Any tips for a new player?

@silentparasite Well, the game is going to be a lot of grinding, so you might want to change why you play. Play to have fun vs play to get gold. By having fun, explore a little. Don't do quests, but explore islands where you might find chest or bottles. Yesterday, I just went exploring and found a chest on an island worth 942 gold. I also found a bottle with a quest on one island, which brought in over 300 gold with a captain's skull. And that was just exploring with no quests. Also, look for seagulls in the water, they give away locations of sunken ships, might find something.
If you are just questing, try doing quest when there is a skeleton fort up. Galleons will naturally go for them, leaving solo players time to make some runs. But you have to remember, right now, the game is basically a grind with 3 quests. Unless you stray from that, it gets grindy no matter how you look at it.

Sail around and get used to the controls, I solo a lot myself mostly cause my crew and I work different hours. The game is a lot of grinding don’t be afraid to loose your loot, set goals (mine was to buy a hat), you set out and try grabbing as much treasure as you are willing to risk to lose before turning it in. Once you are a bit more familiar with sailing, islands and the grind don’t be afraid to hop in matchmaking. Just be respectful at the moment there are no private ships, some crews are trying to maintain a ship with their friends if they ask you to leave just join in a new game. There will be a lot of content and events being added in May so take the time to explore and make some friends on forums and in game! Good luck to ya!

Grinding gets a little easier as you rank up.

I'm a mostly solo player and the best advice I can give is to keep your eyes on the horizon when you have treasure. Be sure to always spyglass an outpost before you dock too.

Always straighten out the wheel and raise sails instead of just anchoring when stopped at an island. This allows for quick getaways.

If being chased by a galleon sail against the wind with the sails in their starting position, you'll outrun them. Listen/Look for people climbing your ladders, and a single shot will foil their efforts of boarding you.

Get good with maneuvering the sloop and PvP in general. Best way to do it is just go into a game and experiment with attacking ships/people.

That's the main things I can think of for now. Good luck out there!

If he chased by a Galleon head directly into the wind.

Do Merchant missions for Gold animals, if you have no Gold animals on the voyage, collect the cages and then cancel the mission. Repeat until you get a gold animal.

The map table can be viewed looking down from the rear of the sloop.

Use the internet to get the SOT loot tables to under values. Do the same to get a map showing animal spawn locations.

Don’t grind! Have fun.

In regards to being solo, that's easily fixed. I started with zero friends playing the game that I knew of, and through Looking for Group, I never sail alone unless I choose to. I even found somebody that is a pirate "partner" since we both work so well together. I suggest asking the people who are interested in your post the simple, "How's it going?" question. If they respond and ask you, you've got a good chance that person knows how to listen and wants to help. If they don't answer, boot 'em. They can't handle simple questions like that, so how in the world are they going to handle a serious question when you're sailing? If they answer, but don't ask you in turn, they probably won't be a great team-member, and might even mutiny, or they're just stand-offish. Simple questions of character really pay off if you take the time to ask them.

If you want money, go for skull missions. Not the skull forts, the order of souls contracts. Those just pay more in my experience, I'm guessing because you have to kill the skeles in addition to finding them. This means good practice as well for when you inevitably find other pirates that aren't keen on sharing a shanty with you.

Oh, about the birds. 8-9 means barrels, double that means shipwreck. Those can be a bonanza, if you're first, and lucky.

Finally, I'd advise just avoiding any skull-clouds, for now. They can be a money-maker, but only with a rocking crew and/or the fort is yours uncontested. Most of the time, somebody else sees it, and wants it too, leading to prolonged battle.

@edemardil said in Any tips for a new player?:

Spend the next few days learning to sail your ship at full speed through a needle and never leaving your ship for more than 30 seconds and NEVER leaving your ship without going into the crows nest and being 100% there are no ships in the danger zone. (If you can see them, they can probably see you).

You don't need to return to the ship that much. Just give a quick scan while you're on an island. Caves are the only time I get a little paranoid.

Great tips so far! Hers just a few more. (ill reiterate a few)

• PUT THE GUNPOWDER BARRELS IN THE CROWS NEST. lol lightning will strike and blow them up if below deck and youll have holes to patch! (it can be dangerous in a sloop)
• Having your ship accessible is everything, when stopping at an island, raise sails and anchor and point where you are most likely to make an escape.
• "grinding" does get easier after the first 10 or so levels are burned through. Your voyages will have more chest, skulls, and merchant items and they will be more lucrative.
• Generally dont trust galleons, some see sloops as easy prey and will take them over when docked at islands, I would say turn in loot often starting off.
• Pay attention to island lay outs, you may have to hide your treasure from island jumpers. Try and focus on less obvious hidey holes, if you see a good spot right off the bat, chances are everybody else has used it. Also, look for glitch hiding spots on the sloop.
• As you progress, getting into galleon crews is a good idea, especially for leveling up. You will have a crew to do skull forts with and they will likely have higher level voyages and you can level up faster and save your voyages.
• The biggest piece of advice I can give is to not get stuck in the grind and HAVE FUN! This game can be as exciting or as boring as you make it. (spend a day killing chickens in your underwear, youll see what I mean)Use your imagination and dont take getting killed and loosing treasure to serious, you might just find a captains chest hiding on an island to make up for it.

Thanks everyone, what a great response. I will check the links out, and put into practice some of the suggestions.
Thanks again all.