Taking Oceans

Every island sits in an ocean, a grid cell of the map, the middle number in a coordinate like 12:8:3. An alliance can put an ocean to a vote of the Governors who live there, name one of those seas, and fly its flag over it for all to see. Taking an ocean is not a purchase. It costs no coin and no resources: the price is winning over your neighbours.

Alliances

A claim is made in an alliance’s name.

Alliance XP

Your rank sets how many oceans you may hold.

Rankings

The Oceans Held leaderboard.

Who decides: the ocean's residents

A claim is settled by a single vote of the ocean's residents — every Governor who owns an island in that grid cell, whatever alliance they fly, or none. One Governor, one vote, no matter how many islands they hold there. Your own prestige buys you the right to ask the ocean; it buys you no extra weight at the ballot.

The vote runs for 48 hours. Every resident may vote for or against, and may change their mind while it is open — a deal struck in the group chat can turn a no into a yes. When the window closes, the claim carries if at least two residents voted yes and the yes votes beat the no votes. Silence is not a no; it is a shrug. If the neighbours do not care, the claim passes. If they do, they turn out and vote it down.

Captain Thorne: Your allies are not your voters

The vote counts the people who live in the ocean, not the people who fly your flag. An ally halfway across the map has no say here; an enemy anchored beside you does. An enemy's yes counts for your claim, and one of your own crew can vote against it — and the ocean still goes to your alliance if the count carries. Court whoever lives there.

The three gates to propose

Anyone can be voted on; not anyone can call the vote. Before your alliance may open a claim, three things must be true.

1. Rank cap. Your alliance's XP rank sets how many oceans it may hold or be claiming at one time, from one for a young Crew up to six for a Grand Armada. Votes in flight count against the cap.
2. Ocean Influence. This is your alliance's share of all the island prestige in the ocean. To propose, your alliance must hold at least half of it. Opening an unclaimed ocean shows every alliance's influence on one shared scale, with the line marked — a public race for the right to ask, not a private progress bar. Once the vote opens, influence no longer matters: every resident votes with equal weight.
3. A populous enough ocean. At least two Governors must live there, so the claim can reach its two yes votes. A Governor alone in an ocean cannot claim it, and the claim screen will tell them so. You must own an island in the ocean yourself to open the vote — the one who calls it casts the first yes.

The vote in the open

A claim is public the instant the vote opens. A flagless amber buoy drops in the ocean, the region banner reads "Ocean Vote" with a countdown, World News carries it under Politics, and every Governor who owns an island there is sent word. Nobody finds out after the fact — rivals watch it happen and can act while the vote is live. To oppose a claim you simply vote against it from the ocean's page on the map; there is no separate move to make. If a claim is voted down, its buoy vanishes and the waters stay open.

Holding, naming, and letting go

When a claim carries, the buoy gains your flag and the ocean carries your chosen name for everyone to see. The one reward this brings today is a public one: the Oceans Heldleaderboard. (Claims never grant alliance XP — XP is the rank cap that limits claims, so rewarding claims with XP would feed itself in a loop.) A steward may rename an ocean they hold, on a cooldown, or surrender it — which frees the waters for anyone at once, with no cooldown even for the former steward. An alliance whose claim is voted down must wait a few days before proposing that same ocean again; another alliance may try at once. If an alliance dissolves, its open votes are cancelled and its held oceans fall unclaimed.

Reference

Common questions