Tips for Sloop outrunning SotD?

[Poot Pootington 30]

Trying to see if a smuggler/speed sloop playstyle is viable, or if sloops are like Ark's Trikes, neat for your first tame/build, but pretty much useless after that.  Some questions:

-Am I correct in that speed sails benefit sailing directly with the wind to your back while handling sails allow you to sail against the wind faster (while tacking)? 

-Are SoD even affected by wind?  If not, then handling sails are worthless since you cannot outrun them by tacking into the wind, right?  

-So from your experience, are speed sails or handling sails (or I guess even weight sails if you're carrying weight) more effective at getting away from SoD?

-Anyone figure out difference from two small sails vs 1 medium sail?  

-I'm assuming weight is a large factor on speed.  I escaped SoD on my first run, and then got blown to pieces on my way back when my weight was full.  Lesson learned, but I wanted to confirm that a sloop with very little weight can still get away from SoD before I try again. This makes me wonder if I should try a weight sail instead of a speed/handling sail... 

-Any other suggestions or tips for getting away from SoD?  I noticed I was easily able to pull away from green, but a yellow was able to sink me when I was 2/3's full on weight but sailing directly with the wind with a speed sail.  I was getting shot at from a yellow, got slowed down trying to get away from 2 greens, and then got jumped by all 3 when I crossed into a new server. 

 

[archaegeo 192]

Handling sails allow you to turn faster, weight sails to carry more, speed sails to go faster.

[hillbillyal 17]

Speed sails will give you more speed, handling sails are better at catching the wind at unfavorable angles and they turn much faster.  Also weight is a factor.  For some reason your speed is determined by the percent total weight.  Which means increasing max weight when leveling your sloop while keeping the load the same will increase your speed.  A 1000kg/3000kg sloop will move faster then a 1000kg/2000kg sloop.  I have never tested weight instead of speed sails but I dont think it is a good tradeoff from what I have heard secondhand.

[archaegeo 192]

I need to do a single medium speed vs 2 small speed race to see for sloops.

[McGimp 56]

Best way to outrun them is to play a different game until they are removed. They cant catch you if youre not online.

[Hodo 147]

Well by definition a sloop is a single masted ship.  

So 1 medium speed sail will be faster.. and yes it has been tested. 

[Poot Pootington 30]

I'd love for someone to data mine this to get actual numbers for Max speed by different sail types and weight.

[RyuujinZERO 122]

The question is whether 1 medium speed sail is enough.

Not all SotD are made equal - the green ones typically can be outrun by a medium speed sloop, but yellow and above, especially red or purple will most certainly catch you. Then of course you have wind conditions to consider; if you're becalmed by low winds you're totally screwed; or you might be fleeing one SotD at a reaching angle and suddenly find another in your path, and your only angle of escape is to close-haul, but that may lose you too much speed and they catch you.

Then of course you could cross a zone boundary and find an SotD sat literally on top of you on the other side, and you are instantly fucked.

In general, it's just too risky to sloop right now*

 

 

*Location matters I have seen some zones with almost no SotD because the local mega-guild has warships and they routinely kill them as and when they are spotted, to keep their waters safe. Conversely some more remote territories with only small companies that can't afford giant warships are practically impossible to enter or leave without encountering a dozen SotD at the border and death is assure; and ironically, due to the sheer numbers of SotD those companies have no hope of ever clearing them out because they are effectively under siege and have no supply lines.

Edited December 31, 2018 by RyuujinZERO

[Mahakmar 21]

the whole zoning and then meeting a bunch of SOTD is the worst, nothing one can do, so they need to give a timer of no damage so you can at get moving and not right into a SOTD on zoning

[Poot Pootington 30]

17 minutes ago, Mahakmar said:

the whole zoning and then meeting a bunch of SOTD is the worst, nothing one can do, so they need to give a timer of no damage so you can at get moving and not right into a SOTD on zoning

Good idea.  It would have to be a generous timer though since it would be hard to break away when you spawn in directly on top of them.