I’m sorry for being crass about it, but there’s just this attitude around this community that the game should be made easier and more accessible rather than players taking the time to learn and adapt to challenges. It’s very frustrating to constantly watch people take to Reddit to complain and essentially ask for a game I love to be watered down so they can get the chemical rush in their brain for “quest=reward” more easily.

ANYWAY

There are ways to win against skeleton ships as a solo sloop. I’ve sunk about 8 of them by myself in the past few days.

Stock your supplies and work smarter not harder. These ships have pretty clunky AI. Out maneuver them around some rocks, sure enough they’ll hit something and get stuck. Place a gunpowder barrel on the bow of the sloop and ram, then repair while their cannon skeletons are gone due to the explosion. These methods work among others.

Yes they undoubtedly have more firepower, but you as the player have more brainpower than them and that’s how you should approach it.