Route color

Route color was an indication on maps shown on the archipelago and island articles of what might rings brigand ships that are spawned by a player ship on that route will have.

As of routes are shaded in Yer known world and the navigation table to indicate difficulty.

Determining a route color
Route colors are developed through a collaborative process involving many players over a prolonged period of time. It is not uncommon for route colors to change weeks or even years after being "decided" on.

One common way these are determined is by players taking out sloops. If they eventually start spawning red brigand/barbarian ships that attempt to engage the players, it is considered a red route. This method is not always accurate, but generally provides a decent picture of a route's potential difficulty.

Possibly the voyage configuration and navigation changes may complicate determining the route color. It is still being discussed how to allow for these or negate the effects.

What it means
Just because a route is red does not mean player ships will only spawn red brigands/barbarians; rather, they will spawn all colors below that. Green routes will spawn aqua, teal, and green ships; orange routes will spawn aqua, teal, green, green-yellow, yellow, yellow-orange, and orange ships. Contrary to what the maps may convey, however, difficulty is not necessarily the same for an entire charted route. Rather, it is per league: the spawn difficulty will be dependent upon the league the ship is traveling along at the time, not the route it has charted.

As with much of the YPPedia's information, route colors remain educated guesses rather than developer-endorsed facts.

Updating the route color
Once a route color is determined, it needs to be updated in several YPPedia articles. This needs to be done in four places:
 * 1) The island you sailed from.
 * 2) The island you were sailing to.
 * 3) The archipelago you are in.
 * 4) The ocean you are on.

External/Other Links

 * Forum thread - What constitutes a red route?
 * Forum thread - Route Difficulties! (Again)