I've managed to advance quite a lot in CR, making it to Haunted Skyway, and realizing that I had to upgrade my ship yet again.

After barely scooping together enough for a Bison Galleon, I had to work even harder to get ship parts for it. I thought I actually stand a chance against the haunted ships (the first main quest), but I was wrong. Here is what REALLY annoyed me to no end (in fact, I have not finished it yet. It's just too annoying)

1. The enemy ships' dodge rate. It doesn't matter if I have 63 accuracy (or having Cpt. Gunn's guns either). The enemy ships simply dodge WAY too much. Sometimes it's so bad that I end up missing twice or three in a row with some spells. And the long cooldowns don't help cool me down (oh, and it's called "Cool Ranch" because it's supposed to cool you down after experiencing the short world of Valencia). It's especially common to miss right after they heal themselves, and sometimes it seems you can only hit the enemy ship when it wants you to hit it.

2. The enemies have a VERY high accuracy. The only time enemies miss a lot is when your ship is nearly destroyed. Besides that, they don't really miss that much more (unless you're lucky and they miss at the first broadside, but then they heal themselves). When I still had my Royal Navy skiff, I used the same spell on the Wild Bunch ships (Laughing Man) that they had and theirs hit a LOT more than mine did.

3. Another enemy ship joins from a distance. Although this doesn't always happen, sometimes an enemy ship will randomly decide to join the battle if its course is near you (and for some reason sometimes they ignore me). It's extremely frustrating to be trying to destroy the last enemy ship and another one joins and you have to flee or be destroyed.

4. They despawn. Sometimes it's a good thing to happen; you can lead an enemy that has joined far from his course to despawn. Other times, however, it annoys you to no end. For me they LOVE to despawn right when I'm about to kill them. Please, KI, remove the despawning or make enemies unable to despawn when they are almost dead.

5. It's boring to fight them. ESPECIALLY A LOT OF THEM IN A SINGLE SITTING. Cannons should do a lot more damage IMO, and ship combat simply needs a lot more excitement to it. I've put off these kinds of quests for a later date because I'm too bored to continue playing.

Do any of you scallywags out there agree with me? Do any of you have some ideas to fix these things? Please comment.

Meanwhile, I'll share my suggestions in a few words because I'm running out of characters.

1. Reduce the dodge rate by 5 every time it dodges
2. Reduce chance to hit if you are moving. Atm there isn't much of a reason to move in a naval battle
3. Decrease the aggression of fellow enemy ships that cannot target you.
4. Remove or increase the distance an enemy ship can travel before despawning.
5. Have more excitement (cannons can damage crew members) or something.

Smart Oliver Kidd lvl 34

Are you fully equipping your ship? Most of our damage comes from the horn and figurehead, not the cannons. Armor too will help you withstand those attacks longer.

Some sails will increase your accuracy and/or dodge for a few seconds, or decrease the accuracy or dodge of the enemies. Since they only last a few seconds, it takes some practice to get the timing down. My favorite sails will either increase my accuracy or decrease enemy dodge; use that when your horn or figurehead have just a second or two left to go, then follow with the improved attack while the sail boost is still active.

To reduce the chances of getting hit by more than one ship at a time, try to target one on the edge of a group instead of diving into the middle where they can surround you. Don't back away unless you have to, for instance if your health drops into the yellow and they're trying to board you. The further they chase you, the more likely they'll hit the end of their range and 'ghost out' and leave the fight.

You could also look for help by going to a more crowded realm and teaming up with others attacking the same kind of ships that you need. It's a lot easier to sink them when you pull one of their own tricks and outnumber your target.

I've said it before, but some ship battles are simply too difficult or too tedious to do alone unless you have crown ships with crown gear. Then they become easy.

KI needs to fix this.

I'm stuck in Haunted Skyway also, with the Ghost Ships. I was so happy after defeating Capt Blood because I thought I'd get to go to the mines or something and progress, but they saddled me with 2 more Ghost Ship quests - 12 Ghost Ships + "collect wooden planks from Ghost Ships." I'm on a frustrating 6 ships and no drops, plus like you said just to defeat 1 ship is like pulling teeth.

I just feel this was a bit much to lay on us after giving us Ghost Ship quests at the beginning of Haunted Skyway. I thought I was done with them. After defeating Captain Blood I thought, "Surely they wouldn't do this to us again" but they did.

I enjoyed Cool Ranch up until now. Now I'm sick to death of it - bored sick.