Sailing is the worst aspect of the game imo. Help me out.

[greatertater]

I am sorry to be so negative but I honestly hate to sail. I am at level 18 so I suppose that isn't too shabby but it takes forever to level. It is tough finding crew and sailing alone is a deathwish but I need to know how to improve this experience.

I have a war galleon and I thought that would help and it has a little but it hasn't made the difference I thought it would. If I start attacking a ship long enough to sink it right when I finish, sometimes before I finish, I'm hit by two or three war galleons or ghost ships (Revs) and Im sunk.

Also when you are groggy from being sunk or losing a fight does it count against you on the seas as well? Does leveling up only add a skill sailing or does it make ur ship harder to sink and able to deliver more damage like it does fighting.

I appreciate it and I will hang up and listen.

Thanks,

Ben Firespinner aka greatertater

[Dr. Zeppers]

My first pirate, I played solo for the most part and sailing was the first thing he mastered, and primarily from questing. I crewed up as a crewman once or twice, and got to know another pirate that we did some plundering for, but I seldom did the sailing.

Plan your attacks, evaluate the surrounding area and traffic. All the enemy ships tend to sail in circles of sorts, predicting thier possible courses is not impossible. Remember that once you attack a ship, it will usually turn towards you and chase you, so try to pull them out of the pack from distance with a few solo cannon shots. If there is traffic nearby that may sail into your battlezone, you must be prepared for evasive action regarding that traffic (radar very helpful). Stay in front of, or behind the enemy ship your battling. Staying behind is harder, staying in front is usually pretty safe, although some of the ships can fire forward against you. Keep sailing your ship to the front of the other, using a full sail or ramming speed occasionally if you fall behind. This was called capping the T or something like that (an official naval tactic). The idea is to avoid your enemies broadsides, while keeping your broadsides to bear upon the enemy.

Groggy doesnt effect you at all while sailing. The only time it would play a role is in boarding a flagship and fighting the enemy hand to hand. It may also play a roll if you were involved in any direct cannon fire (on your pirate, not the ship) hits from an enemy vessel.

As your notoriety, and sailing level increases, your ships ability to defend, and inflict will also increase. I sorta think of those ship levels as being thier captains level combined with ship type (the way i'd figure your strength... level 18 sailing, war galleon, probably a level 18-20 ship to combat). This of course goes in hand with using the various skill points obtained to extend your broadsides strength, and the other various skills.

[Wheelsim]

Actually i found the more you crew the slower it takes to level. At least for me. But since you have a war galleon its easier to solo since you have all the broadsides.

[League]

Get a War Sloop. You're not meant for Galleons: I hate them too. As well, you need tougher ships to sink that are more isolated themselves. In essence, they are easier to hit and more rewarding, but requiring a slight li' investment in time. Crewing gives a mean bonus nowadays, quite valuable. 'd suggest getting a weak crew that is accurate to a reasonable distance: it has to obey orders though. If it shoots at another ship, odds are it's the wrong ship.

[Hawkeye]

Sailing is the easiest thing for me to lvl up, I dunno whats up with you. I have a normal frigate and solo alot

[Bilgepump]

I love the sailing parts. But that's just me.

The most effective solo sailing tactic I know is to pick your target and shoot them with cannon from far away. You can hit ships that are outside your radar.

Once you shoot them, they will turn toward you and start closing in. Just keep shooting the cannon. Most times, you can sink even the largest ships without taking any damage.

[Katie Scarlett]

I've found that you also get more points if you use thunder to shoot off the masts first, then use your broadsides to finish the enemy ship. That way, the enemy ship can't sail or turn toward you as well as usual, and you have a sitting duck with it's wings clipped.

[Diego Birmingham]

Sounds like you're not sailing very effectively. I rarely crew up anymore on land or sea since my guildies and I mostly have finished the Boss Battle. I've had a war galleon for only a short time but LOVE it. I can take on any ship one on one and usually sink them. I'm bringing in 200-400 gold consistently with a full hold and only 1 point invested in treasure sense. My broadsides are maxed, but I can't remember the last time a shot a cannon.

I suggest some practice. Learn maneuver & strategy on "easy" targets--bulwarks & panthers mostly but don't be afraid to take on more challenging targets. Use Bartholomew Watkins quests to earn extra gold while sailing in case you get sunk. You'll only have to make up a small amount of gold out of pocket to repair from a sinking. Most times you'll make a profit as the WG is one tough ship.

[Mystdee]

I always sail my War galleon alone, just never got involved with a crew and I expect I will not be playing the game long enough to start now. . . .that said, I use only broadsides except for when I am dealing with a flagship I am about to board. I'm at sailing level 24 now.

The trick, for me, is to watch the angle of the enemy fire and try to avoid it as much as possible by positioning your ship where it misses you. And I find that hitting the back of the enemy ship repeatedly does most damage, sinking it faster. If you are in an area where there are many ships attacking you, I would imagine it's tough even with a crew not to get hit and sunk. I try to go after the enemy who is the "lonliest" LOL

[Red Nations]

Awareness of your surroundings is extremely important in ship combat. Don't place your ship in a position where a group of enemy ships can rat pack you. Also its a good idea to avoid areas where you see individual or groups of low level pirate ships such as light sloops and light galleons. These usually indicate low level usually basic players, often kids who tend to shoot at anything and everything around them. If you're out plundering and a bunch of these low level pirates come up on you odds are they will get your ship sunk or heavily damaged because their random fire will draw all enemy ships in the area in toward you. For me it was easy to level up sailing, I had it mastered by level 23 with my first pirate. Early on in the game I bought the best ships I could starting with a regular galleon as soon as I could buy one. Having good ships helped in finding crews willing to sail with me for plunder and out of those early crews I did find some good pirates. I quickly got rid of any crew that were random shooters or who tried to grab the wheel without permission.

One thing I would suggest is to split your time between sailing and crewing on other ships to level your cannons. You can find good people to crew with by going around and talking to some higher level pirates. Asking them if they are going out to plunder and if so asking them if they could use an extra gunner? Often times this approach will get you crewed up with a good captain. I always avoided accepting those random crew invites by strangers who click on you and send you crew invites. Its always best to talk to people first spend a few minutes getting to know them before crewing with them, and you can make some good pirate friends this way.
Same with the random friend invites. I make the mistake my first few days of playing of accepting any random friend invite I got, as a result I ended up with a whole crew of idiots teleporting on board my ships every time I launched and getting me sunk. Ended up completely cleaning out the friend list and becoming very careful in regards to who I allowed on my friend list after that experience.

[wmah]

Sailing is easiest to level up on. I often crew up one or two of the little guys and sink ships from a distance. I also play the two computer thing and use my second player as a gunner to hit the ship from a distance using lighting and then when the little guys can hit them with cannons I take out the masts and sails and let them hit them with their wimpy shots. This often gets me max sailing rep and they will often get max cannon rep. So it is a win win for everyone.

Also note that I avoid using the broadsides doing this and only use them when the enemy ship spawns right next to me.

[Poison elf]

Everyone has views on how to work all the different skills, but also take in consideration there has been several changes. I have a bunch of pirates that have mastered everything, yet the way I work on things today is nothing like I use to in some areas.

This weekend with the Halloween event I started another character for something to do. Now about to finish up the grenade quest.

I am happy to say there is still something you can do solo better than in a crew, for sailing and cannon this is easy. This is what I do now, with some of the changes, such as a war galleon missing half the broadsides.

I start with the light sloop work both cannon and sailing while working character up through quests, this is pretty basic.

I save money do some of the money quests to get the only ship ya really need to fully build a character. When I reach 3500 I get the galleon. With a small sloop and three cargo this can take awhile if you don't crew with others and get gold. I just did it this weekend though, also remember you need to get sailing to 5.

Now the main trick is to not get carried away adding all your points to damage. I think right now I have two points in each broadside. This will take a bit more to sink ships, but also adds a lot more rep when you do. At this point with open fire I basically get 100 rep for cannon, 100 rep for sailing shooting Phantom ships. This same method works all the way up with bigger skellie ships as you get bigger.

Shoot a skellie with cannon, (sails somewhere) at a distance of edge of radar or just off radar. The ship turns and heads right at you, shoot the rest of the sails starting at top working down. Use round shot, and even later use round shot instead of thunder, it helps get more rep. Shoot all sails even little tail sail, but leave the very front one up.

Now get back to the wheel of the galleon, pull the ship back so you are about max distance from the dead in water skellie ship. Use open fire if ya have it on this first shot, a lot of the damage goes into that front sail. Using the galleon I like better because most its broadsides hit, where war galleons half miss. Finish off the ship with broadsides, and even last shot maybe another open fire if it has recharged.

Always pull ship back now, since they have messed with damage so much for svs. Further back you are = less damage, more hits = more rep. Both cannon and sailing try to do this at a further distance for less damage.

I have been on test so not the luxury of a second or linked account. If you throw a second character on the ship in crew you can also get crew bonus added to this.

[CrimsonRabbit]

The trick, for me, is to watch the angle of the enemy fire and try to avoid it as much as possible

I'm not going to add much advice, but thought that the above quote was invaluable! Some would think it's obvious, but I've seen so many people parallel the ship they're trying to sink.

And get a War Sloop if you're going solo. If you want a crew, just crew up with low level pirates. They won't shoot straight and do minimal damage, yet boost your rep by a lot.

[Will Badbreaker]

I have had great luck sailing alone. I often get 100 rep with many ships. I attack them from a distance to get them to notice me and work my way to their rear. From the rear I broadside them, and hit down arrow (pull up sails), once I'm behind them fully, I turn to the other side and put the sails up and broadside again once next to them.
This works great as I hardly take any damage, they even stop shooting after a short while. It takes a few broadsides but it works for most ships.
Some ships will keep drifting and I have to drift with them instead, but overall this tactic works for me.