Help and Suggestion for Solo Sloops

@miserenz Yeah the ship shot out of the water in front of my ship and as it was coming down, it slammed into the side of my ship. The reason it hit the side of me is because I was trying to quickly turn and get out of their way by dropping anchor, hoping they would sail by me. After I raised anchor, I saw them turn around and begin chasing me. This was within the first few days of me playing and I didn't see other players as entirely hostile yet, otherwise I would not have dropped anchor trying to do something friendly like avoiding so that I wouldn't harm them or their ship. Glad to know someone else has seen something similar happen.

@zaknafien2003 That is a very creative method to sell stuff, I like it. Those methods are pretty funny and do seem effective. and yeah that is a good way to look at it. I play the game on Playstation so I'm not sure if there is a way to add others in the game to play with. Those that I have already played with, I have friended on Xbox so I have yet to make use of the friend adding feature. I'd definitely like someone else to play with as it would be more fun.

@waffle-fox

Hit solo hourglass, lose countless matches, and learn from your losses. Get used to the multitasking nature of the game, especially in solo combat. If you don't wanna get burned out with it, just start/end your sessions with a few matches. Don't go in expecting to win, try your best to win, but you should be looking to learn and get experience. If someone refuses to fight/runs forever, just scuttle and go again, getting levels/selling streaks shouldn't be your goal yet.

Get on bigger ships, either with open crew or LFGs. Learn how they play and what their tactics/habits are. When you sink remember how you sunk.

When someone comes after you, instead of running endlessly, try to fight them or talk your way out of it. 30 minutes wasted doing a few quests is much better than an hour and a half down the drain trying to delay the inevitable.

90% of the crews that hunt you are terrible at the game, if you invest just a little bit of time into learning combat, you can sink them and take their loot. They're like guys who think they can win a fist fight because they're "tough", they stand no chance against a guy with a bit of actual training.

If you can't be bothered to learn combat, then you just have to become the best, most paranoid runner you can be. Check the horizon for ships every 30 seconds, check the map for emissaries every time you get on/off your ship. As soon as you see someone heading in your general direction, time to sell and dive. Sell after every quest. Always have a rowboat for emergencies. If someone catches you off guard and you have to run, load all your loot into the rowboat, wait until they lose line of sight, drop the rowboat and start rowing to the nearest Outpost.

@worst-tdmer I appreciate the feedback. I have practiced a lot of the combat with the Skeletal ships and can now take down any of them with ease. I understand they are different from actual players, but I would try to find them so I could practice my aim with the cannon. I was terrible with aiming because I didn't understand the trajectory yet. Those ships helped me learn to multitask as I would get sunk many times in my first encounters with them as I would have to constantly bucket out water or repair the ship as they nailed every shot on me. Now when I fight them I understand I don't have to constantly repair and bucket and can wait a short time before doing so, blasting away at them and doing some damage to make them have to take a break from firing at me so I can get some time to get some repairs in. I've also gotten so much better at aiming that I can hit the crew on the ship and take them out before they reach the cannons or parts of the ship they are trying to repair.

When others come after me, I do try to talk my way out of it as I really just want to play the game and not have to deal with that kind of stuff. However these people are not the kind to listen and just enjoy attacking others, refusing to leave me alone.

I understand playing with others makes it easier than playing solo, but I either prefer to play alone or with friends that I actually know. I'm worried that if I choose Open Crew, I'll be paired with someone that just wants to harass other people and I don't want any part of that. I see those types of people so often in the game, I feel like I have a high chance of being put with someone like that. I feel bad just attacking someone unless they attack me first. I love to help people rather than harm them.

I suppose I could try the hourglass. I've always been worried about trying that too, but I suppose I have nothing to lose since it's just a battle and then it ends. That would be a great way to practice and I will have to try that sometime.

Thanks for the advice!

@waffle-fox

I have practiced a lot of the combat with the Skeletal ships and can now take down any of them with ease. I understand they are different from actual players

The main difference (outside the obvious intelligence factor) is your perception of them. A lot of new players get anxious/shaky when fighting other people. What seems like second nature when fighting skellys can be really difficult against players. Don't know if that applies to you though.

When others come after me, I do try to talk my way out of it as I really just want to play the game and not have to deal with that kind of stuff.

Idk what your go-to strat is for this, but you should try to experiment as much as possible with your approach. Be weird, be funny, be absurd, etc. If you just ask for mercy/say you're friendly, most crews won't care. Your chances of living are a lot higher if you can get the enemy to like you.

I understand playing with others makes it easier than playing solo, but I either prefer to play alone or with friends that I actually know.

The main reason I said open crew/LFGs, is because with those options you have players who might be much better than you/your friends, a learning opportunity. Don't have to be friendly or even talk to them really, you're just there for experience/learning. LFG would be a lot more focused/guaranteed results, but open crew the ceiling is a lot higher. I've met streamers, competitive players, sweats of all kinds in open crew who would never put up an LFG post, but the chances of finding them are pretty low.

Also just a chance to see things from a bigger boat's perspective, doing things you might not with your friends.

At the end of the day there is no wrong play style, but if you only ever run/play in your comfort zone, your potential is capped and you'll always be at a disadvantage.

@worst-tdmer Thank you, I'll keep all that in mind. One of the friends I play with has a lot of experience with the game and has taught me a lot. He has told me many things that the tutorial doesn't cover. While I do know what Open Crew is, I can't say I know what LFG is. I haven't seen an option like that in the game. If it's an acronym for something, I am terrible with acronyms.

@lem0n-curry oh alright, thanks a bunch! I appreciate the help.

@waffle-fox i feel your pain :'( yesterday im just fishing at rapier's cay a 2 man sloop comes up out of nowhere wich i already found very weird cuz i didnt see them coming and believe me i play this game like a Meerkat constanly scanning everything but i digress 2 man sloop runs up to me shout at me that they hope i get c4ncer :s and cuz i was out manned and out skilled started shouting my mother should get c4ncer cuz im bad at pvp :s they just woudnt leave me be so i had to just exit game and try again .. but same thing on that server :( they see you and the urge is soooo great they have to kill you and call you names :( .. i get it its a pvp ish game but still i would never start cussing at somebody like that i always leave peeps doing there thing

@waffle-fox said in Help and Suggestion for Solo Sloops:

@rikjaxx ooooh is that what's happening? Thanks for clearing that up. Is there a way to dive to another server without selecting a voyage?

Portal hopping still works, even if the chasing ship is real close.

If you don't know how to portal hop, just look it up on Youtube.