Build 1.15: Black Bart's Gold will be implemented during maintenance tomorrow. The work will begin at 1:30 a.m. PDT and should take approximately three and a half hours. The update was orginally planned to go live this morning, but was delayed until tomorrow.

Rhaegar has provided a brief summary of all you can expect to see in 1.15: "This milestone update contains our long-awaited Skirmish system, the next chapter of the Black Flags and Dread Saints story arc, Treasure Hunts, some changes to loot in missions, and much more."

The third episode of the Pirates of the Burning Sea podcast has been posted on the game's official Web site. In the episode, Flying Lab CEO Russell "Rusty" Williams is joined by Game Designer Lum, Content Designer Deqlor, and guest host Rhaegar to answer questions from fans.

If you have any questions for the Flying Lab team, you can e-mail them to podcast@flyinglab.com and there's a chance they may be answered in the next podcast.

Point Battles have been announced as the newest skirmish feature, and they are explained in detail in a recent dev blog entry: "Every battle in Pirates of the Burning Sea is restricted by the number of players. With the point battle option checked in skirmish, the limit switches from player count to player strength."

If this type of battle sounds interesting to you, the dev team is asking players to log on to the Testbed server at 4 p.m. Pacific tomorrow, May 14, to create and test your own Point Battles. If you participate, you'll get an arrow through your hat to add to the clothing collection of one of your characters.

A recent dev blog entry has provided some exciting news for any true pirates aficionado: treasure maps in Pirates of the Burning sea are getting much more detailed. In fact, a big ol' X will mark the spot of your treasure!

Creative Director Chris Pramas wrote that he's wanted to add real treasure maps to the game since he started working at Flying Lab. Raymond, the content lead for the game, suggested the Black Flags and Dead Saints storyline would be the perfect time to implement them. So in chapter 4 of the storyline, Black Bart's Gold, you'll get a rolled-up map as an item. Open it and use the map to find the big red X on the coastline to start your encounter. Once inside, start digging for treasure!

Pramas also explained how he based Black Bart's Gold on actual history from the 1700s, although he added his own spin to the story. You can read the whole blog entry below to see how much work went into making sure X marks the spot.

Build 1.14: Black Bart's Revenge is now on the live servers in Pirates of the Burning Sea, and it brings numerous updates to the game, which the Flying Lab team has discussed in great detail in various dev blog entries. You can read the full patch notes here or after the jump, but here's some links you should check out for detailed information.

• Chapter 3 of the Black Flags and Dread Saints story arc has begun with build 1.14. It reveals the opening moves of Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts but does not divulge his long-term strategy. Read this blog entry for more about the notorious Black Bart.
• The way pirates accumulate points in Conquest has changed. For example, the amount of points that Pirates get for capturing a port has increased from four to five. You can read all about the changes here.
• Clothing colors and faces for female avatars have been reworked. This blog entry explains the process and shows some examples.
• Ollie, the sound guy at Flying Lab, is adding tradional music to PotBS. He discusses recording music for the game in his blog entry.

Flying Lab Software, has challenged players of Pirates of the Burning Sea to a "Skirmish" battle on the Testbed server, at 3:00pm Pacific Time on Monday 13th April. The battle's limited to 24 players, so anyone wanting to participate should arrive early in order to take part. Anyone managing to take down the developers will receive the in-game title "Beat Them at Their Own Game" when the 1.14 patch is released.

More details on the event can be found on the game's official website.

A new devlog entry has announced that the amount of points Pirates get for capturing a port will increase from four to five as part of changes to the Conquest system in Milestone 14. Also, the raided state that occurs when Pirates when a port battle will now last for 96 hours instead of 48 hours.

"Overall these changes should help to make Pirates more relevant in RvR, and increase the effects they can have on other nations," Lum said in the post. The purpose of these changes is to give Pirates a little breathing room if they lose a port battle and make it so they don't have to be constantly attacking ports.

You can read the full devlog here or below.

The Pirates of the Burning Sea team has been weaving the tale of the Dread Saints for players to enjoy through various missions. We found out in the last milestone that the Dread Saint was Bartholomew Roberts, the notorious Black Bart. Now, FLS_Pramas has given us a little more information on Black Bart in a dev blog entry.

Black Bart’s Revenge, which is Chapter 3 of the Black Flags and Dread Saints storyline, goes live with 1.14 and will feature unique content for each nation. "The British missions are in Bridgetown, the French in Fort-de-France, the Spanish in Santo Domingo, and the Brethren in De L’isle," according to the entry.

You'll find out what Black Bart wants in the Caribbean in future chapters of the storyline. He captured 400 ships in a 4-year career, so you know the ferocious pirate should not be taken lightly.

If you're a Pirates of the Burning Sea player who wants to take your love of pirates to the next level, you can attend PyrateCon April 3-5 in New Orleans' famed French Quarter. Rusty, Misha and Danicia from the Pirates of the Burning Sea team will be at the convention to discuss the game, as well as the Age of Sail and Piracy.

In case you didn't know, PyrateCon is a celebration of American pirate history. This year’s theme is "Search For Lafitte’s Ghost" with tours and activities focusing on ghoulish interactions, including a "Dead Can Dance" Grand Ball.

But wait, there's more! PotBS will be part of the giant Pyrate Parade on Saturday, and you can participate if you wear a costume. So grab your best eyepatch and tri-cornered hat and join in on the festivities. The team will even have a table at the Bourbon O pub on Friday night if you'd like to sit back, relax and discuss your experiences in Pirates of the Burning Sea.

A number of special events have taken place on the PotBS Testbed server recently, to help test upcoming content. The next event is timed to coincide with the game's UK Meet-Up, at 3pm GMT (8am PDT) on March 28th. The event will take the form of a number of Skirmish battles, using a more refined version of the Skirmish system than has been previously seen.