Solo sloop help

@captainluke56 dude... lock in

1. solo is always hard mode. Not game fault
2. what does removing emissary grades solve? Don’t like it, don’t raise the flag?
3. that the reason for the reapers. To hunt emissaries. But as you know they have to be g5

As for everything else. Go play safer seas

Solo slooping can be tough - you need to play cautiously.

Super vulnerable on island world events - especially Fort Of Fortune. I don't bother doing them as you are just doing the work for another ship to profit from.

Reapers are balanced by themselves showing on the map as soon as the flag is raised.

Watch the horizon for ships, turn off your lamps. Observe the Map regularly for any ships that are visible. Reaper ships will show regardless of their Grade and Guild V ships will show when they reach that grade.
These ships could be hunters and you can use their visibility on the map to avoid them.

If you see a ship approaching you don't be ashamed to dive OUT of the server. You can dive to safety with no danger present within approximately 2 squares.
Predators use the dive mechanic to find ships so the ying yang of that is prey can dive AWAY from them.
You will lose treasure doing this but the frustration of getting sunk is avoided so up to you.

A sloop has a speed advantage against the wind - if you are sailing INTO the wind you are quicker than a Galleon or Brig.
Running is generally a slow death but can be fun, you can outplay a bad chaser in the same size ship, sometimes a larger ship - wind direction will change, you will run out of map and a good chaser will be able to gain on you.

This season has introduced Smuggler kegs which are hugely effective against chasers (though carrying one makes you vulnerable).
Mobile Cannon Of Rage can be parked on the back of your boat to perhaps give a chaser second thoughts. These blow up within 6 shots and take damage, so use cautiously and do not leave deployed.

'The average player is a sitting duck to get jumped, and that makes the game uninteresting'

I think the THREAT of PvP gives the PvE in SoT a compelling edge and keeps me playing.
Odds are hugely stacked against solos with the boarding meta, but it can still be enjoyed and a great vibe.

@captainluke56 said in Solo sloop help:

It is clearly lopsided for solo sloop players. The average player is a sitting duck to get jumped, and that makes the game uninteresting. To help off set that. Get rid of the emissary levels on players flags.

If you don't want the attention (or rather less attention) of other crews, don't raise an emissary; or do you want to have the bonus without other crews knowing your level ? You do realise that's part of the game mechanic of why you have a bonus when handing in more loot: more risk.

All that does is make a level five a dead man. Secondly , get rid of reaper level fives being able to see other ships on the map that also does the same.
If somone is going to be a reaper.They should have more work to do than just coming by and sinking.Solo sloop player ship while he's on an island.

Well, they have to get their grade up to 5 before they can see other emissaries on their map. There should be a consequense for server hopping though, maybe lose 1 grade reaper, so at least other ships have some (more) time to react on a new Reaper on the server and they are not immediately aware of the emissaries.

Having a smaller team is harder than having a larger team? Could have fooled me. I solo sloop all the time. Yesterday I sunk a 3 man brig on my own just using reaper island cannons.

I don't wanna be one of those guys, but you might genuinely just need to play safer seas. No emissary there at all matches your ask of no emissary levels. There are no reapers to come sink you. Your lack of ability in the game should not be the impetus for them to make the game lose one of its most important and long time features.

If they removed the ability to have emissary value multipliers, I would never touch the emissary system or ledger again, but beyond that, it would make it take 2.5x as long to gain rep for anything. It would slow progression in the game to an unmanageable level and outright kill the playerbase. If they announced they were changing the emissary system to the way you want it to be, I would legitimately stop playing the game. Every month I grind emmi ledger for guild, athena, reaper, and gold hoarder. If it took 2.5x as long to do each of those things I wouldn't have enough time in a month to get them all done. As it stands last month I only managed to finish the athena ledger with 4 hours to spare before it closed, doing hourglass, getting good streaks.