NPC Vessels | Sailing Times Between Sosarian Cities

Shipborne Travel and Adventure, by Daedalus Rising; edited by Xena Dragon

Updated by Petra Fyde, October 2010

Buying a Ship | Launching & Boarding | Navigation | Security | In Combat

Does the sea call out to you? Does the pounding surf tease you from your dreams, filling your mind with visions of strange and distant lands? If so, then you may be looking to explore the seas — and in order to do that, you’ll need a ship.

In this guide, you’ll find all you need to know of ship ownership and maintenance.

Is There A Ship in Your Future?

So, you’re looking to sail the high seas? Before buying that ship, you may want to ask yourself what kind of use you’re hoping to get out of your new purchase. If you’re planning to use it primarily for “cheap storage”, then you might want to reconsider. The need for regular refreshing may mean that you have a difficult time keeping your sea bound storage locker from decaying away on you. Boats decay at the same rate as falling houses, should your vessel suffer this fate you must discard or overmark any runes associated with it. The runes do not distinguish between dry docked and decayed and can prevent the launching of a new boat.

What are some other reasons for buying a ship, then? You may wish to hunt for sunken treasure or undertake some peaceful fishing trips, delivering cargo for the fishmonger’s on shore, you may see yourself hunting down pirates, or you may even be a pirate, hunting down the peaceful merchants sailing the seas.

Buying a Ship

Heck yes, I want to sail the world and kill things! Where do I sign up?

You can start at the provisoner’s, or the buildings near the town docks — you’re looking for a “shipwright”. You can buy a classic ship from the shipwright for around 12-15k, depending on the size (small, medium or large) The shipwrights on Sea Market will also offer Tokuno or Gargoyle ships at a cost of 150 – 200k or a simple rowboat for around 7k. Tokuno ships can also be bought from Zento dock on Makoto Jima Island. Traditional sailing vessels also offer a choice between regular ships (on which you may find it a bit easier to see over the bow), and dragon ships (they have a carved dragon placed on the front of the ship). Large classic ships hold a few more people on them at once, while smaller ships are a bit easier to dock.

Traditional Sailing Vessels
Ship	People	Hold Size	Cost	Description
Small Ship	12	400 Stones	12,500 GP	This is the smallest ship available, it is highly maneuverable, especially in crowded ports. A great ship if you want to travel alone or with a few friends, but with anymore than a few it is quite a tight fit. However if it is just you and your cargo this makes a fine ship. (Siege Price: 91,581 GP [Varies per town])
Small Dragon Ship	12	400 Stones	12,500 GP	Similar to the small standard ship in size and performance, however the prominent dragon head on the prow shows that this ship is built for war. (Siege Price: 91,581 GP [Varies per town])
Medium Ship	15	400 Stones	14,200 GP	This is the typical midsize ship. It is a good blend of maneuverability, and room. A great ship if you want to bring a small to medium adventuring party to Hythloth and bring back a few loads of treasure. This ship is also good for shipping large amounts of ore or ingots from the more remote mountains to the cities. (Siege Price: 103,956 GP [Varies per town])
Med. Dragon Ship	15	400 Stones	14,200 GP	Similar to the medium standard ship in size and performance, however the prominent dragon head on the prow shows that this ship is built for war. (Siege Price: 103,956 GP [Varies per town])
Large Ship	18	400 Stones	15,900 GP	If you need to ferry large numbers of people or great quantities of cargo, this is the ship for you. Ideal for a crossing to Terra Sanctum. (Siege Price: 116,331 GP [Varies per town])
Large Dragon Ship	18	400 Stones	15,900 GP	Similar to the large standard ship in size and performance, however the prominent dragon head on the prow shows that this ship is built for war.(Siege Price: 116,331 GP [Varies per town])
“People” indicates how many individual tiles compose the ship’s deck (tiles being the map squares that characters occupy)–the tillerman is not counted. Prices are approximates and may vary due to economic conditions, etc. Sorted by size.

Tall Ships
Ship	Hold Size	Turn Delay	Drift Speed	Durability	Cannons	Cannon Damage
Tokuno Boat	16k Stones	3	3	100K	5	100%
Gargoyle Boat	12k Stones	1	1	140k	7	100%
Orc Boat	14k Stones	2	1	100k	7	150%
Britannia Boat	28k stones	?	?	?	9	?
Fishing or lobster fishing from a Tokuno Boat gives a +1 to fishing skillfactor.

Orc Boat

This unusual vessel can only be obtained by collecting the plan to construct it. There are 8 pieces to the plan, they are rare rewards from Bigglesby’s Pirate Quests

Britannia Boat

This extremely large ship is obtained via donations to the Britain Library Collection. In addition to 9 cannon placements, a Britannia Boat has 2 placement spots for house add ons. These may include:

• a small forge
• an elven forge
• an anvil (east or south)
• a small soulforge
• a pickpocket dip (east or south)
• a training dummy (east or south)
• a spinning wheel (east or south)
• an elven spinning wheel (east or south)
• an elven oven (east or south)
• a warrior statue (east or south)
• an arcanist statue (east or south)
• a squirrel statue (east or south)
• a parrot perch
• a captains wheel

While you’re at the seamarket, you’ll also want to pick up a “Map of the World” from the mapmaker. This will make shipboard navigation much, much easier. You may also wish to buy some smaller, more detailed maps as well (like a map for Ocllo, a map for Britain, etc). These maps make it easier to land exactly where you wish, but aren’t really necessary.

A Sextant from the tinker’s shop is also a useful acquisition. A sextant will give you your exact position in the world with a simple double-click … some people swear by the devices, for they come in handy if you get lost while at sea. And it’s easy to get lost at sea, because if you lose connection while on board you don’t know what shore you’re going to end up on when you reconnect. (to truly know where you are, enter the sextant location into the zoomable map)

Launching and Boarding Your New Ship

I have the deed for my ship, now what?

The docks are generally full (and may be totally blocked off from the sea), so your best bet is usually to troll the shoreline for an unobstructed spot to launch you ship from. After you find a safe spot with an unobstructed path to the open sea, double-click on the deed and select the direction you want the ship to face from the gump

(this may take a few tries, if the shoreline is rugged).

When you finish launching your ship, you will find a key (for a classic ship), or a rune (for a tall ship) in your pack (and another in your bank vault).
Your ship key may be used to enter your ship by double-clicking on the key, and targeting the plank location. This is next to the mast; there is one on each side. Once the plank has been unlocked, you can double-click on the plank to lower it. After lowering the plank, you are then free to jump up onto the ship (even from a great distance away — you don’t have to be right next to the ship). To board a tall ship double click on one of the ropes coiled on the deck. Boarding a boat via the plank or mooring line also refreshes the boat and its contents.

Alternatively you can simply cast recall, gate or sacred journey and target the master key in your backpack. You will then recall onto the deck of your boat. Sailors with little magery skill may wish to carry a few recall scrolls just for that.
A ship rune may be dropped into a runebook. (interesting note, the color of the text in the rune book will change dependent on which facet the boat is on when you recall to it)

The Tillerman

This permanent crew member has two different context menus. When accessed from ashore he will offer the option to dry dock the ship, when aboard he offers a chance to rename or repair the ship on a classic boat, with the additional option to set security or move the tillerman on a tall ship. Mouse over reveals the decay and damage state of the vessel

Customizing

Having named your ship, you may also decide to give it a coat of paint, or two, or even three. Boat paint is bought from a boat painter, found on Sea Market.  Each tub of paint will cover the boat once, subsequent tubs will deepen the color, up to a maximum of three. The grey paint being the exception. Five coats of this can be applied, giving an almost black boat. The boat painter also sells paint remover if you are unhappy with the results.  Sea air is harsh and causes paint to fade (by one shade). You will need to re-apply every 2 weeks to maintain your ship’s chosen color.

Navigation

To move the ship, you have three options:

1. By giving the tillerman direction Commands These can be set to macros for ease of movement.
2. By charting a course on a “Map of the World” (or, if you prefer, a close-in detail map). These can be written by players or bought from npc mapmakers. Double-click on your map to open it, then click on the “Plot course” text along the top. Take a look at your current position, and where you want to go — and then plot a course. Be sure to avoid all the major islands, and be prepared to take control of the ship manually when you hit any kind of obstacle (Dolphin, water elemental, sea serpent, bouy)  Each pin that you stick in the map is a position to which your tillerman will sail. You should try to stick as few pins in the map as possible, while still charting a course that will take you around anything which would obstruct your ship’s progress. (Note: When charting a course you do not need to set a pin at your current location, you only need to set pins where you want your ship to go).
   After the course is set, hand your map to the tillerman. This will make him very, very happy. He may even decide to tell you a story or two. You should do your best to ignore him (remember, he’s invulnerable. Can’t be killed).
   Once he has been given a map, there are several ways to control the tillerman (again, see the commands section). The easiest way is simply to tell him to “start”. The tillerman will do his best to make it to your final destination, travelling to each of the map points in turn. If he gets stuck, you will have to take control manually for a while and work your way around the obstacle. Once past it, you may resume your course by simply telling him to “continue”.
   Once the tillerman has set on a course, you should not “clear” the map and attempt to chart a new course. This will cause the tillerman to forget where he’s going.
3. Take hold of the wheel (double click) and steer the boat yourself using your mouse. This method is the only one avaliable for rowboats, as these do not have a tillerman.

Security

Security on classic ships simply consists of keeping the plank locked with the key, but on tall ships setting the group security levels, and viewing/editing the Access List, are done via the Tillerman’s context menu. You may grant or deny access to your ship to the public, to members of your party, to members of your guild, and to specific characters.

For each group access there are 4 available settings:

• N/A: This setting does not grant or deny privileges aboard the ship
• DENY ACCESS: revokes all privileges aboard the ship, overriding all other permissions
• PASSENGER: allows boarding the ship using the mooring lines or by recall/gate travel
• CREW: allows operation of the ship’s weapons and piloting the ship
• OFFICER: allows access to the cargo hold, and installation or dismantling of weaponry.
• CAPTAIN: grants all privileges, including dry docking and changing security settings.

Adding an indivdual to the Access List is done via their context menu, this opens the third page of the boat security menu. Only those in the explicit access list can be set to CAPTAIN

Multiple security settings may apply to specific characters. In these cases, if any matching setting is “Deny Access” then that character is not allowed any access to the ship. Otherwise, that character receives the highest applicable level of access. For example, if you allow members of your guild Passenger access and members of your party Crew access, then a member of your guild who is also in your party will be considered Crew.

If you set Public to DENY ACCESS then ONLY the OWNER may access the ship. This setting even denies access to those in the access list who are given CAPTAIN access.

The maximum setting allowed for any group is OFFICER.

For classic ships, if you have a key then you are considered OWNER. Otherwise, you are considered PASSENGER.

Rowboats copy their security settings from the ship owned by the placer of the rowboat, but only when the rowboat is placed on the same subserver as that ship. Otherwise, they get default security settings.

When a ship is drydocked and placed back, it will retain its security settings, but will change ownershp to the person who last placed the ship. Anyone who holds a drydocked ship can place the ship and put it in the water, regardless of security settings (i.e. security settings do not apply at all to drydocked ships!)

Combat Situations

Security

When ships are severely damaged, it becomes impossible to deny access. The effective minimum security level becomes PASSENGER when in Trammel ruleset areas and OFFICER when in Felucca ruleset areas (e.g. in a PvP battle the victor can come aboard and raid your cargo hold and steal your cannons). The DENY ACCESS setting no longer applies in any case (even explicit individual bans) when the ship is immobilized!

Damage

During combat all types of ships take damage, this can be repaired via the tillerman’s context menu and requires wood and cloth. Less resources are consumed if the character undertaking the repair has carpentry skill. Damage levels are ‘slightly’, ‘moderately’, ‘heavily’ ‘severely’. An undamaged ship shows its condition as ‘pristine’.

There are two levels of repair, emergency repairs can be carried out at sea, a ‘scuppered’ vessel is immobile until such repairs are undertaken. The boat must return to shore in order to make permanent repairs.

Damaged tall ships have the following graphics:

• A slight – moderately damaged Tokuno Ship
• A slight – moderately damaged Gargoyle Ship
• A slight – moderately damaged Orc Ship
• A heavily – severely damaged Tokuno Ship
• A heavily – severely damaged Gargoyle Ship
• A heavily – severely damaged Orc Ship

When severely damaged your tillerman will cheerfully inform you that the vessel is ‘scuppered’, at this point you may be boarded by the attacking forces.

To fight off invading forces you will need Cannons

Sea Market Parking

Control rules are as follows, if your boat is at the dock for 20 minutes your boat will automatically be teleported past the bouys that are placed on the outer edge of the Sea Market region. Your boat will not teleport if a players is aboard, standing on your boat for one minute will refresh the timer.

Reaching Lost Lands

Lost lands are accessed through the Serpent’s Pillars. Coordinates and passwords can be found here

Tracking

Finding other ships if you are hunting pirates, or if you are a pirate hunting prey, is not easy on the open sea. The command ‘start tracking’ will track up to 5  nearby ships for a period of 1 minute.

Harbormaster
Harbormasters have two options on their context menu

• Ship Recall Rune – for a fee of 100gp you will be provided with a new rune for your ship if you have misplaced the original
• Abandon Ship – Abandoning your ship will cause the ship to decay within 5 minutes if there are no players on the ship.
• Once your ship has decayed discard or overmark any runes associated with it, you will then be able to place a new ship.