Suggestion

@ahyeonna411 said in Suggestion:

Add an AI Skeleton Crewmate for Solo Sloop Players
I really love Sea of Thieves, but I have to say that this game is still very unfriendly to solo players. It's even harder for new players who have no choice but to play alone because they can't find anyone to team up with.

Looking For Group, Find a Crew (or Guild) on this Forum, Discord, even Open Crew ...

Right now, most ships on the seas are crewed by groups of players — brigs and galleons.

Nope, most ships I see are sloops - could be a duo though.

For a solo sloop player, it's almost impossible to win against them. You can't run away, and you can't fight back.

Sail against the wind, the sloop is faster then - obviously you'll have to start when they've got some distance, else they could cannon over.

You can also fight back, just last night was chased by a duo; I swam towards them and threw some firebombs - and then I did it again ... I ht their keg ... It did not end the chase but I was able to get more distance and they went looking for another target.

So my question is: why can't we bring the skeleton crewmate mechanic to solo sloops?

I'd rather they give us some other mechanics that everyone could enjoy.

Like safer seas.
What stopping them from being demanding more of? Soo they join you islands, dig up treasure and deliver to ship. Fire cannons with AI aiming and bucking and patching
All the while you are free to leave your ship and board.

When will it stop? Before your no longer needed to sail because your little npc do everything and you reap the rewards and only ships on the sea are AI driven

@ahyeonna411 said in Suggestion:

Add an AI Skeleton Crewmate for Solo Sloop Players

This would also be a huge help for new players who are learning the game alone.

How exactly? Considering a robot would be doing everything automatically, it wouldn't exactly help or be clear to new players trying to learn what it's doing, why it's doing what it is, and how. If you choose to play solo, that's on you to deal with it. Don't ask Rare to make the game easier for you because it's how you choose to play.

@europa4033 If solo play is really that "reasonable," then why did Rare even release Safer Seas? Isn't it because the rewards in Safer Seas are too low, so solo players have no choice but to go to High Seas? To be honest, if Safer Seas had the same rewards as High Seas, I would never set foot in High Seas.

A multiplayer game with fewer online players than a single-player game — do you still think this game is "friendly" to solo players? Or would you rather see this game completely abandoned?
To add to my original suggestion:

What I really want is for the skeleton crewmate to be able to fire cannons. This would give solo players — especially new players — a real chance to fight back against skeleton ships, megalodons, and other threats.

Even better, let players set task priorities for the skeleton crewmate. For example:

· Prioritize repairing the ship
· Prioritize firing cannons
· Prioritize fighting boarded enemies

You could also choose to disable certain tasks. If you don't want the skeleton to fire cannons because you prefer to do it yourself, you can turn that off. This way, the skeleton works the way you want it to — not the other way around.

This fits the feeling of being a captain: you give orders, your crewmate follows them.

@burnbacon Then let's make it even more direct: completely separate solo players and multiplayer players, with the same rewards. That would be good for both sides. Those who want PvP can go to High Seas, and those who don't can play in Safer Seas with the same rewards.

But right now, Safer Seas has lower rewards. Isn't that just forcing players to go to High Seas? What's the end goal here — to push those players away entirely?

A multiplayer game with fewer active players than a single-player game — doesn't that already tell you there's a problem with this game's environment?

why did Rare even release Safer Seas?

It’s in the details. Safer seas was designed and created with mainly, extended tutorial. And a place for families and friends to group up in a “safe” place.
Nothing more. Nothing less

What I really want is for the skeleton crewmate to be able to fire cannons. This would give solo players

Nobody wants to fight skeleton ships. So why would anyone want to fight a player with AI shipmates? AI in this game has always been an issue. Sometimes they miss often that hit crazy shots.

Able to have a ship do all the work while you’re able to do nothing. You learn nothing. You shouldn’t earn anything if you don’t play the game for it.

Solo is a choice. You chosen the hard road. It much easier to set sail and look for crews and join randoms. It’s 2026 kids. Antisocial can be broken if you get out of your comfort zones. Maybe you also meet others who feel you and connect with you, bond and soon you got a crew to play with

@lem0n-curry I'm just hoping they can make the game a little more friendly to solo players. The fact is, a multiplayer game has fewer active players than a single-player game — that already says a lot.

And not everyone knows about this forum or the ways to find crewmates. I've owned this game for six years, and I only found out about this place yesterday.

The current game environment has already driven away so many players who truly loved this game. The day comes when High Seas is so empty that it feels no different from Safer Seas — that's when this game will truly be over.

@burnbacon Some people just want to play alone. That might be their way of life. If you force someone to "come out of their comfort zone" and change their lifestyle to be like everyone else — then what's the point of living in such a world? Where's the fun in that?

Most of these people just want a place where they can belong, without being disturbed by others.

And I'll say it again: if this game's current system was truly reasonable, we wouldn't be seeing a multiplayer game with fewer active players than a single-player game.
Even if none of my suggestions are ever implemented, I will still keep playing Sea of Thieves. Because what I truly love has always been the game itself — not the other players.

@ahyeonna411

Exactly. Some players just want to play alone, and there's nothing wrong with that. As such, they play alone, as they wish. They don't get an automaton to help them out since they're choosing to play solo. Playing solo is the quickest way to get amazing in this game. Mixel, Boxyfresh, HitboTC, are all mostly solos. I've watched Ma5on steal 6 Athenas from a stacked FotD a galleon crew was doing in which a sweaty sloop came by and sank them. As a solo, he went in, hid the chests, waited for the players to leave, grabbed all 6 and left. Nobody suspected a thing.

If you want to play solo, do it. Nothing is stopping you, but you don't get a robot to help you with anything. For the record, they added Safer Seas as an extension of the maiden voyage to help newer players.

And not everyone knows about this forum or the ways to find crewmates. I've owned this game for six years, and I only found out about this place yesterday.

The main menu of the game literally has the forums and website listed. Of course, nobody notices; they just click click.

The current game environment has already driven away so many players who truly loved this game.

Yet they seem to come back nevertheless.

The day comes when High Seas is so empty that it feels no different from Safer Seas — that's when this game will truly be over.

Drinks grog. Game dying again...

The fact is, a multiplayer game has fewer active players than a single-player game — that already says a lot.

Compared too.

If you want a bot crewmate to help around your sloop for simple tasks like repairing and bailing water, just use LFG, they also come in skeleton form.

@ahyeonna411 said in Suggestion:

@lem0n-curry I'm just hoping they can make the game a little more friendly to solo players.

There is a balance that need to be observed, besides a solo crew should have it harder than multi-person crews.
They've made no secret of the fact that solo is considered hard-mode.

The fact is, a multiplayer game has fewer active players than a single-player game — that already says a lot.

Are you suggesting that Safer Seas has more players than High Seas ? Or are you just comparing SoT with a random single-player game ?
Besides, the actual number of active players is not known by us, Rare has those numbers; AFAIK the only known number of active players is the number of players on Steam.

And not everyone knows about this forum or the ways to find crewmates. I've owned this game for six years, and I only found out about this place yesterday.

IIRC a link to the website with this forum was given when I created an account and again when I signed up for Insider; you have the Insider tag as well, so you may have missed the forum link back then.

The current game environment has already driven away so many players who truly loved this game. The day comes when High Seas is so empty that it feels no different from Safer Seas — that's when this game will truly be over.

Truly loved the game ? Except for the shared world bit, I guess... Other crews have been part of the game and the attraction of it to the intended PvPvE players.
Empty (High) Seas - they've been saying things like this since the beginning and here we are, eight years later...

From the OP

All of these systems already exist. I believe it would be very easy to combine them into a skeleton crewmate for solo sloop players.

The skellies of the Burning Blade who repair and shoot have unlimited supplies, if they ever add this (which I hope they won't), they'll have to address this as otherwise a bad prepared solo player will have a very unfair advantage.

@ahyeonna411 safer seas is a tutorial for new players it is not meant to be played full time. Its designed to teach you the basics before heading to the actual game. High seas. It's designed to for parents to play with their children and for tall tale players. That is what they designed safer seas for. Not as an everyday sailing to avoid the real game. Hence why it has restrictions in place.

And this isn't a multiplayer game its a multiplayer Co-op game meaning it's designed to play with others not solo. You can solo it but you will need the skills to do it.