Guide to avoiding PVP and Pirate encounters

Pirates are a problem for many players, and to some they just flat ruin the game. For those who want to go about the game without PVP oriented combat, this guide is for you.

What is a pirate?
A pirate is defined as a player who attacks other players. A pirate gains fame, money, items and game notority from doing this at  your expense. Sometimes, players who do this may be privateers who will not attack people of their own flag in order to have a home base.

But, for purposes of this guide to avoiding PVP, we will simply call everyone who attacks a player a pirate.

How do I tell who's a pirate?
Put simply, pirates are distinguished by the colors of their names. A pirate will have an orange or a red name anywhere you see it. You can view these people at sea (not a good idea) or in a town.

The safest way to find a pirate, however, is to go to Community->Search. As shown on the right, the search will give a list of names. In this town, there were no pirates, but names would appear in orange and red if they are hostile to new players.

When am I in danger of being pirated?
There are many situations where a pirate cannot attack you, such as:If you are below level 30If you are in safe watersIf the pirate is deemed "defeated" (signified by a skull with a red line through it)If you have been attacked by a particular pirate within the last 24 hours. If you have a "blue flag"While not fullproof, if there are no oranges or reds your odds of safety are great

If you don't fall into any of these safe categories, it is best that you read below before you continue on your long journey.

Why attack me?  Why not attack another player?
The fact that you own a ship signifies to any pirate that you may be full of money and goods to plunder. This is how pirates obviously make their money, so being jerks and ruining your day is their job. Just being one of hundreds of people within the game does not make you safe because pirates key on specific mistakes that new players make, which includes not knowing where you are in the most danger. The following cities, in my personal experience, are the most dangerous from most to least dangerous

Cape Town, southern AfricaLas Palmas/Cape Verde, West Africa</li>Between Calicut and Jakarta (SE Asia)</li>Near Nasseau (Caribbean)</li>south of Taiwan (East Asia)</ol>

The purpose of this section is to name some pirate tactics. Other traders/adventurers, feel free to edit this:

<CENTER><B><FONT SIZE=5>PIRATE TECHNIQUES USED TO HUNT PLAYERS</FONT></b> <BR>

<CENTER>How do I avoid having my gaming experience ruined by pirates?</CENTER>
This is obviously why you are here, but it's important to know what you are dealing first. Of course, the easiest thing to say is to put yourself in the pirate's shoes and ask "What do I have that the pirate wants?" This will help you assess the measures you need to go to. Even though UWO has heavily limited piracy in the last couple of years, there is always a calculated risk if you are venturing far outside of Europe to perform higher level tasks. Assess how badly you need to accomplish something and weigh the following evasion methods carefully.

<b>PVP PIRATE EVASION TECHNIQUES</B></FONT> <BR>