A Fix to Solo/Duo

@ei-death-taco There is a thread with a lot of tips for lonely players:

https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/24675/alone-on-a-wide-wide-sea-collected-hints-and-tips-for-the-solo-pirate

The sloop has the advantage that the galleon is slower to make turns and when it goes in the opposite direction to the wind.

@boredburrito87 said in A Fix to Solo/Duo:

I think the balance is fine right now.
I'd take two confident players on a sloop over an unorganized galleon any day.

There are plenty of things you can do when you're being chased... Sail into a storm...
Use the sloops maneuverability to sneak around rocks and islands to hide/get away... Jump into the water, board their ship, and drop their anchor... Use boom booms as sea mines while being chased... Sink them ;)

My buddy and I in a sloop went toe to toe with a galleon tonight. After half an hour of that, we agreed that it wasn't worth the time. We poured our entire barrel of cannon balls (120) into their hull after setting off a bomb on their ship. They missed half their cannon shots while trying to snipe us. But it didn't matter. A competent 2 man can do nothing against a 4 man team, so it's not worth playing with less than 4, because if you want meaningful PvP combat, you have to flee from half the ships you'll encounter.

Not to mention, the griefing that a 4 man can inflict on a 2 man. I don't need to spawn on my deliberately un-sunken ship facing 3 loaded blunderbusses while a bunch of highschoolers scream f***** into the mic (and I definitely don't need it to happen half a dozen times).

@siriondb

I know it's possible, but every bit of ship combat I've participated in (assuming relatively close levels of experience between both sides) can be grouped as:
2v1 - 1 man loses because he can't repair/bail/shoot consistently
2v2 - whoever runs out of wood/cannonballs first, loses
2v4 - 2 man loses because the galleon can have two players repairing belowdecks while returning the same amount of fire

Not to doubt your skill, but would you confidently go against a galleon crewed by four members of roughly equal skill as yourself? Because I don't understand how a competent galleon crew loses to a 1 man sloop. The numbers don't add up. In the time it takes you to fire a shot, repair a leak, and bail one bucket, the crew of the galleon has done the same and more.

As for boarding their ship, its not very good odds. You're sending 1 man against 4, and you have to kill at least two of them to have made it a successful attempt. Even if the boarder kills two of them before dying, there's still a problem: They have two guys left, one who can repair/bail and one to shoot. Meanwhile, the survivor on the sloop has to do both.

I fully realize that it's possible, but the odds are bad for engaging a galleon with anything other than another galleon. And since PvP appears to be the only portion of the game's core loop with staying power, it means that anyone who can't consistently sail with a 4 man is going to have a much lesser experience.

@siriondb

I'm assuming equal skill level in those matchups; I don't think that's a ludicrous contention. More to the point, your argument is that your play style works because of your experience? Doesn't that then assume that your opponents are less skilled?

What are your tactics for 1v4?

Wouldn't you like to know :P

Yeah, I would like to know. That's why I asked.

That being said, my argument says that there is much more than bailspeed or cannon fire rate, etc.
There's knowing the terrain and making use of it. Knowing of both ship mechanics and making use of it. Knowing of the different weapons at your disposal.
Basic guerilla tactics.

I think we may be talking past each other. Are you actually engaging the galleon, or are you sneaking onto it/sabotaging it/attacking it when it's anchored/unmanned? Because those are all very different things from the scenarios I'm talking about.

@siriondb

Forgive my skepticism of your methods, since I haven't seen it accomplished and your main argument, is "Trust me, I'm really good and clever". Your broad lines don't offer much insight, sorry to say.

@DrBullhammer
Again, I'm sure you guys have done it. And I'd appreciate hearing any tactics, unless you're unwilling to divulge anything either.