Rumors

Real pirates had lore of Mermaids and buried treasure and all sorts of mythological monsters. Y!PP has many of these, but we also have a lot of "functional" rumors and myths, which it's important to dispel. Here are a few of them.

Black blocks in swordfights are caused by damage

Unbreakable black blocks in swordfighting are caused by damage to your ship. They are not caused by OM intervention, by random generation, or by anything else. If you want to see fewer black blocks, don't get shot as much. If you want your opponents to have more black blocks, shoot more.

Black blocks and carpentry are not linked

Black blocks simulate damage to your ship as well as to your crew. Think of it like this: When you're hit by a cannonball, does it just break your boat? No, it breaks your sailors as well. Black blocks represent this. You can use carpentry to keep damage low, but once you've been hit, you cannot get rid of the black blocks.

For more information on how to do this, see the Sea battle page.

"Brigand Captains" do not exist

Ordinary Brigands do not have captains. It does not matter which sequence you kill the brigands in. You will not win more or less booty for killing hatted brigands first or last.

Brigand Kings do have captains, but they only exist for role playing. It doesn't matter if you kill a Brigand King/Queen/Admiral/Creature first, last, or in the middle, so long as they're eliminated by the end.

Bans are serious!

On some other games, a banning is a light punishment. You're expected to create a new character and start from scratch.

Y!PP is not "other games". When you are banned from Y!PP, unless you get a pardon, you are not allowed, ever, to start a new account or rejoin the game. If you persist in trying to rejoin and are caught (and odds are you will be), your computer will be tainted. Once your computer is tainted, you will no longer be able to register new accounts. The taint will also prevent you from being able to play other Three Rings games (such as Bang! Howdy).

For more information on bans and how to try and wrangle a pardon, see the Ban page.

Independents do not score points for the defender in a blockade

Independent factions score points for themselves in a blockade. In fact, they could possibly hurt the defenders by contesting flags that are held by the defenders. However, if an independent faction wins the blockade round, the round goes to the defender.

Teaming does not make brigands "cheat"

Good players know that when you have a lot of people teaming on you in a swordfight, you should stall. (Not use the space bar at all, and focus on surviving instead of sending strikes and sprinkles to your opponents.) Brigands do the same thing. If there is a team of four or more on a brigand, they will begin stalling.

Brigands never cheat in swordfights. They just slow down, the same way players should in the same situation.

Shouting does not make people lag

Talking does not cause lag. It's far more likely the people moving around, changing circles, and causing redraws is causing lag for people with slower machines.

The color of your sword does not change the pieces you receive

Over time all colors show up equally in a swordfight and any perception that you have that "Blue kills me more than any other color so I should get a sword that drops blue" is merely your own perception distorting reality.

Injury Rumors

• Planking does not cause injuries, under any circumstances.
• In PVP, you must be a full member of either crew, or you cannot be injured.
• On a blockade board, anyone aboard any sinking vessel, regardless of crew, chances an injury.
• You do not need to hold the deed to a boat to get an injury.
• Injuries are totally random. Being on a smaller or larger ship does not make you any more or less likely to be injured. Theoretically, a grand frigate with 150 pirates aboard could sink once, and give everyone aboard an injury, but one pirate could also sink 150 times and never get one.

Leaving the fight does not help your team

Leaving the fight once you are knocked out, and then re-entering to watch does NOT make the skellies or brigands easier to beat. It has no effect on the battle whatsoever.

Skellie colors do not reflect level of difficulty.

The color of a skeleton makes no difference in its difficulty. All skeletons, regardless of color, have the same difficulty. Red skeletons are not harder than blue skeletons, etc. This is a myth. For more information see the skellie page.

Skellie "Leader" is not special, or more difficult.

The skellie "leader" (the one which sends you information about the fray count in a /tell) is no more difficult than other skellies in the fray. This is a myth. For more information, see the skellie page.

External Links

Stupid myths that need to be dispelled