Tips I Found As A Prospective Pirate

  • Superbeast V
    Seafarer

    Ahoy, Pirates!

    Wee bit o' background: I tried to play Sea of Thieves a couple months ago with my wife, and we were discouraged by getting camped and killed by other pirates. We were bummed out. We stopped playing after only a handful of hours. But I came to realize; I was bummed out that she was bummed out... but I had a blast. I have a trip coming up on February 1st, and when I return on the 15th, I am looking forward to playing Sea of Thieves! (With or without my wonderful wife. Sorry, love.)

    In the meantime, in the month before I leave for my trip while I polish off a couple other games, I could spend this time learning about the Sea to help me be the best Pirate I can be. So I reached out to this forum and looked on the internet. I came up with several tid bits I had no idea about. I figured I'd list them here; maybe a new Pirate like myself needs to hear them as I assume there are many new Pirates abound post-Holiday. Or maybe the folks at Rare would like to know that we missed these aspects of the game entirely. (Note: I'm not blaming design. User error was heavy. :P)

    Anywho, here we go:

    1. SERVER POPULACE & CAPACITY: My wife and I played 2 sessions; a 4 hour one free of all other players, and a 3 hour one filled to the brim with players ready to destroy us. During this 3 hour session it seemed like there were other people everywhere. But really, there isn't. The game allows 6 crews per server; meaning 6-24 players at maximum and 1-6 players at a minimum. Also, the "Reapers Chest" that spawns will not spawn if there is less than 3 crews total. The Sea isn't as crazy busy as it may seem! And to help keep an eye out...

    2. WATCH THE HORIZON: I don't think any individual tip was beat into me more than this one. These ships don't move at light speed. A consistant view of the horizon is required; you can gain precious moments to prepare or begin to flee. Furthermore: You don't take fall damage when firing yourself out of a canon. Fire yourself straight up into the air; you'll have several seconds to get a vast take of the entire 360 degree horizon. Prevents infamous "CAPTAIN! LOOK!" moments. (Which, I cried at laughing btw.)

    3. YOU DON'T MATTER; YOUR SHIP DOES: I found I was placing far too much emphasis on my own life; not ever risking it. You'll just lose some Bananas and Wood at worst. A suicide run with a powder keg; or even simply trying to board the enemy ship to distract them and allow your ship (assuming a 2nd person is at the helm) to gain some ground. If you die, the Ferryman will respawn you on your ship. If you fall off into the Sea; a mermaid will teleport you back to it. The ship matters. You don't.

    4. HOTKEYS: The choice-wheel is great; but binding your Food or common weapons to certain keys/button maps can save a lot of time. I didn't consider doing this and should have.

    5. AUDIO CUES: Between shifts in music when a Megalodon approaches, player footsteps, the additional ship creaking when you take on water... the game signals a lot of whats happening via audio. Lowering all other sound a bit, while keeping SFX Effects on maximum can help with this.

    6. NOT ALL FOOD IS EQUAL: I thought all food restored health; and while this is true, it does not do so equally. Pineapples are a full restore; while bananas are partial. And meat has a regen effect so you can take a bite and regain health for a few moments after. I left several pieces of chicken behind because, and I quote: "Why cook this when I have a bunch of bananas on board?" Lesson learned.

    7. YOU CAN SEE THE DARN MAP FROM THE WHEEL: Likely the most embarassing lesson of them all; you DON'T need to run down into the hull and leave the wheel to look at the map. Turns out there's a hole in the deck behind you for easy viewing. Yeeeaaah.

    8. HARPOONS: I assumed the Harpoons were only for taking turns around rocks and such. Turns out you can use them to pull things to your boat, including treasure and crew mates, and barrels floating in the Sea so you can take the supplies out of them.

    9. BAILING WATER: You can bail waiter onto another ship to sink them faster. I had no idea.

    10. CANONS IGNORE WATER: Arguably the best find I made; I was consistently trying to shoot over the waves and adjust for wind with my canon fire. Except; Canon's don't acknowledge the wind or water. Just aim to hit the boat-- you can ignore wind and waves. (Though ship momentum is a factor.)

    11. CROSSPLAY OPT-OUT: This is a new thing coming in the January update; but Xbox users will have the option of opting out of play with PC users. This will make sure you're only playing against others using a controller; and potentially make the Sea a little less busy, if that's what you want.

    12. SKILL & MINDSET ARE A CURRENCY: Honestly, the biggest thing I may have learned is that knowledge; knowing how to properly sail, the mechanics of the games core loop, a good canon aim etc, are far more valuble than the games actual currency, Gold & Doubloons. Because you can earn Gold & Doubloons with knowledge, but you can't buy knowledge with Gold & Doubloons. Caring about becoming strategically better on the Sea matters. Wanting to be better matters here.

    I hope this helped anyone who needed it! Cheers, mateys! I'll see you on the high seas in just over a month!

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  • Venomous Sloth7
    Commander
    Insider

    @Superbeast-V These are some very good tips to know for beginners. It's great that you took the time to research some tips and tricks. A lot of people don't do that and then they play the game a little, have a bad experience and quit. There are toxic players in this game that do create bad experiences for new pirates. This doesn't always happen though. I would say 80% of my game time is good. There are also so many little things to learn in this game you almost have to watch and read tips and tutorials. Also in this game practice is key. When I first started I was terrified if I seen a ship much less should I have a castaway chest on board. Now, after lots of improving myself in these ways, I can have a ship full of treasure and it doesn't bother me to fight or board a galley of four. If you have something important then learning how to sail is vital so that you can turn in the treasure while evading. You can always scuttle or jump servers if there is a toxic player as well. There is so much to learn in this game and I'm glad you seem so excited to jump back in. Hopefully you can talk your wife into trying again as well or improve yourself and help her to see in that way. It is one of the greatest game I have ever played. I've been Athena 10 for a while and got to Pirate Legend the hard way and I still learn something new all the time. Don't give up and may you learn to enjoy and prosper from pirate life on the seas!

  • Little Squash
    Commander
    Insider

    @superbeast-v
    Sounds like you've been learning a lot, which is great. One thing I would add is ship speeds:

    Basically, the sloop is the fastest when sailing directly into the wind. The brigantine is the fastest when the wind is coming from the side. And the galleon is the fastest when the wind is coming from behind you.

    One other thing to note: If you are sailing directly into the wind, you will go faster if you set the sails back to the default starting angle. This works for all three ships.

    For even more detail, check out this video someone else made that is helpful:

  • Minhoca SoT
    Legend
    Insider
    Founder

    @superbeast-v said in Tips I Found As A Prospective Pirate:

    4. HOTKEYS: The choice-wheel is great; but binding your Food or common weapons to certain keys/button maps can save a lot of time. I didn't consider doing this and should have.

    I always forgot to use these keys...

  • Superbeast V
    Seafarer

    @venomous-sloth7 Thank you, I appreciate it!

    That all sounds very familiar. My wife will be giving it a second attempt as well. Her concern was that she didn't want entire evenings wasted. I informed her that: A) That was partially our fault; we chased the crew who took our chest, without an ounce of skill or ability. But darn we're we determined! XD. B) Not every evening will be a waste; not even close. And C) It's no different than we play Overwatch for a couple hours and lose every game on a particularly bad night.

    So yes, she will also be trying again. But whether she stays or not; I will be. The game spoke to me I feel in a similar way it did to you; I can't stop thinking about it. It's charming, it's everything I want in a game. So I was determined to get better.

    I'm only learning via reading right now because I need to finish 2 other games before my vacation in early February. Because once those games are done and I come back from vacation, it's time to set sail. :D

    Thanks for your kind words again! See you on the high seas!

  • Superbeast V
    Seafarer

    @targasbr I know it's going to be one of the first things I do when I get back at it haha!

  • Superbeast V
    Seafarer

    @little-squash Ah, thank you very much!

    So let's say I'm sailing with my wife and I-- 2 man crew in our sloop. If we check the horizon, and see an approaching ship coming towards us; our best bet (if we choose to run) is to sail directly into the wind? As we're the fastest ship in that direction?

  • ClosingHare208
    Marauder
    Insider

    @superbeast-v said in Tips I Found As A Prospective Pirate:

    @little-squash Ah, thank you very much!

    So let's say I'm sailing with my wife and I-- 2 man crew in our sloop. If we check the horizon, and see an approaching ship coming towards us; our best bet (if we choose to run) is to sail directly into the wind? As we're the fastest ship in that direction?

    no it's changed a little bit on the sloop but the brig is the fastest

  • Little Squash
    Commander
    Insider

    @superbeast-v
    Simple answer: Yes.

    Additional info: Make sure your sails are set to the default starting angle. Also, continue to pay attention to the wind direction as it constantly changes. This may require additional evasive maneuvers, especially when sailing into the wind has you heading directly at the incoming ship.

    Pro tip: For sloops only... Setting the sail to the default starting angle will give you the fastest speed possible for the sloop any time you can't catch the wind with the sail and make the sail billow. (This is one of the takeaways from the video I previously linked to.)

  • Superbeast V
    Seafarer

    @little-squash Noted, thank you!

  • Stundorn
    Castaway
    Insider
    Founder

    @Superbeast-V

    like your aproach and the way you handle it. I'm sure with time you will #bemorepirate and a honorable foe or a good mate on anyones ship!

    some tips that just came to my mind.

    Megs: not all megs are agressive, sometimes a meg wont attack, if you dont trigger it. no matter what colour.
    If you have a meg attacking you, but you dont want to deal with it, sail close to an island, it will stop chasing and attacking.

    Kraken: If you dont want to deal with the Kraken, because you dont have time, less ressources, too much loot too loose, someone chasing you or whatever. Watch the Wind direction, turn around, maybe do an anchor turn full speed to do a 180° turn and have wind in your sails to get out of the ink. Its easy if you know how to do it. I can avoid a kraken if i want to 99% of the time.
    No matter what ship, but for galleone, everybody need to know what to do, turn sails ino the right direction, pull the anchor up again asap etc....
    If you get grappled, there is one short arm near to your ship shoot it, to have the beast release your ship. you maybe have to do that 2 times, if possible and for Brig and Galleone allways have someone below deck patching holes asap to not get that much water!
    If you wanna kill it, do all of the above and have someone with good aim on cannons shoot the arms down one after another. Sometimes it's maybe good to anchor, also for Meg, to not get slapped an turn around and cannot shoot the beast. prevent beeing soaked in and gow below deck if it want to suck you.

    Skeleton Ships: the ones roaming the Seas wont attack until you do. The ones raising from the depth will chase you across the entire map iirc. Steer them into rocks, outmaneuver them, raise/lower sails a bit to match their speed, shoot below the waterline if its a Galleone to hit their lower deck as they wont get water in the upper deck or if you have and use a ballast ball. jump over to them with a keg, let it explode on the stairs to the bilge deck and run to the brigg at the end. then kill the skeletons and try to hinder them patching the holes. While in the Brigg of a Skeleton Galleone they wont be able to shoot you through the grid, kill them at the entrance of it.
    Or let them shoot some holes into your ship, get close to them, match speed, harpoon, dont fix all holes, but use your water to bail your water onto their ship to sink them, good strategy if you run out of cannonballs.

    i maybe have forgotten something.
    more tips to come....

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