Fox's pro tips & tricks for sloop mastery (50+ tips and tricks)

  • This set of tips and tricks is meant for solo players that have already spent a fair amount of time on the sloop, but wish to learn some more advanced techniques that could help them further their sea faring prowess.

    GENERAL
    A collection of miscellaneous tips with some useful information that’s good to know.

    • Watch the seas constantly for other ships.

    • If you see a ship, pull out the compass and make a mental note of the bearing, or go to the ships world map and place a circle on their last known location.

    • Always keep between 2-3 health supplies on you when visiting an island, but don’t forget to load your ship with everything else before you go.

    • Rather than rush to get everything done as quickly as possible when visiting an island, seek out the high ground to survey the sea and make sure there’s no threat.

    • Use the sword lunge attack for swimming lengthy distances and jumping off the side of islands. (stand on the edge of a beach or object)

    • You can tell which way a storms heading if you look straight up into the sky and watch the black cloud ring circling around it. The very edge will be visibly expanding or retracting in the direction that the storms moving in.

    • Keep track of the time, there’s 24 minutes in a day with the sun setting at 22:00 and rising at 05:00. If you’ve spotted a ship and they don’t know you’re there, knowing when the sun comes up and goes down could give you an advantage.

    • ALWAYS scout outposts with the spyglass before travelling to one to cash in your loot. If there are no ships then be sure to check the sea for mermaids. Circling the island can help those of you who are extra cautious.

    • The North West corner of the world map has the 2 closest outposts in the game. Both Golden Sands & Sanctuary Outpost are within viewing distance of each other by using the spyglass. This area of the world map also has the clearest seas making it really easy to spot other ships, and should you need to, travel to another outpost.

    • In contrast to this the South West corner of the world map is the furthest distance you’d have to travel to reach an outpost. (currently)

    • NEVER spend hours collecting chests and loot for one big cash in. You should only ever have a few chests/skulls that you’re comfortable losing.

    • Always pick short quest types as this limits the quest island to a short distance from your current location.

    • Quest locations are proximity based according to your current location. With this in mind it’s possible to roughly control the location of your next quest. If for example, you sail to the North West corner of the world map before activating one, your next quest is likely to be on either: Sailors Bounty, Smugglers Bay, Lone Cove, Sandy Shallows, Picaroon Palms, Boulder Cay, Salty Sands, Rapier Cay, Cannon Cove, Lonely Isle, Lagoon of Whispers, Crescent Isle, Twin Groves, Wanderers Refuge, or Mermaids Hideaway. ( I did say roughly)

    SAILING/DOCKING
    If you don’t want to be caught with your sails up and anchor down then these are for you.

    • When heading directly into the wind “tacking” is a useful real life technique that can help you move much quicker: by changing the ships direction to diagonally face the wind, angling the sails appropriately to catch the wind, and then alternating between the ships direction in a zig-zag manner.

    • Be sure you’re heading in the right direction. There is a golden peg on the ships wheel that will vibrate your controller when the wheel is centred.

    • When levelling out with the golden peg, in order to travel in a straight line you will also need to compensate for rough waves hitting your ship from the sides, one or two notches are normally enough. Watch the compass next to the wheel until you’re sure the heading is straight.

    • During long distance voyages most of your time is better spent in the crows nest looking out for other ships and ship wrecks, instead of behind the wheel.

    • Literally jumping on the wheel and then jumping towards the mast, pushing the interact button while in the air, will save you time climbing up to the crows nest.

    • If there’s another ship nearby or you’re approaching an island for docking, jumping onto the rear of the ship will give you an elevated position for better judging distances without having to climb the crows nest.

    • When docking your ship, NEVER dock in the bay, as this will reduce movement options and could block you in if another ship encounters you there.

    • Hiding your ship is literally a waste of time. Players who know what to look for will still see your ship when hidden on the majority of islands. The only islands where you’re able to hide your ship completely are the ones located at the edges of the world map. But in order to do this you’re once again reducing movement options if another ship encounters you there, as you’ll be situated right next to an out of bounds zone. Then, factor into that the amount of time it takes to hide it, and the time it takes to travel back and forth from a less than optimal position and it simply isn’t worth it.

    • The ideal position for docking is on the corner of an island (where available) or as close to the beach as possible. (without obstacles nearby such as rocks)

    • Raising your sails and gliding in slowly without dropping the anchor is less efficient than sailing in quickly and dropping the anchor, then raising sails and raising the anchor.

    • By dropping the anchor you’re triggering a mechanic in the game that stops your ship from moving off that spot until sails are raised again, or a storm approaches. By doing this you can prevent your ship from drifting to far, by stopping it exactly where you want it to be, and pivot the ship (with sails up) to face the best wind direction for a quick departure.

    • ALWAYS pivot the ship after docking to utilise the current wind direction for the quickest departure and adjust the sails accordingly.

    EVADING
    It will always be difficult evading a good crew, but smart sailing and good tactics are no match for the sheer will to destroy.

    AGAINST THE GALLEON

    • NEVER drop the anchor.

    • The galleon is faster with the wind behind its sails but slower facing directly into the wind, giving the sloop the advantage here.

    • Manoeuvrability is also not the galleons strong suit, and should be exploited as much as possible.

    • As escaping the galleon can be time consuming, it’s a good idea to head in the opposite direction to where you want to go, and lead them further away from it.

    • A good tactic is to start by leading them in the direction you want to go, but then when they get close turn 180 degrees and circle around them to gain more distance before leading them away from your desired location.

    • Raising sails while turning makes for tighter turns but at a huge risk that you want to avoid. If you’re too close the galleon can also turn in time to ram you, or failing that, players from the galleon can use the sword lunge attack to board your ship.

    • Another trick is when they’re close to you begin turning slowly in one direction, and then when you see them matching it, raise sails half mast and quickly turn in the opposite direction. They should swing right past you affording you the maximum time it takes for them to turn around again and carry on the pursuit.

    • When heading in the opposite direction from where you want to go, the perfect scenario will have the wind behind your sails allowing you to make good distance before the galleon catches up to you. As we know the galleon is quicker than the sloop with the wind behind its sails so when they finally catch up, doing another 180 degree turn back into the direction you want to go, will put them at a severe disadvantage when turning back into the wind and possibly demoralise them enough into giving up the chase.

    • Islands and rocks can also be used as a means to increase distance and out manoeuvre tailing ships by circling them, then anticipating the ships reaction to break line of sight and head in a different direction.

    • If you get one of those relentless blood thirsty crews that just won’t quit, provided you have no treasure aboard, there’s other ways to lose them. By “ghost riding the ship” (jumping off after you’ve set a course) you can smugly watch as they obliviously pass you by in the sea, and then scuttle the ship at your hearts content.

    • One better, is to have them sail directly behind you, then use the sword lunge attack to board their ship and drop the anchor. If you have enough distance between the two ships, this is worth attempting in any scenario.

    • 2 much more riskier strategies (that can backfire quite badly) are to lure them next to a skeleton fort and then circle around it, or lead them to other players ships and hope that they attack each other and forget about you.

    • If they get too close to you when you decide it’s a lost cause and time to bail, turn the ship so the left side is facing them, then go down the stairs to the ships map and from there the window closest to the stairs on the right side of the sloop. You’ll be able to see the prompt for grabbing hold onto the ladder, this will take you outside of the sloop without them seeing and allow you to slip away quietly.

    AGAINST ANOTHER SLOOP

    • Combat is the only way to get rid of them for sure.

    • As an evenly matched vessel your only hope is to out sail them. There’s no tactics you can do that will give you an advantage, as anything you can do they can also do.

    COMBAT
    Tactics will vary upon the skill level of your opponents, so this section is more like a set of guidelines than actual strategies. Taking on a galleon is possible but ill advised, and I’d definitely wait until you’ve sunken a couple of sloops before trying to attempt it.

    • NEVER drop the anchor.

    • Make sure you fill up on all supplies before going into battle.

    • It’s a good idea to keep one explosive barrel at the bottom of the stairs to the left (in front of the brig) just out of view when walking down. As a last resort you can fall back below deck and shoot it when another player comes down.

    • Less is more, sails at half-mast means a tighter turning radius and more time to deliver cannon fire. (you don’t want to be too slow though)

    • The best distance for accurately landing cannon shots without becoming an easy target is between 2-3 sloop ship lengths.

    • Don’t get too close and watch the seas for players attempting to swim over.

    • NEVER sail directly next to the side of a ship.

    • Remember to account for movement when firing shots, yours as well as theirs. Leading the shot according to where they’re going to be is good, but when they’re stationary and you’re moving, even a shot on target will still travel with your movement.

    • If you’ve taken fire and the ship’s filling up with water, you’re best to sail away from your opponent first so that you can patch up without taking any additional damage. If you need to, lower the sails fully to gain more distance before patching.

    • If you’ve got multiple holes and the ships filling up at an alarming rate, ignore the holes and bail out water until it’s at a manageable level. You can bail quicker than the ship takes on water but patching is a lot slower than bailing.

    • Holes at the front of the ship should be dealt with first, as holes at the rear take on water at a much slower rate.

    So that’s it, I hope this was able to help some of you that have found sailing alone in the sloop frustrating, and I hope you’ve learnt something that can make your time on the seas a bit more enjoyable. Just remember that not every ship you see out there has to be a confrontation, some of us are friendly ; )

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  • Great post.
    On this point:
    "Raising your sails and gliding in slowly without dropping the anchor is less efficient than sailing in quickly and dropping the anchor, then raising sails and raising the anchor."

    I think you meant more efficient, at least with good crew, getting a good coast in, raising sails, then turning to dock your ship is very efficient and is typically much quicker than dropping anchor, raising sails, raising anchor, then turning the ship.

    Also I'd like to add the anchor quick stop, again, with a quality crew, you can drop anchor then grab it to manually lower it, this can be helpful if you want ot use the anchor for docking, or even in a hostile encounter, you can drop anchor, change direction, and be on the move before the other ships anchor drops.

  • @sirpwn4g3 Assuming the player is fairly competent at sailing, coasting in takes longer to dock than sailing in quickly and dropping the anchor to stop. You get more breathing room by coasting in, but if you want to minimize the amount of time it takes, then coasting in is less efficient. (provided you're able to stop where you want of course)

    You shouldn't really want to drop the anchor when there's a hostile ship around.

  • @foxdodge I just had to say thanks for all the advice. I was chased by a galleon for maybe 40 minutes yesterday and to me that is just as exciting as being in combat, if not more. I was sailing against the wind, around rocks, dropping explosive barrels (although no hits, gotta be real close for that), and they never caught me.

    If you feel like they might be on the edge of losing interest, sail past a sunken wreck. That also worked for me a couple of times. Seems people rather have a good chance at treasure than chasing an annoying sloop all day. :D

  • @foxdodge Not sure how I missed seeing this absolutely stunning collection of tips and thanks for adding a link to the alone, solo thread!

  • @vartios said in Fox's pro tips & tricks for sloop mastery (50+ tips and tricks):

    If you feel like they might be on the edge of losing interest, sail past a sunken wreck. That also worked for me a couple of times. Seems people rather have a good chance at treasure than chasing an annoying sloop all day. :D

    That's a really good tip.

  • @foxdodge Really awesome tips man I will keep them in mind you are an awesome human. I prefer to stock up on missions and have a lot of chests and do a big cash in, its riskier but it just feels so good. and also it just takes ages to go outpost to outpost for every mission so idk.

    Maybe its just me but a battle between sloops is so exciting when you have a few chests lying around to give that scary factor haha.

    also what do you think about putting really good chests/gunpowder in the crows nest? like captains chest. people dont usually climb up to the crows nest to loot and the gunpowder wont damage the ship if its up there right? so if a galley is chasing us we can pick it up and throw it back.

  • @salazar-armando Yeah, too many people neglect the crows nest. The amount of times I've hid in someone else's for more than ten minutes is pretty ridiculous.

    Storing chests up there is a good idea, but be careful with explosive barrels. If you sail into a storm lightning can strike and ignite them. There's also a lot of people who store explosive barrels in the crows nest, so they may think to look there with the spyglass and shoot them. (they may also see any chests)

  • @foxdodge Also about the hiding behind islands thing;

    you said that hiding behind islands wont work because they will find you but. we saw this galley really far and they probably couldn't see us because we were inside the storm. so we decided to go the other side of the island to be hidden and im pretty sure it worked. ofc they might have seen us but, usually we just hide next to big rocks of the islands or, the closest bit to the edge of the map so they dont see us. some ships wont bother going around islands right?

    also you mentioned to check the time in your clock to see when the sun is rising up. how do I know to use it correclty? if the sun is rising up does it give me an advantage if the enemy ship is close to the sun or opposite. i got a bit confused in that

  • @foxdodge Great tips, thanks for taking the time to share these!

  • @salazar-armando If you can hide your ship without it taking too much effort, then by all means do it. Just remember that you maybe limiting your options for an escape route. When I said it was a waste of time, I meant just that, if there's no need to then I wouldn't bother. (for example if a ship is way out in the distance)

    For the clock, in the morning there's a slight mist when the sun rises that can make it more difficult for other ships to see you. Also, if you have to sail past another ship to get where you're going next, and you know the sun is going to set in a couple of minutes, you could just wait them out........... or..........you could sneak up to them under the cover of darkness and browse their ship for anything that takes your fancy.

    In short, knowing when visibility will be reduced definitely helps.

  • @foxdodge thanks a lot man. ill be sure to keep this tips in mind when the game comes out!

  • Thanks for the excellent tips!!!

  • Never let them get your loot no matter what. You don't want to encourage people to chase you all day by rewarding them with your loot. Drive off the map into the blood seas so they can't have it. Also if you have a lot of loot you try can dropping chests overboard sporadically. This will either get them to stop to grab the chest, or eventually you will have no chests and they can't loot anything from you.

  • Great post,

    Bookmarked for future reference

  • This topic definitively needs to be add in the
    https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/category/62/community-guides-tips

    Right?!

  • Hey guys...can you enlighten me on one subject that allways gets up when I play with a certain friend?

    Does your ship take damage if you lower the anchor while being at speed? I say no, he says yes and claims "you can hear the skreetching of the ship".

  • @kustho Nope, the ship doesn't take damage unless you crash on beach, dock, rocks or another ship. Even if you hear the sound of the wood.

    You can also take cannonball damages, gunpowder barrel explosion damage, lightning and by going out of map zone (when the sky and sea become red) or be sink with water by storms (the rain) and a specific chest or if someone put a lot of water with his bucket on your ship.

  • @foxdodge Really good suggestions and its great to see more community members trying to help newer players get better at the game!

  • great guide, thank you

  • @kustho
    The sound is of your ship complaining at the strain- from being at sail to suddenly at dead stop so abruptly- but it is only a sound effect, there is no discernible damage done...

  • maybe this guide should be moved into the BRAND NEW GUIDES SECTION!😁

  • @Deckhands Now that the guides & tips section of the forums is open, could one of you wonderful people move this thread over there.

    Thank you kindly.

  • @foxdodge Your wish is my command :D

  • I used to keep my explosive barrels in that same spot you mentioned but no longer:

    Reasons: I've sword lunged into it too many times while defending my ship.

    An enemy ship actually hit a barrel I had there and it 1-shot me/sank my ship. I used to think cannon balls can't hit that spot but I was mistaken.

  • I have nothing to add to this sloop mastery...nicely done. Hope it helps alot of the new players.

  • @cpt-peach-beard Keeping any explosive barrels on the sloop is a risk, but it's an option some PvP oriented players may wish to take, or not.

    You can also store them in the crows nest where they won't damage the ship, but then you'll have to climb up to get them and might not have enough time. They can also be struck by lightning and set off up there, and considering it's where most players choose to store them, it will probably be the first place they point an Eye of Reach.

  • Thanks for taking the time to put this together, it will definitely help new players more than the tutorial!

  • Good tips. The game isn't designed for solo play, but that doesn't mean it can't be fun :)

    Your eyes are your best weapon and best defence.

  • @Foxdodge this is a well written guide. Most of these tactics I've used myself.
    There is 1 other thing you can also do against galleons: Sail in the storm. The sloop doesn't get hit as much by lightning as the Galleon. Also because of the manouvrability of the sloop, you easilly get out of the storm. The galleon goes low because of gaining water and has to do everything in it's power to survive.
    I've survived many counters with a galleon this way. It is at your own risk, your sloop gets damage. But it is a hell a lot of fun. Plus to gain some extra time, shoot some cannonballs in their hull and you'll either outrun or sink them :)

    @Doctor-N****e, this game is designed also for solo play. But it is a lot harder because you are competing against groups. Although the Merchants Alliance is really something to do as a solo player. I feel like a rum smuggler, with some chickens, pigs and snakes to accompany me on the lonely seas.

  • @m0ustacho I stopped sailing through storms in the sloop a while ago, as they were proving to treacherous to navigate. I'll have to go back and see whether they've been rebalanced since then, and to what affect.

    But I would probably not advise using them, except as a last resort, as too much of the players control is taken away.

  • @foxdodge As long as you keep your eye on the horizon, you know which way you go ;) Plus sometimes the compass stops at a direction. This is the direction you are actually sailing.

  • @m0ustacho It seems they've gotten a bit better, but the wheel locking up for brief periods of time and becoming unresponsive (which is a great and fun mechanic) is also the reason why I wouldn't recommend trying to use them in tactical situations of sailing.

  • Thank you for your post.

  • Thank'ee kindly, matey!

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