I am solo player and I have a place on lawless island. I made a Schooner and whilst it was all well and good the 1st day the 2nd day I take it out I was fine passing ghost ships until my game decides to crash. I try to hurry to log back on and wouldn't let me, finally got on to see myself right next to a ghost ship firing at me, I turned the boat for the wind, turned the sails and thought I had managed to escape and steering wheel smashes along with few planks below. Running around like a headless chicken trying to repair but was just to much for 1 person unfortunately.
It would be nice to have NPC to manage these things, the trouble is it cost so much gold right now, 1.7 gold per hour? That is alot for 1 person playing the game, 1.7 gold for a real hour maybe yes. I won't be making anymore ships, I've decided to give the game a break until they change features and improve it. I know people will say "join a larger group" that's not what I want to do though, I like to play how I want to play but managing ships alone right now is doable but if your game crashes like me then you're caught out.