Dulu

Can confirm. I've also had this. (Related: Why can't we recast our sextant buff? If it's about to expire, but we know we're sailing towards PvP, recasting it should be an option.. it's also an easy fix* for this bug)

It's actually less than 8 hours. You can't safely approach the island of any dedicated company until peace time ends, so you will have to actually sail towards them, and then one of your guys will have to take the gold and plant your flag. Let's assume you can do this in 5 minutes. Then, their claim has to actually be finished AND you have to finish your claim BEFORE their combat timer expires, or you waste your gold and they keep their island. So you have to have your flag uncontested (good luck if they even have 5 nakeds running around) for 2 full hours, within a 5 hour, 55 minute window.

PvE and less aggressive players really shouldn't worry about the addition of piracy mechanics. Adding piracy to the game actually benefits you. As it is right now, if my crew and I sail by your unprotected fleet, or catch you on the open seas: we HAVE to sink you, just to see what you might have on board. By giving me the option of stealing your ship, you are creating more wiggle room for yourself. Maybe instead of just knocking planks off, I'll go for a boarding option, or try to run you aground. Both of these give you way more tactical options to either win the fight, or escape. And if they make it so you can't steal ships that have been anchored for 20 minutes, it actually makes me not want to offline your ship, because I might be able to steal it later. As it is right now, with no piracy - my only choice for getting loot is sinking your ship. Piracy is your friend. Let it happen.

Toe to toe? No. But right now the balance is way out of wack in guns vs. tames. And from a business standpoint (@Grapeshot), there are way more players out there who would enjoy gunplay than having to deal with tames.

Humans climbed to the top of the food chain by mastering fire, and ranged weapons. No tame should be a match for a well placed shot from a rifle. They go to extreme lengths to make the reload time on carbines 14 seconds with 3 mini games.. but then make it require dozens of shots from carbines to kill any high level tame... and then give tames self healing. it's ridiculous. Tames need a hard nerf across the board.

A little backstory on me: I came to this game looking for a pirate/sea fantasy style game. I had never been a fan of Ark, or any survival games... but the genre has grown on me since trying Atlas. I was/am a fan of Summit1g, and love his videos from Sea of Thieves. I came into this game expecting a Sea of Thieves style game, but with building, and more MMO elements. Most of my time in this game has been on board Brigantines and Schooners, doing ship PvP, raiding, and naval combat. I consider myself quite experienced in PvP, and I'm very proud of my company and their performance against every type of opponent. I've poured countless hours into the game. I can safely say I've dabbled in pretty much every element. Now, with that said, I'd like to lay some heavy criticism at your feet, in the most respectable way possible: #1 - Are we going for 'Realism'/Simulation, or fantasy? What do we weigh more, fun gameplay, or realistic experiences? -Carbine reload timers are 15 seconds, yet we have giant crabs... which, are seemingly impossible to kill with said carbines. The jury is still out, but it appears to require liquid flame, several people coordinating perfectly timed grenades, maybe an explosive barrell, some harpoons, and other tamed animals to maybe kill one. Hopefully the crab doesn't jump over the mountain and instantly heal back up though. And look, I'm fine with silly crab monsters --- but can you give Firearms the same treatment? Let us load that carbine in 3-4 seconds, maybe faster with talents, and actually hurt the giant mutant crab. If we're going to fun - that's great, let's address the unfun things and turn down the realism on them a bit. Vitamins, reload time, freezing to death, etc. If we're going for realism, that's also great - let's tone down the power of tames, especially the giant ones. #2 - Ships have a weight limit, a crew limit... but no listing / balance mechanic. You can have 15,000 kilos on your ship, with 12k KG loaded directly on the rear of your ship. Again, what are we going for here? Are we going for realism? If so, implement some system for listing. Are we going for fun and creativity? Lessen the restriction on crew and weight. I don't like having to tell company members they can't ride on my Brigantine because I don't have a crew slot open or room for the 100kg they're going to take up. #3 - Death, Beds, item scaling and Naked Players. I feel like the entire concept of death in this game needs a long look. Naked players are at the same time way too effective at controlling the meta game. Capturing islands, defending islands, riding tames, etc. Naked vs. common gear is a very marginal difference. Yet on the flip side, a player in full common plate, with a carbine or blunderbuss, melee weapon, vitamin buff, etc... is completely worthless against a player in Legendary or Mythical Gear, or riding a decent tame. We need a more linear scaling system. Paradoxically though, naked players can stall out even the most well geared raid force for HOURS by simply running, contesting, placing structures, etc. Beds need a limit on how many times they can be used in PvP. Perhaps a durability hit each time they are used for a PvP death.