AI Skeleton Ships: More info please!

  • Moosey Moose 88

    All I’ve been able to dig up on the AI Skelton Ships at this point is that there are banners listing dates and locations, and they’re the focal point of the campaign obviously. My questions are:

    1. When encountering AI Skeleton Ships randomly across the map, as we’ve had these encounters already, there never seemed to be any loot dropped by a sunken Skeleton Ship. We know there is some loot aboard but sinking doesn’t seem to be the way to recover it. More clarification please...

    2. Encountered the Skeleton Captain, killed him multiple times, yet he continues to respawn. Do you need to sink his ship to gain his skull? If so, back to question 1) again...

    3. The waves of Skelton Ships; does this system resemble the Skull Island challenges... wave after wave until the final battle occurs?

    4. Noticed during a long engagement between Skelton Ships that barrels were being dropped, but sank or disappeared far to quickly to reach. How long are these available? What criteria causes them to spawn?

    I haven’t done the banner challenges or campaign yet so my questions pertain to random engagements only... however they probably fit for all scenarios.

  • Login To Reply
    37
    Posts
    28.7k
    Views
  • stupidy2k
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    We experienced the same thing at one of the locations to find the skellies crews and want answers to the same questions. Main question being how do you complete them ? We sank about 5 -6 ships and they just kept coming back always 2 at a time (very very very hard considering we had a galleon and 2 brigantine)
    Are we missing a way to actually sink them ? We boarded them and fought of tons of skellies still no joy ??

  • WestStormborn
    Captain
    Insider

    @moosey-moose-88

    1. Not random encounters! Specifically located at certain times. Loot seems to take a bit of time to surface in ocean, probs a bug. (My suggestion is throw the loot overboard before sinking it, this suggestion only makes the loot easier to get)
    2. Killing captain doesnt drop skull and you gain nothing for doing so, except the skeleton ship having a lack of steering for a few minutes.
    3. Yes
    4. Barrels on water is the same despawning timer as it’s always been. Usually I believe it stays an hour
  • Moosey Moose 88

    @weststormborn yep that’s about all I could get out of doing so. LOL

  • WestStormborn
    Captain
    Insider

    @moosey-moose-88 I edited my post for all info, most is based on experience. Yw ;)

  • WestStormborn
    Captain
    Insider

    @stupidy2k straight out sink them. Boarding doesn’t cause it to sink, unless you board with gunpowder barrels but that’s not what you’re saying. This ai encounter seems to be purposefully more difficult than all other ones. So expect it to be extremely hard.

  • Crimsonraziel
    Master
    Insider

    @weststormborn It's useful to have someone boarding and stop their repairs.

  • WestStormborn
    Captain
    Insider

    @crimsonraziel sorry I meantime to give a healthy dose of both maybe with a little more cannon then slicing.

  • CaptainCymru
    Marauder
    Insider

    Hey! We had a go at the event last night while everyone was having connection issues, It is nearly impossible to do this event solo in my opinion even with a 4 player Galleon.

    The ship locations are as follows. From the 1st-10th Day (in game) The event is west of smugglers bay. From the 11th-20th it is west of Shark-bait cove and from the 21st-30th it is east of Mauraders Arch.

    We did the event in an alliance west of shark-bait cove and it is like a skeleton fort, waves after waves of ships until the boss battle music appears and you sink the last ship.

    The skulls and chests should sink with the ship and appear in the water. We had a lot of skulls and chests when we finished.

    Every skeleton will keep respawning on the ship until it is sunk.

    Cursed cannonballs are a pain especially the one that makes you dance.......Can't repair the ship. Drunk isn't too bad!

    Be prepared to lose a lot of planks and cannonballs......so extra stock is needed!

    We spent over an hour doing 1 event as the ships kept repairing themselves.

    Don't go too far away as the ships will de-spawn and you will have to do it again or you will go out of the map!

    My tactic which seemed to help yesterday were as follows:

    1. Keep the ship going in a circle. The enemy ship will go right next to you and may not hit you as you are too close so gives you the opportunity to board! and you will have an angle to still hit with cannons.
    2. Make sure someone is on the enemy ship killing the skeletons repairing! The ship will sink way faster (this is difficult as they always respawn and mainly with guns too so two people will help alot!)
    3. gunpowder works wonders if you can use it!
    4. if you are running low on supplies the enemy ships have lots on them!

    That's about it, we only managed to do one event as by the time the days ticked over to do another, there were no more ships left in the server and as I mentioned above solo is near impossible without a load of supplies.

  • stupidy2k
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    @weststormborn cheers matey !!
    After some research I found what's going on and i think we got to the last wave hahaha
    Appreciate it help an cheers for the reply .
    Happy pirating

  • R3B3lSpy
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    @stupidy2k We did Shores of plenty with my friend in a sloop and two Brigantines were there, they sunk and everybody came aboard the sloop until we finished.

    So that is how it works? ships kept sinking and respawning 10 seconds after they sunk I'm not sure I understand that mechanic.

  • Musicmee
    Vanguard
    Insider
    Moderator
    Founder
    Deckhand

    @r3b3lspy They are like skellie forts on the water, there's a random number of waves before the final "captain" you will hear the music change when you are on the last wave and will get a fanfare when you have taken down the final captain.

  • R3B3lSpy
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    @musicmee Oh ok so they will sink and respawn again as many times as needed if it is not final wave? then when you hear the music and sink the the ship it will not respawn and event is over?

  • Musicmee
    Vanguard
    Insider
    Moderator
    Founder
    Deckhand

    @r3b3lspy Correct!

    They will stop respawning after taking down the last captain, so if they are still respawning you haven't finished the skellie battle in that area...

    You can always sail away and come back if you need more supplies.

  • TW DIZZY

    So I had the pleasure of sailing with my crew for a good 13 hours into the new DLC. Completed all fights and campaign. Here is what I know:

    1. Skelly ships spawn at designated times (Listed above and within each region at outposts)
    2. The ships spawn in 5 total waves. Ranging from 1 to 2 ships at a time. The number of skelly ships per wave is either dependent on the area you are fighting in, or the number of players involved. Don't know yet.
    3. Skellys repair, but do not bail. The ship fills slower than a player galleon, but never gets emptied. So make sure your holes bring on water. having someone on board the skelly ships to stop repairing is ideal. The only way to defeat the wave is to SINK all skelly ships.
    4. SUPPLIES ARE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. We entered a battle in the wilds with 100 nanas, 100 planks, 250 cannon balls. We had 4 other ships with us during fight. We ended with 68 nanas, 38 planks, 0 cannonballs.
    5. Captains do nothing but steer. You can fight them if you want but the advantage seems minimal.

    We actually managed to do the Shores of Plenty battle solo. 3 players on a Brigantine. We went completely full on all resources. Ran out of cannonballs on the last wave. We managed to sink the final two ships with a tactic of ramming to create holes. One player would board the skelly ship when we made contact and immediately run below deck to steal supplies and delay repairs. It took a long time but once you get it down, it's not too bad. There were a couple of times that good steering allowed us to shoot the skellys until they sunk without taking return fire. That is more difficult when fighting multiple ships on your own though.
    As we are legendary, we didn't pay attention to the loot. So I don't have any details on that. We did utilize the barrels that fell out the back for supplies but it is difficult to keep track of them during the fight. I wouldn't recommend you rely on them.

    Hope this helps someone!

  • R3B3lSpy
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    @musicmee Thanks! Now when they keep sinking and respawning are they dropping loot or loot only drops after you finish everything? I saw a lot of people in the water while in the fight and they were swimming around, maybe getting loot?

  • TW DIZZY

    @r3b3lspy loot drops throughout the fight and when a ship is sunk. If you are trying to get some, you need to watch the waves. There is a lot going on, so if you are prioritizing loot, you may want to ally and let some other ships take the focus while you clean up the treasure.

  • R3B3lSpy
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    @tw-dizzy Oh so it does drop throughout the fight, I guess better loot drops at the end like stronghold loot but still if you lose the fight you can get loot from just swimming around and picking stuff up.

  • TW DIZZY

    @r3b3lspy exactly, but losing the fight usually means you sunk. Which makes it hard to keep hold of loot. You can also board the skelly ships and just take it off them.

  • R3B3lSpy
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    @tw-dizzy I did boarded them constantly but they keep respawning no matter what.

    There is something that I'm still confused about Alliances, it is friendly fire on or off? or nothing is changed regarding friendly fire and it is just for loot sharing purposes?

  • TW DIZZY

    @r3b3lspy Yeah, the skellys spawn until the ship sinks. Makes it difficult to steal from them lol.
    The alliance system changes nothing but loot/reward sharing. Friendly fire is still on and you can leave at any time. Betrayal is a very real threat and do not assume people are friendly because they allied with you.

    Also, I believe the commendations for the battles work like other challanges. If you are not close enough when it is done, you don't get credit. So be careful not to sink on the last wave. as you may miss out and have wasted your time.

  • R3B3lSpy
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    @tw-dizzy Can you kill each other while in alliance or everybody will not take fire or sword damage while the alliance is on?

  • TW DIZZY

    @r3b3lspy you can kill each other. there is no difference in player or ship damage when in an alliance.

  • XxMrVincexX
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @r3b3lspy While in an alliance you can still kill your other alliance ships crew. You can even when you need to wait practice PvP.
    This afternoon I was repairing another alliance ship with a friend of mine and the crew of that ship was shooting at me and killed me... So stupid that some people don't understand what they are doing :o

  • R3B3lSpy
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    @xxmrvincexx It happened to me during Hungering deep, we were all on mic and talking and I went to help and repair a ship that was out of planks and the guys keep killing me, I gave up.

  • R3B3lSpy
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    @tw-dizzy Oh I see you replied to that, friendly fire is still on.

    We did the shores of plenty fight and sunk the ships, not sure why there were two skeleton ships instead of one?

    I see in the commendations that other fights will show up throughout August so I should wait and do those or I should do The Wilds and Ancients Isles before that too? I'm confused on how that works.

  • XxMrVincexX
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @r3b3lspy Most of the time there are 2 skeleton ships. Just do all 3 regions. I finished them all 3 last night... played till it was 7 in the morning... OMG!! I love this update, but it will make the time fly :P

  • R3B3lSpy
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    @xxmrvincexx I agree, the fights are fantastic, boarding the ships is so cool seeing your friend sailing your ships in the distance throwing cannonballs at you while you are fighting the skeletons, chaos, I love it.

    I'll do all of them today-tomorrow probably but the ones that you need to do on specific August dates are just to get the commendations and doubloons right? You just go there and re-do the fight on that day.

  • XxMrVincexX
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @r3b3lspy I don't know about the august ones... haven't really looked at it yet, just to busy killing those skeleton ships and having fun with my friends and other alliance friends.
    When you sink a ship just let one crew member dive in the water... when the skeleton ship despawns there will be some chests and skulls in the water, most of the time very deep. And it doesn't really matter on wich ship you will place it. I placed a captains chest last night on an alliance ship ;)

  • Da German420
    Legend
    Insider
    Founder

    so it dosent matter if im sunk?waves will not reset?

    1. when i sunk and a another crew or a crew in the alliance sunk the last ship ,i will get commendation anyway?
  • TW DIZZY

    The crews are set on a cycle. There are 3 crews per week. The first week has the foul grog, cursed helm, and dancing demon crews. The next week will have 3 different crews in place of the first. The final week will bring the final 3 crews.

    Each are named after the affect of their cursed cannon balls. Each crew will bring a new one and all 9 will be introduced by the end of the event.

  • TW DIZZY

    @weedstar-deluxe said in AI Skeleton Ships: More info please!:

    so it dosent matter if im sunk?waves will not reset?

    1. when i sunk and a another crew or a crew in the alliance defeat the captain ,i will get commendation anyway?

    It does mater if you are sunk. Other ships can keep the raid alive. But if you drift too far or all sink at the same time, it will reset.
    the crew that turns in loot gets 100% payout, ally crews get 50%.

    also, I believe the commendations may not get awarded if you are not at the battle when it finishes. We had ally members who were sunk during the last wave complain that they did not get rewards. Not sure if that is intentional or a glitch, but I'd try to be there at the end if I were you.

  • R3B3lSpy
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    @xxmrvincexx If you look at your Bilge Rat commendations they are there with dates and names.

  • IcemanBrad
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    How do you know if the skeleton ships have already been taken out? Yesterday I showed up on the 7th when it said between the 1st and 10th and nothing ever spawned. Is there some indicator like the we had with Skull Forts?

Login To Reply
37
Posts
28.7k
Views
1 out of 37