Skeleton Ship Attacks (and more)

  • Question:
    Are there any plans to remove the chance of Skeleton Sloops/Galleon attacks for soloplayers?
    There is literally nothing i can do but to watch how they tear my ship apart.
    I cannot repair and shoot at the same time let alone make sure that my ship is in position to fire or not run into an island.
    It is just really annoying when you just grinded a [mod edit] for hours have your captains cabin loaded with loot and then get destroyed by npcs.

    Please either remove it or decrease the accuracy of skeleton ships against solos (down to the point where they hit only 1/2 out of 10 shots) because this is literally unplayable.

    On the same note maybe introduce a matchmaking where only solo and duos, duos and 3man, 3man and 4 man get into the same server.
    Getting farmed as solo/duos by a 4 man galleon is no fun either

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  • I understand the frustration.
    But it’s easy to handle a fight solo versus skellies gally.
    It’s just a lack of experience from your side.
    I recommend you to watch some solo guide and tips on Youtube.

    Always play with a rowboat, a small boat that you can attached behind your ship and load your loots in case you sink........

  • @threeghost97
    I've soloed the skeleton fleet countless times. Even during times when it was more difficult to fight a skeleton ship. They have been nerfed more than once and in different ways. Don't feel bad if you have trouble with them. Even seasoned veterans can have issues with a single ship.

    Don't look at them as broken, unbeatable death sentences because they are not. They also aren't pushovers. They provide a decent challenge and with a little knowledge and practice, you will have minimal issues with most ships you encounter.

    If you solo a sloop, keep in mind that it's the easiest to keep afloat. Boarding up holes can wait in battle. Always bucket first and don't be afraid to leave a couple holes for a short while. Especially if they are in the back half of the ship. I used to have my bucket hotkeyed solely for ship battles.

    If you are being fired on, take cover so you don't get knocked off. If you find yourself in their fire too much, ram your ship into theirs. When both ships are side by side, they won't fire cannons at you, just eye of reach and blunderbuss. With both ships side by side, you can focus on healing, filling your pockets, repairing, and bailing without worrying about them peppering your ship further. If it's ever possible, toss the water from your bucket onto their deck. Every bit of water adds up and brings them closer to sinking.

    Many people know that ballistballs are very useful against galleons but only if used correctly. A ballistball by itself will do nothing. Always aim for the lower deck with cannonballs, BUT if you hit the top deck on accident a few times within a few seconds, THEN use a ballistball so those holes you made will actually take on water before they are repaired. If the ship is already half full, the ballistball is again useless. The ship will already be sitting low in the water.

    After putting a few holes in their lower deck or anywhere that the holes will take on water, hit them with a green ball. Grog balls, sleep balls, and jig balls will stunlock the skeletons keeping them from repairing.

    Firebombs on the cannons will kill the skeletons trying to fire on you. Try to keep the deck ignited for this reason.

    Blunderbombs fired from a cannon have a significant effect on a ship, hitting a ship near the bow or stern from the side will actually cause it to turn. You can use this at times to turn their ship so that yours will no longer be in their range of fire.

    It's common for a skeleton ship to have a keg inside somewhere. Your first few cannonball shots should be spread out along the hull of the ship so any kegs will ignite, significantly speeding up the process of sinking them. Also when a skeleton ship first spawns, the skeletons won't actually do anything for a few seconds. If you are ready on the cannons, and you hit them all across the bottom deck as soon as they emerge, they will take on significantly more water than normal because the skeletons won't even start to repair them for a few seconds. Once they start, you already have a line of holes from bow to stern taking on water, and if you can keep up fire, the holes will get bigger, and the skeletons will get knocked back off the holes and even killed.

    When a skeleton sloop spawns to attack me, I aim every shot towards the left and right edge of the enemy cannon. The blast knocks the skeleton off the cannon and eventually kills him, keeping them from firing a single shot, while aiming just to each side puts two holes side by side below deck that keep getting larger with every other shot. Any time a skeleton tries to repair below deck or fire above deck, my next shot knocks them back. They always sink after 10 cannonballs and never fire on me.

    Skeleton ships are constantly trying to get your ship in their cannon range. If you let them, they won't stop firing. You can't stay still and you can't sail in a straight line without them lining you up and lighting you up. If you have trouble sailing while dealing with everything else, just put your ship into a hard turn with the sails raised up around half way. This should make it more difficult for the skeleton ship to get a shot and let you concentrate on other things than the helm.

    I suggest attempting the skeleton fleet. You will be fighting them on your terms. Nothing to lose. An advantage of the fleet is you can always sail out of the battle to safety and return whenever you want. Even if you sink, you can come back as many times as you want. It may take a long time but eventually with enough persistence, you will sink them all and earn the treasure. More importantly, you'll gain some experience and knowledge on how to fight them better. Especially if you sink, you'll know what not to do when you come back.

  • @threeghost97 PVE in this game is a joke syop whining. It so stupid that every time som1 cant handle their own, they call out for nerfs. Nerf this. Nerf that. Its people like you who ruin most games. Stop this stupid behavior and learn to play games instead.

  • @testakleze some great tips. I sunk my first skelly ship last night, I found that getting close to an island helped. I stayed on one side of the island, upped sails and turned wheel hard so I was spinning on the spot. The enemy ship kept doing circles of the island so I had time to repair my ship when it was round the other side of the island and was all prepared to hit them when they came close. I enjoyed the loot they dropped when they sank.

    I was solo slooping btw

  • @threeghost97 on sloops only spawn sloops...they are pretty easy to handle, a galleon is also not that hard, but as long as you stay away from roaming skellie galleons and the ship raid it's no problem...

    When the sound from a emergent skellie ship starts, grab cannonballs, firebombs, planks, a bit food and some CCB if you have
    Put the sail about 2/3 in the wind and the wheel slightly in the other ships direction...then go shooting, when hit 4-5 times use a dancing or sleeping ball, in between maybe firebombs, with good shots they're done in no time...

    Also you can sail the nearest bigger island, the skellie ship will circle the island, so you got time to repair, when they are on the other side of it...or try to run away then, but when doing that go with full wind, or they will catch up

  • @capt-kanna So honest feedback on my experience is stupid behaviour? Good joke.
    Not everybody has the skills or the time to develop those skills.
    I tried many different approaches the skeleton ships, many of which the other people listed above, yet the only time i sunk one was because it got stuck on a rock.(out of around 15 encounters each of which i died every other time)
    I love a challenge, i love learning how the game works and different tactics for different problems.
    But i also play videogames to enjoy myself and when i cant seem to find a reliable solution to a problem after around 15 tries it is gamedesign issue for me and taking away from said fun i am looking for.
    I am not somebody who judges after 1 hour playing the game.
    I take my time, look up tips online and all the good stuff and then give my feedback if i feel like there is things that could be improved.

  • @chord-vi I had around 15 encounters so far and tried different approaches and many different tactics listed above aswell but still havent 'legit' sunk one yet.(solo that is duo no problem)
    I might not be the best pirate in the seven seas but even an average player should be able to somewhat deal with AI enemies after a reasonable amount of tries.
    Otherwise it will just get annoying taking away from the fun.

  • @threeghost97
    Fire a firebomb at the cannon and it will prevent the skeletons from using them. Blunderbombs also help, but aren't as long. Then hit them under the water and make sure that the skellies can't fix or fire. If done properly, I can sink a skelly sloop in a minute. Cursed cannonballs, such as venomballs, jigballs, grogballs, and wearyballs also help as they injure the skellies, and also make it harder for them to repair and fire.

  • @threeghost97 you dont need skills for pve in this game.
    Want a tip? go start a solo sloop, find skele ship.
    Now, instead of trying to sink it. Try to survive as long as you can by just repairing, bailing and sailing around it.
    Tell me if you can sink by doing this, if you can then must be really slow at this game im afraid, cus i can't sink atll.

  • @threeghost97 said in Skeleton Ship Attacks (and more):

    @chord-vi I had around 15 encounters so far and tried different approaches and many different tactics listed above aswell but still havent 'legit' sunk one yet.(solo that is duo no problem)
    I might not be the best pirate in the seven seas but even an average player should be able to somewhat deal with AI enemies after a reasonable amount of tries.
    Otherwise it will just get annoying taking away from the fun.

    Are you repairing each hole as soon as it appears or do you have a keg on or below deck that gets blown up, otherwise fighting against a skloop is rather easy and fast and only sailing into a keg, rock, island, other players or other environmental stuff would be a possible cause to fail (and anchor balls - those are nasty).

    As soon as you hear the music, slow a bit down, you should get 10 canon balls and load each of your canons; if skloop appears: start shooting - if not: get planks, good fruit or meat, two more balls and then start shooting.
    Even better: have those canons loaded up and have some supplies on you.

    Don't aim all your shots at one place, spread them a bit; obviously lower deck hits are preferred. But nothing wrong hitting the guys behind the canon or the upperdeck once in a while: a bad hit is better than no hit IMO.

    Most of the time, you should be able to land at least 5 shots before they start shooting back.

    If you have some holes, and the skloop is close to you: bail your water into them!

    If you don't have holes and the skloop is close to you: steer your sloop into theirs and then bail your water into them a few times and then fix one or two holes.

    Heal after getting hit - can't win a fight when you're on the ferry and just eat the mango even it's a small wound - don't try to match the fruit with the wound: try to survive not to economize.

    Don't walk aimlessly on your deck - can't win a fight when they shoot you from the ship and you have to wait for a mermaid. Don't have a shot: bail, repair or try to steer to get a shot.

    When you got a lead and don't have a shot, you can fix some holes (obviously when you're close to sinking you should bail, bail, bail and then fix one or two holes).

    If you can't seem to hurt them more than they hurt you: get out of there. Use an anchor ball or something for a quicker getaway if you have one on you. Just make sure you don't run into another threat 😁 or spend time looking for the best canon ball in this situation (tip: it's the round one).

    If it takes you more than two helpings of canon balls, you perhaps should concentrate more on hitting and/or quicker firing.

    Using other canon balls (firebombs, plunder bombs, cursed balls) can be helpful but it does cause a delay when firing (selecting the ball, thinking about what to fire next, cursing yourself for not getting the correct balls). Firebombs might be less useful, as water and fire cancel each other out - you might be lowering the water when throwing fire.

    Don't start thinking about which canon balls to get from the barrel in the middle of the fight; you'll end up swimming with the fishes.

    Fighting them just when you're loaded up with treasure and on your way to an outpost might not be the most appropriate time to figure out what works best for you: get enough supplies and go skloop hunting: scan the horizon for a single skloop, get to it; get prepared, sail next to it and start firing when you feel ready - after a few successful ones you can find "your flow" and if there are not so successful ones, you at least won't have lost a lot of loot or just the loot you got from the other test skloops.

    You say that when you're duo slooping, you don't have a problem: perhaps ask your crewmate to stand down (and below!) when you take on the skloop on your own, with your mate helping out when things get nasty or you get killed or blown off the ship.

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  • I hate when the waves keep me in a trash firing position and I can't get a shot in.

    All except that one dude talking about you whining have given some very solid tips. I'm a fairly basic combat pirate, but it's easy to take down a skellie sloop.

    Figure out which side it's spawning on, then hope to Poseidon you've got a favourable swell lol.

  • Are there any plans to remove the chance of Skeleton Sloops/Galleon attacks for soloplayers?

    About the same chances of solo-players realizing they are playing a multiplayer game and coming to terms that a game shouldn't cater to their self imposed handicaps.

    So chances are slim.

  • @pithyrumble said in Skeleton Ship Attacks (and more):

    I hate when the waves keep me in a trash firing position and I can't get a shot in.

    All except that one dude talking about you whining have given some very solid tips. I'm a fairly basic combat pirate, but it's easy to take down a skellie sloop.

    Figure out which side it's spawning on, then hope to Poseidon you've got a favourable swell lol.

    Even I’ll admit that the waves can be infuriating af, especially if you’re riding high on the crest of one when a skelesloop pops up beside you and cannot aim the cannons low enough to hit it.

    The key is to move off the crest toward (or away from) the ship to line up a broadside. A full 10 cannonball broadside is usually enough to sink it. Ramming can help too and doesn’t completely obliterate your own ship if you land it right.

  • @testakleze had someone who wanted to learn more about the game so we stocked up and went for the fleet, dude sunk 2 galleon with the help of 2 kegs sadly or luckly the final wave died on rocks

  • Please refrain from resurrecting old threads, as it is against the community guidelines. If you don't see a topic you want to discuss that's on the more recent parts of the forums, feel free to create a new one.

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