Pirates are a faction that makes a living by looting other players traveling at sea. Becoming a pirate is no accident: players must accumulate enough negative karma through their actions, such as stealing items and attacking other players, to become a member of this nefarious faction.

Once a player reaches -100 Karma, they are taken to Treasure Island and become a member of the Pirate faction. Once this happens, it is permanent; the player may not come back to being a member of their original faction nor can they become a bounty hunter.

Pirates in Cryptopia are also organized into four sub-factions—The Serpentines, Genominers, Raptors, and The Collective —each with distinct leaders and motives. Their primary approach is to attack vulnerable ships, loot them, and return to their bases, which have grown into fortified islands over time.

In short, piracy is ideal for those looking for a faction that offers freedom and lucrative, if dangerous, rewards. The Pirate Faction lets players experience everything that Cryptopia offers with its special skills and opportunities for adventure, without living within the rigid rules of society.

Can pirates own property?

In short, yes. Pirates are also Cryptopians, but having forsaken civil society, they will not have direct ownership of their property. The right of their property will be under a Trust, whereby a trustee holds the property as its nominal owner for the Pirate. This also means that nobody will ever really know who owns which property since it is conducted this way.

How Looting Works

Pirates are the only faction that subsists on looting other players at sea. This unique mechanic follows several rules. Firstly, only members of the Pirates Faction can confront, intercept, and loot other players. The pirate’s ship must have enough fuel to cover the cost of intercepting a target. Interceptions must be done on the map view, and the pirate must be on land, not traveling, and not currently intercepting another target.

To find suitable targets, pirates may use their unique radar UI to track players. This lets them pinpoint a player’s current position.

Intercepting a Target

In selecting a target, pirates can only intercept players who are traveling at sea. They may NOT intercept players who are:

• currently intercepted or have already been intercepted on this journey
• Pirates themselves
• attempting to escape from the pirate

Zone Danger Multipliers When selecting targets, the interception location plays a key role. Every tile has a danger multiplier value, which affects the following:

• Pirate stats - The greater the danger value, the higher the pirate stats upon confrontation with a target.
• Cooldown of a loot’s “hot” status - The higher the danger value, the slower the “hot” value decreases.

Treasure Island - As Cryptopia City is every faction player's safe haven, Treasure Island is the pirates' den and their place of refuge.

• Pirates have a significantly higher chance of successfully looting the faction players because they are strongest near Treasure's Island.
• Pirates will become more exposed and have a greater chance of losing loot as they get further from Treasure Island and toward Cryptopia City.
• The locations of the resources or treasures are indicated on a separate map for Treasure Island, but the pirates are forbidden from using them. They may be used by members of the other factions.

Interception

After finding a suitable target, the pirate may attempt to intercept them by travelling to an interception location, i.e. a spot on the map where they will meet the targeted player.

The pirate must arrive at the interception location first or at the same time as the target. If they fail to do this, they may try to intercept the same target again. Either way, their targeted player remains unaware they are being intercepted until they encounter each other.

If the pirate succeeds in the interception, the confrontation begins:

• The targeted player is given a 10-minute countdown to choose their responses.
• The pirate will also have a 20-minute deadline to conclude the confrontation.
• Once a confrontation starts, both players are frozen and may not leave or be intercepted by another pirate.

Confronting a Target

A confronted player may respond in a few ways: attempt to escape, bribe the pirate, negotiate, or do battle.

Escape An intercepted player can attempt to escape once and only once, and it must be done as their first action.

• An escape attempt requires the target to have fuel. Without enough fuel, the escape attempt fails.
• A successful escape means the target gets away and the Pirate doesn’t get any loot.

The success attempt depends on the target’s escape score, which is determined by these factors:

• The speed of both ships - the faster the target, the more likely they are to escape.
• The Luck stats of both players - the higher the target’s Luck score, the more likely they are to escape.
• Pure chance

If their escape score is high enough, the target escapes and both players are unfrozen. If the score is too low, the attempt fails but fuel used is still consumed. However, the target may still attempt the other options.

Bribe the pirate - The intercepted player may offer the pirate a bribe.

• If the pirate accepts, the amount is transferred to the Pirate’s wallet and the confrontation ends.
• If the pirate does not accept, the intercepted player may still try to negotiate.

Negotiate with the pirate - If the target chooses to negotiate, they may offer part of their cargo to the pirate. The pirate can either accept this offer, make a counter-demand, or attack the target before the timer ends.

• If the pirate accepts, the loot is transferred to the pirate and both players are unfrozen.
• If the pirate decides to counter-demand, they may set the value of their demand, which is limited to what cargo the target has
• The target can accept or refuse the counter-demand. If they refuse, a battle starts.

Attacking the Pirate - If the player chooses to attack the pirate or if other options fail and the pirate attacks, the player can set the bounty on the pirate in advance.

• If the player wins, the bounty request is cancelled.
• Should the player lose, the bounty will then be immediately set on the pirate’s head.

Battles

Battles are turn-based events where ships attack each other, either through ramming or shooting with guns.

The following factors determine who wins:

• The attack and defense scores of both ships
• The Luck scores of both the pirate and targeted player
• Pure chance

If the pirate wins - They get to take their pick from the targeted player’s inventory and the targeted ship’s inventory. The pirate may then take as much as they can carry in their inventory. However, that loot is considered ‘hot’ until the Pirate takes steps to remove this status.

If they haven’t done so yet, the losing player can place the bounty on the pirate’s head.

If the player wins - The player escapes the confrontation with their inventory intact.

If the confrontation timer expires - Both players are unfrozen. The player continues on their journey and the pirate is left at the confrontation location.

The ‘Hot’ Loot Status

Once a pirate successfully obtains loot, their entire inventory is ‘hot’ and the following limits apply:

• Their inventory becomes locked, i.e. ‘hot’ loot cannot be used or moved from the pirate’s wallet.
• The pirates with ‘hot’ loot can’t attack another player’s ship.
• The pirate cannot switch ships
• The pirate cannot throw the ‘hot’ loot overboard
• The pirate must abandon the loot if they want to go on land. The loot is then returned to the player and any bounties are canceled.

To remove the ‘hot status’, a pirate must sail around at a distance away from Treasure Island. This will cause the ‘hot’ meter to drop, and it will go down faster the more they travel further away from Treasure Island. Conversely, the ‘hot’ meter will go down slower if the pirate does not move around and will not go down if they stay next to Treasure Island.

Sunken Treasure

Any time a pirate successfully loots a ship, a fraction of the loot is lost as it falls into the sea. This loot forms a treasure cache that may be used in a future quest, fueling the Cryptopia economy.