Ice Ocean


 * "Ice" redirects here. For the Hunter Ocean flag, see Ice (Hunter flag). For the Viridian Ocean flag, see Ice (Viridian flag).

The Ice Ocean was first launched in February 2005. Spoke Cleaver: "As long mooted, today we are opening a Test Server, to be known as the Ice Ocean. The Ice Ocean will be available only to subscribers and will usually be running a preview version of the next full release. As such it will require a separate client be installed on your machine."

For the first week of Ice's existence, the testing ocean served as a place to test the doubloon mechanism prior to the launch of Viridian, the first production ocean to use doubloons. It also tested the concept of cold start ocean launches. After that first week, Ice saw its first and currently only database wipe.

Captain Cleaver said at the Ice Ocean's launch: "Although we hope that players will establish a vibrant, if small, community and economy on Ice, it will be subject to instability and it may be necessary to perform wipes. We will try to avoid such, but be warned that they may happen."

Downloading the Ice Client
Ice is online now and it can be accessed using a test client which can be found here:


 * Windows - http://download.ice.puzzlepirates.com/yoclient/test-install.exe


 * If you need to change the download location on your computer, use http://download.ice.puzzlepirates.com/yoclient/test-fullinstall.exe


 * Mac - http://download.ice.puzzlepirates.com/yoclient/test-install.dmg


 * Linux - http://download.ice.puzzlepirates.com/yoclient/test-install.bin

Note that client installations older than March 28th, 2008 will need to be completely uninstalled before an installation will work properly, due to changes in the software deployment framework. If you're having trouble logging in, this is a good thing to check first.

Properties of Ice Ocean Compared to Production Oceans
The Ice Ocean has several unusual characteristics that require the community on Ice to adjust their playstyles in order to thrive:

Due to the smaller and significantly more skilled population of Ice, and the lack of greenies scoring low to pad out the bottom of the score tables, it is exceptionally difficult to score incredible or gain ultimates on Ice. The puzzle scoring indicators also are affected by this more difficult scoring curve, resulting in more difficulty getting and maintaining sparkliness.

Some minerals and herbs don't spawn in high or low enough amounts due to a bug in the dynamic spawn system in a small-scale economy. People have tried to jump start the bidding by putting higher prices on bid tickets than usual, but this method seems to not work. Currently, manual adjustment of spawn rates by the Ringers is required.

Wagered games and tournaments have become more common with the introduction of automated tourneys. The pieces of eight injected by these tournaments and increased pillaging payouts has resulted in poker being played fairly often. One of the unique features of Ice, which will likely never come to the production oceans, is an experimental Treasure Drop board with 6 or 10 drop slots, as opposed to the usual 8.

While a few pirates and crews still enjoy fruit foraging, stalls and shoppes have begun to pay semi-decent wages, and many mates now rely on regular labor as a small but significant source of income. Two other great sources of income are pillages and sailing with the navy. The payouts for these activities are higher than on any other ocean.

Ice is not part of the regular Ocean Master coverage schedule, and petitions and complaints will not receive an immediate response. There may be staff online sporadically, but if there is a severe problem requiring immediate attention, an Ocean Master from one of the production oceans should be alerted.

Changes to the game made on Ice are recorded in the changelog. An archival version of this log is also kept on the wiki as a reference.

Ice has a transient population which balloons noticeably during phases of testing, and is particularly small just after a new production release. It is not uncommon to see fewer than a dozen players logged in. As such, the economy can change rapidly, and commodity spawns, always low in volume, can often drop to zero during periods of low demand.

/greeter chat is used commonly by many testers, and is not restricted to answering questions from greenies. However, it is still an ocean-wide channel, so sparing usage and respect to others is encouraged.

Specific Differences

 * Brigand, barbarian and navy payouts are higher than normal.
 * Base stall opening fees are 12,000 PoE (plus applicable taxes) on furnishing stalls instead of the usual 44,000poe.
 * Portraits are 10,000 PoE per pirate
 * Fame is not required to do anything, except get a portrait holding a sceptre.
 * Crew creation requires experience of Narrow or above in at least one core duty puzzle (Bilging, Carpenting, Sailing, rigging) and one melee puzzle (Swordfighting, Rumble), as well as the deed to a vessel. Also requires subscriber status.  Doublooners may become captains by promotion in existing crews.
 * Blockades last 1 round.

Geography
There are three archipelagos in Ice (named for the Three Rings of the Elves from The Lord of the Rings), each with five islands, for a total of fifteen islands.

^ - denotes colonized


 * See also: Map of the Ice Ocean

Access to Ice
Access to Ice is usually limited to paying customers, unless the restrictions have been temporarily waived by a developer for testing purposes. Ice is typically considered a subscriber ocean, and as such, does not normally feature doubloons or badges. Subscription players from Cerulean have full access as long as they are current subscribers. Non-subscribers can access the test server if they have purchased at least 24 doubloons with cash within the previous thirty days. If a player from a doubloon ocean wishes to subscribe using doubloons instead of cash, they may do so by visiting the "Coinscribe" page - also known as "Dubscription." One month of access costs 42 doubloons.

Please note, Ice Ocean is not accessible to accounts created through affiliate websites, such as Steam or ArmorGames.

Due to bugs, players without a current subscription (which includes doublooners) may be unable to use some features that require a subscription. The following are some such restrictions:
 * You cannot take a new job at a shoppe.
 * You cannot use /shout on uncolonized islands.

However, all players on Ice enjoy some benefits even without a subscription:
 * If you already hold the rank of pirate or above in a crew, you will have all that rank's privileges (gunning, /officer chat, hiring, charting a course, sailing a ship, promotions, crew management.)
 * If you already hold jobs at shoppes, you will continue to provide offline labor.
 * All crafting and carousing puzzles are free to play, every day.
 * You can wear subscriber-only clothing.
 * You can wield subscriber-only equipment (swords, bludgeons, mugs.)
 * You can place and/or walk any type of pet.

Historical Notes
On 2007-05-11, anyone who had access to Ice was given full subscription privileges for Ice only, though some bugs blocked certain bits.

Prior to 2005-07-18, non-subscribers could not access the Ice Ocean.