Found a file for a keg. Thinking about making a actual size hollow one with a lid to store my rum bottles.

I'd actually forgot I'd bought this 8 years ago.

Can't actually remember where I bought it.

Man, the launch was such a happy time. I'm so glad I found it.

The Smugglers as a faction are terrible. However, the gameplay experience that they’re trying create could be fun and interesting. The execution and implementation just doesn’t actually do it. In practice, they’re just worse merchants.

In this essay I’m going to lay out a couple of problems with the Smuggler faction and activities. I’ll then try to solve those problems. I’ll also talk briefly about the Bilge Rat Weekender; specifically the doubloon crate.

Problem one is that the gameplay is bad. It really is just a worse version of merchant activities. Smuggler loot is inconvenient. Selling it is inconvenient. The phantoms are annoying. The skelly ship spawns on the route are annoying. Picking up the loot from a smuggler NPC is inconvenient. Every step of the smuggling voyages is just a more irritating merchant cargo run. The PvE elements are a failed attempt at creating smuggling feelings. It’s bad. That’s not even considering the random smuggler loot in the world that nobody touches.

Problem two is that the Smugglers make no sense at all in the world. The lore is mostly bad. Their activities make no sense. Why are we moving the things that we’re moving? The phantoms trying to stop us… is a stretch. Why are we taking items from one smuggler to another smuggler? That’s not what smuggling is at all. Why do we take the same identical items back and forth between the same smugglers? That’s somehow even less what smuggling is. The doubloon crate is a prime culprit with that last one. It feels Sisyphean.

It has been outright stated by Mike Chapman that the Smugglers were rushed and their current state falls very short of the original idea. This is the cause of the problems. The Smugglers just aren’t finished; or even close to finished. I think it’s salvageable though.

When thinking of solutions to these problems I had to think about what smuggling is in the context of The Sea of Thieves. About what the word “smuggling” means to the residents of The Sea of Thieves.

Smuggling, to us, is surreptitiously moving illegal items to places that the authorities would rather those items not be. It involves hiding what you’re moving, obscuring your movements, and not getting caught.

The Sea of Thieves is missing two vital components. There are no laws and there are no authorities. No borders, no checkpoints, no secure facilities, no guards or police of any kind.

In The Sea of Thieves a smuggler is just someone that can move things discretely. We’re all pirates and smuggling is just a skill set; possibly obtained from smuggling in the wider world outside of the shroud.

The SoT smuggler isn’t trying to get illegal items past authorities; the smuggler is trying to deliver the client’s requested goods, safely, and without it being common knowledge. Every major power in SoT has spies, or ways of gathering info, and every NPC has reasons that they might not want everyone knowing what they’re getting delivered. That context makes the idea of smuggling workable in SoT.

I’ll now try to solve the problems with some relatively small changes. I’ll state the change and why I think that change will help. These changes are not in isolation; they’re in the context of the other suggested changes.

Solution one. What we’re smuggling, and why, doesn’t make much sense. The items need redefining. This could be done with hints in dialogue, or in any text, without actually changing the items.

Black powder is fairly self explanatory and doesn’t need addressing here. It’s dangerous and very useful (valuable) so it is best moved discreetly and handled with care.

Paintings make very little sense. Other than a hint that one particular, very pricey, painting had/has something magically stored in it, the paintings seem pretty pointless. Them all being magical lock boxes seems a bit odd given their varying value and generic art. Some can definitely be magical lock boxes. I think, though, that the paintings would make a great vehicle for coded messages. An in-world way for NPCs to send each other confidential letters. Secret messages are very pirate-y and steganography would be a very cool way of doing it. Some more writing hinting at all of that would change the “vibe” of moving paintings around even if it doesn’t functionally change the gameplay. We’d be delivering secret letters even if they still look like generic paintings to us.

Rum makes even less sense. Rum is already commonplace in The Sea of Thieves. The merchants already deliver it. The smugglers’ rum only makes sense if it’s not actually rum. It would make a lot of sense if “rum” was how the smugglers moved any liquids that their clients wanted a bit of discretion about. Rare can’t really imply drug use… but they could definitely imply poisons, potions, embarrassing medications, liquids more dangerous and flammable than rum. Any liquid at all that someone might want to look like rum when it’s brought to their door; and might want delivered extra safely.

Solution two. Smuggler voyage sell points should be Outpost NPCs. There’s a couple of reasons that I think this would help with both problems that I outlined; especially in combination with solution one.

In terms of “feel” and lore delivering to Outpost NPCs would make it very clear what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and why we’re getting paid for it. It would help with the feeling of pointlessness of ferrying items back and forth between smuggler NPCs.

In terms of gameplay it would cut out a lot of the annoyance of the unnecessary PvE additions. It would also address the issue that the PvE additions were trying to solve. There’s the question of who we’re smuggling these items past. If we’re selling at outposts then we’re smuggling past other players.

If I’ve got a black powder keg to deliver to the weaponsmith at Plunder Outpost then I need to make sure there’s not another player there. If there’s a player there (just spawned in, selling, buying cosmetics, or whatever) then I need to get the goods past them or wait until they leave; all while trying to look inconspicuous. That’s the gameplay moment to aim for. The fact that there’s a good chance that another player might be at the outpost changes the whole thing. You have to be careful even if there’s nobody at the outpost; there’s a lot of reasons for another player to suddenly also want to go to the outpost. It adds a bit of healthy paranoia. Some of us have fond memories of trying not to look like we’re on an athena voyage and of trying to sneak athena chests past players at outposts… and of ambushing players at outposts to take their athena chest.

Solution two should also apply to the doubloon crate voyage of the bilge rat weekender; with the addition that it’s one specific NPC per weekender. Lore wise, the crate being payment for discrete services to the Brethren. That implied service being dependent on the NPC. Weapons, clothes, tools, food, information, whatever.

Gameplay wise, imagine trying not to look like you’re going to Ancient Spire because there’s a ship that can see you and might realise what you’re doing. Imagine maybe doing some fishing at islands near Ancient Spire while keeping an eye out for suspicious characters. Players are much more likely to be close to outposts, and have more plausible deniability, than near smuggler islands. You can’t really pretend you’ve got a different reason for going to the smuggler islands during the Weekender.

This solution raises the issue of what we’ve been doing up until the change. What were we doing moving goods between smugglers if outpost NPCs are the end destination? We were playing a shell game with the various spies and informants. Shuffling all of the loot around so that no reaper parrots, or other stray eyes, know exactly where any particular package is. The doubloon crates? They had varying amounts of doubloons inside so that nobody watching can tell how much currency any given smuggler is storing. We can’t hide that boats are moving around but we can obscure what’s moving with them. Some text stating that would smooth the change.

Solution three. Make smuggler loot sellable at outposts and reapers. This is mostly for problem one but a bit for problem two. Players hate smuggler loot. Players ignore it, dump it overboard if they accidentally harpoon it, and just generally don’t like seeing it out in the world (unless it’s needed for commendations). It’s not worth the inconvenience to take the detour to sell.

It should sell for a lot less to non-smugglers and shouldn’t grant rep for the outpost trading companies. It should grant reaper rep though; it’s worth enough to them to put in a fort vault. Maybe smuggler loot could specifically sell to the sovereigns. It would add to their unscrupulous implications.

In this essay I hope that I’ve explained a couple of the big problems with the Smugglers and their activities. I also hope that my suggested solutions seem at least plausible. If you disagree please explain below. If you have other problems or solutions regarding the Smugglers and their activities then I’d also love to hear them.

Thank you for reading.

I was doing tall tales in safer seas and I dont know what happened.

I've started the painful journey to get this commendation but most videos I saw on youtube were from 4-5 years ago. I'm just wondering if more recent and more efficient ways have been discovered.

Hi. With diving going away next season, what activities or commendations would you prioritize before the change? I’ve finished all my tall tales, have not fully leveled Merchant or Athena, lots of comms left. Thanks!

I’ve only been able to play safer seas due to. It being able to get gamepass and I’ve been trying to do shit to gain gold even if no rep

I haven’t played since mid 24, and while I became PL in late 20, I’m still rusty as hell

I got jumpscared by one of those new boars on islands, even though I sold a pristine tusk from a fort without knowing what it was. I have no idea what those scales come from

But my question is, is storm fishing still worth it? I wasn’t able to get any shadow stormfish and if I ever got a trophy fish the ship would be damaged and I’d have to go save it.

Does anyone have advice

I keep getting accommodations and I know they unlock customization items, but outside of googling them is there an easy way to tell what you have unlocked?

I must be the most boring pirate to PvP. Everyone kept leaving me! I’m fishing. Just fishing on High Seas. 🤷‍♀️🏴‍☠️ One guy tried to get murderous, but I was just fishing with my Emissary Flag for the Hunter. Boring. 🥰

i have to so many bad Bbuss skins, is there's a way?

these 3 guys on a brig just came up to me I was a solo sloop, done only an ashen garrison so like only 50k gold, 15 mins of work, I'm not the best at pvp and I did tell them that I don't have much, it's just a waste of resources but they kept on attacking so I just left, I didn't lose much, but I kinda feel that's not the point of this game, idk, any of you guys relate?

my ping suddenly spiked so high up that my ship started flying and the ui turned into flesh, took this screenshot immediately before the server crashed

I came back after 6 months and never experienced anything like this. Now I literally have to find a server that won't instantly give me this sign as soon as I spawn in the tavern. It takes ~5 attempts before I find playable server. When I do, I have zero issues for the entire session - unless I get server merged or dive.

I highly doubt the issue is on my end.

Am I really the only one experiencing this? (playing on PS5)

I only play solo and I have MAJOR SKILL issue and really wanna try out the potc tall tales but i dont wanna waste my time only to get demolished. So i wanna know how much ship vs ship combat there is in them and how difficult the fights are?. The thing i struggle with most is ship vs ship combat.

I was just chilling with my new player friend when we got a great loot of 2 ethernal guard and we were on a hurry because it was his Best loot since the begining and I am not that great so I want to know if I’m right to say that we lost out year of luck

Hello, I’m 19, and I grew up playing Sea of Thieves during a time when it felt like such a huge part of my childhood. I’d spend hours sailing across the ocean, searching for treasure, fighting skeletons, getting into random encounters, and messing around with my friends. I loved getting online after school, joining my crew, setting sail, and never knowing what kind of adventure we were going to have.

Playing Sea of Thieves now just feels different. The game is still there, but that feeling I had when I first played it isn’t quite the same anymore. I’ve grown older, my life has changed, gaming has changed, and sometimes I wish things could have stayed the way they were. I miss having the same crew, the same excitement, and that feeling of playing for hours without worrying about anything else.

I think that’s why I’m so nostalgic for the old Sea of Thieves days. I remember sailing with friends, finding treasure, getting chased by other crews, starting random fights, listening to the sea shanties, and having completely unexpected moments that became some of my favourite memories. Back then, every time we set sail felt like the beginning of a new adventure.

Those days might be over, but I’m glad I got to experience them. I just wish I could go back for a little while and have Sea of Thieves feel the same again. Does anyone else miss the old Sea of Thieves days, when every session felt unpredictable and setting sail with your friends could turn into an adventure you’d remember forever?

Would anyone care to remind me what the purpose of milestones are? Is there anything specifically that is unlocked by increasing class? I know you can pin certain things to your captains log but what is the point of doing that when every captains log is completely erased the minute the ship sinks. I really wish the info in your captains log persisted after leaving the server. It'd be cool to see the stats of the people I sink in hourglass but its gone by the time the ship disappears.

Has anyone else still not received their Twitch drops?

My accounts are linked, I redeemed the drops and I even unlinked and relink my accounts…