A Hero's Guide to Bountyhunters/Scoundrels of the Sea
 

A Hero's Guide to Bountyhunters

What are Bountyhunters?

Bountyhunters were a recent (as of when this was posted) update to the game. They were made to make the seas a more challengine and explosive adventure. No longer can you just stick around sinking Navy and EITC ships with nothing to worry about. As you become more wanted, the Navy will close all ports - except for one, because for some reason there's a shortage on soldiers to block that one port...

After you have a nice, sparkling amount of treasure, Bountyhunters will show up to try and claim it as their own. Be prepared for a feirce battle!

There are two types of Bountyhunter ships: Hunter and Warship.

Bountyhunter Hunter
http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/.../HunterTag.png
Hunters are the ones you'll meet first. They're powerful, with their levels beginning at Lv49, and maxing out at Lv51.

There are 7 Hunters:
~War Sloops
Cutter Shark - Pirate Hull + Red and black/blue striped sails
Flying Storm - Undead Hull + Red Sails

~War Galleons
Century Hawk - Pirate Hull + Blue/gray/green patched sails + Blade symbol
Killyaded - EITC Hull + Green and purple sails + Black Widow symbol

~War Frigates
Red Dervish - Navy Hull + Red sails + Scorpion's Tail symbol
Scorned Siren - Undead Hull + Red sails + Crow Talons symbol
Vengence - Pirate Hull + Greenish sails + Blade symbol (?)
(The Vengence's name is spelled incorrectly in the game. It should be Vengeance.)

The Cutter Shark and Flying Storm have the weakest hulls, but their masts are actually kind of in-between for strength. The Cutter Shark uses Firebrand for her deck cannons, whereas the Flying Storm uses Thunderbolt. Both have Roundshot broadsides. Originally on the Test server, the Cutter Shark and Flying Storm had stronger Hull and masts, and they used the same ammo sets that an EITC Corsair had.

The Century Hawk and Killyaded have a mid-strength hull. The only threat they have is the fact that when they turn when they're close enough, they always fire that one cannon at you. It might seem small, but after a while it can hurt. Both have Firebrand for their deck cannons, as well as Roundshot as their broadsides.
Originally on the Test server, the Century Hawk and Killyaded had weak hull and masts.

The Scorned Siren and Vengence both use Explosives for their deck cannons and roundshot for their broadsides. Their masts, for War Frigates, are actually the weakest of the Bountyhunters, but their hull is the strongest. They both deal quite a bit of damage, so do be careful.
The Red Dervish is slightly different. Although her sails and hull have basically the same strength, she uses Firebrand as the broadsides instead of Roundshot. She can be more devestating due to Firebrand's burn, which negates the effect of Take Cover. Her Explosives can also tear down a Hull Panel very easily. Fight with caution. Originally on the Test server, the War Frigates used the same ammo sets a Man-O-War would have.

Bountyhunter Warship
http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/...WarshipTag.png

You'll meet the Warships after meeting the Hunters. They're a bit tougher than the Hunters, being 10 levels higher. It's also the group which will make you more familiar with the rare ship hull class - Ship of the Line.

There are 3 Warships:

http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/...WarshipTag.png
En-Garde
Lv59-Lv61 War Frigate

http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/...WarshipTag.png
Battle-Royale
Lv59-Lv61 Ship of the Line

http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/...WarshipTag.png
Tally-ho
Lv59-Lv61 Ship of the Line

The En-Garde is the weird one of the bunch, as well as of all Navy ships. It uses Thunderbolt for its deck cannons, and Roundshot for its broadsides. It's the only Navy ship to actually use Thunderbolt. The En-Garde has a Unicorn symbol on its sails.

The Battle-Royale is one of 9 Ships of the Line in the game so far. The Battle-Royale uses Firebrand for her deck cannons and Explosives for her broadsides. She has a lion symbol on her sails.

The Tally-ho is also one of the 9 Ships of the Line in the game so far. Her ammo sets are opposite of that of the Battle-Royale's, with her deck cannons being Explosives and her broadsides being Firebrand. Like the En-Garde, she has a Unicorn symbol on her sails.

Now that you know what you're up against, let's move on to how this works.

The Ranks

There are four ranks to Scoundrels of the Sea. Each rank makes sailing slightly more difficult, and each rank is triggered by certain things.

No Rank
When you first set sail, you don't automatically have SOTS.
Navy and EITC ships will not attack you when you get close, but Skeleton ships do.

Rank 1
Fire at any Navy or EITC ship.
All Navy or EITC ships will engage when you get close, with the exception of Fleets and The Queen Anne's Revenge.
There are certain ships that you can attack that will not trigger SOTS. They are:
Skeleton ships
The Queen Anne's Revenge
Navy Elite
EITC Tyrant
Bountyhunter Hunters

Rank 2
Get the maximum amount of gold (not maximum Royal Chests), I.E. 14/14 treasure on a War Sloop or Galleon.
When you fire at a ship, you will get two ships engaged after you, I.E. firing at one Black Harbinger will cause and it and another Black Harbinger to engage and begin to sail towards you and then attack you.

Rank 3
Bountyhunter Hunters will spawn in and attack you.

Rank 4
Bountyhunter Warships will spawn in along with Hunter ships, and all ports but one will be closed.

Notes:
- The ships cannot be outrun. Their max speed is faster than that of a War Sloop's, which is 21, when using Ramming Speed. However, they slow down when they catch up to you. When they're chasing you, this is a good thing.
- The En-Garde is the only non-Skeleton ship to use Thunderbolt.
- Although the Navy Elites and EITC Tyrants of a Fleet do not start SOTS when fired at, if you fire at the Ship of the Line of the Fleet, you will start up SOTS.
- When you hit Rank 4 SOTS, and plan on staying out for a while, taking down the enemy's masts is highly recommended (though not necessary).

I'm not too sure what specifically starts up Rank 3 and 4. If someone could tell me, that would be much appreciated.

Very good guide Mr. Goldwalker. I believe that Rank 3 and 4 can depend on the size of the crew you have aboard, although I'm not sure how they are proportional. Rank 3 usually happens to me after killing about two or three ships after rank two.

A few things you may need to fix... I am fairly certain that the Century Hawk uses explosives SOMEWHERE. Not sure if its broadsides or decks, though. You may need to look into that, but I may be wrong. You probably know more than I do.

Little detail, but it is actually any ship of the same faction. As in, a shooting a Navy ship will have another Navy ship come after you. Shoot at EITC, you'll get EITC, etc. And it triggers the NEAREST to come and attack you. You probably implied that, just thought it would be good to add that in.

Otherwise, great guide!

I think rank 3 and 4 starts when you hit a certain amount of royals. We jumped from rank 1 to rank 3 (skipping rank 2 completely) once when our cargo was full, we had about 12 royals.
But on another ship, we were getting almost no royals, and it took us decades to get to rank 3. I remember we had 6 royals hitting rank 3.

The Century Hawk does not use Explosives. I know because I would have hated the Century Hawk if it did. Also, from my experience, it's been two of the same ships engaging to me. Although the Corsair has always been the weird one who engages a Warlord along with it. But I guess you could be right too!

I've noticed that too. I always sink Skeleton ships only and then get max Royals, and I trigger SOTS and jump to Rank 3. But I've had cases where I can get 6 royals, 7 royals, 5 royals, and each time they'll still trigger it, so I'm not sure if it's exactly to do with the Royal Chest count. But thanks for the tips!

Awesome guide! This will really help out people who don't know something about SOTS.

I'm sure rank 4 is triggered by killing hunters, I'm sure it's 4-5 hunters.

Rank 3 is triggered when you got no cargo. Just royals and treasure chest.