than intended.

• Fixed an issue where the Death Mark notification was being broadcasted to other players in the server.

• Fixed an issue where players did not receive infamy rewards in the mail.

  • Affected players should receive the appropriate mail/items in their inventory after the patch.

• Fixed an issue where players could get kicked form the game server after performing an inventory action.

• Fixed an issue where bounty chests could sometimes not be opened.