@lucid-stew said in I Sank My First Ship!:
The best moment in the game as a solo sloop driver is that first time you see another ship on the horizon and feel no fear. Come about, 4 sheets to the wind, and make your heading an intercept course!
First, congrats to you, OP. It might feel dirty but remember that morals are a social construct, and that guilt that you feel is a result of generations of good/evil brainwashing. I'd be salty if it happened to me, but at the same time I'd never be unaware of my surroundings for the amount of time it takes for a ship to approach in this game. Knowing that the only reason for that habit is the fact that I've been in positions analogous to the divers, I'd say you've done them a solid. The naïve beg to be used by the cunning, hardship builds character, you can't understand anything unless you've experienced it, and any organism is just an agent of karma. Well done. The only thing that could have made this more proper is to shout to them: "This is why you always keep a lookout! Have a nice day!"
I saw a galleon chasing a lone sloop earlier so I assisted the sloop. It really was some of the most fun I've had in the game yet. The sloop was smart enough to turn toward me so I fell in behind them and hit a few shots then cannoned over while my ship in a turn behind them. I dropped their anchor immediately and was sitting under their deck, saying bullying is bad mmkay and whispering creepily like a phone sexer "i'm eating your bananas" and then shooting them when they came down to check the bananas, and pestering the survivors when they tried to raise anchor after deciding to leave me down there. I actually did eat about 45 bananas while at full health, but not standing at the barrel like an idiot.
I had my ship in a 5 peg turn at halfish sail behind them so it was good, just making circles slightly away from them to the rear, but they managed to somehow get cannons on the dude I was trying to help although I dropped their anchor. I fully expected him to flee. They got 4 skulls from him, and in the end I grabbed the villainous and jumped off board and left it at the mermaid. I think they retrieved the skull because they kept the anchor down for a while and just repaired the damage I was dealing to them.
I stalked them to the nearby outpost and again put the wheel on a course away from them as I planned to disengage after this, cannoned over to climb onto their deck, grabbed a hateful skull and sold it to the vendor, then ran and climbed back onto their ship. There was no more treasure so I fired their cannon balls at nothing. I killed some as they came aboard and they ended up killing me, too.
One who was on the ferry with me whined: "what do you want from us, why don't you just leave us alone", as if they could possibly be victims at this point. (I guess they could, the sloop could have robbed them in the first place) This really annoyed me, as the only thing I dislike more than bullying itself are bullies who think they can do their bullying while standing on moral high ground, like people who subscribe to popular morality and those who violently defend them, which might seem like me in this case. I think of it as... I wasn't so much helping the sloop as I was avoiding the waste of my aggression on those who don't intend to reciprocate, and hoping to inspire the fearful to become courageous. I dislike protecting people while not simultaneously teaching them to protect themselves. The inspiration campaign might have been a bit too successful, without previous preparation, and likely resulted in the sloop coming into the galleon's cannon range.
Anyway, this ferry interaction was enough to get a name of the aggressor on the recent player list. I thanked him for the skull through text message and advised them to be nicer to people in the future because then people would be nicer to them and got a party invite. All three of them sounded very tough and passionate, going as far as informing me that they have "all day" to chase me and that one of them even has 112k gold. They also confirmed that they robbed that sloop guy because at first they thought I was he. As it turned out, they only had about 15 more minutes, because shortly after that I waited for them to come near, boarded again, anchored, finished their bananas and grabbed a few of their more cannonballs.
We fought for a while and I got them to chase me outside and said "wow whose ship is that over there with three cosmetics, oh it's mine", and "if you guys were nicer I could be your fourth. just kidding you're way too bad at this, especially this guy" and mentioned the one who I assumed to be their "guard" as he always seemed to be the one on the ship as I was harassing it , although I wasn't doing much but knocking him back with the blunderbuss and running away the whole time, they quickly turned the blame on him. I pointed out how easily they turned and assured them that I was joking and they're all equally bad. I reminded them that I have nothing on my ship, less than stock, and that we really can do this for the rest of the day. I eventually got blunderbussed while trying to take ammo and opening the weapon choice instead. After respawn, I came around the rock the ship had been circling, I saw the galleon sinking and sailed over to it, no mermaid in sight. Since I had been kicked from the party a while before that, I asked through text where we could meet to do it again but got no response. I couldn't find any ships on the horizon, either. I assume they scuttled it because I didn't put any holes and it wasn't leaking when I died. I thought we were having fun.
I would really recommend paying attention to the turning radius of your ship and the effect the wind has on it when the wheel is left unattended. This has been invaluable to me while playing as a solo sloop. Without it, you can effectively never safely leave your ship or it travels miles away and any combat advantage you had is lost if you don't finish the fight before you return to the ship, and remember... when outmanned and outgunned, there are other ways to dissuade pursuers.
