Decay

Dust redirects here. For the flag named Dust, see Dust (flag).

Certain inventory items decay, going from new to good and then from good to old. These items then dust when they become a certain age, disappearing from the game completely. More expensive items generally last longer than cheaper ones. Items from the box edition of the game never decay or dust. Commodities will never decay.

Different items decay in a different manner:

• Familiars, pets, trinkets, commodities, bid tickets, deeds, portraits, and items from the box edition of the game (savvy hat and backsword) never decay.
• Swords (except the backsword), mugs, bludgeons, clothing (except the savvy hat), paint brushes, charts other than sea monster charts (when placed in a pirate's inventory), and badges (except for the labor badge) age based on login days: they have a lifetime of a certain number of days and lose one for every day during which the pirate logs onto the game.
• The labor badge as well as charts placed on a ship's navigation table age every day, because they provide benefits even when their owner is offline.
• Furniture ages every time it is moved around, placed or removed from a room. Some special furniture items (like the sleeping turtle, sleeping pig and framed portrait) do not decay.
• Sea monster Charts age by calendar days, whether or not the pirate holding the sea monster chart logs on that day.

A sword that has dusted will be replaced with a stick if the sword was the only one in your inventory when it dusted. Likewise, clothing that goes on your pirate's torso or legs will be replaced with rags if you have no like clothing items in your inventory. Rags in non-basic colors will further decay to a basic color.

Decay rates

Different items decay at different rates. For furniture items, the item decays a little each time it is moved within a scene or removed from a scene. For non-furniture items, the item decays a little for each login day.

Each item has a certain number of "decay points." When an item of furniture is moved within a scene, it loses a single point; when it is removed from the scene, it loses five points. When an item of furniture reaches zero points, it becomes a prop. If it goes below zero, it crumbles to dust.

Clothing and other non-furniture items lose a single point for each login day including the day the item is delivered. When an item of clothing goes below zero points, it crumbles to dust.

Decay Cycle
Decay points	new	good	old
1	1	0	0
5 (specific to fish)	0	0	5
7	2	3	2
9 (specific to broken bottles)	0	0	9
10	3	4	3
25	6	11	8
30	7	13	10
40	9	18	13
45	10	20	15
60	13	27	20
80	17	36	27
90	19	40	31
100	21	45	34

Decay and furniture storage

Certain furniture items, such as the wardrobe, fancy wardrobe, sword rack, and bar shelf allow you to store your decayable items in them. Placing an item in a storage rack will halt aging after one day, thus prolonging the life of your item; this practice is often called racking after the tailor's racks that provide the same storage functionality as wardrobes.

As this is confusing even to many veteran players, a table has been provided below to illustrate the racking concept. In this example a paintbrush is examined, along with a hypothetical paintbrush shelf. The first day, day 1, is the day that the item is delivered. Item aging occurs at midnight Pirate Time so at midnight after the paintbrush is purchased the its condition will tick one day forward. Superscripts in the table below show the paintbrush's condition in terms of an an un-racked paintbrush.

Placing an item in storage and leaving it in storage will age the item one day. Thus, removing the item from storage the day after it was racked will not affect its decay rate either positively or negatively.

Items that will dust very soon cannot be placed in storage; an error message will be given if it is attempted.

Item aging
Test Case	A		B		C		D
Day since purchase	Location	Condition	Location	Condition	Location	Condition	Location	Condition
1	Held in inventory	new1	Held in inventory	new1	Placed on shelf	new1	Placed on shelf	new1
2	Still in inventory	new2	Placed on shelf	new2	Still on shelf	new2	Still on shelf	new2
3	Still in inventory	good3	Still on shelf	good3	Still on shelf	new2	Taken off shelf, then put back	good3
4	Still in inventory	good4	Still on shelf	good3	Still on shelf	new2	Still on shelf	good3
5	Still in inventory	good5	Still on shelf	good3	Still on shelf	new2	Still on shelf	good3
6	Still in inventory	old6	Still on shelf	good3	Still on shelf	new2	Taken off, then put back on several times	good4
7	Still in inventory	old7	Removed from shelf	good3	Still on shelf	new2	Still on shelf	good4
8	Still in inventory	Dusted upon login8	Still in inventory	good4	Still on shelf	new2	Still on shelf	good4
9			Still in inventory	good5	Still on shelf	new2	Still on shelf	good4
10			Still in inventory	old6	Still on shelf	new2	Still on shelf	good4
11			Still in inventory	old7	Removed from shelf, held in inventory	new2	Still on shelf	good4
12			Still in inventory	Dusted upon login8	Held in inventory	good3	Still on shelf	good4

See Also

• List of decay rates

External/Other Links

• Commonly discussed ideas from Game Design