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You can solo just fine. I do it myself.
The trick is to not sail up to within your target's broadside range, and use your cannons to pick them off at a distance. When your radar is zoomed all the way out, you can hit ships that are outside the maximum radar range.
So pick a target, park a distance away, and shoot at it. Pointing the cannon up will make it shoot farther. Unfortunately, this means that the cannon will obscure your view of the target. To keep from losing your firing angle, move the cannon sideways so you can see if the cannonballs hit. If they do, move it back and keep firing. If not, adjust up or down and try again.
When you hit the ship, it will turn and start moving towards you. It won't start firing at you until it gets quite close, so you have a bit of time to lay down some damage. With a very small amount of practice, you'll be able to drop most ships without taking any damage at all.
When the ship finally appears on the radar, and you can see clear space between the ship on the radar screen and the edge, then you can hit them with your broadsides too, but it's not strictly necessary.
To earn a little extra gold, look for Bartholomew Watkins in Port Royal. He's the guy hiding behind the barrel. He has three quests that pay 35 gold each. The quests say that they require specific ship types, but it's bugged, and will pay off on ANY ship you sink. That's 105 gold, as long as you sink something, whether or not you get sunk yourself. Once you complete it, you'll have to change servers to get him to give it to you again.
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