War

Declaring War

A flag's royalty may declare war on any other flag. If the other flag reciprocates the declaration than a state of open war exists between both of them.

Effects of War

Island Embargo

When a flag declares war, its enemy's ships are embargoed from all islands owned by the flag. The embargoed ships may not port at those islands. (Note that the embargo is easily circumvented by transferring the ship deeds to other flags or to flagless crews.)

Sinking PvP

When both flags have declared war, the biggest effect is sinking PvP. In a PvP sea battle between two ships at war, the rules are different than regular PvP. If one ship maximizes the other's damage, then the damaged ship sinks and is gone forever. If the ships grapple, the winner of the swordfight takes the entire contents of the loser's hold except for five units of rum.

Even at war, might rings still apply. Attacking a substantially weaker ship can result in getting the black ship. A clever opponent will wait for the attacker to finish being crushed by the black ship and then move in for the kill.

When two flags are at war with each other, their enemy's ships will have a red outline at sea and in port.

Cessation of War

A state of war lasts indefinitely. It can end in one of two ways. First, both sides can declare a truce, ending the war immediately. Second, one flag can offer a truce and then wait seven days.

There is currently a bug where the enemy ships stop being red if one side offers a truce. Nevertheless, ships can still be sunk during PvP.

Blockades & War

War declarations tie into the blockade system. To blockade a colonized island, a flag must first declare war on the island's owner. Once the war chest has been paid, the attacker's declaration of war cannot be rescinded until 72 hours after the blockade ends.

If the island owner reciprocates the war declaration, the blockade will be sinking. Thus, the decision to have a sinking blockade must be weighed against the possibility of up to seven days of sinking PvP.