Why some people are not sinking?

Your shots need to hit below the waterline. You should see a splash and explosion (hear the sound for a hit) when shooting the enemy boat. If you aren't hitting below the waterline, you're only putting holes in the second deck and water will not flood the ship.

Hope this helps.

Edit to add: Also, don't hit the same place over and over again. Move your shots around the enemies hull.

@gatorwocky said in Why some people are not sinking?:

Your shots need to hit below the waterline. You should see a splash and explosion (hear the sound for a hit) when shooting the enemy boat. If you aren't hitting below the waterline, you're only putting holes in the second deck and water will not flood the ship.

Hope this helps.

This may be an existent factor. But honestly, there are even further details that can make all the difference.

Number of legitimate hits does make the most distinct difference, obviously. But if it's a consistent thing you need to look at opposing variables:

Are they boarding your ship more than your team is boarding theirs? Boarders can put an end to repairs/ship control/firing rate and increase the amount of water taken in/damage output versus how much their team receives in the same span of time.

As noted above, are your shots REALLY hitting the lower deck? As mentioned...if your not that explains alot.

Are the shots which are hitting with valid value happening more often (IE More shots fired, faster) from the other team? If they are simply putting more cannons into your ship that speaks for it right there.

Are your repair team members bailing effectively, if they are - is the opposition bailing MORE effectively? Some folks insist on walking right to the edge of the top deck railing before tossing their water bucket content and running down stairs for more. They do this even though you can be nearly at the mid/bottom of the 2nd deck stairs and toss the water over. It saves a few seconds... but a few seconds makes a difference, it REALLY can.

Are your team members being slowed down from repairs/cannon shots by their cannon firing team member hitting them with splash damage? If your spending all your time being knocked off walls during repairs or pushed away from the cannon your not putting holes in the enemy, or repairing your own holes.

If 2 ships both get 10 holes... and both repair at the same moment... one will sink faster than the other if some of the above is messed up. Since a galleon can get filled up to the second deck and one player can bail from there without running down stairs it comes down to how many valid holes they're getting. If the rate of water intake isn't high enough the bailing can be sustained until more who can repair can return to the ship.

I've saved my duo sloop constantly thanks to speed bailing. I'll just leave the hole there and bail my heart out until my pal comes and fixes the hole.

Heck you can even lift a ship out of the water by beaching and the fact that the holes aren't exposed to water stalls the intake of water until the ship finally settles back on the waves. It hurts more in the long run than it helps... but even that tactics has slowed up sinking long enough that the damage is minimal.

Seriously it took me over 7 minutes to sink in a sloop I scuttled... all because I also crashed it so hard it was stuck on shore for most of the time. It wasn't until it finally broke from the collision that water started to fill it up.