Skelly ships spawn rate

They seem to appear close to the smuggler's route - they do have the new kegs aboard, so there is a chance they go boom before you need to put many balls into it.

@famousviking said in Skelly ships spawn rate:

as you just can’t beat them as a solo players.

Nobody is going to take you seriously if you say that.
Solo sloops can take out skeleton galleons with ease, let alone skeleton sloops.

@famousviking said in Skelly ships spawn rate:

I saw someone mention just before on Discord that it took 99 cannonballs to sink a Skelly ship

Meaning they kept missing shots, left plenty of time between barrages for everything to be repaired (letting the skeletons reset as players would in every way but bailing), and never boarded to prevent repairs.

Aim for the cannon on a skelly sloop. If you're not getting hitmarkers, they're likely shadow skellies, so fire up a flare in that case. A couple of firebombs also helps. You should sink them in 10-15 hits.

Skelly galleons require a bit more effort but they're manageable. Use firebombs liberally on their deck, and make sure to get holes on their bottom deck by aiming at the waterline. (Before this season, my advice was to hug them and bail onto them, but that's risky now with the nukes onboard.)

If you have bonecallers use them on lower decks to distract the repairers. Storage barrel curseballs are surprisingly useful against skelly ships also, if you have them.

When it comes to your own repairs, don't be too concerned over one or two holes. In the time it takes you to repair, you could have taken a few shots at them, and it also leaves you open to them landing more hits on you while you repair. Keep an eye on the water level in your sloop and bail every few shots. Repair only if you think you'll have trouble keeping up. Bail out the back or over the deck from the stairs, don't trust the windows.

If they hit your mast once, it's fine, just make a note and repair once if they hit it again. Don't bother repairing capstan, and the wheel is going to be a judgment call whether you need to be able to turn in that moment. Keep the pressure on the enemy primarily.

It takes experience and practice to learn how to prioritise in this scenario, so don't worry if it takes you time to figure it out.

@famousviking
Sadly the naval combat of this game is 99% boarding instead of actually doing naval combat.
Fact is you only actually need one cannonball to sink any ship. Hit, board and protect the hole faster than they can repair, wait for sink.

But of course that's both slow and requires an excessively fast board, so better to hit several times... then board and protect the holes. Bonus points for starting a fire on their cannons.
For a solo slooper, most of naval combat against a bigger ship is spent not on your ship, but theirs.
A skeleton sloop though firing off a good cannon barrage is liable to sink them before you actually get on board. The next ball hitting stops an ongoing repair attempt and sloops can't take much water.

It is becoming nearly impossible for solo players like myself to even complete any quests or even just get from island to island without being attacked by them

Define.
Impossible, spawn rate and strengths.

I was on for 3 hours. Never had one spawn on me, avoided or sunk the ones sailing around (since they have black legs now).
Where on the map are you? I stick to Far west (I like the sunset)

You know. Players are always asking for more to do, fight.
Complain about megs not spawning enough, kraken never appearing or Skelton ships being weak

Second they get tough. It’s now “too much”
We can say “new players will struggle” of course it’s a learning experience.
Can we not have a tough game with big rewards?I liked to feel rewarded for surviving a cruel fight by skin of my teeth.
But players just don’t want that….sad

When it comes to making things harder for solo sloops. That has always been the way (I say this as someone who has spent over 90% of his time as a solo sloop since Day One). It has always been hardmode, but that's the challenge some of us relish.

Is the balance a bit off right now? Yes. Grappleguns and the Cannon of Rage haven't really helped.

But it can be fixed and I made my thoughts known in the recent survey that was sent to Insiders. I suggest anyone who got that to fill it out.

Hasn't stopped me playing, even if I get stomped by larger crews from time to time. Just adapt and don't take losing to heart.

@famousviking it took me a bit but here's the method I use that works most times. Alway have the cannons loaded amd a crate with extra cannon balls in between them. As soon as the music changes indicating an attack, lower your sails just a but and make sure your pointed straight towards open water. The just wait for the ship to pop up and start wailing on it. Aim for where the cannons are and you will kill the skeletons trying to fire on you. 99 precent of the time they don't even get a shot off. I solo mostly amd this helped me immensley.

@famousviking

First - I'm a solo slooper, and I always search for the most effective ways to do stuff.

That being said.... just board their ships and light up their kegs. In 10-15 sec they're sunk. Can't get easier than that. Season 17 made dealing with Skeleton Ships hilariously easy.

You can always shoot yourself from your cannons either directly to their ship, or into the water in front of them, and swim back to their ladder.

Even easier with a grapple gun.

In case they make some holes in your ship, you'll still have more than enough time to get teleported by the mermaid, and bail & repair - or just as suggested before, use the same grapple gun in case you're close to your ship.

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Also, the new keg sank a Skele Galleon at full health, in just a few seconds after explosion. Tested it myself. And I verified this by checking their lower deck in case they didn't get some water from possible storms - there was none.

Get to the middle of their middle deck, and light that bad boy up, and then get the hell out of there as soon as possible (jump into the water and swim away). It will connect with the 2nd barrel Skele Galleons have like 99% of the time.

So if it can sink a galleon, it sure can sink a Skele sloop.

Just make sure to have enough food on you in case you eat few shots and slashes from skellies on board.

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PS. and as someone else suggested before - shoot a flare in case shadow skellies are on the ship, before detonating the barrel. Or use your lamp on board if you ain't got no flares.

Good luck mate!

@famousviking We must be having entirely different experiences. I've had a few more than normal no doubt. I've also been able to have sessions without seeing one still.

I saw someone mention just before on Discord that it took 99 cannonballs to sink a Skelly ship

It’s very doable with only 12 cannonballs tbh

@buckeymb said in Skelly ships spawn rate:

I saw someone mention just before on Discord that it took 99 cannonballs to sink a Skelly ship

It’s very doable with only 12 cannonballs tbh

Less if you kill the captain and use Fire. (and with Kegs/ Black Kegs if ship has them)

@xdreegan

No Captain. Steering becomes wacky. (Unless this was a Bug or never worked, but I always kill them and they seem to always crash more often once a Captain is dead.)