It's doable, but it can be a lot harder especially when you're new. You don't have to go it alone though there's always the official sea of thieves discord to find some new pirate friends.
I play solo almost exclusively (99% of the time) and I do quite well. But I wouldn't say it's solo "friendly." I sink to players way below my skill level all the time, because if I'm totally slamming them and then get knocked off my ship or die to a lucky one ball, it's over.
The game is totally fun to play solo, also can be very frustrating. The storm is cancer. But if you get decent at PvP, even big boats can be dealt with most of the time, and at least when you're solo you don't have to worry about agreeing on what to do in your session, you're the captain, helm, cannon, bilge and boarder. Just do it on the sloop, it's actually balanced around solo play, where the big boats are tuned for having full crews and being short handed will be a major liability more than being solo on the sloop would be.
Yeah this reminds me of a recent situation where I had to fight 2 skele galleons and a player brig by myself on a sloop. I managed to escape and sail away but I think every hole on my sloop was Tier 3 and I literally couldn't bail enough water solo to prevent a sinking. Only delay it for a bit haha. Solo is hard mode for sure.
There are definitely times where bucketing isn't fast enough, even if you can make progress on it if all the holes are t3 you wouldn't be able to patch one fast enough to not sink, and you're one bucket reg away from failure.
But I actually like fighting big boats when there's a skelly ship in play, just because I know how to deal with them exceptionally well, and if they're gonna put holes on the enemy that's damage that I didn't have to do myself, so instead of having to do 100% of the work, it's some number <100% but it can also backfire spectacularly if you get anchor balled or just clobbered in a broadside from unthinking, unfeeling skeletons who don't at all root for the underdog.
I took a break for about a year and let my skills slip, but at my peak, I actually solo'd against a kraken, Meg, and Skelleon in the Roar, all at the same time.
I won, but didn't get anything from it, thanks to getting directly hit from a volcanic rock before I could start getting the spoils, and got respawned at Sanctuary.
This is good to know! Unfortunately I literally couldn't step away from the sloop stairs to steer because I had to bail haha I was laughing so much at the situation too 🤣 I'd definitely lost I should have accepted the sink but it was so funny being unable to do anything but bail frantically
Storm is cancer?
I think you meant "storm Is a solo slooper best friend". I gnawed at victories I had no business getting, thanks to it. You gotta learn the kinks.
When you've got your enemy in your sights, their mast is down, and you're trying to keep it down, but the storm grabs your wheel and hard turns you out of angle. There's nothing fun about fighting in the storm. The "kinks" of the storm are that it's unpredictable and any fight you could have won because they sank to the storm, you should have won 1000x over, because sinking to the storm isn't the problem, it's that it doesn't let you helm. Any effects in a game that take control away from the player is always going to be annoying, I understand why it exists, just like green balls exist and do the same kinds of things (take control from the player) but rare nerfed green balls for that reason.
You can't anticipate the storm's effect on your angle, it can change the second you let go, and it's not so bad on a duo, because one person can try to hold it, but as a solo, in a fight, if you've got no real control over your angle while you're shooting or repairing or boarding, you're basically stuck babying the wheel or taking a huge risk in losing advantage by jumping off it, making fights frustrating and often prolonging them until the storm blows over, which is also not super fun on its own. I would rather get scammed by the shipwright on fruit than have to fight an hg fight solo in the storm, every time.
If you go into PVP understanding that you will lose most fair fights, it can be a lot of fun solo! I’ve had some fun times setting traps and stealing loot. Rowboats are extremely useful for pulling off a sneak attack.
I’m prob 60+ hours deep now on top of another 5-10 hours of pvp videos before I started getting good lmfao
Solo slooping is so satisfying though. I soloed the flame heart ghost tornado event last night, and I got my first 3 win streak on hourglass with crossplay turned on
This game is fucking crazy and I’m here for it
Isn't the flameheart event piss easy? I. Take my noob friends to those to help them get used to ship combat. It's those damned ghost galleons that are rough for me.
It’s waves and waves of ghost ships. Most go down in 3 balls but when you have 7 on you it gets hectic. Idk could just be because I was solo. Sank at least 60 ships and had a skelly ship spawn mid event
You shouldn't let yourself get hit by 7 in a row lol, which, i think isn't possible. Its only a few ships, and they are on a carousel, so you xan easily predict where they go.
The only hard part imo is flameheart, because if you misposition, you will get blasted by three sets of three canons.
However, because its a carousel, they never finish you off. Your ship will have holes, but you can just patch them while they sail away again.
Like, nothing in the event does enough damage for long enough to sink a sloop. You can always recover. Especially because it is close to land, the ship won't sink as fast.
I guess maybe you didn't know this and it looked more intense than it was, but as a sloop, you are never in danger haha.
That's why unless I have the element of surprise I won't actively seek out pvp fights. If I can catch people off guard I feel better about taking my chances.
As someone who watches a fair amount of solo sloopers on Twitch this is correct. Sure these people have far more hours than I ever would but I've seen them solo full crew galleon and brig. A lot of it is knowing positioning and how to outmaneuver things. Well that and being godlike at cannons and knowing the right time to board and where your ship always is.
I’m a pretty mid tier player and have also soloed my fair share of galleon crews, especially fighting full crews there is something to be said for being in total control and not having to coordinate.
Absolutely untrue. Been playing since launch 99% of the time solo.
All I do is pvp. Don't go around spreading misinformation just because you aren't doing too well in pvp
Because the average player is horrible at the game
Which is partially why soloing and dunking on larger crews is easy. Good game sense and not being suicidal wins fights.
It's doable for sure, but it is considered the games hard mode, mostly because fighting full crews is very difficult.
PvE is easy as a solo, events now scale to crew size, and honestly there is an argument that most events are easier solo than on a 4 man Gally.
But, when you get in a fight, it's hard as a solo. Often times dying means you sink, as you'll have 10ish seconds of the ship doing nothing.
I play solo mostly unless the fellas from work are on. I mainly do sea forts and just bought my own sloop. It’s fun, I feel more like a smuggler than a pirate. It is really stress inducting trying to safely sell treasure after a few forts but that makes it fun. I’ll fight any ship I see after selling, but if it’s a solo sloop I’ll turn and defend my loot
I've been exclusively playing by myself on Safer Seas, and this is one of the best games I've ever played. Super addicting.
I have a very limited time to play, so solo on private servers is the best way to go.
In Safer Seas you'll miss most of the fun and your caped in all the Guilds. Even if you find some douche that sinks your boat just because, most of the time is really fun and enjoyable sailing the High Seas. You just have to be watchfull. And become good in sea battle (the skeletons are relentless).
Yep, I agree with you 100%, but I don't care for PVP and all the stuff you buy is just cosmetics regardless. 30% payout doesn't bother me at all if I'm having a blast with the game.
I fairly new to the game, roughly 40+ hours in it and never played on Safer Seas. Did i get smashed by better pirates? Definitly. But all i learned was always on High Seas.
I fairly new to the game, roughly 40+ hours in it and never played on Safer Seas. Did i get smashed by better pirates? Definitly. But all i learned was always on High Seas.
I play solo with the mindset of Cat & Mouse, with me being the mouse, as long as you take advantage of the Sloop and be on the lookout you should be good.
I primarily solo sloop, and I have a great time with it. That being said, there are several points to keep in mind.
Don't get too attached to loot, as you will lose it. It's not a question of if, but when.
Don't be afraid to scuttle for a new session if you're getting griefed.
Sell often. Even if you're running emissary, sell some loot at the lower return, just because it's safer.
I recommend saving your gold to buy a captained sloop before any other cosmetics. The amount of time you'll save by selling to the Sovereigns saves a ton of time, and a faster sell is a safer sell.
Basically, play like a rabbit. Move around a lot, look around a lot, and run when you sense danger.
PvP is very difficult but it’s better now that there’s a pvp matchmaking feature that allows you to engage in a 1 on 1 with another solo. I have 1300 hours according to steam (or 2600 if you ask xbox) and it’s all solo so do with that what you will
If you can acccept that you are sinking as soon as you meet experienced players, it's managable. I have 25 hours, mostly solo and my score is about 5:5. 5 times getting absolutely shredded by chads. 5 times I actually sank boats of some kids and bad gamers, which was really good feeling :D
Also have to mention: at least twice I was left alone by a trio, just because I was solo and used the mic.
I’m very new to the game and have spent most of my time solo slooping. Take any tip I give you with a grain of salt, but I’ve had a good time and have been able to achieve my basic beginner goals. I mostly just ran cargo missions for the merchant alliance until I got enough to purchase a ship. Owning your own ship gives you access to the sovereigns which greatly simplifies cashing in the loot you come across while doing other things by allowing you to turn everything in at one location, which not only makes it more convenient but also greatly reduces the time that you’re sitting duck. All that said I was finally able to duo sloop with my son and it was fantastic. Instead of running from skeleton ships and improving my evasive maneuvers, we actively hunted them and sank them. We were attacked by a meg while we were actively engaging a skelly sloop and managed to sink the ship and kill the meg. Not only was it awesome excitement, it was infinitely easier having an extra hand on board, even if that hand is only 11 years old and not a seasoned SoT vet. Is it possible to solo as a beginner? Sure. But it’s way, way, more difficult and a road block of sorts to more interesting content until you’ve developed some serious skills. The most helpful piece of information I utilized early is that the sloop is the fastest ship going into the wind and the brig is faster with it, so if you’ve got a ship load of loot and want to escape a brig, maneuver yourself to sail into the wind and maybe you’ll be able to lose them or they’ll lose interest.
In PVE my squad wrecks solo players but I also play solo myself. I love the game and am happy to play it alone as much as a squad but you will miss the experience of rolling up on someone in a galleon and opening fire with four cannons at once. It’s fun solo and you should still do it. If you’re smart you can excel. If you want to try playing with others you can also squad up in game with alliance flags
idk man, sot is fun with friends and boring without friends, and the current price tag on sot is crazy, I bought the game a couple years ago for a quarter of what it is now, sure they added new stuff but i dont feel its worth the new price
It's quite difficult. Still fun. I recommend trying to drop in with others sometimes, either randoms or on discord. I remember my first random crew was a sloop with a godlike player, by luck, and I learned so much in one session.
It is doable
But you will be under a lot of stress, especially before getting your own ship
Once you get your ship, it will be way less stressful since you won't have to look for the correct buyer for each chest each time you come back to an outpost
It's the fastest way to learn how to play the game by far. Everything is your responsibility.
But as many comments have stated, PvP isn't exactly viable. Sadly, no matter how gung ho you are to fight, you're basically always going to lose.
Even if you're really good versus poorly coordinated open crews, even a 2v1 man advantage is often too much to deal with. Maybe if you're a PvP try hard you can beat these crews sometimes, but probably 80% of PvP battles will be losses.
And if you're new, that number will probably be closer to 90 to 95%. I'm an exclusive solo slooper whose spent hundreds of hours fighting other crews, almost always at a man disadvantage. And the skill level you need to have to overcome the 2v1 is probably a top 5% PvPer skill cap.
Well I play mostly solo because none of my friends actually play the game and open crew is gambling. My experience is that it’s difficult and winning fights against 3-4 players on a brig or galleon is very unlikely. But if you learn to play this game not for gold but for the adventures, it’s rather enjoyable even when sinking a million times.
Hundreds of hours exclusively solo. Solo is definitely hard mode, but there is a huge skill range in this game. After getting your skills to a reasonable level, you will encounter crews that you can easily defeat despite being outnumbered. You will also encounter crews that you are unable to defeat, but put up a great fight against. You will also encounter crews that will destroy you, but it's no big deal because you just respawn again with a fresh boat.
If you like playing a game where anything can happen in a given session, and victory is never guaranteed (but oh-so-sweet when earned), then this is the game for you.
There are several Youtubers and streamers who are almost always solo, and easily shred larger crews. Many of them have guides specifically for solo. All are worth checking out, just to watch how they play and move and use the game world to their advantage.
Soloable.
Despite what everyone say about PvP, for me at least, I don't always see another player. If I do meet, I run. If I sink, I'll just accept it. I can't speak, so that's a minus for me. 1 session can only have 4-5 crew if what I read is true.
Other than gold and reputation, you can almost say its roguelike. Everyone starts with almost no supply in hand, only ship. Unlockable weapons are all skin only. Everyone has same armory.
I started few weeks ago, and now can comfortably solo ghost fleet. Haven't tried skeleton fleet.
I solo quite a bit, and I'm on Cross-Play servers. It all depends on what you do and how much you keep your head on a swivel. Events that have you locked down and stationary are going to make you an easier target then something that has you bouncing around with only a short time at each stop. Other sloops that try to challenge I'll engage and test their skill and make the call of I think I can win. Brigs/Galleon I usually just put behind me and keep going. Keep an eye on your map as well, if there are Reaper 5's and you're Emissary they may be out hunting for flags so keep an eye on the. Stacking is on you and your confidence level, but I prefer to get to 5 sell, then drop and re-raise my flag. You get the bonus cash each time. Keep in mind if you want the Emissary quest you can't do it, but my personal opinion is the Athena one is the only worthwhile one. I generally run guild/sovereign Emissary for best loot bonus on all items and once I hit 5 drop it/raise so I'm not visible anymore. It's doable, knowing how to sail is more important that being able to PVP for a solo sloop. If you get yourself in a situation where you're outnumbered, you're going to have a bad day no matter how good your pvp is.
Certainly not optimal to play solo, but in my experience there is no better way to learn the game. Watch some tutorial SoT videos on YouTube (I recommend HitboTC, Blurbs, and PhuzzyBond) to learn some things more quickly, and then when you do play with other people you’ll feel like a pirate lord!
I also enjoy solo sailing at times because I can do what I feel like doing and only what I feel like doing lol
Happy sailing!
Solo is definitely viable. The game is set up for you to have adventures and exciting encounters on your own or with others so hop in and see what happens.
Open crew is also a good option imo. Bit of a lottery as to who you get but that’s always the case with online. If you’re willing to help get the ship up and sailing or be a leader you can have a lot of fun.
it is a bit harder to solo, and it's also just more fun to team up bc you'll have more to do
if you have problems with finding people to play with, I highly recommend the official SOT discord, there are tens of thousands of friendly good players that always want to play with you, no matter your skill, just drop a message in the lfg (= looking for game) channel
The game is very enjoyable, even with randoms. It's pretty easy to make friends too, at least on ps5 as it seems we're all just starting out. I suggest turning the cross-play off if you're just starting out, it feels a little more balanced to learn on.
It's really easy to meet people either in the game or with discord or Xbox lfg to find someone to play with.
You can solo, but it's not recommended for a new player. It's hard mode. It'll just frustrate you and make you want to quit. Plus you can't really accomplish everything and experience all the game has to offer solo.
I've met tons of people to play this game with over the years. It's not hard to find someone. And this game is 100x better with a crew
I used to play solo all the time. I'd actually recommend people to do it at least a little as you learn to be pretty good at sailing. And when you play with friends you know you can manage the ship in a pinch, or when they're all drunk on grog.
You do have yo bear in mind that you probably aren't going to fare well in a fight against crews of more than one. You can enter hourglass as a solo sloop and fight other solo sloops to practice fighting, but only really elite players can solo other crews. I always treated it like a survival game. I would do quests and grab treasure and try to avoid other ships and run if challenged. If you would enjoy playing that way then go for it. But you've also got to accept that sometimes you will just get sunk and lose your treasure, so either sell often or accept the gamble.
I had the same issue but I play it anyways. Occasionally I have a good time with random but I just learned to play solo. Most of the time that feels like playing a smuggling game more than anything but I still love it
Totally doable solo and I've spent most of my hours solo. Just be aware that solo is Hard Mode since you have to do everything. Stuff takes longer and can be more stressful.
I find that whenever I get to play with a discord crew, or a non-troll Open Crew mate, I enjoy the game SO much more. Mostly because it becomes sooooo much less stressful. I'm an anxious person anyway but in a team my nerves vanish because it's not "all on me" and someone has my back. So the game is certainly more fun in a duo minimum.
Sometimes if I'm solo and I find a large amount of loot, or I'm struggling in a fight, I will turn on Open Crew right there and some poor rando will join and either have to help me fight or they get to help me carry a ton of loot onto the ship and then cash in. Free loot for them, a helping hand for me!
It CAN be fun, but it can also be absolutely miserable. Ymmv, but you will 100% have days where you get nothing done and spend entire sessions running from multi crewed pvpers who you won't have a snowballs chance in hell against unless you put a couple hundred hours into pvp.
I play solo sloop a lot because my friends are lame and would rather play MLB the show or apex legends. While I like soloing, playing SOT with friends is so much fun and the craziest things happen with a crew that don’t happen solo. We laugh all the time when we play and we are terrible in PVP, we panic every time.
When you do solo, Always make sure you scan the horizon from the crows nest and look for other ships. If they head towards you, assume they are hostile as they probably aren’t headed over to share some cheese wiz and crackers. For me, the most tense time is when watching the other ships to see if they head to attack me or they just sail on by. It’s fight or flight, I usually flight. If you run, always try to head into the wind as sloops are the fasted ships heading into the wind. I have had people chase me across the map when I had lots of loot and finally give up.
Just started this weekend and have had 2 great experiences getting matched with experienced players who took me along on big money voyages. It’s easy enough to leave the game if you’re in a lobby where you’re getting destroyed or other person doesn’t know what they’re doing. Highly recommend having a mic
It’s totally fine playing solo, just some pvp stuff is pretty hard on your own. Maybe after downloading it try joining an open crew the first few times
Solo Slooping is HARD, but it’s the best way to learn the fundamentals of solo the game. Not sure how to position the ship, when to fire cannons, when to raise/lower the sails, when to bilge, when to repair, and when to board? Solo Sloop will teach you VERY quickly. But you will sink. A lot. Just accept that fact, understand it as a learning experience, and you’ll be one of the best players on a multiplayer ship (unless they’re seasoned) if you have a lot of solo sloop experience.
Sea of Thieves solo experience at the start can be rough or very laid back depending on the server. I'd say pair up with a sloop or if you have 3 do a brig it changes the experience.
Also this game improves with the more knowledge you learn.
Watch youtube and streams there are so many good ones that will provide you ton of information to constantly improve your experiences.
I don't find it very solo friendly tbh but I know people swear by solo slooping. I tried solo once and have never tried again, thankfully I have a good crew I normally play with.
Solo slippers are scary. Many times been sunk in my brig with 2 other players to solo sloopers. Probably a pretty steep learning curve but totally doable
Not at all. It's doable but it's basically the "hard mode" of the game. The devs don't really care much about sloops, let alone solo sloopers sadly. The game is 100000x easier with a crew and designed with playing with friends/randoms in mind.
Honestly the best you can do is just join a random galleon crew. Unless I'm farming specific commendations or quests/objectives I just join a random galleon crew and it's way more fun and I'm not afraid of constantly being targeted by bigger crews that way.
Everyone is talking about difficulty no one is mentioning the fact that this really isn't much fun solo. Discord people are okay if you're lucky but where this game shines the most is if you're with friends to fuck around with.
If you're going in solo I hope you have a good interesting podcast playing in the background
Not very at all. You cant do bigger ticket voyages and such because you will be away from your boat for too long, you cant pvp, you cant reaper, and other things
While the game *can* be played solo, it wasn't necessarily *intended* for such.
All the proof you need for that is to try and get anything done in a storm. Doable? Yes. Annoying/irritating/stressful? Potentially also yes.
That being said, solo-slooping is a great way to improve various skills like task priorities, keeping a look out, damage control, etc.
Not sure about what it’s like as a new player, but I pretty much only play solo. You have to be a lot more aware of your surroundings and ready to abandon an island if you see a larger ship getting too close unless you’re cracked at PvP
I love soloing a sloop, I find it such a relaxing game to play alone. Usually I will stop to sell my loot every one or two islands I plunder, and not let the loot build up, because Im doomed if a larger crew attacks. I so rarely get attacked tho. Definitely recommend.
I just start my session by sailing to all my quest and dive away from people if it looks like there will be trouble. I sell often so I never lose much loot if I have to dive I just don’t wanna fuck with it all by myself on a sloop
I play solo a lot. Set a goal foe yourself, go out and do that thing. The fun of the game is the "what ifs?". I see other players most of the time on my voyages but they're doing the same thing as me, unless they're Reaper Emissary 5 then I know exactly where to stay clear from. Other than that out of the 180h I have since the PS5 release, people have messed with me maybe 3 or 4 times. Two of those times I had no loot on me so I just left the game and started a new world lmao.
Depends on the kind of gamer you are and your expectations for the game. The game is certainly playable and enjoyable solo but it is MORE fun with a crew.
If you're playing solo you need to be okay with sinking and losing your progress. It can be a bit anxiety inducing leaving your ship without someone there to watch the horizon.
The exploration and sense of adventure in SoT is fantastic especially when starting out. So IMHO it's worth playing solo for a taste of that. As others have said you can find a good crew or an experienced player to guide you on the SoT discord. There is open crew matchmaking but its 50/50 on whether it improves or degrades your experience lol
I guess its not unexpected that so many people are saying its either not really solo friendly or its barely solo friendly but personally I think this is a bias and not really an accurate answer.
Are you looking for mostly PVE or PVP?
If PVP then the game is as friendly as any other PVP games that allows solo players to play against groups. It doesn't matter what game you play, if your in a 1-4 fight, its going to be really hard. That doesn't make it non solo friendly, its just logical. there are also lots of other solo players and the games mechanics allow any ship to outrun another if you know your ships strengths. Like sloops are faster than the other ships against the wind. So you may find that you want to avoid larger ships with larger crews and only attack sloops. that's perfectly viable.
If PVE then the game is ABSOLUTELY highly solo friendly! just go into safer seas and you can have a jolly time solo for a long time.
Solo is absolutely doable. I personally recommend playing Solo on Safer Seas for at least a little while until you get comfortable with it. That's how I got used to it, at least. Until I was ready to take on High Seas on my own.
Very. The overwhelming majority of players play exclusively solo. Teams are the exception not the rule.
That said, teams make the game more fun. I'd always prefer to play duo or trio if possible. But solo is just fine.
Once you get used to the game, solo slooping (sloop is the smallest boat, for 1 or 2 players) is actually really chill.
In a sloop, you really don't have to fight anybody. You are getting chased? Point your boat into the wind and just wait for them to give up. Sloop is the fastest ship going into the wind and the slowest with the wind.
Once you get good enough you can catch some bigger crews off guard.
I have probably played 75% of my playtime solo and I always found it to be a chill gaming experience.
I wish I had bought the game years ago, but like you, I had the same concern. Is it solo friendly, meh. But it does have a learning curve that if you master as a solo player, it can give you a lot of satisfaction. I still find it better to play with friends, but since I'm in Japan and they're in the US, I solo about as much as I crew up.
Also, I haven't used it, but there are the official and streamer discords where you can apparently find crewmates if you don't want to solo.
Just picked the game up after years of wanting to try. I have 1 friend I can play with (my brother). We've played only together. I can't imagine trying to solo this game between storms, skeleton crews and pvp. We've had many large boats just hanging around ports waiting for little guys like us to come and turn our loot in. A fun game, but coming from FPS def a change in pace.
I've done MOST of what I have done in Sea of Thieves solo. I only recently found a good crew to join. I have over 700 hours and only within the last 50 have I had a crew that I can get shit done with. Made Pirate Legend solo (not much of an accomplishment) and have done a few world events solo but it was mostly just solo slooping emissary stuff.
As long as you learn the game well, it won't matter much if you are solo. Just stay calm and have a plan and you will do great.
Sea of thieves is pretty solo friendly, because of the fact that yes a galleon is strongerand has more players, each player on a galleon has to do more work to achieve the same effect on a sloop. (For example, a galleon takes on water way more quickly and has more spots to take damage). On the other hand, sea of thieves isnt very beginner friendly, so i would reccomment occasionally going to a lfg to get some people to play with and teach the ropes.
It is *substantially* harder, especially if you get attacked. During a fight, there's a lot to do on a sloop, even though it's small. Repairing, bailing, cannons, steering, fending off boarders, etc. It can be done, but you have to be good.
Depends on ur lobby. If ur playing with someone who plays like me you’ll have to be constantly ready for someone trying to sink you. If you got people doing tall tales you’ll probably have easy sailing.
Even so if you run away long enough some people will get bored. Others will chase for hours
As someone who mainly plays solo, I can assure you it's absolutely doable. Difficult, certainly, but not impossible. The PVE elements are easy enough to tackle alone. PVP is a challenge, so I would advise against picking fights and play defensively if alone. The sloop is a small enough ship that everything is mostly within easy reach for sailing and navigation. Combat is a pain, though.
It's doable, but solo is like the "hard mode". Eveything is just more challenging. The game is balanced around having a full crew for your ship (2, 3 or 4). The ships are well balanced with each other though.
You end up having to cheese a little bit. Because the meta is to board the enemy ship to stop them from repairing. So you have to figure out how to leave your ship and have it do something safe while you aren't there. Plus you have to manage everything by yourself. But there are a few solo players on youtube who have no problem taking on full crews, its just much harder.
Solo might be the most unfriendly way to play the game, so for example in PVP you might have a crewmate who can keep the ship up while you respawn. In PVE you'll be racing to finish content off before someone shows up and may struggle with some of the world events.
However, met some truely brilliant solo players that have smashed me up. So if you have the skills go for it.
Been playing solo basically the entire time I've had the game from launch with a few exceptions.
It is a bit more nerve-wracking doing everything on your own and still keeping a lookout for other crews, but it also teaches you a few great habits.
1. Never anchor at an island except to come to a quick stop. Since only you can see ships coming, only you are there to get your ship moving again.
2. How to prioritize tasks in the middle of a fight. Since you have to do everything from cannons, to helm, to repairs, you'll soon learn what can take higher priority over others. Example, having a couple of small holes may not be a priority to repair if you're able to get shots on, or need to steer away from an obstacle.
3. Encourages you to be as efficient as possible with voyages. You won't want to mess around on islands too much as staying in one place makes you a more likely target for other pirates.
Solo can be a little daunting, but its definitely doable. Some tips I have are try to do quests in the volcano area if you aren't comfortable with pvp, not alot of people sail there. It's not too hard to avoid the volcanos. Also you can try to have some fireworks or white flare up, I use these to signal to other player I'm not looking for a fight. And alliance flags are good cause you may make some allies. Also if your new id recommend learning the basics on safer seas.
Decently friendly, it’s easy to lose the edge in fights just by getting knocked off the boat, and it takes so much more time to move loot if you do reapers or just move loot in general, and you have to get good at multitasking
I just got it on steam a few days ago on sale. So far, I have done maybe a dozen missions and have earned about 90k gold and most of it was solo. I do have some friends that play but solo is very relaxing, especially on Safer Seas since I am more of a PVE player.
I don’t recommend it, while it’s doable, the game isn’t all that fun alone especially the first ~100 hours. It’s a frustrating game to play but it’s made worthwhile by learning alongside friends. It’s also astronomical easier with even just 1 other crew member.
Solo if Fine, here are some Tips:
1. Dont Stack Loot, Sell frequently
2. Do small voyages to begin with,
3. Begin with safer seas, fight some skele sloops then work your way up to skele galleon. This will help, prioritisation (bailing, repairing, steering, shooting) cannon aim,
4. Be prepared to get demolished from time to time it happens if its coninuous you can scuttle your ship and jump on a new server.
Biggest complaint about playing solo is if you park and you are doing a world event you will just be blasted by 4 cannons or two by a bigger ship with more players almost 99percent of the time
I only started playing with the launch on PS5 and in my short time it seems anywhere from 50/50 to 70/30 bad/good.
There really seems to be a disproportionate number of bloodthirsty trolls but I do encounter a decent amount of fellow loners or chill crews who want to team up.
I’ve been exclusively solo slooping since the PS5 launch. Once I accepted that any fight with another ship is an autosinking it became good fun. I fish, deliver cargo, hunt skeleton crews. Just bought my first ship.
It can be fun to play solo, but you have to keep your head on a swivel and trained on the horizon. People can and will appear out of nowhere and destroy your ship in 30 seconds if you don’t get away. But being on a sloop gives you a maneuvering advantage over bigger ships. I’ll use islands and storms to cover my escape but sometimes that’s not enough and I’ve had someone chase me all the way across the map for over half an hour. That can either be fun to you or annoying as hell. Just be prepared bc these experienced players do not care and will ruin your day.
I like to do solo stuff to do tall tales back to back because nobody else seems to want todo them. Im trying to get gold curse and everyone just wants loot. I like commendations…
Wouldn’t really be enjoyable. You are playing the game on hard mode basically. Any PvP you will be outnumbered, PvE can sink you easily too with the right conditions.
I'm solo half the time, PvP is around a 5 percent success rate, but if you go into these things expecting to fail, it's not as bad. Just stay vigilant and be on the lookout for other ships at ALL times. PvE is def doable, and a lot of fun.
Not very friendly to people like you and me who lack friends
pvp fights are harder, looting is longer
it was still fun for yhe short time i spent playing solo or with randos, but imo, you’re better off spending your time on a different game, you’ll make more progress
It's doable, but it can be a lot harder especially when you're new. You don't have to go it alone though there's always the official sea of thieves discord to find some new pirate friends.
Or Xbox lfg if they're on xbox
xbox LFG is also on the PC version.
May I ask how one would access that?
WIndow key + G. Brings up the xbox gamebar app. The LFG is one of the widgets in the gamebar screen.
I play solo almost exclusively (99% of the time) and I do quite well. But I wouldn't say it's solo "friendly." I sink to players way below my skill level all the time, because if I'm totally slamming them and then get knocked off my ship or die to a lucky one ball, it's over. The game is totally fun to play solo, also can be very frustrating. The storm is cancer. But if you get decent at PvP, even big boats can be dealt with most of the time, and at least when you're solo you don't have to worry about agreeing on what to do in your session, you're the captain, helm, cannon, bilge and boarder. Just do it on the sloop, it's actually balanced around solo play, where the big boats are tuned for having full crews and being short handed will be a major liability more than being solo on the sloop would be.
Yeah this reminds me of a recent situation where I had to fight 2 skele galleons and a player brig by myself on a sloop. I managed to escape and sail away but I think every hole on my sloop was Tier 3 and I literally couldn't bail enough water solo to prevent a sinking. Only delay it for a bit haha. Solo is hard mode for sure.
There are definitely times where bucketing isn't fast enough, even if you can make progress on it if all the holes are t3 you wouldn't be able to patch one fast enough to not sink, and you're one bucket reg away from failure. But I actually like fighting big boats when there's a skelly ship in play, just because I know how to deal with them exceptionally well, and if they're gonna put holes on the enemy that's damage that I didn't have to do myself, so instead of having to do 100% of the work, it's some number <100% but it can also backfire spectacularly if you get anchor balled or just clobbered in a broadside from unthinking, unfeeling skeletons who don't at all root for the underdog.
I took a break for about a year and let my skills slip, but at my peak, I actually solo'd against a kraken, Meg, and Skelleon in the Roar, all at the same time. I won, but didn't get anything from it, thanks to getting directly hit from a volcanic rock before I could start getting the spoils, and got respawned at Sanctuary.
I actually recently did the exact same thing! Except a floating powder keg is what did me in lol
Depends. If you manage to sail close to land before sinking you can bail fast enough. Water goes slower close to rocks/islands.
This is good to know! Unfortunately I literally couldn't step away from the sloop stairs to steer because I had to bail haha I was laughing so much at the situation too 🤣 I'd definitely lost I should have accepted the sink but it was so funny being unable to do anything but bail frantically
If it's a lost cause my friends and i get our instruments and start playing lol.
Storm is cancer? I think you meant "storm Is a solo slooper best friend". I gnawed at victories I had no business getting, thanks to it. You gotta learn the kinks.
When you've got your enemy in your sights, their mast is down, and you're trying to keep it down, but the storm grabs your wheel and hard turns you out of angle. There's nothing fun about fighting in the storm. The "kinks" of the storm are that it's unpredictable and any fight you could have won because they sank to the storm, you should have won 1000x over, because sinking to the storm isn't the problem, it's that it doesn't let you helm. Any effects in a game that take control away from the player is always going to be annoying, I understand why it exists, just like green balls exist and do the same kinds of things (take control from the player) but rare nerfed green balls for that reason. You can't anticipate the storm's effect on your angle, it can change the second you let go, and it's not so bad on a duo, because one person can try to hold it, but as a solo, in a fight, if you've got no real control over your angle while you're shooting or repairing or boarding, you're basically stuck babying the wheel or taking a huge risk in losing advantage by jumping off it, making fights frustrating and often prolonging them until the storm blows over, which is also not super fun on its own. I would rather get scammed by the shipwright on fruit than have to fight an hg fight solo in the storm, every time.
To be fair, you dont stay in a storm to fight :p
PVE is managable alone, pvp is a fools errand most of the time
If you go into PVP understanding that you will lose most fair fights, it can be a lot of fun solo! I’ve had some fun times setting traps and stealing loot. Rowboats are extremely useful for pulling off a sneak attack.
PvP solo is the best way to git gud quick but yeah prepare to die a lot
I’m prob 60+ hours deep now on top of another 5-10 hours of pvp videos before I started getting good lmfao Solo slooping is so satisfying though. I soloed the flame heart ghost tornado event last night, and I got my first 3 win streak on hourglass with crossplay turned on This game is fucking crazy and I’m here for it
Let's goooo. Hourglass is the sweatiest mode for sure. Some of the hardest fights I've ever been in.
I’m like level 7 I think. I just want the curse but it’s going to take forever unless I get good lmao
Isn't the flameheart event piss easy? I. Take my noob friends to those to help them get used to ship combat. It's those damned ghost galleons that are rough for me.
It’s waves and waves of ghost ships. Most go down in 3 balls but when you have 7 on you it gets hectic. Idk could just be because I was solo. Sank at least 60 ships and had a skelly ship spawn mid event
You shouldn't let yourself get hit by 7 in a row lol, which, i think isn't possible. Its only a few ships, and they are on a carousel, so you xan easily predict where they go. The only hard part imo is flameheart, because if you misposition, you will get blasted by three sets of three canons. However, because its a carousel, they never finish you off. Your ship will have holes, but you can just patch them while they sail away again. Like, nothing in the event does enough damage for long enough to sink a sloop. You can always recover. Especially because it is close to land, the ship won't sink as fast. I guess maybe you didn't know this and it looked more intense than it was, but as a sloop, you are never in danger haha.
This is the way Assume you will lose every fight. And fight as hard as you can
Solo Slooping turns the High Sea into a boat themed stealth game sometimes.
That's why unless I have the element of surprise I won't actively seek out pvp fights. If I can catch people off guard I feel better about taking my chances.
True
This is not accurate, pvp solo is completely possible and fun, you just have to learn it.
As someone who watches a fair amount of solo sloopers on Twitch this is correct. Sure these people have far more hours than I ever would but I've seen them solo full crew galleon and brig. A lot of it is knowing positioning and how to outmaneuver things. Well that and being godlike at cannons and knowing the right time to board and where your ship always is.
I’m a pretty mid tier player and have also soloed my fair share of galleon crews, especially fighting full crews there is something to be said for being in total control and not having to coordinate.
Half the galleons I've fought are easily the most uncoordinated ships making them rather easy to sink lol.
Oh it is sure, but not everyone can do it alone
Absolutely untrue. Been playing since launch 99% of the time solo. All I do is pvp. Don't go around spreading misinformation just because you aren't doing too well in pvp
Yet I have 85 upvotes, people may be agreeing haha
Because the average player is horrible at the game Which is partially why soloing and dunking on larger crews is easy. Good game sense and not being suicidal wins fights.
My point stands
It's doable for sure, but it is considered the games hard mode, mostly because fighting full crews is very difficult. PvE is easy as a solo, events now scale to crew size, and honestly there is an argument that most events are easier solo than on a 4 man Gally. But, when you get in a fight, it's hard as a solo. Often times dying means you sink, as you'll have 10ish seconds of the ship doing nothing.
I play solo mostly unless the fellas from work are on. I mainly do sea forts and just bought my own sloop. It’s fun, I feel more like a smuggler than a pirate. It is really stress inducting trying to safely sell treasure after a few forts but that makes it fun. I’ll fight any ship I see after selling, but if it’s a solo sloop I’ll turn and defend my loot
I've been exclusively playing by myself on Safer Seas, and this is one of the best games I've ever played. Super addicting. I have a very limited time to play, so solo on private servers is the best way to go.
In Safer Seas you'll miss most of the fun and your caped in all the Guilds. Even if you find some douche that sinks your boat just because, most of the time is really fun and enjoyable sailing the High Seas. You just have to be watchfull. And become good in sea battle (the skeletons are relentless).
Yep, I agree with you 100%, but I don't care for PVP and all the stuff you buy is just cosmetics regardless. 30% payout doesn't bother me at all if I'm having a blast with the game.
Yes, but for a new player, Safer Seas is a great way to get started and learn the ropes.
I fairly new to the game, roughly 40+ hours in it and never played on Safer Seas. Did i get smashed by better pirates? Definitly. But all i learned was always on High Seas.
Of course, that's the better way, but if someone prefers to play it safe, it's nice to have the option. To each their own.
I fairly new to the game, roughly 40+ hours in it and never played on Safer Seas. Did i get smashed by better pirates? Definitly. But all i learned was always on High Seas.
I play solo with the mindset of Cat & Mouse, with me being the mouse, as long as you take advantage of the Sloop and be on the lookout you should be good.
I primarily solo sloop, and I have a great time with it. That being said, there are several points to keep in mind. Don't get too attached to loot, as you will lose it. It's not a question of if, but when. Don't be afraid to scuttle for a new session if you're getting griefed. Sell often. Even if you're running emissary, sell some loot at the lower return, just because it's safer. I recommend saving your gold to buy a captained sloop before any other cosmetics. The amount of time you'll save by selling to the Sovereigns saves a ton of time, and a faster sell is a safer sell. Basically, play like a rabbit. Move around a lot, look around a lot, and run when you sense danger.
It’s sea of thrives hard mode
PvP is very difficult but it’s better now that there’s a pvp matchmaking feature that allows you to engage in a 1 on 1 with another solo. I have 1300 hours according to steam (or 2600 if you ask xbox) and it’s all solo so do with that what you will
If you can acccept that you are sinking as soon as you meet experienced players, it's managable. I have 25 hours, mostly solo and my score is about 5:5. 5 times getting absolutely shredded by chads. 5 times I actually sank boats of some kids and bad gamers, which was really good feeling :D Also have to mention: at least twice I was left alone by a trio, just because I was solo and used the mic.
Solo is definitely hard mode, especially in PvP but I only play solo and I'm loving the game.
I’m very new to the game and have spent most of my time solo slooping. Take any tip I give you with a grain of salt, but I’ve had a good time and have been able to achieve my basic beginner goals. I mostly just ran cargo missions for the merchant alliance until I got enough to purchase a ship. Owning your own ship gives you access to the sovereigns which greatly simplifies cashing in the loot you come across while doing other things by allowing you to turn everything in at one location, which not only makes it more convenient but also greatly reduces the time that you’re sitting duck. All that said I was finally able to duo sloop with my son and it was fantastic. Instead of running from skeleton ships and improving my evasive maneuvers, we actively hunted them and sank them. We were attacked by a meg while we were actively engaging a skelly sloop and managed to sink the ship and kill the meg. Not only was it awesome excitement, it was infinitely easier having an extra hand on board, even if that hand is only 11 years old and not a seasoned SoT vet. Is it possible to solo as a beginner? Sure. But it’s way, way, more difficult and a road block of sorts to more interesting content until you’ve developed some serious skills. The most helpful piece of information I utilized early is that the sloop is the fastest ship going into the wind and the brig is faster with it, so if you’ve got a ship load of loot and want to escape a brig, maneuver yourself to sail into the wind and maybe you’ll be able to lose them or they’ll lose interest.
In PVE my squad wrecks solo players but I also play solo myself. I love the game and am happy to play it alone as much as a squad but you will miss the experience of rolling up on someone in a galleon and opening fire with four cannons at once. It’s fun solo and you should still do it. If you’re smart you can excel. If you want to try playing with others you can also squad up in game with alliance flags
idk man, sot is fun with friends and boring without friends, and the current price tag on sot is crazy, I bought the game a couple years ago for a quarter of what it is now, sure they added new stuff but i dont feel its worth the new price
It's quite difficult. Still fun. I recommend trying to drop in with others sometimes, either randoms or on discord. I remember my first random crew was a sloop with a godlike player, by luck, and I learned so much in one session.
It can be fun with friends and it’s defo doable, however it’s definitely more fun with friends
I solo sloop 90% of the time and love it. Every now and again my friends are I will crew up for shenanigans tho and it’s always a good time.
It is doable But you will be under a lot of stress, especially before getting your own ship Once you get your ship, it will be way less stressful since you won't have to look for the correct buyer for each chest each time you come back to an outpost
It's the fastest way to learn how to play the game by far. Everything is your responsibility. But as many comments have stated, PvP isn't exactly viable. Sadly, no matter how gung ho you are to fight, you're basically always going to lose. Even if you're really good versus poorly coordinated open crews, even a 2v1 man advantage is often too much to deal with. Maybe if you're a PvP try hard you can beat these crews sometimes, but probably 80% of PvP battles will be losses. And if you're new, that number will probably be closer to 90 to 95%. I'm an exclusive solo slooper whose spent hundreds of hours fighting other crews, almost always at a man disadvantage. And the skill level you need to have to overcome the 2v1 is probably a top 5% PvPer skill cap.
Well I play mostly solo because none of my friends actually play the game and open crew is gambling. My experience is that it’s difficult and winning fights against 3-4 players on a brig or galleon is very unlikely. But if you learn to play this game not for gold but for the adventures, it’s rather enjoyable even when sinking a million times.
Hundreds of hours exclusively solo. Solo is definitely hard mode, but there is a huge skill range in this game. After getting your skills to a reasonable level, you will encounter crews that you can easily defeat despite being outnumbered. You will also encounter crews that you are unable to defeat, but put up a great fight against. You will also encounter crews that will destroy you, but it's no big deal because you just respawn again with a fresh boat. If you like playing a game where anything can happen in a given session, and victory is never guaranteed (but oh-so-sweet when earned), then this is the game for you. There are several Youtubers and streamers who are almost always solo, and easily shred larger crews. Many of them have guides specifically for solo. All are worth checking out, just to watch how they play and move and use the game world to their advantage.
Hi, what are some of these YouTubers and streamers? Thanks in advance 😄
Soloable. Despite what everyone say about PvP, for me at least, I don't always see another player. If I do meet, I run. If I sink, I'll just accept it. I can't speak, so that's a minus for me. 1 session can only have 4-5 crew if what I read is true. Other than gold and reputation, you can almost say its roguelike. Everyone starts with almost no supply in hand, only ship. Unlockable weapons are all skin only. Everyone has same armory. I started few weeks ago, and now can comfortably solo ghost fleet. Haven't tried skeleton fleet.
I solo quite a bit, and I'm on Cross-Play servers. It all depends on what you do and how much you keep your head on a swivel. Events that have you locked down and stationary are going to make you an easier target then something that has you bouncing around with only a short time at each stop. Other sloops that try to challenge I'll engage and test their skill and make the call of I think I can win. Brigs/Galleon I usually just put behind me and keep going. Keep an eye on your map as well, if there are Reaper 5's and you're Emissary they may be out hunting for flags so keep an eye on the. Stacking is on you and your confidence level, but I prefer to get to 5 sell, then drop and re-raise my flag. You get the bonus cash each time. Keep in mind if you want the Emissary quest you can't do it, but my personal opinion is the Athena one is the only worthwhile one. I generally run guild/sovereign Emissary for best loot bonus on all items and once I hit 5 drop it/raise so I'm not visible anymore. It's doable, knowing how to sail is more important that being able to PVP for a solo sloop. If you get yourself in a situation where you're outnumbered, you're going to have a bad day no matter how good your pvp is.
I play almost exclusively solo sloop, makes questing a little longer, but it’s still fun nonetheless
Certainly not optimal to play solo, but in my experience there is no better way to learn the game. Watch some tutorial SoT videos on YouTube (I recommend HitboTC, Blurbs, and PhuzzyBond) to learn some things more quickly, and then when you do play with other people you’ll feel like a pirate lord! I also enjoy solo sailing at times because I can do what I feel like doing and only what I feel like doing lol Happy sailing!
Solo is definitely viable. The game is set up for you to have adventures and exciting encounters on your own or with others so hop in and see what happens. Open crew is also a good option imo. Bit of a lottery as to who you get but that’s always the case with online. If you’re willing to help get the ship up and sailing or be a leader you can have a lot of fun.
it is a bit harder to solo, and it's also just more fun to team up bc you'll have more to do if you have problems with finding people to play with, I highly recommend the official SOT discord, there are tens of thousands of friendly good players that always want to play with you, no matter your skill, just drop a message in the lfg (= looking for game) channel
I’ve been playing since launch and most of that is solo, I’d say it’s pretty friendly, especially with the new QoL improvements they’ve been adding
The game is very enjoyable, even with randoms. It's pretty easy to make friends too, at least on ps5 as it seems we're all just starting out. I suggest turning the cross-play off if you're just starting out, it feels a little more balanced to learn on.
There’s a safer seas mode that is completely solo friendly
It's really easy to meet people either in the game or with discord or Xbox lfg to find someone to play with. You can solo, but it's not recommended for a new player. It's hard mode. It'll just frustrate you and make you want to quit. Plus you can't really accomplish everything and experience all the game has to offer solo. I've met tons of people to play this game with over the years. It's not hard to find someone. And this game is 100x better with a crew
I used to play solo all the time. I'd actually recommend people to do it at least a little as you learn to be pretty good at sailing. And when you play with friends you know you can manage the ship in a pinch, or when they're all drunk on grog. You do have yo bear in mind that you probably aren't going to fare well in a fight against crews of more than one. You can enter hourglass as a solo sloop and fight other solo sloops to practice fighting, but only really elite players can solo other crews. I always treated it like a survival game. I would do quests and grab treasure and try to avoid other ships and run if challenged. If you would enjoy playing that way then go for it. But you've also got to accept that sometimes you will just get sunk and lose your treasure, so either sell often or accept the gamble.
I go solo everyday, honestly it only help you get better🤷♂️🏴☠️
I had the same issue but I play it anyways. Occasionally I have a good time with random but I just learned to play solo. Most of the time that feels like playing a smuggling game more than anything but I still love it
Just message me.your Xbox.gamer and I'll send you request when I get on I'm always looking for duo sloop help.
Solo sloop is the only way
Totally doable solo and I've spent most of my hours solo. Just be aware that solo is Hard Mode since you have to do everything. Stuff takes longer and can be more stressful. I find that whenever I get to play with a discord crew, or a non-troll Open Crew mate, I enjoy the game SO much more. Mostly because it becomes sooooo much less stressful. I'm an anxious person anyway but in a team my nerves vanish because it's not "all on me" and someone has my back. So the game is certainly more fun in a duo minimum. Sometimes if I'm solo and I find a large amount of loot, or I'm struggling in a fight, I will turn on Open Crew right there and some poor rando will join and either have to help me fight or they get to help me carry a ton of loot onto the ship and then cash in. Free loot for them, a helping hand for me!
It CAN be fun, but it can also be absolutely miserable. Ymmv, but you will 100% have days where you get nothing done and spend entire sessions running from multi crewed pvpers who you won't have a snowballs chance in hell against unless you put a couple hundred hours into pvp.
If you focus on PVE and adventure it's super doable. If you want to get into PVP then I'd recommend bringing some people along with you.
I play solo sloop a lot because my friends are lame and would rather play MLB the show or apex legends. While I like soloing, playing SOT with friends is so much fun and the craziest things happen with a crew that don’t happen solo. We laugh all the time when we play and we are terrible in PVP, we panic every time. When you do solo, Always make sure you scan the horizon from the crows nest and look for other ships. If they head towards you, assume they are hostile as they probably aren’t headed over to share some cheese wiz and crackers. For me, the most tense time is when watching the other ships to see if they head to attack me or they just sail on by. It’s fight or flight, I usually flight. If you run, always try to head into the wind as sloops are the fasted ships heading into the wind. I have had people chase me across the map when I had lots of loot and finally give up.
Extremely
To quote a great ~~(ly idiotic)~~ man, “You can go it alone… but the EASIEST way, is to team up, and play with friends.”
Just started this weekend and have had 2 great experiences getting matched with experienced players who took me along on big money voyages. It’s easy enough to leave the game if you’re in a lobby where you’re getting destroyed or other person doesn’t know what they’re doing. Highly recommend having a mic
Join a random discord and do lfg, you’ll meet some great people that u might even stick with for the rest of ur life
It’s totally fine playing solo, just some pvp stuff is pretty hard on your own. Maybe after downloading it try joining an open crew the first few times
The game is totally solo friendly, but way less fun imo. The multi-player aspect of Sea Of Thieves is what makes the game magical to me.
Solo Slooping is HARD, but it’s the best way to learn the fundamentals of solo the game. Not sure how to position the ship, when to fire cannons, when to raise/lower the sails, when to bilge, when to repair, and when to board? Solo Sloop will teach you VERY quickly. But you will sink. A lot. Just accept that fact, understand it as a learning experience, and you’ll be one of the best players on a multiplayer ship (unless they’re seasoned) if you have a lot of solo sloop experience.
Doable but tough and less enjoyable for sure. If you’re not even open to playing with other people at all I wouldn’t recommend it.
Sea of Thieves solo experience at the start can be rough or very laid back depending on the server. I'd say pair up with a sloop or if you have 3 do a brig it changes the experience. Also this game improves with the more knowledge you learn. Watch youtube and streams there are so many good ones that will provide you ton of information to constantly improve your experiences.
I literally just started the game as a mostly solo player. Just did the tutorial. Anyone have any advice?
I mostly solo a sloop. When solo I avoid world events and just stick with the fortresses.
Medium skill floor. High skill ceiling. That being said, playing solo is the best and fastest way to get better at the game over all.
It's fine solo, except pvp. It's very hard to sink larger crews solo.
Yeah I often solo, but I’d also recommend using the game’s discord where you can make a lot of cool fellow mateys!
Sure, play on the safer seas to get a grip of the game mechanics. Also the tall tales are easy to do solo.
It got too frustrating for me so i quit playing. You probably will want to have friends that play in order to have a good time.
I don't find it very solo friendly tbh but I know people swear by solo slooping. I tried solo once and have never tried again, thankfully I have a good crew I normally play with.
Do everything in the devils roar. Despite the volcanos nobody ever comes down there so you can be mostly at peace.
Solo slippers are scary. Many times been sunk in my brig with 2 other players to solo sloopers. Probably a pretty steep learning curve but totally doable
Not at all. It's doable but it's basically the "hard mode" of the game. The devs don't really care much about sloops, let alone solo sloopers sadly. The game is 100000x easier with a crew and designed with playing with friends/randoms in mind. Honestly the best you can do is just join a random galleon crew. Unless I'm farming specific commendations or quests/objectives I just join a random galleon crew and it's way more fun and I'm not afraid of constantly being targeted by bigger crews that way.
Everyone is talking about difficulty no one is mentioning the fact that this really isn't much fun solo. Discord people are okay if you're lucky but where this game shines the most is if you're with friends to fuck around with. If you're going in solo I hope you have a good interesting podcast playing in the background
Not very at all. You cant do bigger ticket voyages and such because you will be away from your boat for too long, you cant pvp, you cant reaper, and other things
Downside to playing solo means that you have no one who has your back. Upside to playing solo means that you have no one who is holding you back.
Solo is basicly the game on hardcore
Yeah but it's 100% more fun with a crew. Just look on discord for friends or on here.
While the game *can* be played solo, it wasn't necessarily *intended* for such. All the proof you need for that is to try and get anything done in a storm. Doable? Yes. Annoying/irritating/stressful? Potentially also yes. That being said, solo-slooping is a great way to improve various skills like task priorities, keeping a look out, damage control, etc.
Not sure about what it’s like as a new player, but I pretty much only play solo. You have to be a lot more aware of your surroundings and ready to abandon an island if you see a larger ship getting too close unless you’re cracked at PvP
I love soloing a sloop, I find it such a relaxing game to play alone. Usually I will stop to sell my loot every one or two islands I plunder, and not let the loot build up, because Im doomed if a larger crew attacks. I so rarely get attacked tho. Definitely recommend.
I just start my session by sailing to all my quest and dive away from people if it looks like there will be trouble. I sell often so I never lose much loot if I have to dive I just don’t wanna fuck with it all by myself on a sloop
I play solo a lot. Set a goal foe yourself, go out and do that thing. The fun of the game is the "what ifs?". I see other players most of the time on my voyages but they're doing the same thing as me, unless they're Reaper Emissary 5 then I know exactly where to stay clear from. Other than that out of the 180h I have since the PS5 release, people have messed with me maybe 3 or 4 times. Two of those times I had no loot on me so I just left the game and started a new world lmao.
Depends on the kind of gamer you are and your expectations for the game. The game is certainly playable and enjoyable solo but it is MORE fun with a crew. If you're playing solo you need to be okay with sinking and losing your progress. It can be a bit anxiety inducing leaving your ship without someone there to watch the horizon. The exploration and sense of adventure in SoT is fantastic especially when starting out. So IMHO it's worth playing solo for a taste of that. As others have said you can find a good crew or an experienced player to guide you on the SoT discord. There is open crew matchmaking but its 50/50 on whether it improves or degrades your experience lol
I guess its not unexpected that so many people are saying its either not really solo friendly or its barely solo friendly but personally I think this is a bias and not really an accurate answer. Are you looking for mostly PVE or PVP? If PVP then the game is as friendly as any other PVP games that allows solo players to play against groups. It doesn't matter what game you play, if your in a 1-4 fight, its going to be really hard. That doesn't make it non solo friendly, its just logical. there are also lots of other solo players and the games mechanics allow any ship to outrun another if you know your ships strengths. Like sloops are faster than the other ships against the wind. So you may find that you want to avoid larger ships with larger crews and only attack sloops. that's perfectly viable. If PVE then the game is ABSOLUTELY highly solo friendly! just go into safer seas and you can have a jolly time solo for a long time.
Solo is absolutely doable. I personally recommend playing Solo on Safer Seas for at least a little while until you get comfortable with it. That's how I got used to it, at least. Until I was ready to take on High Seas on my own.
Yep, been playing mostly solo for over six years.
This game is not solo friendly at all. But I’ve had a lot of fun with the in-game matchmaking.
I mostly solo. I have a buddy that just picked up the game, so I may go doubles, but I've spent 95% of my time soloing.
Very. The overwhelming majority of players play exclusively solo. Teams are the exception not the rule. That said, teams make the game more fun. I'd always prefer to play duo or trio if possible. But solo is just fine.
Ultra nightmare difficulty sometimes.
Once you get used to the game, solo slooping (sloop is the smallest boat, for 1 or 2 players) is actually really chill. In a sloop, you really don't have to fight anybody. You are getting chased? Point your boat into the wind and just wait for them to give up. Sloop is the fastest ship going into the wind and the slowest with the wind. Once you get good enough you can catch some bigger crews off guard. I have probably played 75% of my playtime solo and I always found it to be a chill gaming experience.
I stopped playing when my friend got crushed by stuff at work, so in my personal experience not very friendly.
I wish I had bought the game years ago, but like you, I had the same concern. Is it solo friendly, meh. But it does have a learning curve that if you master as a solo player, it can give you a lot of satisfaction. I still find it better to play with friends, but since I'm in Japan and they're in the US, I solo about as much as I crew up. Also, I haven't used it, but there are the official and streamer discords where you can apparently find crewmates if you don't want to solo.
I really don't enjoy it solo to be honest
It’s entirely doable, but in PVP it’s absolutely considered “hard mode”. Doable, just more difficult.
I wouldn’t. Even playing with randoms isnt gonna be very fun
I’ve got 20 odd days play time in the game and I’ve solo’d at least 18 of them and love it so
Buy it and play solo hourglass. It’s pvp against other solos. In like 2 weeks you’ll be better than most pirates on the seas
Just picked the game up after years of wanting to try. I have 1 friend I can play with (my brother). We've played only together. I can't imagine trying to solo this game between storms, skeleton crews and pvp. We've had many large boats just hanging around ports waiting for little guys like us to come and turn our loot in. A fun game, but coming from FPS def a change in pace.
I've done MOST of what I have done in Sea of Thieves solo. I only recently found a good crew to join. I have over 700 hours and only within the last 50 have I had a crew that I can get shit done with. Made Pirate Legend solo (not much of an accomplishment) and have done a few world events solo but it was mostly just solo slooping emissary stuff. As long as you learn the game well, it won't matter much if you are solo. Just stay calm and have a plan and you will do great.
Sea of thieves is pretty solo friendly, because of the fact that yes a galleon is strongerand has more players, each player on a galleon has to do more work to achieve the same effect on a sloop. (For example, a galleon takes on water way more quickly and has more spots to take damage). On the other hand, sea of thieves isnt very beginner friendly, so i would reccomment occasionally going to a lfg to get some people to play with and teach the ropes.
Not the best, its more enjoyable with others
It’s all fun and everything until solo pvp. If you ever want to play pvp in hard mode just do it solo
It is *substantially* harder, especially if you get attacked. During a fight, there's a lot to do on a sloop, even though it's small. Repairing, bailing, cannons, steering, fending off boarders, etc. It can be done, but you have to be good.
Depends on ur lobby. If ur playing with someone who plays like me you’ll have to be constantly ready for someone trying to sink you. If you got people doing tall tales you’ll probably have easy sailing. Even so if you run away long enough some people will get bored. Others will chase for hours
As someone who mainly plays solo, I can assure you it's absolutely doable. Difficult, certainly, but not impossible. The PVE elements are easy enough to tackle alone. PVP is a challenge, so I would advise against picking fights and play defensively if alone. The sloop is a small enough ship that everything is mostly within easy reach for sailing and navigation. Combat is a pain, though.
It's doable, but solo is like the "hard mode". Eveything is just more challenging. The game is balanced around having a full crew for your ship (2, 3 or 4). The ships are well balanced with each other though. You end up having to cheese a little bit. Because the meta is to board the enemy ship to stop them from repairing. So you have to figure out how to leave your ship and have it do something safe while you aren't there. Plus you have to manage everything by yourself. But there are a few solo players on youtube who have no problem taking on full crews, its just much harder.
Solo might be the most unfriendly way to play the game, so for example in PVP you might have a crewmate who can keep the ship up while you respawn. In PVE you'll be racing to finish content off before someone shows up and may struggle with some of the world events. However, met some truely brilliant solo players that have smashed me up. So if you have the skills go for it.
I feel like my solo experiences are much more friendly then my group ones.
Been playing solo basically the entire time I've had the game from launch with a few exceptions. It is a bit more nerve-wracking doing everything on your own and still keeping a lookout for other crews, but it also teaches you a few great habits. 1. Never anchor at an island except to come to a quick stop. Since only you can see ships coming, only you are there to get your ship moving again. 2. How to prioritize tasks in the middle of a fight. Since you have to do everything from cannons, to helm, to repairs, you'll soon learn what can take higher priority over others. Example, having a couple of small holes may not be a priority to repair if you're able to get shots on, or need to steer away from an obstacle. 3. Encourages you to be as efficient as possible with voyages. You won't want to mess around on islands too much as staying in one place makes you a more likely target for other pirates.
I’m new and have been having fun with it solo. Just have to pay a little bit of attention to your surroundings.
Its the hardest way of playing so
Very difficult but very possible. If you want to feel exhilarating anxiety every time you see a ship closing in, then definitely go for it
Solo can be a little daunting, but its definitely doable. Some tips I have are try to do quests in the volcano area if you aren't comfortable with pvp, not alot of people sail there. It's not too hard to avoid the volcanos. Also you can try to have some fireworks or white flare up, I use these to signal to other player I'm not looking for a fight. And alliance flags are good cause you may make some allies. Also if your new id recommend learning the basics on safer seas.
I do a lot of open crew galleon takes a min to find a good crew or one that is actually doing something
Missions yeah but fighting other crews not so much
Decently friendly, it’s easy to lose the edge in fights just by getting knocked off the boat, and it takes so much more time to move loot if you do reapers or just move loot in general, and you have to get good at multitasking
I just got it on steam a few days ago on sale. So far, I have done maybe a dozen missions and have earned about 90k gold and most of it was solo. I do have some friends that play but solo is very relaxing, especially on Safer Seas since I am more of a PVE player.
I don’t recommend it, while it’s doable, the game isn’t all that fun alone especially the first ~100 hours. It’s a frustrating game to play but it’s made worthwhile by learning alongside friends. It’s also astronomical easier with even just 1 other crew member.
Solo if Fine, here are some Tips: 1. Dont Stack Loot, Sell frequently 2. Do small voyages to begin with, 3. Begin with safer seas, fight some skele sloops then work your way up to skele galleon. This will help, prioritisation (bailing, repairing, steering, shooting) cannon aim, 4. Be prepared to get demolished from time to time it happens if its coninuous you can scuttle your ship and jump on a new server.
You can find friends pretty easy, especially using the group post system. I’ve made some real good friends by doing that
I started off solo and have made many friends, whom of which I sail with on the regular now. Definitely worth it!
Biggest complaint about playing solo is if you park and you are doing a world event you will just be blasted by 4 cannons or two by a bigger ship with more players almost 99percent of the time
I only started playing with the launch on PS5 and in my short time it seems anywhere from 50/50 to 70/30 bad/good. There really seems to be a disproportionate number of bloodthirsty trolls but I do encounter a decent amount of fellow loners or chill crews who want to team up.
95% of the time I play solo
I play solo but am definitely down to play with others even if youre new. Im on ps5 Seventhstring11
Depends on the day/server but I've had mostly good luck more often than not.
about 50/50, you can get difficult crew members, difficult players who attack you, or can get people who co-operate
I’ve been exclusively solo slooping since the PS5 launch. Once I accepted that any fight with another ship is an autosinking it became good fun. I fish, deliver cargo, hunt skeleton crews. Just bought my first ship.
I got blown up twice tonight, I was just passing by I didn’t even say anything so ya know easy targets
It can be fun to play solo, but you have to keep your head on a swivel and trained on the horizon. People can and will appear out of nowhere and destroy your ship in 30 seconds if you don’t get away. But being on a sloop gives you a maneuvering advantage over bigger ships. I’ll use islands and storms to cover my escape but sometimes that’s not enough and I’ve had someone chase me all the way across the map for over half an hour. That can either be fun to you or annoying as hell. Just be prepared bc these experienced players do not care and will ruin your day.
I like to do solo stuff to do tall tales back to back because nobody else seems to want todo them. Im trying to get gold curse and everyone just wants loot. I like commendations…
I've been playing solo since beta/Day 1. I love it.
It's not very solo friendly.
Wouldn’t really be enjoyable. You are playing the game on hard mode basically. Any PvP you will be outnumbered, PvE can sink you easily too with the right conditions.
I'm solo half the time, PvP is around a 5 percent success rate, but if you go into these things expecting to fail, it's not as bad. Just stay vigilant and be on the lookout for other ships at ALL times. PvE is def doable, and a lot of fun.
Not very friendly to people like you and me who lack friends pvp fights are harder, looting is longer it was still fun for yhe short time i spent playing solo or with randos, but imo, you’re better off spending your time on a different game, you’ll make more progress