Something needs to change with the skeleton ships. Running a sloop, solo or with a friend, is nearly impossible when literally every time I'm on the sea a skeleton SLOOP no less spawns right next to me and sinks me after what's sometimes a 20 minute battle. Skeleton ships have: infinite crew members, infinite cannon balls AND cursed cannon balls (which in my experience are SPAMMED ENDLESSLY so the second the effects of a grogball/peaceball/anchorball wear off I'm hit with another,) aimbot accuracy (I've seen others be killed and have been killed by skele cannons while in the water,) immunity to fire, and never go away no matter how far you sail. This means playing solo you can't escape them or deal damage to them as they pump your ship so full of holes you spend the ENTIRE fight patching your ship/scooping water. This also means boarding them is pointless. Solo they are a death sentence, and duo they're a problem that takes ~%50 of your resources and a good chunk of your time. If I'm constantly too drunk to patch holes/scoop water or unable to fire my cannons (which are not only shut down but forced to aim straight up) it's no longer fun or possible to defeat the ship. Mind you, these are SLOOPS with one cannon per side firing lead into my ship like an AK-47. Nearly makes the game not worth playing as they consistently spawn right next to my ship and destroy any progress I've made. Either give the skeles limited curse balls, a respawn timer LIKE PIRATES HAVE, or limit their ability to patch the damage you do to their ship. How is it fair or balanced to give a ship infinite healing, ammo, and crew while also giving them precision accuracy? Not to mention there's something like 6 skeles on a sloop that only 2 pirates can occupy, AND these skeles have MORE HEALTH than a pirate. Pitiful, pathetic game design. It's not possible to defeat a computer that responds to your every move! It's a computer!
Skeleton Ships are Ridiculously OP
@nxbiscuits
"Skeleton ships are ridiculously EZ"Fixed that for you. 😅
In all seriousness, as an experienced pirate, I can often sink a cursed sloop that appears within 30 seconds to a minute.
All you gotta do is raise your sail to half, turn the wheel about 3 to 4 spokes towards them, and unload on their broadside. I can easily hit them every time, right in the middle, preventing repairs, and from shooting back (because it destroys their cannoneer). By the time I use up all 10 cannonballs, they're usually sunk.
...and I can do this solo. Now that you know the how, do you know the why as to how I can do this? Experience! Keep at it, and you'll be fine.
Like you said, "EZ". 😉
@nxbiscuits
There's a learning curve for everything, just keep at it and in no time you'll learn how to deal with not just skelly sloops but galleons aswell.@frostsh0t I admit that, when solo slooping, cursed galleons can be a bit tougher, but they're not unbeatable - and they don't spawn on sloops, so that's a good thing.
@galactic-geek
With the right cursed balls it goes down quite smooth.
Without them it could take some time.Think they can spawn on sloops, had it happen once.
Maybe I had one to many grogs...They are fun!
Dont run away for them then they spam canonballs..
Just get close to them then the distance is short and they stop firing canons and start shooting pistols.
Or sail circels so they miss fire and also start circeling... and bumping..
Never sail a straight line they will sail next to you from canon distance and spam shots.
I sink them by crashing in them and harpoon and adjust sails so we sail the same speed side by side and then the bumping makes holes and i bucket my water into their boat.
Or just like 15 canon hits is enough i think?
To be fair, it does feel like skellie sloops have gotten a bit tougher recently. I don't know what it is exactly, but they're not going down quite as easily as before. Maybe it's just luck, but I'm not the only one who's noticed it.
That said, they're still perfectly manageable. The advice others have given above is excellent. You can also run them into rocks or islands to slow them down a bit. Prioritizing tasks is a big part of the game. Captaining a sloop is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. There's almost nothing that's not survivable on a sloop, even solo. Just takes practice.
One thing you mentioned was an "immunity to fire." This isn't so. Fire kills the skellies, which means they can't shoot or repair. Very effective. Cursed cannonballs are also effective on skellie ships. Put a few holes in them and hit them with a sleep ball, or a barrel ball. They'll usually go down fast.
The PvE in Sea of Thieves is generally pretty easy (especially compared to PvP). You can't expect to be good at everything overnight. It takes some time. But once you get the hang of it, you'll be glad they didn't nerf it.
@nxbiscuits said in Skeleton Ships are Ridiculously OP:
aimbot accuracy (I've seen others be killed and have been killed by skele cannons while in the water,)
If that did happen then it must of been a random cannon ball as skeletons can not physically target players, the AI is only programmed to target ships.
Back to your post, like others have said they are actually ridiculously easy once you have some miles under your belt.
@nxbiscuits When you hear the music, make sure you’re facing a clear path (no rocks, islands ahead), raise sails to half, and grab some cannonballs. Yes, sail in a straight line (counter to some advice above) because you want to be able to hit the same spot consistently. By the time you’ve set up, the sk’loop will be rising up on one side or the other. It takes them a few seconds to send out the cannoneer, so use that time to finish prepping or start firing. Always aim to hit the cannons. This will put a hole, kill the cannoneer so they can’t fire on you, and prevent repairing. Just keep aiming to hit that point. Within a minute or two, the sk’loop will stop and sink.
Note: it will not always work out perfectly, and you may take some fire due to wave height or simply missing. Just don’t panic, repair when absolutely needed and always aim for the cannons.
@frostsh0t said in Skeleton Ships are Ridiculously OP:
@galactic-geek
With the right cursed balls it goes down quite smooth.Trust me, I know - I just don't like wasting perfectly good CCBs on a cursed ship when I can save them for the ever more dangerous pirate ships.
Speaking of which, I lost a fight against a pirate brigantine yesterday because I forgot to take advantage of the numerous CCBs that I had; they didn't forget to use theirs either - a single anchorball, followed by a chainshot to the mast, and I was all but done.
@nxbiscuits said in Skeleton Ships are Ridiculously OP:
Something needs to change with the skeleton ships. Running a sloop, solo or with a friend, is nearly impossible when literally every time I'm on the sea a skeleton SLOOP no less spawns right next to me and sinks me after what's sometimes a 20 minute battle. Skeleton ships have: infinite crew members, infinite cannon balls AND cursed cannon balls (which in my experience are SPAMMED ENDLESSLY so the second the effects of a grogball/peaceball/anchorball wear off I'm hit with another,) aimbot accuracy (I've seen others be killed and have been killed by skele cannons while in the water,) immunity to fire, and never go away no matter how far you sail. This means playing solo you can't escape them or deal damage to them as they pump your ship so full of holes you spend the ENTIRE fight patching your ship/scooping water. This also means boarding them is pointless. Solo they are a death sentence, and duo they're a problem that takes ~%50 of your resources and a good chunk of your time. If I'm constantly too drunk to patch holes/scoop water or unable to fire my cannons (which are not only shut down but forced to aim straight up) it's no longer fun or possible to defeat the ship. Mind you, these are SLOOPS with one cannon per side firing lead into my ship like an AK-47. Nearly makes the game not worth playing as they consistently spawn right next to my ship and destroy any progress I've made. Either give the skeles limited curse balls, a respawn timer LIKE PIRATES HAVE, or limit their ability to patch the damage you do to their ship. How is it fair or balanced to give a ship infinite healing, ammo, and crew while also giving them precision accuracy? Not to mention there's something like 6 skeles on a sloop that only 2 pirates can occupy, AND these skeles have MORE HEALTH than a pirate. Pitiful, pathetic game design. It's not possible to defeat a computer that responds to your every move! It's a computer!
Oh my god.
It definitely is not.You need to ask for tips on how to beat it instead of asking for a nerf.
Dont be a noob. Learn how to beat them instead of posting such nonsense in future.
A skelly sloop goes down in about 10 hits. Aim. For the cannon and they cant even fire back.
Stick with it and you will do fleets solo.
One think you will find about operating a sloop is that is is much more durable than you think. What you might be doing is fretting over a hole or two when ultimately you can ignore it for a while. Ignore it to deal a bit of damage then go bucket a bit. The sloops is by far the most tenacious ship in the game and can borderline survive through everything as long as a crew is alive to bucket.
@nxbiscuits oke not to make mad you off mate the only annoyance with the skeley ships is the curced canonballs i have a few tips for you
1 throw a fire bomb on the wheel it stops them from Turing
2 shoot below the waterline to sink them faster
3 if you see them and can street good enough go to some rocks
@nabberwar said in Skeleton Ships are Ridiculously OP:
One think you will find about operating a sloop is that is is much more durable than you think. What you might be doing is fretting over a hole or two when ultimately you can ignore it for a while. Ignore it to deal a bit of damage then go bucket a bit. The sloops is by far the most tenacious ship in the game and can borderline survive through everything as long as a crew is alive to bucket.
To add to this sloops can be borderline scuttled and still carry on trucking lol
@fllw3rb0y Unless your solo and taken by surprise.
Then the RNG God's of the Seas might just denote that you will be stun locked by curses while the skelly sloop hammers you into submission...
Then just when you think you got a handle on your ship and the situation at hand that skelly ship decides it's time to summon one of it's pals, either Megan/Don or on those rare occasions Karen because it's your chosen time to sink an lose.So I used to HATE skeleton ship encounters but I figured something out. You hear the music before you see them. Grab some cannonballs and stand in the middle of your ship. You should be able to tell which side they’re gonna come up on by sound (probably easier if you have headphones.) When you figure out which side they’re on, run to that side and load your cannon. In my experience (and there have been maaaany) the ships like breach completely out of the water and then take several seconds to start firing at you. Use this breach (where the hull of their ship is completely out of the water) AND the several seconds to just UNLOAD your cannonballs into the lower part of their hull. It’s pretty effective. Of course galleons will take a bit more but you should be able to do some serious damage and possibly sink a sloop in that first barrage.
@nxbiscuits Not saying you should get good, but you should get good. Skeleton sloops are the easiest thing in the world to defeat and it literally only takes 10 cannonballs. When one spawns on you if you're solo first thing to do is hit it with a harpoon so you're locked onto it. Pull yourself in a little close for shots. Then hop on the cannon start laying into the ship. Focus on the waterline and forward parts of the hull. After your first 6 or so shots onto the hull put a couple on the map table for good measure and you should, within the time it takes to fire those 10 shots, sunk yourself a skeleton sloop and be rewarded with treasure. Another super important thing when fighting skele ships. Bail! Bail! Bail! Don't waste time patching holes that can potentially be reopened with cannon fire. Bail the water out. It's pretty easy to infinitely bail out a sloop. Even a completely scuttled sloop can be bailed for a time before you will actually sink. Not saying it's easy to keep afloat at that point but it is doable. However if you aim your cannons well it shouldn't be an issue. Another good practice going against a skeleton crew or any crew for that matter is to launch a fireball first at the cannons. Works especially well against skeletons because the fire keeps them off the cannons.
@cptnpotbeard
I've soloed skele sloops in my own sloop before. Here's a few tips:When you hear the music, raise sails and slow right down to near stop, load the cannons, and be ready. They tend to appear in the fire arc on one side. Hit the cannon on the first shot, then the lower hull for the rest of them. They often do not even get a single shot off, as the gun crew is killed, and take time to respawn.
If it turns into a chase, remember they will crash into rocks and obstacles. You can also often sail away, giving plenty of time to repair and heal before turning back.
Don't go full speed. It's hard to aim. Go half speed, get one person steering and one on cannon, and your hit rate will improve drastically. You need sustained fire to take them out, as you need repeated hits. You should be hitting 70%+ shots at medium to close range.
Don't board them - it never works. Ramming can be effective, especially if you let them ram you. You get one hole, you get plenty of close range shots.
@triheadedmonkey said in Skeleton Ships are Ridiculously OP:
I managed to sink a Skellie Gally in ~38 seconds 😎
Your first cannon ball was fired at 00:42 ... I personally count the 50 seconds of missing all of your shots as well... bringing your kill to 1 minute, 28 seconds ;)
@omnipotence13 I....generally try to forget my missed shots :D
The fact I hit it at all amazed me but I started the timer from my first hit and it aggroing, I was about to log off and it had been circling for a while so thought I'd give it a whack!
Still, I'll take sub 1:30! :D
@galactic-geek said in Skeleton Ships are Ridiculously OP:
@nxbiscuits
"Skeleton ships are ridiculously EZ"Fixed that for you. 😅
In all seriousness, as an experienced pirate, I can often sink a cursed sloop that appears within 30 seconds to a minute.
All you gotta do is raise your sail to half, turn the wheel about 3 to 4 spokes towards them, and unload on their broadside. I can easily hit them every time, right in the middle, preventing repairs, and from shooting back (because it destroys their cannoneer). By the time I use up all 10 cannonballs, they're usually sunk.
...and I can do this solo. Now that you know the how, do you know the why as to how I can do this? Experience! Keep at it, and you'll be fine.
Like you said, "EZ". 😉
So what you are saying is there is an optimal strategy and without it then its difficult.
Ill finish the thought, if its too easy for good players why have it, and if its too challenging for casuals... then why have it..
There must be some balance. because 1 player shouldnt hate it because its hard, and the other hate it because its easy.
This tells me that the AI has some flaws, its difficult if you cant find its 1 weakness then constantly exploit that.
@fllw3rb0y Well one example i have is, Jumping off the sloop while solo looting random barrels for stock, upon taking the maid "Pow" cannons to the face upon ship spawn.
Granted this is a very very Rare occurrence, my point being for inexperienced players they can present issues experienced players have long forgotten about. Solo Slooping you make a couple of mis-steps mid fight and it can be all over before you know it.
@blappo-spawn said in Skeleton Ships are Ridiculously OP:
@galactic-geek said in Skeleton Ships are Ridiculously OP:
@nxbiscuits
"Skeleton ships are ridiculously EZ"Fixed that for you. 😅
In all seriousness, as an experienced pirate, I can often sink a cursed sloop that appears within 30 seconds to a minute.
All you gotta do is raise your sail to half, turn the wheel about 3 to 4 spokes towards them, and unload on their broadside. I can easily hit them every time, right in the middle, preventing repairs, and from shooting back (because it destroys their cannoneer). By the time I use up all 10 cannonballs, they're usually sunk.
...and I can do this solo. Now that you know the how, do you know the why as to how I can do this? Experience! Keep at it, and you'll be fine.
Like you said, "EZ". 😉
So what you are saying is there is an optimal strategy and without it then its difficult.
Ill finish the thought, if its too easy for good players why have it, and if its too challenging for casuals... then why have it..
There must be some balance. because 1 player shouldnt hate it because its hard, and the other hate it because its easy.
This tells me that the AI has some flaws, its difficult if you cant find its 1 weakness then constantly exploit that.
I gave only 1 example - the method I personally like to use. Others gave numerous examples of their own. Yes, some ways are better than others, but that doesn't mean you have to use the optimal method, whatever that may be - sink them in whatever way makes it fun for you.
I've sunk cursed ships without ever firing a shot, but instead simply using a bucket - not the best option, but it was an experience that I won't forget.
Skele sink
