Sea of Thieves 1.1.4 update brings in Gunpowder Skeletons event and new mechanics

Another week, another Sea of Thieves update. Rare has pushed out the new 1.1.4 update for its pirate adventure title today, bringing an end to the Skeleton Thrones event from previous weeks, while introducing a brand new Bilge Rat Adventure event for players to tackle, among other features.

The event is titled Gunpowder Skeletons, and as evident by its name, it has introduced skeletons that carry gunpowder kegs who will rush towards unsuspecting pirates to blow themselves up. Pirates looking to complete the event before it comes to an end on July 10 and earn some Doubloons on the side are tasked with killing these explosive skeletons in some yet to be revealed but unconventional ways.

Gunpowder kegs have received some new mechanics as well. Players can now light a fuse while carrying one, ensuring that the whole cask will deliver a massive explosion in five seconds time. The kegs will affect ships much more when exploding as well, with the force now rocking and pushing vessels around.

Also, skeletons no longer have the shooting skills of Deadshot, with their firearm accuracy getting a much needed nerf with this patch.

Meanwhile, here are the other gameplay changes that have shipped with 1.1.4:

• Bilge Rat Doubloons – Each Gunpowder Skeleton Commendation on the progress screen details the number of Bilge Rat Doubloons it rewards. Players have until the 10th of July to complete the Commendations and earn up to 150 Bilge Rat Doubloons.
• Bilge Rat Cosmetics – The Bone Crusher Sword, Pistol, Blunderbuss and Eye of Reach, priced at 15 Doubloons per item, are available until the 10th of July.
• Letters of Recommendation – Letters of Recommendation now grant a full level in the chosen Trading Company. Opting to spend your hard-earned Doubloons on reputation with the Trading Companies? This just got better!
• Bilge Rat Titles – Completing the Gunpowder Skeletons Commendations will unlock two new Pirate Titles. These titles will unlock straight into your Vanity Chest for maximum bragging rights.
• Legendary Commendations - Legendary Commendation to earn an additional 50 Doubloons!
• Megalodon - Megalodon behaviours have been updated and improved.
• Joinable Status - Players can now make themselves unjoinable from the new Crew Management tab within Settings. This will mean that even friends can no longer join your session.
• Bilge Rat UI - The reputation summary and icon have been updated with improved visuals.

And lastly, we come to the usual list of bug fixes, known issues, and performance improvements that arrive with these weekly updates, all of which can be found below:

Performance Improvements

• Reduced client memory usage on PC.
• Improved network bandwidth usage which may in turn reduce latency experienced by players in busy scenarios.
• Improved server performance which will reduce latency for all players.
• Multiple server and client crash fixes.
• Further improvements and optimisations for all platforms are ongoing.

Fixed Issues

• The turning speed on the Galleon has been corrected.
• Being poisoned by a snake no longer shows the VFX a second time.
• Large button prompts no longer overlap.
• Certain hairstyles no longer show being tucked into jackets.
• Megalodons will no longer collide with islands when following a ship.
• Skeletons at a Fort no longer lose their textures once the Captain is killed.
• Majestic Sovereign Trousers no longer visually tear.

Known Issues

• Some players travel in an unintended direction when fired from a cannon.
• Bilge Rat Doubloons have not been correctly rewarded to a number of players who earned them through the Skeleton Thrones event.
• We are investigating a resolution for this and will share information when available.
• The Hungering Deep rewards were not received by a number of players who earned them.

We are currently rolling out a fix for this issue which will award missing rewards from The Hungering Deep. This will take some time, so keep an eye on the weekly patch notes to see when the rollout is complete.

• Resource barrels on ships will periodically re-stock if they are below the default level of stock.

Pirates will need to wait longer than usual before sailing out to hunt these explosive keg carrying skeletons, however, as Rare has extended today's maintenance period to 3pm BST.

Arriving as an Xbox Play Anywhere title, Sea of Thieves is available for purchase via the Microsoft Store. The game is also part of the Xbox Game Pass program, which is slated to receive 10 more games in July.