Bounties

A bounty is a promise made to the sea — and the sea takes its share in advance.

TL;DR: A bounty is a pot of gold on another captain. Whoever places it pays gold from their own pocket; part of it burns at once, the rest waits in the pot. The first solo attack battle won against one of the target's islands takes the pot — only captains near the target's league qualify, and whoever has paid in never collects. If nobody takes it, the rest flows back to those who placed it; the burned share stays burned. None of it is secret: everyone sees whose head a pot sits on and who filled it.

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What a Bounty Is #

A bounty is a public pot of gold on another captain. It is not a contract with a particular hunter but a prize anyone may take who meets the rules. Each target has exactly one open pot — several captains may pay into the same pot, and the pot grows with every stake.

Three things define a bounty. First: it always costs. Part of every stake burns immediately and never returns — whoever puts someone on the board pays for it, even if in the end nobody collects. Second: it is never anonymous. The pot stands on the board with the target's name and the names of everyone who placed it, and the target is told. Third: it comes from your own gold only — never from the alliance treasury, and gold cannot be bought anywhere.

The Bounty Board #

You find the board under "Bounty" in the "More" menu. Two shortcuts lead there as well: the "Place a bounty" button on another captain's profile — it fills that name into the form right away — and, as soon as a pot sits on you, the notice on your overview.

The board has four tabs: "My ocean" shows pots on captains whose home island lies in your ocean, "All" shows every open pot in the world, "My alliance" everything that concerns your alliance — pots on its members and pots its members have paid into — and "On me" the pot that currently sits on you. Each row names the target, the pot with its cap, the deadline ("Runs until") and who placed it. Below that sit the form for placing a bounty and, under "My stakes", your own stakes with their state — in the pot, refund on its way, refunded, paid out or not accepted.

Placing a Bounty #

To place a bounty you enter the target's player name and your stake in gold. The gold is debited from the island you currently have selected — it has to be there. Before the stake is accepted, the game asks once more, because the burn is immediate and final. A stake once placed cannot be withdrawn; it stays in the pot until the pot is paid out or closes.

Who Can Be a Target #

You may only place a bounty on a captain

• who is active and stands at least in the Anchor league,
• whom you would be allowed to attack — no newcomer protection, no excessive gap in strength; the same rules as for an attack apply,
• who stands at most one league below you — upwards there is no limit,
• who does not belong to your own alliance and is not a treaty partner of your alliance,
• on whom no pot is currently in its rest period (more on that below).

You cannot place anything on yourself, and you need a ranking placement of your own. If something does not fit, the form tells you — some reasons it deliberately states only in general terms, so that the board never gives away what a captain is up to.

Stake, Burn and Pot #

Every stake must currently be at least five thousand gold. Part of it burns immediately — that is the burn; before you send, the form shows you how much burns and how much goes into the pot. The burn is gone whatever happens: it returns neither on a payout nor on a refund. At any one time you can currently have gold in at most three open pots; adding to a pot you are already in opens no new one.

Lifetime and Cap #

The first stake opens the pot and sets its deadline — currently one week. Every further stake, yours or anyone else's, resets the deadline to one week from that moment. A pot can never be extended beyond two weeks from the very first stake, though; at some point it has to be decided.

Every pot has a cap that follows the target's league and is fixed when the pot opens — the board shows it next to the pot. A stake that would exceed the cap is refused, and refused in full: none of it burns, nothing is debited.

Who Takes the Pot #

The pot goes to the first solo attack battle won against one of the target's islands while the pot is open. This is checked at the moment of the battle, and everything has to come together:

• It was an ordinary attack — no combined attack, no colonisation — and the attacker won.
• The island still belonged to the target on arrival. What counts is always who owns the island at that moment.
• Both sides genuinely fought. A sham fight against an empty island or with a tiny fleet pays nothing. Comrades keeping watch on the target's island do not count as the target's own stake — if the alliance alone holds the coast, the pot stays open.
• The winner stands at most one league above the target. Downwards there is no limit: whoever bites their way up may collect.
• The winner does not belong to the target's alliance and has paid nothing into this pot.
• The target can still be targeted at that time.

The pot lands on the island the victorious fleet set out from — if that has changed hands in the meantime, on your home island. Whatever does not fit into the warehouse is lost; the combat report tells you. The line "Bounty collected" appears only in your own report and in the target's — publicly shared reports and the chronicles do not show it. For your warehouse the pot counts like a delivery from an outside source, with everything that applies to such deliveries.

What Never Pays #

• Combined attack waves and colonisations — not even when they beat the target.
• Defensive wins: whoever repels the target at home has not beaten it on its island.
• Wins by a placer against their own target — the pot then stays open for others.
• Wins by the target's comrades from the same alliance.
• Fights in which one side committed nothing serious.
• Wins by a captain who stands more than one league above the target.

When a win does not pay, nothing is lost: the pot stays open until the next one comes — or the deadline runs out.

If Nobody Collects #

When the deadline runs out, the pot closes shortly afterwards and everyone who placed a stake gets it back minus the burn — to the island it came from or, if that is no longer yours, to your home island. The same happens when the target leaves the sea for good: the pot then ends and the stakes flow back. Under "My stakes" you follow your stake on its way — first "refund on its way", then "refunded".

If the target enters Vacation Mode, the pot does not end — it pauses. The clock stops, the gold stays in the pot and nobody gets anything back; instead of the deadline the board shows that the target is away. You cannot add to it during that time, and a new pot cannot be placed on a target already at anchor anyway. When the target returns, the clock picks up exactly the time it had left when they dropped anchor. The anchorage is therefore no escape route from the board.

After every closed pot — paid out, expired or ended — the target gets a rest period: currently seven days in which nobody can place a new pot on it. So a captain cannot be kept on the board permanently.

What the Target Sees #

Whoever stands on the board is told. The overview shows a notice with the amount and the deadline plus a link to the board, and the harbour's messengers report it — at most once a day per pot, even if several captains add to it; and once more when the pot has been collected. In the "On me" tab the target sees the pot, the deadline and everyone who placed it, by name. If the pot is collected, the target's combat report says so too.

What the target can do is what a captain can always do: bring the fleet to safety, defend the coast, send a distress call to the alliance. Comrades keeping watch do not count as the target's stake — whoever wants the pot has to face the target itself. And whoever does not take the pot does the target no harm either: a bounty takes nothing from anyone, it only tempts.

What Stays Fair #

• No bounty on protected newcomers, on treaty partners or on your own alliance.
• No anonymous bounty: those who place it stand on the board by name.
• No gold from the treasury and none that could be bought — your own only.
• A league band applies on both sides: the target stands at most one league below the placer, the winner at most one league above the target. A bounty battle always takes place near the target's league.
• A cap per target, at most three pots per placer, a rest period after every pot.
• No reminders and no nagging: the board sends no message to placers when a pot is about to expire.

Frequently Asked Questions #

Can I withdraw my bounty? No. Once placed, the stake stays in the pot until it is paid out or closes — then the rest comes back. The burn is lost either way.

Can I take my own pot? No. Whoever has gold in a pot does not collect it — if you beat the target yourself, the pot stays open for others.

Does a battle against one of the target's colonies count? Yes. Every island counts that belongs to the target at the moment of arrival.

The target lost the island before I arrived — what now? Then the island no longer belonged to the target when you arrived, and your win does not take this pot. What counts is always the owner at the moment of the battle.

Does the whole world see the bounty? Yes — the "All" tab shows every open pot with target and placers. The payout itself, on the other hand, appears only in the private combat report; publicly shared reports show no bounty line.

My warehouse was full — where is the gold? Whatever did not fit is lost; the report names the amount. Whoever hunts a big pot should have room in the warehouse.

Can I place a bounty on someone much stronger than me? Yes. Upwards there is no limit — only downwards: at most one league below you.

Why can't I place a bounty on a target right now, although everything seems to fit? Most likely the target is in its rest period after a closed pot, or it cannot be targeted at the moment. The board deliberately states such reasons only in general terms.