Captains, the gloomiest time of the year is drawing near—and with it, Halloween returns to World of Sea Battle!

From October 24 to November 7, the Archipelago changes: sinister ships appear at sea, personal islands get themed decorations, and captains can look forward to special quests, holiday treasure maps and rewards.

The main currency of the event is once again lollipops. Earn them across a range of activities and trade them with the Overseas Merchant. This year his stock includes the new ship Al-Fatih, the Captain's Seal, Elite status warrants and much more.

Important: the event is available to captains from rank 7. Until you reach it, holiday calendar quests stay locked, and lollipops and holiday map pieces will not drop.

One of the event's headline additions is Al-Fatih—a new rate III warship.

It stands out for its unusual construction, a special gun in the bow, and oars.

You can get Al-Fatih from the Overseas Merchant in exchange for lollipops.

Keep in mind: the ship will also be obtainable in other ways later on, but the event gives you the chance to add it to your fleet ahead of everyone else.

Special holiday ships will appear in various locations during the event.

They are easy to recognize: they get a distinctive look and are tougher than ordinary enemies.

Captains who take part in sinking them earn lollipops and gold, and the size of the reward depends on your contribution to the fight.

Lollipops are once again the event's main currency. This time there are several ways to earn them:

• completing holiday calendar quests;

• fishing;

• hunting whales;

• collecting and opening holiday treasure maps;

• opening ordinary treasure maps;

• fighting holiday ships;

• buying lollipops in the in-game store.

Unlike last Halloween, lollipops no longer drop from the altar.

The holiday currency cannot be passed to other players: lollipops cannot be sold on the Exchange, thrown overboard or placed in a fort. They are not lost when your ship is sunk, either.

And don't put off your trip to the Overseas Merchant: after the event ends you have 3 more days to spend whatever lollipops you have left. After that they disappear.

The seas welcome back holiday treasure maps. To make a single map you need to collect 7 pieces—they come from imperial flagships and resource nodes. You can collect and open up to three holiday maps a day: once you receive the 21st piece, new map pieces stop dropping until the following day.

Inside you'll find chests, fireworks and an extra reward. Possible finds include coins, guns, fragments or lollipops. What exactly turns up in each hoard is something you'll discover on opening it.

For the duration of the event, the calendar returns with 14 challenges. Once again captains will have plenty to keep them busy: fighting NPS and boarding them, taking part in Arena battles, trading and fishing, exploring islands, attacking imperial forts, hunting whales and completing other tasks.

The order of the challenges gets shuffled, so keep an eye on the quests in the calendar. For every quest you complete you receive 40 lollipops.

For every completed quest you receive 40 lollipops. And the more challenges you complete, the more extra rewards you can claim:

• For logging in — the Jolly Quartet flag.

• For 3 completed quests — 150 coins.

• For 5 quests — the Ghost Pirate decal.

• For 7 quests — decor for your personal island.

• For 9 quests — 14 days of premium subscription. If you already hold a subscription of 30 days or more when you claim the reward, you get 200 coins instead.

• For 12 quests — 400 lollipops.

Captains' personal islands are transformed for the event as well, with the holiday decorations returning. But pumpkins won't only show up as decor.

Out at sea you'll again run into the pumpkins you remember from last Halloween. What's inside—a pleasant find or a nasty surprise—you'll discover for yourself.

Don't trust suspicious pumpkins.

Every lollipop you earn can be spent with the Overseas Merchant. This year his stock holds both familiar rewards and several notable new items.

Among his goods:

• the new ship Al-Fatih;

• Ice Lantern;

• Battle Marks;

• Pirate Tokens;

• Escudos;

• Imperial Blueprint;

• coins;

• Volcanic Ore;

• Chest Keys;

• Heavy and Saxon shot;

• gold;

• a holiday flag and decal;

• several ship paints.

You'll be able to see the full range and the prices at the Overseas Merchant himself once the event is running.

You can buy the Captain's Seal for lollipops. The merchant offers three options: 3 days, 7 days and 30 days. Each of them can be bought only once for the whole event.

Another new arrival in the range is Elite status warrants, which let you raise a ship's Elite status level. The Overseas Merchant will stock bundles of one and three warrants.

So which reward are you going after first?

Captains! Hotfix #1 is now live! We've made adjustments to weapon balance, improved the tutorial, fixed several bugs, and made further improvements to the game's interface.

• Artillery Aiming Speed has been increased for Culverins and Long Guns: by 25% for heavy calibers, 20% for medium calibers, and 13% for light calibers.

• Acceleration in Cruising Mode is now calculated based on a ship's base speed rather than its current maximum speed.

• Large Plates and Berserker's Patch can no longer be equipped simultaneously, including through saved presets. Previously equipped conflicting consumables will be removed, with a corresponding entry added to the Logbook.

• Fixed an issue with upgrade wear on Rate II and Rate IV ships. Previously, wear values intended for lower-rate ships were displayed.

• Ships listed on the Exchange now occupy a Port Slot until they are sold. The exploit allowing players to bypass the ship slot limit through the Exchange has been fixed.

• Lightning strikes have been restored outside the permitted area in the Endless Sea.

• Fixed an issue where the flamethrower's aiming indicator showed that the weapon was ready to fire while overheating.

• When building the Horizont during the tutorial, the ship now automatically receives enough sailors to operate its guns.

• Tasks requiring players to disable their Peace Flag have been removed up to and including Level 10.

• Improved the highlighting of interface elements during the tutorial. Required buttons and sections are now easier to notice.

• Numerical values have been added to the sliders for volume, mouse sensitivity, screen brightness, and minimap size in the game settings.

• When opening the Shipyard for the first time, the ship list now starts at the top.

• Fixed an issue where the design selection window could reopen while assigning designs to the sails of a ship with Elite Status.

• Increased the size of the pennant in ship characteristics so that longer ship names are displayed correctly.

• Fixed an issue with the scroll icon overlapping other elements in the Specialists window.

• Fixed visual artifacts that appeared when opening the Specialists window.

• Forts and towers now display the flag of their current owner when viewed through the Spyglass.

• Updated the tooltips in the shipbuilding window and the ship information in the Encyclopedia.

• Consumables can now be crafted if they are compatible with at least one ship in the Shipyard, even if they cannot be used on the currently selected ship.

• A warning has been added when canceling a market listing, informing players that the tax paid will not be refunded.

• Improved music transitions when entering the game, as well as music playback in the Arena and other game modes.

• Fixed an issue where building the Balloon was not recorded in the Logbook.

• Fixed an issue where tavern quests could generate inaccessible cargo pickup locations near Bord Radel.

• Quest rewards in the Logbook now correctly include the +40% bonus from an active Captain's Seal.

Thank you for your feedback and bug reports! We'll continue working to improve the game.