If you're solo in a sloop and a skeleton ship attacks, you might as well scuttle ship.

@emperorass

Well it is possible for sure to solo sloop sink a Skelleon. (Skelleton Galleon)

U probably just need more XP.
I took them out solo. Even the skelly ship waves. And that is harder than just the one ship.
U dont need cannonballs for it. U dont need powderkeg. Dont need to leave your own ship. All u need is 1 hole in your ship and bucket the water in theirs.

If u want the commendation for sinkin skelly ships, than u need to pop 1 cannonball in them before sinking them or else the commenation will not be tracked.

@emperorass Skeleton Galleons are easy when playing solo on a sloop, so long as you have cannonballs.

My friend, I assure you the skeleton ships are quite sinkable, even solo on a sloop. Some are easier than others, but as long as your ship is well-supplied you can beat them almost every time. Make sure your main effort is always on keeping your ship afloat. If you lose your ship, you lose the battle. So whatever else is happening, if that water is rising, you bail. When the water is managed start patching. If you need to, patch a hole, bail, patch another hole, bail more, etc. When things are under control (they don't have to be perfect, just manageable) then put as many cannonballs as you can into the skeleton ship. Try to aim your shots below the water line. Keep pounding them. If you have cursed cannonballs, use them to your best advantage. If you're diligent about keeping your ship repaired, and hammer the enemy every chance you get, eventually you'll succeed.

It's not as hard as you think, it just takes practice. You can do it!

I did a solo Skelly fort and had like 6 kegs of gunpowder barrels including the stronghold gunpowder barrel on my row boat attached the the back. I had bare minimum supplies left. On my way back to an outpost a skelly sloop attacked. I was nervous at first that it would shoot and hit the gunpowder barrels but I went full speed ahead and when he came out of the water I used my anchor and when he passed me I put the anchor back up and just sailed away.. he shot at me but the entire encounter lasted maybe 3 or 4 minutes until he left me alone.

There really isn't anything in this game that can't be done solo. It just takes time, resources, and sheer tenacity.

In general, I'm inclined to agree with you, but last night I came within a breath of sinking my first Skellie Ship while Solo Slooping; what stopped me was that I ran out of cannonballs thanks to a greedy merchant mission decision on my own part (I used my own cannonballs to fill a crate for a quick profit). Otherwise, I finally would have got one while on my sloop.
Having enough ammo, and getting decent positioning (in other words, don't get rattled when they show up) will make all the difference in the world.

I still agree that they should lay off around outposts, though.

Last night I also nearly defeated one Solo Slooping...
Made my ship doing circles while getting onto theirs to kill most of the skeletons.

Still I agree that there should be a chance to outrun them anyhow...I'd love having the chance to use the advantages of the smaller ship, such as going against the wind!

You should be able to make them body-check a sandbank being unable to navigate or getting stuck between to stones where you easily fit through...

@emperorass

I have lost count the number of skellie ships sank with a sloop. The same is true with player ships. Have sank fleets of both. So, it is very possible.

Like everyone else has said you need to be prepared resource wise and engage them to get more experience. Stocking up should be the number one priority when setting sail. Filling up on every type of resource as soon as possible and keeping things full is more important than ever.

Skellie ships are doing what other players can and will do. Players can chase you, follow you to an outpost and approach after you are docked. There has always been threats on the sea. Now there are a lot more of them. You will have a lot more fun learning how to sling cannonballs back.

Skeleton Ship Event (waves) are soloable in a sloop. I hunt the single ones because it's easy money.

For a solo ship, just cut your sails and let them come to you. Pop a few holes on approach, ballast ball and a weary or jig.

Easy.

It's a bit more difficult if they have any green balls that immobilize you but just keep up on the repairs best you can and maybe drop the sails a bit if they are very aggressive.

@emperorass I don’t know what your talking about...the only time a skeleton ship attacks me is when I fire at them. I haven’t seen one just pop up and hunt me down though

I've seen plenty of posts from solo sloopers saying it's managable, seeing as Solo'ing is touted as an optional really hard thing to do I'm not going to say rare should rebalance this just for the sake of solo players. I've had no trouble with any skeleton ship on either Brig or Galleon so I'm saying it's balanced just fine.

If you're on a sloop solo and you want to just relax and sail while having an easy time with it this game might not be for you. If the community was telling us all it's impossible then that's that but hard is what Rare discribes solo slooping on this verry website.

I agree, those skell ships can be persistent. However I believe that instead, skelly ships should follow to a certain distance. Perhaps about a difference in distance of 5- 6 squares? Idk, but what I do know is that skelly ships should give up on the chase after you leave a certain distance range from their ship

I posted this to help another player to address a similar issue, and it seems relevant to post here as well. Here are my tips:

First, you need to be well supplied. I would say 40 cannonballs along with 25 pieces of wood should be more than enough.

Second, you need to use the environment to your advantage as much as possible. My favorite tactic is to kite them into an area where you can play to the sloop's advantages and take advantage of the skellies questionable sailing techniques. Think about cutlass cay, rapier cay, or shipwreck bay. Those islands are great because they are an island situated within a perilous set of rocks that border them. With your sloop, you can easily slice and weave between the rocks and islands, and force the skelly gally to take on water as they continually crash into obstructions they are not nimble enough to move through.

Third, you need to ensure the majority of your broadsides hit below the waterline for the gally. Skellies cannot bail water (as others have noted here), and that means the better your shots are, the faster that irreversible damage pours into the ship. With enough supplies and good shooting, victory is only a matter of time.

Fourth, if you can find cursed cannonballs; especially a ballast ball, you can end the fight much more quickly. Pepper the gally until it has taken on a deck of water (and is riding a level below the water line) and hit it with the ballast ball. From there, 3-4 follow up shots should sink it outright.

Finally, if you stumble on a passive skelly ship going about its business, wait until it pulls close to an island and slows up (this requires you to have a gunpowder keg). Pull your ship alongside it (they won't shoot), jump into the water and board their ship. You can sprint down two decks and light the GP keg off on the bottom deck. Even if you die immediately afterword, you still have done a whole floor of irreversible damage to the skelly ship. I have never had an issue getting back onto my ship to finish the fight even in the event of an untimely demise running this scheme.

Anyways those are some tips I have. So long as I am prepared, I end up winning the majority of those fights solo; especially against the passive ones.

Don't be discouraged, with proper tactics, you will be more than a match for em @EmperorAss

I do agree with many on this thread that the skellies should give up after a while; the relentless pursuit is a bit much if you don't feel like engaging. I feel escape should always be an option since it is for nearly every other type of encounter (kraken, megs, players, etc.)

I'd say you're giving up too easily. I've actually been hunting these guys down while solo and sinking them for commendations.

I could care less if players on this form can solo it. Its still annoying that those ships hunt you down to no end. Which is, what I see as the biggest issue with them. Like even if you know how to fight them, I still don't want to do it, because I have other things that I might want to do. I know how to beat the meg and krak, but when they appear I just sail away because I am not interested, but at least with those fights you can just sail a good distance away. These ships aren't impossible, but if you don't know how to fight them solo, or you get bucked off your ship from a cannonball, good luck. Also, I would really like to see these things not spawn so close to players as well. Make it so I see them spawn at a distance, but the fight would start if I got close to them. Not just pulling me into a fight that I don't want to be in. Really bad on your part Rare.

I've been in battles with the random skeleton galleon ships while soloing and sloop and taken them down (sometimes a challenge), they are not as hard, once you know what to do from the previous encounters. They are not as tough, if you have the right curse cannonballs to use (me mostly I like the anchorballs and peaceballs). When you are shooting at them, shoot them on the lower level of the boat, they can't bail water and might want to also dodge the incoming cannons as well. It takes practice here and there, but you will see for yourself that it is not as hard as you think.

@emperorass
Ram the skeleton ship and bail the water over to them, get out of cannon range, repair, repeat.

I feel like this topic has been well covered in this thread. I sail almost exclusively solo, and there have been 5 skeleton ships so far that I havnt been able to sink. Three of them beached themselves on islands and I parked up to their stern and unloaded cannons on them but they eventually just disappeared without dropping loot. One of them just despawned back below the waves, and one attacked me while I was tangling with a kraken, and I was sucked up in a tentacle’s mouth while the skelly ship pummeled mine.

Just be smart, always be stocked up, and if you’re not, stop at EVERY. SINGLE. ISLAND. That you pass until you are stocked up. prioritize repairs, but make sure you are landing your shots below the water line. Really just practice. You’ll get it, and it won’t be such a hassle for you anymore