Part of the Sea of Conquest Alliance Series:

Alliance Guide: Gangs, rallies and territory (Start Here).

Combat Mechanics: Where Infamy sits.

PvP Guide: The wider consequences of attacking.

Ingredients Guide: Why people farm merchants.

Quick Answer

Attacking players and merchant ships raises Infamy, and the penalties escalate to a point that stops the activity entirely:

Infamy	Rank	Consequence
300	Risin' Urge	10,000 gold bounty
500	Cursed Path	30,000 gold bounty
1,000	Butcher o' the Seas	50,000 bounty + Wanted List, and you become trackable
1,800	Foul Stench	100,000 bounty
2,800	Monstrous Sins	200,000 bounty + you can no longer loot players or merchants

That last row is self-terminating. Farm merchants hard enough and you lose the ability to farm them at all.

Sinking merchants also lowers Guild Relations, which affects your faction standing separately.

To clear it: Heart of Atonement items from the Dock Merchant — green −100, blue −300, purple −500, roughly one purchase per day. The 80%-off green is the value buy.

Why Anyone Risks It

Because merchant ships are where your ingredients come from.

Only four crafting ingredients are produced at home — Fresh Water (Water Cabin), Eggs (Chicken Coop), Milk (Cattle Shed) and fish (Salvage Bay). Everything else — Sugar Cane, Barley, Maize, Raw Meat, Juniper Berry and every mixer — is looted from Armed Freighters, merchant ships, treasure chests and port stalls.

And crafting is a genuine gold engine: Divine Gaucus's Kiss sells for 3,840 gold, the Heavenly taco line for 3,000. With flagship costs running ~20M at level 21 and ~50M at 26, that matters — see the gold guide.

So there is real pressure to farm merchants aggressively, and real cost to doing it without watching the counter.

Managing Infamy

Watch the 1,000 threshold. At Butcher o' the Seas you land on the Wanted List and become trackable, which means other players can find and hunt you deliberately. That is a meaningful change to how safe your fleets are on the map.

Never approach 2,800. Losing the ability to loot removes your ingredient supply and therefore your crafting economy. It is the single most avoidable self-inflicted problem in the game.

Buy Heart of Atonement on the discount. Roughly one purchase per day, and the 80%-off green at −100 is better value than a full-price purple at −500. Do the arithmetic before reaching for the expensive one.

The free method: strip your flagship of anything valuable and deliberately get sunk until Infamy drops. Undignified, effective, and costs no gold.

Balance your farming. Alternate merchant looting with treasure maps, fishing and sea monsters — all of which supply materials without Infamy cost.

Guild Relations

Separately from Infamy, sinking merchants lowers your Guild Relations — your standing with the game's factions.

Improving relations generally comes from cooperation and non-aggression rather than a single repair action, so the practical approach is prevention: do not farm merchants past what you need.

Your alliance's diplomacy is affected too. Relations between gangs shape where you can safely gather and trade, and individual behaviour feeds into it. Attacking members of a friendly gang for a small personal gain can cost your whole alliance a working relationship — see the alliance guide.

Reputation is real on a small server. In a game built on rally coordination, being known as unreliable limits your options more than any stat penalty.

Safe Farming Habits

Set a personal Infamy ceiling — around 500 is comfortable — and clear back down before pushing again.

Buy the discounted green Heart of Atonement daily rather than letting Infamy accumulate to where you need purples.

Recall fleets before logging off during war windows, especially if you are on the Wanted List. Ships in port cannot be intercepted.

Shield after flagship level 8, when beginner protection ends — see the PvP guide.

Gather in alliance territory where it is safer and sometimes buffed.

FAQ

How do I remove Infamy in Sea of Conquest?

Buy Heart of Atonement items from the Dock Merchant — green −100, blue −300, purple −500, roughly one per day. Or strip your flagship and let it be sunk.

What happens at 1,000 Infamy?

You become Butcher o' the Seas: a 50,000 gold bounty, and you appear on the Wanted List where players can track you.

What happens at 2,800 Infamy?

You can no longer loot players or merchants at all — which ends the activity that earned the Infamy.

Does attacking merchants hurt Guild Relations?

Yes, separately from Infamy. Relations affect your faction standing.

How do I improve Guild Relations?

Through cooperation and non-aggression rather than a single repair action. Prevention is the practical route.

Can I farm merchants safely?

Yes, with a personal Infamy ceiling and daily discounted Heart of Atonement purchases. Alternate with treasure maps and fishing.

Key Takeaways

2,800 Infamy ends your looting entirely. Never approach it.
1,000 puts you on the Wanted List and makes you trackable.
Heart of Atonement from the Dock Merchant clears it; the 80%-off green is the value buy.
Merchants are your ingredient supply — which is why the pressure exists.
Alternate with treasure maps, fishing and monsters for Infamy-free materials.

Sea of Conquest Guild Relations, Infamy and the Wanted List