Ahoy Mates! The time is long overdue for someone to put together a little something about Skellies, and how to fight them. If you are an experienced skelly fighter, this page might or might not be useful to you, it has been designed for newer players’ benefit. However, please, keep reading, there might just be something in here that you didn’t knowJ .

This page has been put together by Satin, Senior Officer of The Frighteners, and Lady of the flag Indestructible Fury on the Cobalt Ocean. If you have any questions, or something to add to this, find me in game, or send me a PM through our flag forums, at http://www.indestructiblefury.com/ . However, I didn’t compile this information singlehandedly, and would like to credit the YPP wiki, and several flaggies and other players for their help in gathering information about skellies, most especially Wlada, who was very helpful, and has broken at least one myth for me... Thanks you all for your help, and I hope that I can turn it into a useful guide for up and coming skelly huntersJ .

I hardly know where to start... but an introduction to skellies seems a good placeJ ...

We pirates do not sail these waters alone. Lurking about are skeletons in our midst, called Skellingtons on the YPP Wiki and hereafter referred to as Skellies. Some of these skellies sail the high seas, waiting to pounce on those wicked pirates that would prey upon those much weaker than themselves, others are looking for an island to claim home, and those are the ones we’ll deal with here.

First and foremost, to participate in a skelly fight, each pirate will need an item to wager and also 100 poe for each round. If the pirates win that round, thereby defeating the skellies, they will get their wager back, and more. Skellies start with 1000 poe for each skelly, as well as a few random items. This is added to the pot as a bonus, so even if the skellies are beaten in the first round, there is still a profit to be made.

If the skellies win the round, there will be another round, and all pirates wishing to continue must join the fray again, with a new wager. This continues until the skellies are defeated, there is no limit to the number of rounds which may take place.

The following information was provided by the YPP Wiki, and has been copied word for word.

If skellies are present on an island, it will be cursed with darkness until they are defeated. Therefore, it is easy to tell when they're present. Skellies always show up near an arrow, either the dock arrow, or a building arrow. If an island has buildings, skellies may be near multiple arrows.

The number of pirates may not be larger than the number of skellies, as they like "fair" fights.

The fight starts once half of the people in the fray vote to start the fight.

Some common misconceptions surrounding skellies and skellie fights:

Good teaming and swordfighting skills are essential to winning the fray.

If the skellies win, the skellies will take the items shown to each player at the start of the fray. A cautious pirate will not carry extremely valuable loose items when fighting skellies. Bid tickets may be left on ships or in shops. Valuable clothes and spare swords, etc. can be held by pirates that are not participating in the fray, or they can be placed in the appropriate storage units (wardrobes, sword racks, mug shelves).

This information came from Wlada, in response to my plea for absolutely everything anyone could tell me about Skellies. This is the copied post, complete and in his own words.

Stupid advice: "Take out cleavers/skulldaggers/foils/something first!";"Take out red/blue/green/blue first!" are both false. Anything else stupid that people say in relation to pillaging applies here too (lets all team on one etc).]

However, all that is shadowed by the "Chatting makes lag!". Chat will never ever ever produce a big amount of lag for you. Just think about it, every character is a single byte. Even dialup has 56KB (ie. 56*1024 bytes) throughput, so chat will never make you lag. On the other hand, if your machine is particulary slow (some old comp, maybe a weak laptop/Mac, I dunno) it is possible that the "lag" is actually on your side, because your computer is too weak to display the stuff fast enough. In that case, you've probably got no business at a skelly fight. Most people with "chat = lag" stands do not talk of this situation, but of the first though.

Strategy: As always, you want to have teams of three. Now, unlike on pillaging, where you may not even stall with 3 on you, with skellies it is fairly imperative to stall even with just two on you. Skellies are the "best" bots, SF-skill wise, and they can send some quite mean attacks. Also, if they have been teaming on you for a while, but then aren't anymore, you must remember that some attacks might have been queved by 'em, and you shouldn't start moving full-speed at the instant they stop attacking you (this holds true for SB's, too).

If you aren't attacked at all, you want to build an insta, or a near-insta. Still, the normal guidelines for not overbuilding apply (ie. no more than 2/3rds). Depending on how sure you are on your insta, you should send it to a skelly whose screen isn't full. It is easy to get a "feel" for how big it'd be, as long as you know how the SF puzzle itself works. One of the bigger mistakes you can make is to send it to someone who would have been killed already. You also want to send it to a skelly noone, or maybe only one person is attacking, if you're sure of a kill - no sense on waiting in the line for your attack, if it'll kill it for sure.

Now, I know everyone wants a shiny skull, or maybe a bone for rumbling, however, you must remember that if the fight is lost, noone will get anything. I have seen sure-wins lost because everyone decided to stall, so they would be the survivor at the end, and get the nifty item(s). Don't be that person, and fight for all your worth.

Another important thing to realize is how payout works. The skellies start with a "basic" payout of 1000(*number_of_skellies, of course). They also start with a few items (this used to be "high-end" swords, but it was changed a year or so ago). When the fight is won, loot is distributed by the order people joined. Why is this important? Basicaly, if someone accidently starts a fight with less than the number of skellies, there will not be enough items to give everyone an equal amount. In these cases, those who joined the fray first will get the extra item or so.

Etiquette: You don't want to shout, you don't want to spam the fight (spam != lag, but spam = annoyance). However, if you see someone shouting, the correct way to ask them to stop is NOT "/shout Stop shouting!". I'm sure everyone can see the irony in that. What I tend to do then is to put a "Please don't shout." into the clipboard and send it in a tell to everyone shouting, for every shout they make. Sometimes they apologise, sometimes they tell you to shut up, but it works.

An important part to etiquette is how you invite people. Personally, I first /fo it, then ask my hearties (though, to be honest, I avoid those who aren't particulary... good at SF (not that they'd come anyway)). After that, depending on how it goes, I could go through the entire Ultimate SF list and ask people to come. When that fails, well... The skelly mission will only show for Renowned+ people, but I generaly set my limit at around GM. On colonized islands, skellies are a pain because of lots of unskilled people joining, making it harder to win.

Actually, this is kinda a double-edged sword. On one hand, you want some "weak" people to lose some fights, so you actually win something from the fight, but on the other hand, you want good people so you can actually beat 'em. Now, those "weak" players won't leave, since they invested time/money/items, which is only natural. So... yeah. Don't expect huge wins from skellies, unless you get lucky.

(End)

This is the part I did:P I realize some of the information has been repeated, but didn’t want to retype the whole thing... Skelly hunter I am, typist I’m not. J

Teaming is absolutely the most important part of a skellie fight. It is what makes the difference between winning and losing.

Teams of 2 or better yet 3, good. Solos, 4’s and everything else, bad.

Skelly color, sword type, "leader"... none of that matters, are only there for aesthetics.(looks)

Skellies do not cheat. Skellies stall, same as us pirates. Keep in teams of 3, and this will not be a problem.

Check your teams as often as possible. Most people like to check after every "yarr"( the sound that is made when one of the opposing team is knocked out). As I have most of the game sounds muted, I go by when the text appears on my screen telling my my opponent was knocked out. I also, because people move around alot, try to check about every 20 seconds, just in case my team of 3 became a solo or a 4 while I was placing peices, or at least as often as I can.

Skellies cannot be outnumbered. If you can’t do it with the same number of people, you’re not fighting well. Skellies may be hard, but with a decent measure of skill, and proper teaming, they actually can be quite easy to beat.

Come prepared. I cannot stress this enough. Before you join the fray, check your inventory to make sure that you have no items which you don’t want to wager. Also, come ready to be there for a bit. You never know how long a skelly fight may last, or how many rounds there will be. I can’t tell you how very frustrating it is to spend 1 or 2k fighting skellies, lose a bunch of items, and then miss the winning round because you ran out of money or things.

Don’t shout instructions. Most of the pirates you will see at a skelly fight don’t want (or need) to be told how to do it. Usually, the only thing you’ll get for your trouble is insulted. Or told to shush. Or both. Pay attention to your own game, and try to fight as well as you can. If everyone did this, teaming and winning should be no problem.

If you don’t get in the fight, don’t cheer for the skellies. Very bad sportsmanship, and very poor taste. No matter how upset you are, it’s much better to wish your fellow pirates good luck and then be quiet, even if you are hoping they’ll lose so that you can get back in the fray.

Treat others with respect. As in all aspects of the game, it is important how you present yourself to others. Foul language, insults, rudeness... none of these things will help you.

If you have a suggestion, state it as politely as possible. Then let it go. Trying to force your ideas on others will not work, and will only make people angry. If someone disagrees with you, fine. Leave it be. There is no need to start shouting insults back and forth. If someone insults you, stay calm and don’t get get into a name-calling or insulting word battle. As entertaining as this is to some people, in the end it will only make you look bad to be involved in this, so avoid it if possible.

Absolutely do not give out bad advice. This goes back to shouting instructions also. For whatever the reason, giving advice when it has not been asked for is usually a bad idea. Holding your tongue is usually the best course.

One final note, and I will finally be done.

Never ever forget... it’s a game. We are ALL here to have fun. Don’t ruin someone else’s enjoyment of the game because you’re having a bad day or didn’t get what you wanted. It’s better to log off then to create a lasting impression that you will regret.

Skellie fights can be frustrating, but they can also be very fun. I hope that this might help some new players, and experienced ones as well, to better enjoy and participate in skelly fights.

Skelly hunters: