Let me start off by saying there's a lot about Sea of Thieves that I thoroughly enjoy, but the longer I play, the more this one aspect of the game irritates me: the impossibility of catching another pirate ship if they don't want to fight.
I know all of you have experienced this at some point. You're sailing along in a sloop, you spot another sloop sail on the horizon, and decide to give chase. If you're lucky, that sloop is parked at an island, and only starts running when you're a short distance away. Despite your best efforts to entice them into an actual fight, they decide to set a course to nowhere and keep going until you either give up or they fall off the map. This happens whether your sail is perfectly tuned to the wind or not, and even if their sails aren't. The "boost" of speed that's supposed to come from a perfectly positioned sail is so negligible that it's basically a non factor in any pursuit.
Perhaps one of the most frustrating scenarios is when your ship has a crew of two, and the other ship has a crew of one. In theory, a larger crew should be able to keep the sails perfectly adjusted at all times, while the crew of one can't, enabling you to ultimately catch them. Can anybody say they've ever seen it play out like that?
This leads to a game that would better be described as "Sea of Stalemates" than "Sea of Thieves". Considering the amount of time it takes to travel from one area to another, a pursuit can last upward of 30 minutes. That's really absurd considering the only hope of it ending is the other person scuttling their ship, logging, or turning to fight. Has anyone ever seen a crew that's been willing to run for 10, 20, or even 30 minutes be willing to turn and fight? I haven't.
All I'm saying is that the pursuit mechanics of this game could really use a hard look. The best part playing is the actual battles, and as time goes by battles seem to occur less and less frequently as players become more absorbed by the grind than by actual combat.
Anybody agree or disagree?