*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* = SID MEIER'S PIRATES = * LIVE THE LIFE * = FULL FAQ = *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Author: Sashanan (sashanan@gfmods.com) Date: 22 December 2004 Version: 1.0 DISCLAIMER Arr, this document be a copyright of Sashanan, 2004. All rights reserved. Ye be allowed to do the following with this document, by thunder: - Make copies (electronical or physical) for ye own, personal use; - Post this FAQ on a non-commercial, freely accessible web site. Me permission be not required, however, the FAQ must be posted in its full, original form, including this disclaimer in full, and credited to that salty dog Sashanan; - Posting this FAQ up on a commercial site, or requiring payment for its access, is not permitted unless me explicit written permission be obtained first, scallywag. Using this FAQ (or part of it) on a commercial site, or in a magazine, guide, book etc. without me explicit written permission be a copyright infringement. Editing this FAQ in any way, using it as a basis for ye own FAQ, or posting it without giving proper credit be plagiarism. Both be violations of international copyright law and will result in keelhauling, tarring and feathering, walking the plank and/or legal prosecution. DISCLAIMER IN LANDLUBBER TERMS Use to play the game. Do not use to make a profit and do not steal or rip off. =============================================================================== TABLE OF CONTENTS =============================================================================== [1] Introduction [2] Overview [3] New since Pirates and Pirates Gold [4] Character creation [5] Strategies [5.1] Crew and recruiting [5.2] Gold and plunder [5.3] Ranks and promotions [5.4] Ships to use [6] Minigames [6.1] Naval battles [6.2] Fencing [6.3] Land battles [6.4] Dancing [6.5] Sneaking [7] Quests [7.1] Criminals [7.2] Named pirates [7.3] Pirate treasures [7.4] Lost family members [7.5] Lost cities [7.6] Marquis de la Montalban [7.7] Romance [8] Reference lists [8.1] Ships [8.2] Ship upgrades [8.3] Crew specialists [8.4] Special items [8.5] Ranks and benefits [8.6] Fame points [8.7] Retirement jobs [9] Frequently asked questions [10] Revision history [11] Final words =============================================================================== [1] INTRODUCTION =============================================================================== Arr! Only one more arr in this document, promise. After the release of Pirates! in 1987 and the subsequent appearance of Pirates Gold, it's been very quiet for years. November 2004, however, brought a full remake of the game to the PC, all updated to meet modern expectations in terms of graphics, and with the gameplay fully redone as well. The concept is still the same: sail around the Caribbean, plunder ships and ports, and retire a wealthy and high ranking privateer who has saved as many of his missing family members as he can. That part hasn't changed. Everything else has, though; the game centers around a set of fully redone minigames, and to be successful at Sid Meier's Pirates, you'll need to master them. Additionally, an overall strategy is still required to get the most out of your pirating career. Sid Meier's Pirates comes with a very good manual, and the purpose of this FAQ is not to restate what's already in there. Consider this a hint book, rather, meant to add to the information already in the game's documentation. This FAQ is based on my own experiences and those of others I've discussed the game with online, and has a twofold purpose: to inform you about the game's concepts in more detail than the manual does, and to give you the advice you need to become a superior pirate. As FAQs tend to be, this is a work in progress. Future updates will come as more information is uncovered or I've devised new or updated strategies. And, of course, if quality reader input comes in. The latest version of this guide can always be found on GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com), so be sure to check there if you got this guide anywhere else. Might just be an updated version waiting for you. So, without further ado, on to the 17th century Caribbean! =============================================================================== [2] OVERVIEW =============================================================================== When you are still a boy, your family is enslaved by the evil Marquis de Montalban, and only you manage to escape. Ten years later, now a lad of 18, you decide to set sail for the Caribbean to try your luck there, and hopefully find a trace of your family and get your revenge on the evil Marquis while you're at it. Every game of Sid Meier's Pirates starts with the creation of a pirate. Except for the very first game after installation, where you only enter a name and all the other options are preset to the easiest available, as a tutorial of sorts. You also choose a starting nationality by signing up with any of the four captains. Your choice between the Dutch, English, French and Spanish has some consequences on your starting position, but you are in no way required to stay with the nation you decide to start with. You can work for or against anybody you choose and change allegiances however much you want during your career. Once you've chosen who to sign up with, a short scene describes your voyage to the Caribbean, and how a mutiny on board eventually sees you as the ship's new captain. As the game begins, you have one ship and a small crew under your command, and you'll start outside a random port (usually one of some consequence) of the nation you've chosen to start out with. From there on, the game is completely in your hands. Where you sail and what you do there is now up to you. Some of the activities you might engage in are: - Buy and sell various goods in the ports of the Caribbean; preferably buying low and selling high. - Attack the shipping of one or more nations, plundering the gold aboard their ships and selling off the cargo you steal from them. - Work either as a freelance pirate or attack the enemies of a specific nation to win their favor as a privateer, and gain rank and land grants for your trouble. - Add ships to your fleet by stealing them from other nations, and add to your crew by recruiting new men in taverns. Upgrade and repair your ships at various ports. - Get special items that help out with various parts of your career from mysterious travellers, or gather information about poorly defended ports or fat prizes sailing around nearby. - Attack and plunder ports, and possibly get the chance to install a governor of another nation if your attack is overwhelming enough; definitely getting the favour of said nation. - Get introduced to governor's daughters, impress them with your dancing ability if they invite you to the ball, and eventually court and marry the one of your choice. Or just have a girlfriend in every port if you prefer. - Cross swords with 9 famous, historical pirates who are also active in the Caribbean and establish yourself as the most notorious pirate of your era. - Receive information on buried treasure, lost cities, the whereabouts of your enslaved family members, and the hideout of Marquis Montalban himself. Then, of course, act on that information. - Retire a wealthy, high ranking, married and happy man when you become too old for piracy. Or disappear in disgrace as a penniless pickpocket if you did not do so well. The majority of the game takes place sailing on the world map of the Caribbean, and conducting your business in ports. Apart from that, most activities are structured as a minigame of sorts, which includes naval battles, land battles, swordfighting, dancing, and sneaking in/out of hostile ports. All these activities are described in detail in this FAQ. =============================================================================== [3] NEW SINCE PIRATES AND PIRATES GOLD =============================================================================== This section is specifically aimed at veterans of either or both of the previous versions of this game. If Sid Meier's Pirates is your first game in this series, feel free to skip this section. If it's not, you'll probably want to know how much is the same and how much has changed, so here's a handy overview. - You still sail around the Caribbean plundering ships and ports, finding treasure and lost family members, getting wealth, acres of land and ranks, and hoping to retire in the highest social standing possible before you grow too old for more expeditions. You still have to strike a balance between a crew large enough to fight your battles with and small enough to keep happy, and you still get more ships only by capturing them. - The 1560 era "The Silver Empire" where Spain controls 95% of the Caribbean is no longer available. All the other eras are still there. - A new difficulty level has been added between Adventurer and Swashbuckler, named Rogue. Rogue captains get the 20% share of the loot that Swashbucklers used to, while you get a whopping 50% as a Swashbuckler now. Assuming you manage to bring any loot in at all, that is, because it's a brutal difficulty setting. - There are many more ships now; 9 classes which each have a small, medium and large ship variant, for a total of 27 different ships. - When you sail in the Caribbean, you don't run into other ships randomly anymore; you see them sailing now, and can pick your targets with impunity. You'll also find the world a lot more interactive now; trading vessels get escorted by military warships and attacked by pirates and raiders of other nations. The appearance of new governors, pirate and indian attacks and even the outbreak of peace and war no longer happens spontaneously; they're all triggered by ships reaching their destination. It is now perfectly possible to foil pirate attacks by sinking the pirate before it reaches its target, or prevent nations from making peace by capturing the ship carrying the treaty. - Trade has become a lot more profitable, if you know where to buy low and sell high. Cannon value has been nerfed a lot though, so no more getting rich by stealing and selling cannons only. It's now all about Luxuries and Spices. As a side effect, working for the Spanish is now a viable option; trading goods in their wealthiest towns is a working alternative to plundering them. - In addition to regular ports, there are now various settlements, missions, indian villages and pirate havens on the map, with various functions. The pirate havens are of particular interest if you'd like to be completely freelance and attack everything that moves regardless of what colors they're flying. Even if all four nations have a price on your head, pirate havens will offer you refuge and let you repair your ships and recruit new crew. - Naval battles are a lot like they used to be, with slight tweaks. You can now buy various upgrades for your ships to make them faster, turn better, shoot more quickly etc. You also have 3 different types of ammunition available for your cannons; the regular round shot, and two special types meant specifically to kill off enemy crew or destroy their sails and make them easier to catch. - Swordfighting has been redone, and the overall style is now much more defensive. Rather than going berserk on your opponent right away, you now get the best results from dodging and then countering his attacks. - Land battles are now turn based strategy where you move your units over a grid, trying to outmaneuver the enemy units and either beat them all or reach the gates of the town. Attacking a town from the sea is no longer possible; any attack on a port is now a land battle. However, you still go straight to a sword fight instead of a land battle if you grossly outnumber the enemy. - You can now get special items that make certain parts of the game easier, such as better swords that swing more quickly, or musical instruments that help keep the crew entertained on long voyages. You can also find specialists on board other ships that enhance your crew, such as an expert gunner that helps your crew load cannons faster. You also get special service in ports as your rank rises; Dukes can get their ships repaired and upgraded for free. - Marrying a governor's daughter is a lot more work now than just proposing if you're rich and famous enough. You will have to win their heart on the dancefloor first, in a rhythm-style minigame. You will have to go through several more steps before one will consider marrying you. Alternatively, you can just dance with beautiful women all over the Caribbean and gain valuable items and information in return. - There's still buried treasure to go after, but each treasure now belongs to a specific pirate, and they will not be pleased if you steal it. On the other hand, beating the pirates themselves tends to earn you good, upgraded ships as well as a good amount of gold from their holds. - You still chase evil Spanish noblemen to learn about your missing family members. The Incan treasures that your rescued family members would point you to have been replaced by lost cities that work much the same way. You also get a chance now to track down and defeat the evil Marquis that enslaved your family in the first place, and get a huge reward in the process. This can be considered the game's main quest now, though it's as optional as everything else. - The Silver Train is no longer among us, and the Treasure Fleet cannot be caught in port anymore. It can, however, be attacked on the high seas if you manage to find it. - Plundered ports recover their economy much more quickly as trading vessels go in and out, and new governors are assigned to them. The danger of ending up with a Caribbean plundered dry, as would happen on the lower levels a lot in the previous games, is effectively gone. There's always more loot for a daring (and aging) pirate to go after. =============================================================================== [4] CHARACTER CREATION =============================================================================== Except for your very first game session, every game requires you to select various options before you begin. Specifically, you must choose a name, a difficulty level, a special skill, an era and a starting nationality. The last two also determine your starting ship. ---- NAME ---- This is purely cosmetic, so pick whatever has your fancy. My only advice here is to remember that if you name yourself Jack Sparrow, you are not the first player to do so. You might also want to steer clear from naming yourself Blackbeard, as there already *is* a Blackbeard among the other pirates in the game. Otherwise, your name (obviously) has no effect on gameplay, so if you want to go into history as Duke Bob the privateer, nobody's stopping you. ---------------- DIFFICULTY LEVEL ---------------- There are five difficulty levels in Sid Meier's Pirates, and they affect many different factors. As such, the difference between the levels is quite significant, to the point where the first one is very easy (at least once you get used to the game), and the highest is almost sadistic. I strongly recommend starting low (especially if this is your first Pirates game) and going up once you grow more confident. The following aspects of the game are affected by the difficulty level chosen: - On Apprentice level only, you get tutorial hints during the first stages of the game; - On Apprentice level, you get more visual hints as to which key to press when during sword battles and dances; - On Journeyman level, you get these same visual hints if you start messing up (no more hints at all on higher levels); - The speed with which enemies strike in sword battles goes up on higher levels, making especially the opponents that were tricky to begin with very dangerous on higher levels; - Dances are more complicated on higher levels, requiring you to master quicker and more convoluted combos; - The accuracy and damage of both sides' cannons in ship battles are directly affected by the level. On the lower levels, even your grazing shots count as hits and your enemies' full hits barely damage you. On the higher levels, it's the other way around; - Your men are more likely to take losses in naval and land battles, requiring bigger crews to achieve the same results on higher levels; - Your crew is harder to keep happy on higher levels, and will grow discontent earlier if you don't keep filling up your ships with gold; - Enemy naval AI is smarter on higher levels (didn't see much of a difference in land battles); - Guards are quicker and more numerous when sneaking in and out of ports on higher levels; - Nations are much more likely to reward your services and forgive your trespasses on lower levels. On the lowest level, you are showered with promotions and you can get away with betraying a country for quite some time before they start putting a price on your head. On the highest level, you have to work hard for every promotion and nations send pirate hunters after you at the slightest provocation; - The wind in the Caribbean becomes less predictable on higher levels. On Apprentice, it *always* blows straight west, whereas on higher levels it varies more. It will always tend toward blowing west, though, which is realistic modelling of the weather in that area of the world; - Your ships are affected more by wind on higher levels, making it harder to sail against it at a reasonable speed. You also suffer more damage from sailing through storms on higher levels. There are also two advantages to selecting a higher level (apart from making the game more exciting): - Your share in the loot when you divide up the plunder is directly based on the difficulty level, allowing you to get much richer if you're successful on higher levels; - If you play on Apprentice, you are not allowed to select a different era than 1660 (which is, incidentally, the easiest one). Be aware of a "jump" in difficulty level from the fourth to the last. Difficulty goes up gradually until Rogue level, but the difference between Rogue and Swashbuckler is higher than usual. ------------- SPECIAL SKILL ------------- You can choose one of five special skills when you start the game. Each offers an advantage in a specific area. You can use this to tone down the difficulty somewhat in an area you have trouble with; for instance, if you like the Adventurer difficulty level but find that swordfighting becomes too hard for your taste there, you can compensate that by picking the Fencing skill. Which skill is the best to pick depends on your playing style; they're fairly well balanced. Your options are: FENCING Makes you quicker in sword fights, both on the attack and the defense. Also appears to improve the chance that dodging at just the right moment makes your character counterattack automatically. This is a solid choice because you will probably do more swordfighting than anything else. NAVIGATION Makes your ships move quicker both on the world map and in battle, which is especially useful when sailing against the wind. You'll find this a good choice if you get annoyed by the long time it takes to sail from west to east, or if you get outmaneuvered during battle a lot. Navigation skill basically makes the game more forgiving in these areas, allowing you to focus on the action. GUNNERY Lets your crew load their guns more quickly and makes the game more forgiving in terms of accuracy. Since hitting enemies on higher levels can be tricky, Gunnery skill can make the difference there. This one's not particularly popular since many people prefer not to fire on enemies too much to keep their ships intact. But don't discard it too quickly; it also makes the difference when using different types of ammo that don't harm ships so much, and having the ability to get off good Grape Shots can be very important on higher levels. WIT AND CHARM This skill makes the dancing minigame a lot more forgiving, and since most players consider that the hardest part of the game, that is a very inmportant consideration. While it won't let you dance better, necessarily, it factors into how well you have to dance to impress a governor's daughter. With Wit and Charm, a few missteps won't put her off so quickly and a couple of flourishes will make her heart race all the more quickly. Since dancing with governor's daughters is a primary source of items and information, you may find Wit and Charm every bit as useful as the more direct special skills. MEDICINE If you feel you don't really need any of the skills above, Medicine will prove useful. It basically extends the health of your pirate, allowing you longer careers before your health gets in the way of your ability to fight properly. Besides slowing the ravages of time, it also helps reduce the harm done by injuries and time spent marooned or in captivity. ------------ STARTING ERA ------------ Except on the Apprentice level, you can pick five different eras to start your career in. The era you choose affects the balance of power between the nations and the relative wealth of each. Generally speaking, the effect is like this: - In earlier eras, Spain is much more powerful and the other nations only have a few small colonies. In later eras, the other nations become more powerful at the expense of Spain. In 1660, all nations have a few viable ports, and in 1680 Spain is only a little more powerful than the rest. - The overall wealth of all ports increases in later eras. In 1680, all nations (not just Spain) have a lot of wealthy ports and ships full of gold sailing around. - In earlier eras, nations have less resources at their disposal to ward off piracy. There's less to be plundered, but it's also not as well protected. As time goes by, piracy is taken more seriously and nations work harder to prevent it. In 1680, pirate hunters are as common as pirates and any attempt to make off with the great wealth of just about any nation will result in harsh retribution. For the most part, 1660 is the most balanced and easiest era. It's the default era for a reason, and if you play on Apprentice you can't even choose a different one. Picking different eras makes for a slightly different and more challenging experience. 1680 is of special interest to players who'd like to work *for* Spain instead of against it for a change; it's the only era in which the other nations have almost as much to plunder. Just be aware that you'll face a lot more resistance than usual. ----------- NATIONALITY ----------- What nation you work for and who you pick as your enemies can affect your game quite a bit. However, your starting nationality has very little impact on this. You don't have to keep working for whoever you start out with; you don't even have to work for them at all. You can betray them right away if you so choose, regain their trust a year later and then betray them again. In that sense, what nationality you pick to start with is mostly a cosmetic choice. It affects the following: - You always start out near a port of some significance belonging to the nation you signed up with; - You get a ship based on the nationality and era you chose (for instance, in 1660 you start with a Sloop with most nations, but when I chose the Spanish in 1680 I got a fast galleon); - The nation you start out with gives you a free Letter of Marque when you visit a governor for the first time (though on Apprentice level, they all do this). Regardless of which nation you start out with, the following is of note when working for specific nations: DUTCH Ports of call aren't very widespread if you side with the Dutch. You've got St. Martin and St. Eustatius next to each other in the east, and Curacao as a lone haven (quite a wealthy one, even) on the Spanish Main. If you decide to side with the Dutch, you might find it a good idea to either stay friendly with the English or the French as well, or capture some more home ports for when you're a long way from both St. Eustatius and Curacao. ENGLISH These guys have their ports spread out pretty well, so they're easy to work for. The only place where you won't find any refuge is on the Spanish Main, so if you do your plundering there, you may find it beneficial to keep the Dutch on your good side so you can flee to Curacao when necessary. Or you could just try to take over a few of those easier to capture ports like Rio de La Hacha or Gibraltar. One disadvantage of the English is that Barbados, the best place to sell goods for high prices, is very remote. But Port Royale and Antigua are both good alternatives that are much easier to reach. FRENCH Like the English, they have a good presence in different parts of the Caribbean. No less than four ports are available just off the east of Jamaica, and south of the Dutch and English presence in the east you'll find three French ports in a row. They're only absent from the Spanish Main itself, so once again you'll find it useful to either befriend the Dutch and sail from Curacao, or capture a smaller port or two for your own use. SPANISH Working for the Spanish appears counterintuitive at first, because that means the best targets are not available for you. However, there are advantages: all those wealthy ports will buy the goods you steal from the other nations off you for very high prices, and wherever you are sailing, there's almost always a good sized Spanish port nearby to replenish your crew and get your ships repaired. Just how viable working for the Spanish is depends on the era you chose; in 1600, there's not much to attack that isn't Spanish, but in 1680 there is plenty for you to prey on, and you can easily afford to be hunted by all other nations at the same time. The one thing you might want to refrain from is to take over other nations' ports and give them to the Spanish, lest you run yourself out of targets. ------------- STARTING SHIP ------------- This is not something you get to choose directly. However, what ship you start with is determined by the era and nationality you chose. In 1660, the default era, you get a Sloop no matter who you sail for, but in the other eras there's quite a different selection. This alone may be a reason for you to pick a nationality that starts with a proper ship. For instance, if you decide to play a 1600 game, you probably don't want to be Dutch, unless the idea of capturing a proper ship with only a lousy Fluyt at your disposal sounds like a fun challenge. Starting ships based on era and nationality are as follows: ERA NATIONALITY STARTING SHIP 1600 Dutch Fluyt 1600 English Merchantman 1600 French Sloop 1600 Spanish Pinnace 1620 Dutch Brig 1620 English Brigantine 1620 French Barque 1620 Spanish Pinnace 1640 Dutch Brigantine 1640 English Sloop 1640 French Pinnace 1640 Spanish Mail Runner 1660 Dutch Sloop 1660 English Sloop 1660 French Sloop 1660 Spanish Sloop 1680 Dutch Sloop of War 1680 English Sloop of War 1680 French Brigantine 1680 Spanish Fast Galleon =============================================================================== [5] STRATEGIES =============================================================================== This section describes overall gameplay strategies, not specifically related to any of the minigames. For those, refer to section 6. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [5.1] CREW AND RECRUITING -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Your crew is central to all your pirating efforts. They sail your ships and fight your battles. The more crew you have under your command, the bigger the targets you can face, and the more you can afford to lose. This doesn't mean, though, that a bigger crew is always better. The more men you have, the more food you need to stock to keep them fed, and the harder it is to keep them happy. Unhappy crews perform much worse in combat, and may even become mutinous if you don't tend to them soon. Keeping your crew happy is mostly a matter of satisfying their greed, but there are a couple of factors. You start each game with 40 men, and the first thing you'll want to do is recruit more. Since you always start just outside a friendly port, the best thing to do is visit it and go to the tavern to pick up a few more men. After that, for the rest of the game, your options are as follows: - Recruiting from taverns. Can be done at any town and pirate haven; not at settlements. When you've just done this at a specific town you can't do it again for a while. How many men you can recruit is affected by rank (Captain and Baron rank give bonuses), the wealth of the town (poorer towns have more unemployed men happy to sign up with you), the population (big towns obviously have more sailors available) and if you've been in recently (it takes time for new recruits to amass). Another major factor is your reputation in terms of how profitable it is to work for you. If this isn't your first expedition, the results of previous voyages (as in, how much gold each survivor got at the end) is a *major* factor in recruiting for future expeditions. Finally, the happiness of your current crew is a factor. Few men are willing to join a crew that is already large and unhappy, but everybody is happy to sign up for an expedition where there's already a lot of gold to be divided up. - Recruit from other ships. If you defeat an enemy ship and a lot of its sailors survive, some of them might be willing to join you instead. The size of your current crew and their happiness are also a factor in this. For the most part, this method is less reliable; it's good to replace losses taken in a specific battle, but if you need to get more men you're generally better off finding them on shore. You have a maximum crew size determined by what ships you have. For instance, say you have one Royal Sloop (max 125) and one Barque with the Triple Hammocks upgrade (max 100, increased by 50% for Triple Hammocks, so 150). This lets you have a maximum crew of 275. Contrary to what the manual states, you cannot go over this. Excess crew is lost as you lose/sell ships, and any excess you recruit is ignored. Losing crew this way is, by the way, painless. They do not take any gold along. Your crew is automatically divided among all your ships. Each ship has a minimum crew requirement, which is higher for bigger ships and also goes up a lot if a ship is damaged. After each ship you have has been assigned the minimum number of men, the remainder fill up your flagship; these are the men you'll use in ship battles. If you change your flagship, your crew is immediately and automatically rearranged. If you capture extra ships, always make sure to check how many men remain for your flagship. If you're in the habit of badly damaging ships before you capture them, you may be surprised by how many men have to be relegated to keeping them afloat. You do *not* want to accidentally enter a difficult ship battle and then notice there's only 20 men on your flagship. Crew are lost in ship and land battles. However, not all the crew that goes down in either battle is necessarily dead (or at least too injured to continue sailing); some of them are only down for the duration of the battle. You may notice, for instance, that if you go into a battle with 100 men and come out with 60, your crew count is back up to 75 when you're back on the world map. Just how many men recover from their injuries is random, but having a Surgeon specialist on your crew is a major factor in keeping your men in good shape. Crew happiness is a different story entirely. Happiness is basically a factor of three things: the size of your crew, the size of the loot in your holds, ready to be divided up among them, and how long your current expedition has lasted. Basically, your crew wants to have the impression that the expedition will be worth their while, and the longer you stretch it, the bigger their demands become. Having the Cook and/or the Quartermaster specialist helps delay unhappiness on long voyages, as does having the 3-Stringed Fiddle or even the Concertina. But in the end it comes down to keeping your loot growing, and the larger your crew, the more loot it takes. This is the primary reason why you should not keep a bigger crew around than you need. If you're only hitting small ships, don't take 500 men with you. That kind of crew is only needed if you intend to attack large cities. You'll also need to make sure you keep your crew fed. If it's large, you will need to take a lot of food along, which can get expensive and takes up a lot of cargo space. A Cooper specialist helps keep food from spoiling, effectively reducing the rate at which it is consumed; thus you can get away with buying less. Running out of food is no fun - your crew can go from full happiness to full mutiny very quickly if you starve them. Don't let it happen. If you're going on a long voyage with little food, restock at settlements and villages along the way. If you are really running low on food, attack any ship you see to plunder their food stores. If it actually belongs to a nation you are trying to win the favour of, too bad. You can make it up with them later when your men aren't hungry. In the end, you'll find it harder and harder to keep your crew satisfied as your expedition goes on. Eventually you will *have* to divide up the plunder and start with a fresh crew if you intend to ever see them happy again rather than bordering on mutiny. Dividing up the plunder has two disadvantages: - You get to keep only one ship (so you'll have to sell off the rest, like it or not); - You lose roughly 6-7 months starting your new expedition. You also start with a smaller crew again, but if your last expedition was profitable, you'll be able to recruit new men very quickly, so that's usually not a big concern. The real pain is if you used to rely on several ships - perhaps you used both a Royal Sloop and a Ship of the Line and switched depending on what you were attacking. In that case, you'll now have to make a choice. Most players prefer to stretch their expeditions for as long as possible to minimize the downtown between expeditions. How far you can stretch is mostly dependent on the difficulty level. On Apprentice, I've done 5-6 year expeditions without too much trouble. On Swashbuckler, you'll be hard pressed to keep your crew happy for 2 years under the best of circumstances. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [5.2] GOLD AND PLUNDER -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Although wealth only makes up a fifth of your final fame score, you'll likely be pursuing gold as your main objective throughout the game anyway. If only because that is what your crew is after, and if you don't keep gold pouring into your holds, they will soon become unhappy. Some good ways to make gold are: ---------------- PLUNDERING SHIPS ---------------- This is the most obvious one and probably what you'll spend most of your time doing. Any ship you capture is likely to at least carry some gold which goes directly into your hold, and possibly valuable cargo as well which you can sell for gold later. How profitable this is depends a lot on the targets you are striking. Bear the following mind: - Indian War Canoes bear either no or very little gold. Not worth it; only attack these to win the approval of European nations. - Warships of most kinds tend to have little in the way of gold and goods. - Smugglers tend to have nice cargo and a little gold as well. - Unnamed pirates are sometimes down on their luck and sometimes they had a good run before you catch them. You can never be sure, but it's usually worth it to go after them. - Merchant ships tend to have a decent amount of gold and high value cargo, especially the bigger ones. Much of their value comes from the luxuries and spices they tend to carry, but obviously you do need to find a place to unload those, first. - Escorted merchant ships are escorted for a reason. They tend to have more gold and cargo than unescorted ones. Rarely, the escort ship itself has been loaded with gold as well. - Ships carrying immigrants or transporting new governors tend to have a good amount of gold; presumably the personal fortune of their passengers. - Military payroll and treasure ships have good amounts of gold on board, easy profit which doesn't require you to sell cargo first. The Treasure Fleet, if you can find it, usually consists of several treasure ships with a better amount of gold than normal. - Named villains tend to be rich. You can get an easy 3000 gold off Raymondo and even more off Montalban. - Named pirates have the best loot of all, especially the most famous ones. Furthermore, their loot increases over the course of the game. I've heard of one lucky player who got no less than 70000 off Henry Morgan's ship. More realistically, you can expect to get at least 12000 off him. - If you frequently talk to barmaids, you will be dropped hints about nearby ships with a lot of gold on board. This can be any ship that carries at least 700 gold; I've once been pointed to Raymondo's ship this way. If you get a hint about a fat target, check its route and see if you can easily go after it. It is almost always worth doing. ---------------- PLUNDERING TOWNS ---------------- While it takes bigger crews to pull off than plundering ships, you can earn yourself some serious money by sacking the various towns in the Caribbean. The best targets are Wealthy ones, followed by Prosperous; Modest isn't really worth doing and if you raid Poor towns for the money, you need to rethink your priorities. (It *is* a sound tactic if you intend to capture the town, though.) Wealth and strength of defenses in a town are not necessarily balanced. Poor towns might have a surprisingly strong garrison and it's possible that a wealthy town - especially one that became wealthy only recently - is poorly defended. You don't need me to tell you which of these two examples would be the better target to go after. Here are a few tips on plundering towns: - Be sure to talk to mysterious travellers at all times, and to stop in ports whenever you have the time, to keep your information on as many towns as possible up to date. Visiting a port will update your information on it, and travellers can give you free information on a random other town. You can review this information when you click on a town on the world map. - When you attack a town, try to have at least as many pirates as there are soldiers defending it. You *can* beat greater numbers, especially on lower levels, but it's risky. If your numbers are as good as theirs, you can be pretty sure you'll win it if you don't make a lot of mistakes. - A town's defenses can be softened up by going to a nearby pirate haven or indian village and convincing them to attack it. Note that each haven/village can only be set on whatever town belonging to a nation is closest to them, but you can usually find one (especially if you have the Rutter items). Inciting Indians to attack is always safe, they will attack the soldiers and the population but leave the gold. Pirates *will* plunder the town if they manage it and leave you with nothing to steal, so employ them only if you're pretty sure they can't win it. In other words, let them suicide themselves against a particularly well defended town to soften it up for your attack. - If a town is particularly big and rich and poorly defended, you may sometimes find it worth it to plunder it twice in a row. If your first attack went well, you will hopefully still have most of your pirates whereas the garrison is battered and bruised. The second attack will be a piece of cake and you can milk that much more gold from the town. As an added bonus, the second attack will often let you capture the city for another nation if the first did not. - It may be worth it not to always intercept governors of enemy nations if you see them sailing. You can chase them until they enter their destination port and upgrade its economy, then sail in right after them and plunder the town's newfound wealth before it has a chance to strengthen its garrison. - If you are serious about robbing a specific nation's towns, aggressively attack its troop ships and military payrolls to keep it from strengthening its garrisons. Payroll ships are a good idea anyway; they tend to have a lot of gold on board. ------------- SELLING GOODS ------------- Goods of all kinds can be obtained in two ways: they can be purchased from merchants in towns (and in the various types of smaller settlements), or they can be stolen off ships you capture. Unlike in the previous Pirates games, you don't get any goods when plundering towns anymore; only gold. No matter how you obtain your goods, you can then sell them in any town you desire, and if you pick the right place for the right commodity, you can make a hefty profit. It's even possible to have a moderately successful game as a peaceful trader by buying low and selling high. Some tips for getting a profit off selling goods: - You have better results selling in the towns of a nation you are a Colonel in, or better yet, a Marquis. These two ranks give you trading bonuses: the town will have more goods for sale and also have more gold in reserve to buy your goods with. - Wealthy towns pay better and also have a better gold reserve. If you don't sell in the right towns, you might find they run out of money before you've unloaded more than a fraction of your cargo. The best towns to sell in are, unfortunately, Spanish. Since you won't find yourself on Spain's side in most games (presumably because you're plundering all those wealthy towns), you'll need to know the good places that other nations have to unload your goods. Which towns are rich varies a bit from game to game, but safe bets are Curacao (Dutch), Guadeloupe and Martinique (French) and Barbados (English). Otherwise, any port that happens to be Prosperous or Wealthy at the time is typically a good place. - If you do keep Spain on your side, you will find you can make almost as much profit selling stuff to their richest ports than stealing from them. This is particularly true in 1680 when the other nations are rich enough for a Spanish privateer to succeed. Cartagena, Havana and Santiago are all very good places to trade. Vera Cruz as well, but it's really out of the way. Panama tends to be the single richest Spanish town there is, but it's not a port, so you'd need to walk there every time you want to visit it. Panama's the kind of place that easily pays 40-50 gold for 1 ton of Spice and has enough gold to buy it in bulk. - The False Mustache and Theatrical Disguise items let you trade in Spanish ports even if Spain is hostile to you. Regrettably, they don't help you actually get into the ports, making them fairly pointless as far as I can see. They only help if Spain is so hostile that they won't trade with you, but not so hostile that they'll open fire on you if you try to enter one of their towns. That's a pretty narrow window especially on the higher levels. - Goods and Sugar sell well in large ports. Spice and Luxuries fetch the best prices in smaller ports. Both fetch better prices in rich ports than poor ones. For the most part, Spice and Luxuries are more profitable; give these priority if you need to choose what to steal off a captured ship. - Settlements often pay very well for goods and missions pay well for food, but both always have very small supplies of gold. Barely worth it. - Cannons aren't worth it in terms of selling. This is new to Sid Meier's Pirates, as they fetched a good and consistent price in the previous games. Never take cannons along instead of any other kind of cargo; just the max you need for your flagship. ------------- SELLING SHIPS ------------- If you capture a ship at sea, it's not just its gold and cargo that is of value to you. The ship itself can be quite valuable as well. You can actually make a decent profit off nabbing and selling ships, if you know what you're doing. Here's what you want to keep in mind: - Try not to damage your prizes. The repair cost of a damaged ship goes off its selling price, and if the ship is heavily damaged it may well exceed the prize, leaving the ship at the minimum value of 10 gold - for firewood, probably. Even if you have a Sailmaker and a Carpenter working for you, the repairs they can do to ships are only minor. Try to board ships without shooting too much at them, and rely mostly on Grape Shot and a little on Chain Shot if you do need to fire a few broadsides. Round Shot is devastating, especially in numbers, and you can forget about getting much of a profit if you shoot a lot of holes in the enemy's hull. - A Major gets cheaper repairs in port, and can thus get away better with damaging his prizes a little. If you're a Count, repairs are free, and at that point it doesn't matter anymore if you bring half-destroyed ships in. But they will still slow you down while you've got them in your fleet, and tie up a lot of your crew. - A Duke gets to upgrade ships for free. If you're lucky enough to be a Duke with any nation, bring your ships there to sell, and upgrade them before selling to increase the value of the ship. - You can only have a maximum of 8 ships in your fleet. Plan a return to a friendly port (preferably one where you have a high rank) as you get close to that maximum. And keep an eye on your crew, so you don't end up short as it is divided over the ships. If you have little crew left on your flagship you will find it hard to win any more battles. Even worse, if you don't have enough crew to meet the minimum requirements of all your ships, you will slow down a lot. ------ QUESTS ------ The most important source of money in the game is undertaking quests. There are a bunch of different ones, some random and recurring, some set. And some are worth a lot more than others. The following quests will bring in money for you: - Capturing a fugitive criminal: a reward between 1000 and 5000 gold, and easy to get. Get these quests by dancing with governor's daughters. You get them with a moderate dance from a plain looking daughter already, and as a substitute for various other (better) rewards if they no longer apply. See paragraph 7.1 for more information. - Finding a buried pirate treasure: between 2000 and 10000 gold. Talk to travellers in taverns to get map pieces for this. See paragraph 7.3. for more information. - Finding a lost city: this brings in a whopping 50000 gold, but it's hard to do. Get map pieces by rescuing family members or kidnapped governor's daughters, or by dancing perfectly with a beautiful daughter. See paragraph 7.5. for more information. - Vanquishing Marquis de la Montalban: the main quest of the game; it's complicated, takes a lot of preparation, and ends with a fairly tough battle (depending on level, though). But for 100000 gold it's hard to say no. See paragraph 7.6. for the whole story. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [5.3] RANKS AND PROMOTIONS -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- One of the most important aspects of your final fame score is the rank you achieve with each of the four nations. Furthermore, getting rank with any nation gives you certain benefits in their ports which are worth having. Getting promoted by any nation is a matter of making them happy with you. The following things help to achieve that: - Attack a ship belonging to a nation they are at war with; especially a warship. It doesn't matter if you only damage it, capture it or sink it. - Plunder a town belonging to a nation they are at war with; the attack must succeed for it to count. - Capture a town for a nation. It doesn't matter if they're at war with the one you captured it from or not. - Damage, capture or sink any indian or pirate vessel. All four nations are happy if you do this. Named pirates are worth even more points. - Stop (= capture or sink) a special ship belonging to an enemy of the nation; like a governor or an invasion force. You get extra points for this in addition to the ones you already get for capturing an enemy ship in the first place. - Escort a special ship belonging to that nation to its destination - e.g. help a governor reach his destination. For this purpose, it doesn't matter if you were actually assigned to protect this ship, or even if you're near it when it reaches its destination. If you've just spotted the ship once and it reaches its destination safely later, you're considered to have helped protect it. Obviously, while attacking a nation's enemies will make that nation happy, the enemies will become unhappy with you at the same time. The impact of attacking a nation's towns or shipping depends on the difficulty level. At Apprentice, you can often get away with helping both sides in a war at once, making a profit off the shipping off both, and having both nations forgive you because you are also fighting their enemy. On higher levels, the penalties for preying on a nation are much higher, and the same approach would soon make both of them mad with you. Note that if two nations have a peace treaty - not nearly as common as war, but it happens - they consider an attack on their ally to be equivalent to an attack on themselves. However, they do not care about you helping their ally in any way; you still need to make them happy by attacking individual enemies. If you score enough points with a nation, they may decide to promote you. How many points it takes is dependent on the difficulty level; you also need more for higher ranks, so that going from Captain to Major is easier than going from Marquis to Duke. The ranks and their benefits are listen in paragraph 8.5. Here are some tips to get promotions the easiest: - Check who is at war with whom, and pick your allegiances early on. Stick with at least one nation, or better yet, two. For instance, if England and France are both at war with Spain, fighting Spain early will win you the support of both of them. - When you become a Duke with a certain nation, there are no more promotions to earn. This is the time to backstab them and work for their enemy if you want to become a Duke with them as well. - To win a former enemy's trust, attack whoever they are at war with. Also, you can convince Jesuit missionaries close to that enemy's ports to speak to them on your behalf to help lower whatever price they have on your head. That makes it easier to get them to forgive you. If you don't mind spending a little gold, you can also "buy off" a price on your head. For this you will need to get to speak with a governor, so you may have to sneak into an enemy town to do this. - Remember that hunting pirates and indians makes you popular with all the four nations. If there aren't any around, you can go to a pirate haven or indian village, incite them to attack a nearby town, then immediately attack them as they sail out of port. It's nasty, but it works well. Particularly with indians who tend to send out three War Canoes at once. Easy to beat, and lots of points scored with all nations. - Check back with your benefactor frequently to see if you have a promotion waiting. You will also get hints if you're close to it ("Soon you'll be promoted to..."). If you wait for a long time and score more points than you needed, you still get only 1 promotion, and the excess points are paid off in a land grant (50 acres per point). These land grants are very good for your wealth score, but you can also get these *after* you become a Duke for a certain nation if you keep working for them. They're not a priority while you are still rising in rank. - If you have a rank with a certain nation, particularly a high one, you can afford to betray them a little and get away with it. If you persist they will eventually become hostile to you and when this happens you lose the bonuses of your rank, but not the rank itself. And you get the bonuses back as soon as you make up with them again. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [5.4] SHIPS TO USE -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- As you will notice if you study paragraph 8.1, there are a lot of different ships in Sid Meier's Pirates; many more than in its predecessors. It can be quite daunting to make a choice from the 27 ship types. Fortunately, it's not as complicated as it looks. For one thing, there really are only 9 different classes of ships, and 3 variants of each; a small, a medium and a large one. In nearly all cases, the medium and large variants perform just as well as the smaller ones, they just hold more crew, guns and cargo. Within whatever ship class you prefer to use, you are therefore always best off getting the biggest ship you can get. Frigates are good, but Large Frigates are better. It's that simple. The question remains, then, which of the 9 ship classes to use. Which is best depends on what you intend to do with it. Presumably your fleet will consist of one flagship, or two that you alternate between if you like to have different types availble (we'll get to that in a bit). Any other ships you have are likely only cargo or crew haulers, and the only thing you want from them is that they balance out speed and capacity. The best choice for that is Frigates, but they are typically hard to get. Most players are happy to get a good Frigate as their flagship. If you can get additional ones, great, but you'll likely have to settle for other types. Merchantmen strike the best balance between capacity and speed; Galleons carry more, but they will slow your fleet down quite a bit. Your flagship is a different story. You'll be taking this into battle, and thus you want it to be a sturdy warship that's fast, agile and well armed. Let's have a look at each type of warship: ------- PINNACE ------- The Pinnace class includes the smallest ships in the game; they have very low capacity for guns, crew and cargo, and are very vulnerable in battle. If they get hit, that is; because they are also the fastest and best turning ships, and perform well even against the wind. In the end, though, the weaknesses are a bit too pronounced. ----- SLOOP ----- Sloops are far better as small ships go. They are still fast, hard to hit and very agile, and they can carry larger crews. The Royal Sloop, biggest in this category, is the second most popular ship in the game among the players I know. Many people stick with them exclusively for their high speed and the fact that they never seem to take hits in battle. ---- BRIG ---- Brigs are a bit larger than Sloops, but still have a good speed and can sail against the wind with some success. They basically strike the balance between the agility of smaller ships and the heavy armament and ability to take a beating that the bigger ships have. The Brig of War is an excellent ship that doesn't have as many supporters as the Royal Sloop and the Ship of the Line do, but is still easily the 3rd most popular. It's also a lot easier to obtain than the other two. ------- FRIGATE ------- Frigates are the best choice in terms of large ships. They can carry huge crews - plenty for any ship battle - have room for a ton of guns, and can take quite a bit of punishment. Their inability to dodge salvos as easily as the smaller ships is offset by this, and for such large ships, they are still quite fast and able to make fairly tight turns. The famous Ship of the Line is the biggest of the Frigates and probably the most popular ship in the game. It is also the rarest, however, not in the last place because Spain doesn't use Frigates of any kind. You'd need to see a random one sailing (usually as a New Warship special type) or piss off one of the other nations enough to send out a pirate hunter so influential that he's using one. -------------- COMBAT GALLEON -------------- The Fast Galleon, War Galleon and Flag Galleon fall in this category. The Trade Galleon, Royal Galleon and Treasure Galleon do not; those are merchant ships, unsuitable for combat. Actually, the combat galleons aren't particularly suitable either. Their power is comparable to that of Frigates, but they are far slower. They are fast enough when running before the wind, true, but going against it is almost impossible in a galleon of any kind, and their turning circle is horribly wide. Smaller ships can and do run circles around these cumbersome vessels and pelt them with one broadside after another. If you like to use large ships, you really should stick with a Frigate type instead. Even the smallest kind of Frigate is a better bet than the otherwise very powerful Flag Galleon. Summarizing this, the Pinnace and Combat Galleon categories aren't your best choices. It's a toss up between Sloops, Brigs and Frigates, and it's mostly a matter of personal preference what works best. I personally am a fan of Frigates, but many people prefer Sloops and a handful prefer the balanced Brigs. All are solid choices for a flagship. Just make sure that if you do use a larger ship, you recruit a crew to fill it up with. Not much sense using a Frigate if you're not going to put more men in it than you could fit in a Sloop. Your tactics in ship battles will probably change depending on what kind of vessel you are using. Sloops will want to thin out the enemy crew before boarding, and avoid enemy fire as much as possible. Frigates will probably be a lot more aggressive, heading for the enemy straight away with just a single broadside to soften them up if needed, and accepting the fact that they'll take a little counterfire in getting there. Use whichever ship works best for your style. You could even have both a Sloop *and* a Frigate available and pick a ship to use for every battle; for instance, using a Sloop against smaller targets and a Frigate against any enemy Frigate and Galleon types. Whichever ship you choose, however, be sure to get all the upgrades you can find for your flagship. They're all worth having and can make a lot of difference. =============================================================================== [6] MINIGAMES =============================================================================== Much of the gameplay in Sid Meier's Pirates consists of playing its various minigames. The premise and controls for each are in the manual, but of course, it does not go into too much detail about how to play them. But that's what you're reading this guide for, no? Each paragraph in this section highlights a different minigame, giving an overview and a set of tactics to improve your results at them. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [6.1] NAVAL BATTLES -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -------- OVERVIEW -------- A naval battle is always initiated by you. When one or more ships are in range of your flagship, press 5 and you will be given a list of ships you can attack. The size of the crew and the number of guns on the enemy ship will be mentioned and you can compare to what you have on your flagship, or switch flagships if necessary. Note that you can't see the guns/crew on a ship if it's a special type, like a Treasure Ship or a named villain like Raymondo. Those ships tend to have close to the maximum for their ship type, though. If you choose to attack a ship, you will be thrust into naval battle mode. The positions of your ships relative to each other is the same as it was on the world map. A naval battle is usually against one ship at a time, with two exceptions: - If the ship has a dedicated escort sailing along with it, you'll fight both ships at once; - If another ship was actively chasing you at the time (normally a pirate hunter but it can be any hostile warship), it will join in. This can happen even if it wasn't strictly in combat range when you initiated the battle; in that case it'll need a while to catch up, but it will. In a naval battle, you and your opponent(s) will be able to exchange fire, run away from the other by creating enough distance, or start a boarding (and a sword fight) by sailing into the other. Controls during a naval battle are as follows: 4, 6: turn your ship left and right, respectively. Turning rate is dependent on the type of ship, whether or not you are turning into the wind (which is a lot slower), and any damage/lack of crew. A ship with Copper Plating gets a slight bonus to its turning ability. 8: raise sails. By default, sails on a ship are raised. This allows the ship to sail faster than with reefed sails, but the sails are also vulnerable to combat damage. 2: lower sails. This reduces the ship's top speed, but allows for slightly tighter turning circles, and provides a lot of protection against sail damage from enemy cannons. 1: switch to grape shot. This ammo type has a short range, but is effective in taking enemy crew out of the fight while doing little damage to the enemy ship. Great for preparing for boarding while leaving your prize intact. You can only switch to this if you ship has the Grape Shot upgrade. 3: switch to round shot. This is the default ammo type; it has the longest range and does damage mostly to enemy hull and cannons. It also damages crew and sails, but not as much as the ammo types specialized to do so. Remember that enough hull damage will sink a ship, which is rarely your intention - its treasures will sink along with it. Use round shot carefully, especially against small targets. 7: switch to chain shot. This ammo type has a shorter range than round shot (but longer than grape shot), and is meant specifically to destroy sails with. It does little damage to a ship otherwise. Excellent for reducing an enemy's speed, either to be able to catch up with or outrun them. It will rarely do any significant hull damage, but be aware that totally destroying the rigging on ships you intend to capture and keep will really reduce your fleet's overall speed. You can only switch to this ammo if your ship has the Chain Shot upgrade. 9: change camera views between the overhead view and a "chase camera" of sorts which zooms in on your ship and uses an angle that lets you see the position of the enemy relative to your own ship. Which camera mode you should use is largely a matter of personal preference. I usually just stick with overhead. ----------- AI BEHAVIOR ----------- Depending on level and the relative strengths and weaknesses of your ships, the AI may behave in several different ways: - If the enemy has more cannons, it will try to weaken your ship as much as it can before boarding you. When in range it will use chain shot to slow you down and grape shot to thin out your crew, assuming it has these upgrades. The AI will frequently mix round shot and chain shot in a single volley. - If the enemy is at a disadvantage with cannons but has a crew comparable to or bigger than yours, it will attempt to ram and board you as fast as possible. - If the enemy is grossly outmatched, it will attempt to run away from you, possibly firing a few broadsides at you to slow you down first (most notably chain shot). - If the enemy is too weak to beat you and too slow to escape - usually this happens after you've hit them a few times - they'll strike the colours and surrender their ship without a fight. They may still try to sail away from you, but they will no longer fire and as soon as you come close or board them, it's over. There are a couple of exceptions to the behavior above: - Merchant ships are more likely to surrender than warships. For instance, if a Sloop contains a new governor, its crew will likely fight until the end even if you outmatch them. Pirates, too, hate to surrender. - Named pirates are very unlikely to surrender, but they can. - Villains (Raymondo, Montalban and Mendoza) never surrender. If you pummel their ship enough it will seem like they do - you get the victory screen and everything - but immediately after the usual ship battle scene starts anyway. Note that you also can't sink these guys - their hull damage will not go beyond 99%. ------- TACTICS ------- When fighting a naval battle, you need to strike a balance between defeating your enemy and not damaging your prize too much. It may be very tempting to just pummel them with round shot, especially if you outmatch your opponent. But if you intend to capture the enemy ship, this approach leaves you with a very damaged prize that will slow you down a lot and cost a lot to repair when you finally limp it to the nearest port. Even if you don't intend to hang on to a ship, you run a significant risk of sinking it if you hit it too hard, and all its cargo and gold will sink along with it. On the lower difficulty levels, many players prefer not to shoot at the enemy during a naval battle at all. They just head straight for them for a quick ram and settle the deal with a sword fight. This is a sound approach for enemies that have far less crew than you (and not enough guns to tear you apart before you reach them). On Apprentice and to an extent on Journeyman, this also works against enemies that are stronger than you, as you'll be able to make up the difference with good fencing. On the higher levels, however, this approach is suicidal against a powerful opponent. Their guns are more accurate and do more damage, they are better able to run circles around you and hold off your boarding as much as possible, and when you do manage to board them, you'll find them tough opponents in fencing. The size of your crew against theirs is a major factor in how difficult the swordfighting will be (see paragraph 6.2), and you *need* to do your naval battles correctly to cut them down to size first. As a rule of thumb, on Adventurer level and above, try not to board an enemy ship until their crew isn't much bigger than yours. Preferably smaller, but just about the same is good enough if you can handle a sword. Here's a few ways to get there: - Pick the right ship for the job. Different players have different preferences, but the choice is mostly between Sloop, Brig and Frigate types. Sloops are fast and small, and perfect for running circles around an enemy. Frigates have a lot of firepower and can stand more punishment, as well as carry more men so that you can usually go straight for a ram and don't have to weaken your enemies first. Brigs strike a good balance between the two. In each class, you're best off with the largest ship within it (Royal Sloop, Brig of War, Ship of the Line), but every type is servicable. Avoid using other types of ships for battle; only the combat galleon types (Fast/War/Flag Galleon) are somewhat suitable, and they are too slow and cumbersomem to engage anything small. - Use round shot at long range to knock out enemy cannons and do damage to all other parts of the ship. Be careful not to overdo it, especially against a small ship. A Large Frigate or Ship of the Line can sink a Barque-sized or smaller ship with ONE broadside if it's a particularly good shot. - At medium range, use chain shot to destroy the enemy's rigging. This will slow them down and make them much easier to catch. If you destroy an enemy's riggine entirely (you'll heard their ship groan and ground to a halt if you do), most enemies will surrender even if they still have a good supply of cannons and active crew. Of course, if you intend to keep the ship, you probably don't want to leave it entirely without sails. - At short range, grape shot works wonders in reducing enemy crew while leaving the ship almost untouched. This is *the* way to prepare for an imminent boarding; be careful not to actually touch the ship before you are ready to board it. They *will* try to board you before you can hit them with grape shot too often. - The speed with which your cannons load is directly dependent on the size of your crew, their morale (happy crews load faster) and the presence of a Gunner specialist on your ship. Range of your shots is increased by the Fine Shot Powder upgrade. Accuracy is increased by the Bronze Cannon upgrade and by picking the Gunnery skill for yourself. - While it's easier to hit the enemy along the sides of his ships, a shot that "grazes" over a ship front to aft or aft to front does more damage. Keep this in mind for yourself as well: heading straight for your enemy through their broadsides is not usually a good idea. You can get away with it on low levels but you'll get slaughtered on Swashbuckler. - If you have a lot of cannons, you can fire a "mixed shot" by switching to a different type of ammo just after firing. Your fire will come out in two bursts, and the second will be of the type you switched to. I haven't found much practical use for it, but the option is there. One player suggested using this when you are using a Ship of the Line or another heavily armed ship against a small target: start with round fire, then switch to grape shot to make half of your cannonballs fall short. Helps to keep you from accidentally sinking your target. - To dodge enemy fire at long range, sail in whichever direction is fastest due to the wind; even if that's straight away from your enemy. The shot is aimed at the position you were in when it was fired, so if you're no longer there when it lands, you're safe. At short range, keep maneuvering to stay away from the enemy's sides. If you're a smaller ship, you'll be able to keep out of its sights and pummel it with your own broadsides. In terms of sailing, there's a few things to be aware of: - You are, of course, much faster running before the wind than going against it. You are also more maneuverable, which is new since Pirates and Pirates Gold. Turning into the wind is slow and cumbersome and sometimes you might not even manage it at all; you just get blown back. Turn *away* from the wind whenever you can. - If you need to catch an enemy that is upwind, zig zag against the wind, don't sail straight. Note that smaller ships are better at sailing against the wind than larger ones. In other words, to outrun a smaller vessel, try to be upwind; to outrun a larger one, try to be downwind. "Outrunning" in this case can be read either as trying to catch up or trying to flee. - You can pick out your starting position relative to the enemy on the world map. When you initiate a battle, your positions will be the same as they were on the map. Use this to your advantage; for instance if you want to be upwind from your enemy, maneuver to the east of his ship before you start combat. If you're attacking an escorted ship, you might want to move in behind it so you can grab it before the escort can turn around to engage you. Works very well if it's something slow like a War Galleon. ------- OUTCOME ------- A naval battle can end in the following ways: 1. Retreat: the distance between the ships becomes so great that they lose sight of each other. How big this distance is depends on the time of day: it's easier to lose each other at night. If this occurs, the battle ends and the enemy ship disappears off the map; it has either gotten away or been shaken off, depending on your perspective. If you've damaged the enemy ship at all, you are said to have "engaged" it, which appears in your log and earns you a happiness point with the enemies of the ship's nation. Otherwise you gain nothing. 2. Boarding: if you ram the enemy ship or they ram you, and the enemy is not so low on morale that they'll surrender, a sword fight ensues (see paragraph 6.2) that'll decide the outcome. 3. Sunk: if either ship takes on 100% hull damage - which basically only happens with round shot - that ship will sink. If it's the enemy, the battle is concluded, and you gain no plunder. You do gain one or two happiness points with the enemies of the ship's nation, depending on if it's a merchant or a warship you sunk. Your benefactors don't care if you sink or capture your enemies; but you are likely interested in loot, so sinking enemies is rarely your objective. If you're the unlucky sod to be sunk, you are transferred to another ship. You lose whatever cargo/crew you can't carry anymore on the remainder of your ships, and you lose a portion of your gold depending on how many other ships you have. If you don't have other ships anymore, you are marooned and will spend some time on a deserted island waiting to be rescued. Your loot, of course, is gone. 4. Surrender: an enemy ship may surrender to you if you sail close to it and they know they can neither win nor escape. Sometimes, you actually have to board them before they make this decision. Either way, the ship is yours without a fight; the swordfighting sequence is skipped. In a fight that involves escort ships as well, things work slightly differently: - If the escorted ship gets out of range, the battle ends in 'retreat' even if you are still engaged with the escort ship. The ships do not disappear from the world map, but they do appear some distance away from you and you'll need to catch up if you want to fight them again. - If the escorted ship is sunk or boarded, or it surrenders, the battle ends, and (after the sword fight if applicable) you are returned to the world map. The escort ship now becomes an independent warship which may decide to chase you or flee to the nearest port. You can then engage it separately if you wish. - The battle continues if the escort ship is sunk or if you board it (after the sword fight). Escort ships never surrender. Victories against escort ships are not noted on your record and do not get you any happiness points, unless you engage them separately after taking the escorted ship. For the most part, avoiding the escort ship is the best thing to do. You can always engage it afterwards if you like, and that way you *do* get credit for it. Escort ships aren't always easy to avoid, though, especially since they think nothing of sailing straight *through* the ship they're escorting to get to you. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [6.2] FENCING -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -------- OVERVIEW -------- Of all the minigames in Sid Meier's Pirates, this is the one you'll see the most often. Many naval battles end in boarding action and an accompanying sword fight, and you'll need to draw steel in many other scenarios as well. Sword fights can occur in the following cases: - You board an enemy ship (or they board you) and the enemy does not decide to surrender without a fight; - You decide to teach the annoying captain of the guard some manners when he is bothering the barmaid; - You track down a fugitive criminal to the tavern of the town he is hiding in; - You decide to fight a duel against the fiance of a governor's daughter you are trying to charm; - You attack a town with such an overwhelming force that your men can storm the fort unchallenged; - You track down Marquis de la Montalban to his hideout and fight your final battle against him. Ship battles are the most common, and the most interesting because the fight between your crew and the enemy's plays a big factor in the fight. When attacking a town with an overwhelming force, this factor is present as well, but you can barely lose those fights anyway (they wouldn't happen if you weren't badly outmatching the enemy to begin with). In all other fights, it's just you against the enemy without anybody else influencing the fight. In a sword fight, your opponent and you start in the middle of whatever area you are fighting in, and you both have the objective to drive back the other to their end. This is done by scoring hits on the enemy while not getting hit in return. The first one to get his back driven against the wall - or whatever else, depending on the area - loses the battle, with various consequences. You have the following moves available during battle: 7: high chop. A fairly slow attack that drives the enemy back 2 steps if it connects, or 1 step if it is parried. No damage if the enemy ducks under it, and in fact, you'll be overbalanced for a moment if he does. 1: low slash. Just like the high chop, it drives back the enemy 2 steps if it hits and 1 if it is parried, but it can also be jumped over. In that case you'll be overbalanced for a while. 4: thrust. A quicker attack than the high chop and the low slash, but it only drives back the enemy 1 step. If it's parried it has no effect at all. You will be overbalanced for a short while but not as bad as with the stronger, slower attacks. You may be able to hit an enemy with a thrust while they're preparing a high chop or low slash, cancelling their attack and driving them back. If you and your enemy thrust at the same time, you usually end up parrying each other with no ill effect to either side. 8: jump. Used to jump over an enemy low slash. Successfully jumping over one will usually give you the time to counterattack. 2: duck. Used to avoid a high chop. If you pull this off you'll usually have the time for a counterattack. 5: parry. Used to stop thrusts, or to reduce the damage for a high chop or low slash. It's better to avoid the latter two when you can though, as parrying them merely softens the blow and does not give you time for a counterattack either. 6: taunt. This does not drive back the enemy, but it does swing the advantage bar in your favour (see below). It's best only to do this instead of an attack while the enemy is overbalanced, or you'll likely get hit while you are busy making fun of him. Winning a battle is theoretically as simple as avoiding your enemies' attacks and countering with your own. In practice, it's made a little more complicated by the advantage bar. This red & white bar at the bottom of the screen changes as the battle develops to shift advantage to either you or your opponent, and directly affects the speed at which you both move. If you have the advantage, your opponent becomes slow and easy to predict. If your opponent has the advantage, he'll unleash a flurry of blows upon you and you'll have a hard time just fending them off, let alone countering. The advantage bar is affected by the following: - Every time you dodge a blow or parry a thrust (and only a thrust), advantage shifts to you. If your enemy likewise avoids your attacks, advantage shifts to him. - If either side taunts the other, advantage shifts to them. This bonus is nullified if they take a hit during a poorly timed taunt. - If either side loses part of their crew, advantage shifts away from them. - Advantage generally moves toward the neutral position if nothing happens. Howevever, it will tend to stay on the side with the biggest crew. The last two points aren't a factor if there's no crew in the battle, but in most cases there will be. This is why having a larger crew than your enemy is very important on higher levels. It will cause advantage to stay on your side for the most part, and it will also increase the chance that your enemy loses crew rather than you, further keeping the battle on your side. On Swashbuckler level in particular, losing advantage is a very dangerous thing to happen. It's possible for your enemy to become so fast that he can no longer be hit, and/or that his attacks become impossible to properly avoid. If this happens, it takes luck and iron will to shift the battle back in your favour. Usually when things start to go wrong, you're doomed. On lower levels, advantage is a far lesser concern as you'll still be faster than your enemy even if he has the advantage. The difference between difficulty levels is more pronounced in swordfighting than in any other aspect of the game. ------- TACTICS ------- On Apprentice level, you'll find that almost anything goes in sword battles. You can just randomly attack and usually connect. Enemies are driven back quickly and defeated before you know it. You can completely ignore the advantage bar and come out of virtually any battle as a victor, even if your crew is much smaller than the enemy's. Starting on Journeyman, that approach won't work anymore. Enemies will block and dodge random attacks, and if advantage shifts away from you, you'll feel it. Better tactics are needed and the higher the level, the more you have to stick with them. First off, you need to choose a weapon for each battle if you're playing on any level other than Apprentice. Your choice is between: RAPIER: faster attacks but slower defense. LONGSWORD: balanced for attack and defense. CUTLASS: slower attacks but faster defense. In the previous Pirates games, there was a difference in damage and range between the weapons; one effect of this was that the Rapier was nearly always the best choice. This is no longer the case. Weapons are now largely a matter of personal preference, and on higher levels it is especially important to pick what suits your style best. Most players seem to agree that the Rapier is suitable for low levels and you should stick with the Cutlass on the higher ones. When you're in battle, it's best to wait for the enemy to attack; he won't make you wait for long. Identify the style of attack, then press the right button in response. Jump over low attacks, duck under high ones, and parry thrusts. It *will* take you a few battles to get the hang of this, but you'll learn soon enough. How much time you have to dodge depends on the level. Don't worry about dodging too early; your character will hold position until the enemy attack goes past. Even if that means hovering in the air for a few seconds after jumping. If you press the wrong button in response to an enemy's attack, don't panic. Quickly press the right button and your character will correct himself accordingly. As long as you do it before the enemy's attack connects, you can still dodge or parry even if you started off incorrectly. When the enemy's attack is past, you can strike back. You don't have to wait for your character to return to neutral position; the attack is initated as soon as you hit the button. So if you're still hanging in the air and press attack, your character will instantly be back on the ground to strike his blow. On the higher levels you *must* take advantage of this if you want to place any hits. Do be careful not to press the button too quickly; if your enemy is still attacking you might get hit after all. For the most part, you want to counter with chops and slashes for better damage. However, a thrust is quick and can sometimes hit where the other two can't. Consider using it if your opponent is particularly fast (due to his skill and possibly advantage on his side), especially if you're fighting with a Cutlass. Much better to hit with a thrust than to miss with a slower attack. On Swashbuckler you may want to stick with thrusts entirely unless you are brave enough to use the Rapier. You'll need to keep an eye on the advantage meter while fighting, especially on the higher levels. If you let it shift to the enemy he will soon become so fast that you can't fight him properly anymore. If this happens, dodge or parry his next attack, and then taunt instead of attacking. This will shift advantage back to you. Now dodge his next attack and start countering again. If you're still having trouble after all this, keep the following in mind: - If you are having trouble getting your attacks in quickly enough, switch to a faster offensive weapon. Rapier is best for this, though I find it dangerous to use on higher levels. Your mileage may vary. - If you are having trouble defending quickly enough, make sure you are using the cutlass. It helps immensely. The only possible disadvantage is having to do more thrusts instead of chops and slashes, but thrusts win battles too as long as you don't get hit. - When deciding to either thrust or chop/slash as a counterattack, keep your opponent's weapon in mind as well. If he's using a cutlass, you'll find his attacks easy to dodge but he'll block your counters just as easily. But if he uses a rapier, mercilessly counter with chops and slashes as he can't defend nearly as quickly. - If your opponent is slow you can sometimes hit him with a quick thrust while he is setting up a slash or a chop. Keep this in mind especially if you are using the Rapier, which is slow on the defense but can thrust very well. - You *will* get in trouble if you ignore advantage. Keep it on your side. You may not be able to do this if you consistently attack opponents with more men on board than you have, so pick your battles wisely. Many sword fights are lost not because your reflexes aren't up to it, but because you insisted on fighting that pirate hunter with only 20 men on your Sloop. Keep your crew up and avoid spreading them across too many captured ships (particularly damaged ones). Compare crew sizes before you engage in a battle. - Balanced swords and fencing shirts help improve your character's battle speed. Get these items off governor's daughters or mysterious travellers. They are especially important on higher difficulty levels. Also, getting armor helps; the leather vest will sometimes deflect blows for you if you failed to dodge or block them, and the metal cuiraiss will do this even more often. - Skill at Fencing is a good choice on higher difficulty levels. It will speed up your character considerably and make a loss of advantage a lot less dangerous. - If you react particularly quickly to an enemy attack, your character will do a flourish and counterattack automatically. This is mostly luck, but the chance increases quite a bit if you've picked skill at Fencing. Your opponents will do the same to you if you attack randomly, however; this is why you should rely on counterattacks only once you move beyond Apprentice. - Be aware of the effect of your health on fencing. Your character will become slower with age whenever his health category drops a notch. Try to offset this with items to either make you quicker or to hold off the effects of aging, but most importantly, know when it's time to retire. You will eventually get too old to fight properly. ------- OUTCOME ------- Unlike in the previous Pirates games, you cannot flee from a sword fight. The possible outcomes are therefore win or lose. A battle can be won in two ways: - One fencer drives the opponent to the edge of the area; - In ship/fort battles only: one side runs out of crew and then takes another hit, forcing surrender. If you go into battle with small crews, be very aware of that second possible outcome. If you run out of crew you *can* still win, but you can't afford to take a single hit. What happens if you win or lose a battle depends on the setting. - If you win a ship battle, you'll automatically plunder their gold, and get to keep their cargo and their ship if you desire. If there is a specialist on board you don't yet have, he'll be added to your crew automatically. You may get the option to recruit additional crew from the enemy ship, and you may get information on the location of a villain if he was spotted in a city near where the battle took place. - If you lose a ship battle, your flagship is lost, along with a portion of your gold, and any excess cargo/crew your remaining ships can't carry. You will escape to one of your other ships. However, if it was your last ship, *or* if you are forced to surrender by running out of crew, you will not be able to escape. You are imprisoned in the nearest town if the enemy ship belonged to one of the four European nations, or marooned if you were defeated by a pirate. - If you win a fort battle, you get to plunder the town. If you somehow manage to lose one (shame on you, they're easy!), you get captured. - If you lose against a fiance, you won't be getting that governor's daughter. If you lose against an annoying captain of the guard, no ill effects occur except that you can forget about recruiting in that town for the time being. If you lose against a fugitive criminal, they will escape and never be seen again. I haven't yet tried out what happens if Montalban defeats you in his hideout. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [6.3] LAND BATTLES -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -------- OVERVIEW -------- Land battles usually occur when you decide to attack a town. In a turn based strategy minigame, you move your pirate units across the map, trying to outmaneuver and defeat the defenders. You win either by routing all defending units or by reaching the gates of the city with one of your units. You lose if all your units are routed. In order to attack a town, you must do either of two things: - Beach your ship some distance away from the town and march inside; pick the option to attack the town when it is presented. - Sail into a hostile town which opens fire on you as you try to enter, then pick the option to attack. The latter only works if the town opens fire on you; otherwise, you will just sail inside peacefully and never get the option to attack. For this reason, it is usually easier to use the former method. If you can't or don't want to, the best way to piss off a town enough to get fired upon is either to get a price placed on your head by its nation (just keep attacking them), or to get an individual grudge from the town. To do the latter, attacking ships coming in and going out of the town, and press the space bar a couple of times to bombard its fort with your cannons while on the world map. Especially on the higher levels, their patience runs thin, and you'll soon be able to attack them from sea. In terms of how the minigame works, it doesn't matter which approach you take. Either results in a land-based battle. The approach in which you have to maneuever your ship toward the fort while dodging its fire, popular in the last two Pirates games, is gone. When a battle starts, your crew and the enemy soldiers are divided up into a number of units varying between 6 and 9. You get one unit of officers (elite melee), and a number of pirate (melee) and buccanneer (ranged) units. These numbers are always equal, or have 1 more of pirates. So at the least you'll have 1 officers, 3 pirates and 2 buccanneers, and at the most 1 officers and 4 each of pirates and buccanneers. How your units are divided up depends on how many men you have compared to the enemy. The game always strives to make the units on both sides roughly as big, so if you outnumber the enemy you tend to have a lot of different units to work with. You can't choose how your units are divided up, but you can choose their starting position - sort of. When the battle starts, you can click 'change start location' to cycle through three different ones, and pick whichever one you think is best. The enemy units are placed after yours, and you get the first turn. Each turn you get the option to move your units and attack enemies. When all your units have moved, the opponent does the same. The battle continues until either side runs out of units, or one of your units reaches the city gates. ------- TACTICS ------- Be sure to read the manual section on land battles before you do any. This is the most complex minigame in terms of strategy and controls, so it's good to know the basics. Here are some tips on getting the most out of your land battles: - Buccaneers are weak in close combat and should never be exposed to it. Maneuver your pirate units such that no enemy can ever engage your buccaneers in melee. - Buccaneers can shoot *from* a forested square no problem and they can also shoot *at* an enemy in a forest, though damage is halved. However, they cannot shoot *through* a forested square even if you can see the enemy. The same restriction applies to all your ranged enemies. Shooting through friendly units and rough terrain is no problem at all. In fact, just behind an impassible rough terrain square is one of the best places for a buccaneer unit to be. - Enemies can be routed before the unit is destroyed by hitting them with one attack after another. This way, your buccaneers can defeat an enemy even if it's hiding in a forest, but you'll need to concentrate your attacks on one unit. Morale will drop to angry, then wavering, and finally panic, and at that point the next attack automatically defeats the unit regardless of how many men are left in it. - The single best way to beat any enemy unit is to flank it. If you attack from either of the sides or one of the three rear squares (so anywhere except from the three in front), your attack rating is doubled. This practically guarantees a win under all but the worst circumstances. - Infantry units have 2 moves, cavalry has 3. However, when either type of unit moves into a forest square, their turn ends. Indian units are the exception - they are therefore the only ones who can move into a forest and then immediately move again. Be aware of this advantage as they *will* use it to launch surprise attacks against your weak buccaneers, if you let them. - If a unit's first move is attacking an enemy unit, it may or may not be able to move again. This depends on how easily the battle is won. If it's a close call, it takes them the entire turn to do it. If you waltz over the enemy you get another move, assuming the enemy was not in a forest. - Enemy units will usually opt to shoot rather than engage in melee, unless they spot a weakened melee unit or can reach a buccaneer unit. Because of this, there's something to be said for *always* ending your turn in a forest square. - When enemies are in range of both your pirates and buccaneers, have your buccaneers soften up the enemy before you let your pirates have their turn. Use "skip turn" (SHIFT-7) liberally to let your units act in the order you want them to. - Enemy cavalry is very dangerous in the open field, especially if they're attacking. Don't let them catch any of your units, not even your powerful officers, out of a forest. If they attack you while you're in a forest their attack is greatly reduced and you can probably beat them off. If you can hit *them* while they're in a forest, you will slaughter them. If they don't let you lure them into a forest, shoot 'em from a distance with buccaneers or set up a flank attack. - Artillery is bad news. Not much to do except charge it with several units and engage it in melee as soon as possible. Try to approach it through the edge of a forest; move out of the forest and closer to the artillery, then back into the forest with your second move. This lets you advance at top speed without exposing yourself too much to its return fire. - If you can reach the gates of the town without finishing your enemies, do so unless you can wipe them all out the same turn. You might get a little less gold and not wipe out as many enemies this way, but nothing stops you from attacking the same town a second time right afterwards to get the rest; and if you've done well, this time you'll be facing a much smaller garrison. - If an enemy is too powerful for you, you can bring more men; but you can also convince indians and pirates in nearby villages/havens to attack the target and soften it up for you. Indians are preferred because they don't plunder the place even if their attack succeeds. Using pirates introduces the risk that they succeed and take all the gold before you can; use them only to soften up a powerful target they can't handle. This kind of preparation can be the difference between facing artillery or not, so give it some serious thought. ------- OUTCOME ------- A land battle can end in three ways. - If one of your units reaches the gates of the city, you win the battle and the sack commerces. You'll get an amount of plunder based on how many of the enemies you managed to defeat, and how wealthy the port is. If your force was particularly overwhelming, you will also get the option to install a new governor, thus switching the town's nationality. - If you rout all enemy units, you win the battle. You get the maximum amount of plunder and a bigger chance that you're allowed to replace the governor, though that still depends on how overwhelming your force was. - If all your units are routed, you and the other survivors (not every unit that falls in a land battle is killed, per sé) regroup at your ships. You gain nothing and you're left with a much smaller crew than before. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [6.4] DANCING -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -------- OVERVIEW -------- This is considered by most players to be the most difficult minigame, and in many ways it is. It requires more reflexes than sword fighting, that's for sure. However, unlike sword fighting, dance sequences aren't entirely random. There are set patterns in each dance and the real trick to getting good at dancing is to learn them. The better you know the patterns, the less you have to rely on reflexes to get through, and the better you will perform as a result. In a dance, you watch the hand signals the governor's daughter gives you to know which move to make next. Do it in time and you will perform the move with some degree of grace; if you time it perfectly you will add a flourish and look particulary elegant. Don't press anything in time or press the wrong button, and you'll stumble and get everybody's attention for all the wrong reasons. During the dance, a heart symbol at the top of the screen symbolizes how charmed the daughter is; this is determined directly by your performance on the dance floor. At the end, there are three possible outcomes based on how well you did: - If you danced poorly, the daughter will be annoyed and turn her back on you. No reward. - If you danced moderately well, the daughter will let you kiss her hand and you get a reward based on her beauty. - If you danced very well, you will sweep the daughter up in an embrace, and get a better reward (but still based on her beauty). It goes without saying (or does it?) that beautiful daughters are harder to please. Their dances are more complicated, and they're also less forgiving of mistakes. The difficulty level also factors into the complexity of each dance, and in how difficult the timing is. Practice with plain looking daughters on Apprentice while you're getting the hang of it, then gradually set your sights higher. You have six different dance steps available to you, under the 8, 2, 4, 6, 1 and 3 keys. The governor's daughter will show you in advance every time which you have to press; on lower difficulty levels, the right icon will also flash in the bottom right of the screen. The right time to press the button is just after the daughter finishes her hand gesture, or exactly when the icon flashes. If you'd rather work with the music, the right time to press the button is exactly on the beat after the daughter gestures. If you get the timing right, you will do a flourish; if you're off, you will still do the move correctly but without a flourish. -------- PATTERNS -------- Each dance is built up from a number of different patterns. Which ones appear and in which order is random, but once a pattern starts it will be finished. Thus, by learning the patterns, you can often predict which moves will come next. And when only the first one or two steps of each pattern is dependent on your reflexes and you reproduce the rest from memory, you will be able to dance well even if your timing isn't all that. The patterns are as follows: BASIC SIDE-TO-SIDE 4-6-4-6, or 6-4-6-4. The two often follow each other, so you get things like 4-6-4-6-6-4-6-4. Not guaranteed, but on especially on Apprentice that is a very common one. Timing on these is standard and easy to get right. BASIC PIROUETTE 1-1-1-1 or 3-3-3-3. Always four in a row, with standard timing. Once a pattern starts with a pirouette it is guaranteed to be this pattern; there aren't any others that start this way. ADVANCED PIROUETTE This one mixes the two previous patterns, and is either 4-3-4-3-4-3-4-3 or the opposite, 6-1-6-1-6-1-6-1. You can recognize this pattern by the fact that it runs faster than the basic side-to-side. If you just came out of another pattern and you immediately get a cue to do a 4 or a 6 without any pause, it'll be this one, not the basic side-to-side. The pattern runs twice as fast as the previous two. BASIC MARCHE 8-1-1-8-1-1, guaranteed. There is no mirrored variant of this one. You recognize this, of course, by the fact that it starts with an 8. It starts after a brief pause just like the other patterns (barring the advanced pirouette), but it runs at double speed. There is another pause halfway, so it is more like P-8-1-1-P-8-1-1. ADVANCED MARCHE 8-2-1-1-2-8-3-3. The most complicated pattern you'll be getting, and annoyingly, you can't tell it apart from the basic one until the second step, which will be 2 instead of the 1 you expect. The whole pattern is at double speed, so you need to go through it quickly. This one *will* trip you up the first few times, but once you've gotten it memorized, you will be able to get a good number of flourishes out of it. This is all the patterns you'll be seeing on Apprentice and Journeyman. I think I saw some different ones on higher levels, but they were rare and I might just have been confused. More info on those as I get it. --------- MORE HELP --------- If you just can't get the patterns right, there are a few things you can do to make dancing easier: - If you press the wrong button and you know it, immediately press the right one after. Your character will correct; you lose the chance at a flourish no matter how good your timing is, but you will not stumble. In fact, it appears that if you just mash several keys and the right one is among them, often the game will accept the move as correct. This isn't a good way to learn to dance, but it's nice to know the catchnet is there. - Pick the Wit and Charm "skill" at the start of the game. This skill will increase the time you get to make each move. You'll still stumble if you do it wrong, but you can get away with sloppier timing. Flourishes still require perfect timing, however. - The Calfskin Boots item, or even better the Dancing Slippers, give you a set % chance to make a correct move even if you press the wrong button or take too long to press one. They'll help reduce the number of mistakes you make. Get them from mysterious travellers or as a bribe from criminals. - Some people have reported good results from pausing the game (shift-P) every time the governor's daughter gives her cue, watching what she's indicating, then unpausing and immediately doing the movie. They even manage to get a lot of flourishes with this approach. It's not entirely fair, but you could try this if you really can't get it right otherwise, and perhaps you'll find it useful as a learning aid when you're still getting used to the dancing. Most of all, though, practice makes perfect. All of us struggled with this when we started, and many of us have gotten very good at it just by doing it over and over. Never pass up a chance to dance with a governor's daughter, and you will learn before you know it. ------- OUTCOME ------- Dancing properly with a daughter will initiate or advance your romance subplot with her, and comes with various rewards as well. Refer to paragraph 7.7 on romance for the whole story. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [6.5] SNEAKING -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- This is likely the minigame you'll see least often. Sneaking happens in only two instances: if you decide you have business in a town that won't let you enter peacefully (and that you can't/don't want to storm by force), or when you are trying to escape captivity. In the former case, you start at the city gates and try to reach either the Governor's mansion or the Tavern. In the latter case, you start in the middle of the city and want to reach the gates. Guards walk around the city carrying lanterns, and you want to stay out of their sight. They will spot you if you get too close, and if you are spotted the alarm will sound and all guards will pick up speed to catch you. If they manage it, you are thrown in prison, end of story; no fighting. To stay out of the reach of guards, keep the following in mind: - Guards can only see in front of them. If you walk (don't run, you can be heard that way) up to one from behind, you will automatically knock him out. They'll stay down, so that's one less to worry about. - If you walk up to a wall, you can climb over it. Guards can't do this, so this is an easy way to lose one. - If you walk up to a haystack, you will automatically hide behind it. Then you can wait for guards to pass and come out of hiding when all is safe. - By holding shift you can run rather than walk, but this limits your vision and also makes more noise, potentially alerting nearby guards. Use sparingly. Of course, if the alarm sounds and they're on to you, you'll want to run. - I've been told, but I'm not sure about this, that day will dawn if you take too long. Furthermore, supposedly this results in automatic capture. I'll see if I can confirm this for the next version of this FAQ. If you reach the Governor's mansion or the tavern, you will be able to conduct business there normally and you will automatically leave town afterwards. You can't access any other of the town's services through sneaking. If you absolutely must visit the merchant or shipwright in a hostile town, your only choice is sacking the town. You can access all the options afterwards. If you succeed in reaching the city gates when escaping captivity, you can resume your career. But if you're caught when trying this, expect your prison sentence to be lengthened without another chance to escape. =============================================================================== [7] QUESTS =============================================================================== This section details the various quests you can embark on during the game. Each paragraph describes a different type, going through all the steps and giving advice on how to perform them. Since a good number of your fame points are determined by your success at quests, be sure to take them seriously. As a bit of general advice pertaining to all quests, it's usually to your benefit to embark on one as soon as you get info on it. If you do not, you will often get redundant information on quests you already know about, effectively making it go to waste. No sense hearing where Raymondo is if you already know about the family member he can tell you about, or getting lost city map pieces for a map you've already completed. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [7.1] CRIMINALS -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Fugitive criminal quests start when you dance moderately well with a plain governor's daughter. You may also get them if you dance better than that or with a more attractive daughter if the usual reward you would get has run out (e.g. you would get an item but you already have all the items you can get this way, or you'd get information on Raymondo but you've already rescued all of your family). In these cases, the governor's daughter will tell you the location of a criminal wanted by the nation she belongs to. The criminal is in a random city which may or may not belong to the same nation that's after him. To catch him, you need to sail to the city in question, visit the tavern and talk to the bartender. He'll bring you in contact with the criminal. You must then face the criminal in a sword fight, and beat him. Once you do, he'll surrender. You can then choose to make him stand trial, or to accept a bribe if he offers you one. The former gets you a reward between 1000 and 5000 gold, and one or two happiness points with the nation that was after him (two if he is worth at least 3000 gold). The bribe takes the form of an item, which is take it or leave it - if you take it, you let the criminal go and he disappears forever. No gold, no happiness points. It is up to you what's worth more to you. On the higher difficulty levels, where items are harder and usually more expensive to get, you may find it more appealing to accept bribes than on the lower levels where you can usually buy them easily from travellers. You can have an infinite number of criminal quests open at any time, but you can only catch one during a visit to a tavern. If two criminals hide in the same town, you must catch one, leave town, reenter, and only then you can go after the second. You should also make sure you catch a criminal before you revisit the same governor's daughter. If you do not, you risk getting the same info repeated as you charm her further, which is quite a waste. Nothing quite like giving her an expensive Diamond Necklace only to be reminded that a 1000 gold reward can be gotten in Santiago. Criminal quests are a minor pastime, not particularly important to go after but worth doing if you're in the area. On the higher levels, you may find this a painless way of obtaining items you can't get from governor's daughters. The travellers usually ask loads of money for them. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [7.2] NAMED PIRATES -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- "Captain! There's a steering wheel sticking out of your pants!" "Arr, it's drivin' me nuts!" The Caribbean is littered with pirate havens, and from nine of them (chosen randomly), named pirates sail. These guys are all modelled after real life pirates and privateers, and in this game they are your direct competitors. They all have a certain amount of plunder to their name and various other stats (ships taken, towns sacked etc.). One possible objective you can set for yourself is to outdo them, though this doesn't get you any fame points directly. A much more profitable course of action is to track them down and defeat them. Each pirate sails a well-upgraded ship, and the most notorious ones have pretty good ship types at that. All have the maximum number of guns and close to the maximum crew on board. They also each have a good haul of gold in their hold which increases over the course of the game. Finally, you get a fame point for every pirate you put out of business. If you defeat a named pirate, they're gone from the game for good. Finding named pirates is usually a matter of talking to barmaids. If one operates somewhat near the port you have stopped in, you may be told about the location of their home base, and you will usually find them sailing nearby. Named pirates usually do not attack you, though if you've found and stolen their buried treasure before (see paragraph 7.3), they will chase you down if they think they can handle you. You may also run across them randomly while they are out hunting for merchant ships to plunder. Named pirates never lose battles against other ships, so the only one who can actually defeat them is you. Once you locate a named pirate, defeating them is done in the same way as you take any other ship; a naval battle followed by a sword fight. They are a little more skilled at both than most of your opponents, but not very much so. A pirate can be defeated by sinking his ship, but this is a total waste because of the large amounts of gold they all carry. You *can* also pummel their ships into surrendering so you don't have to do a sword fight, but this is rare. They don't give up easily. The following is a list of the named pirates in order of most notorious to least, with the ship they sail and the value of their buried treasures. The gold they have in their vaults is usually 10-20% higher than this at the start of the game, and increases as they take down more targets. One player reported getting as much as 70000 gold off Henry Morgan's ship. PIRATE FLAGSHIP BURIED TREASURE Henry Morgan Large Frigate 10000 Blackbeard Frigate 9000 Captain Kidd ? 8000 Jean Lafittev ? 7000 L'Olonnais ? 6000 Stede Bonnett ? 5000 Roc Brasiliano ? 4000 Bart Roberts ? 3000 Jack Rackham ? 2000 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [7.3] BURIED TREASURES -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Each of your nine named rivals has part of his loot buried somewhere in the Caribbean. To increase your wealth - and to earn extra fame points while you are at it - you can find these treasures. To be able to start looking for a treasure, you need to talk to mysterious travellers in taverns until one offers to sell you a part of a treasure map. They will often (but not always) sell you a map for whichever pirate's home base is nearest to your current location. The treasure always spawns somewhat near your current location regardless of how near said pirate is, though. If you're playing on Apprentice, buying one part is enough; you get a (usually) clear map which shows you the direct area around the treasure, tells you in the vicinity of which port to look, and shows you several distinctive landmarks to help you find the right spot. On Journeyman, you only get a quarter of the map initially, but if you find another mysterious traveller to sell you a piece you will get the other three quarters right away. From Adventurer level on, you need to buy four separate map pieces to get the entire thing. You don't *have* to gather an entire map to be able to find a treasure; if you think you can do it with the parts you have, go ahead and give it a try. You do need to get at least one piece for a treasure to spawn in the first place, though; you can't run into them randomly. You also can't hunt for more than one treasure at a time, as map pieces for a new treasure aren't sold to you until you find the previous one. Every map includes instructions on which city's area to search, assuming you have the bottom right part of the map which tells you so. If you collect all four pieces it will also say in which general direction of the city the treasure is. The rule here is that the treasure isn't necessarily right outside the city or even on the same land mass, but it will always be closer to that city than any other. How useful that is to you depends on which city it is. If a treasure is near Rio de La Hacha, that's helpful because there are other cities near it, and you know it has to be relatively close by. On the other hand, if a treasure is "near" Vera Cruz it could be damn near anywhere in Mexico. Thankfully pirate treasure almost never spawn that far in the middle of nowhere, but you'll be remembering this when you're after a Lost City or the hideout of Montalban. Sometimes, a treasure map is kind enough to include the city itself on the map, or something else that's easily recognizable, like a named settlement. Usually however you have to make do with a named landmark, something like Captain's Shallows or Rum Rock or a dozen other randomly generated names. These are never in the same spot twice when you start a new game. The way to find them is to first get to the city that's mentioned on your treasure map, then sail around it until you spot the landmark with the right name. Landmarks look like brown rocks just off the shore, and their name will only show up if you come near them. On Apprentice level, if you are near the right landmark, its name will alternate with the text "Buried treasure landmark!" so you really can't miss it. Once you know roughly where to beach your ship, do so and use the in-land landmarks (which only appear once you're marching) to get your bearings. Head for the red X as best as you can, frequently checking your map. You can use the spyglass to see landmarks a little bit before they actually appear on screen. The treasure location itself looks like a mound of sand with a big red skull & crossbones on it and pillars of skulls around. To dig up the treasure, simply walk into it and your men will do the rest. The value of each treasure is fixed between 2000 and 10000 gold; the treasures of the more notorious pirates are worth more. Each treasure also gets you 1 fame point, as well as the wrath of the pirate you stole it from (assuming you haven't defeated him already). Count on said pirate to chase and attack you if you ever meet him and you don't outmatch him. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [7.4] LOST FAMILY MEMBERS -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- One of the major quests of the game is to find the four family members that Marquis de la Montalban takes into bondage during the introduction scene. These are your sister, uncle, aunt and grandfather (presumably, your parents are on the fleet that gets lost?). Conveniently, all four have been shipped to the Caribbean and are now locked in little shacks littered all over the place, waiting for you to rescue them. But to do that, first you need to find out where they are. Surprisingly, it's not Montalban who can tell you where they are, but one of his henchmen: Baron Raymondo. To get information on your family members, you need to track down Raymondo, defeat him, and get him to give up map pieces detailing their location. Strangely enough, you only get one piece at a time, and to get more information you must then track him down and defeat him again. This can mean that you need to find and defeat Raymondo no less than 16 times over the course of your career. Nobody's quite sure whether this is an intentional quirk or the result of a randomization bug. After all, in the original games, the villians you needed to track down were randomly generated. There are three ways to get a lead on Raymondo and start the hunt: - Talk to the abbot at a Jesuit mission, and get lucky. He might give you Raymondo's location just like that. - Talk to a mysterious traveller at any tavern. If he tells you he has news about your family, pay his fee and he'll give you Raymondo's location. - Dance near-perfectly with an attractive governor's daughter, or moderately with a beautiful one, and they will tell you where to find Raymondo. Once you have a lead, you can have your information updated by talking to bartenders or by capturing ships near the city where Raymondo is supposed to be. You'll be told if he's still there or if he's moving somewhere else by now. Raymondo rarely stays in one port for long, and he's usually out on the sea in his upgraded and well-stocked War Galleon. Just keep chasing him down and getting your info updated until you spot him, then attack his ship. You need to defeat Raymondo in a regular ship battle and sword fight. You cannot sink his ship (it won't take more than 99% hull damage no matter how much you hit it) and you cannot avoid the sword fight. Fortunately, if you wear his ship and crew down enough, it's not a particularly challenging battle. When you beat Raymondo, you get a map piece for whatever family member you are currently looking for. On Apprentice you need to gather only two map pieces per family member to get the entire map; on all other levels you need to get four. Finding the family member then works exactly like hunting for a pirate treasure. Use the landmarks on your map to track down the right location, then march to it. You're in the right spot when you see a low blueish building. You will automatically rescue your lost family member when you find it. You get 1 fame point for every map piece you discover regarding a lost family member. If you manage to find one without getting the entire map, you still get the total 4 fame points for that member. Furthermore, any family member you rescue gives you the location of Marquis de la Montalban (see paragraph 7.6). If you already know where he is or have even already defeated him, you get a Lost City map piece instead (see paragraph 7.5). As soon as you rescue one family member, any further leads you get on Raymondo will be regarding the next. Raymondo will stop appearing when you've rescued your entire family. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [7.5] LOST CITIES -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- "Lost a city, master Kenobi has! How embarassing, how embarassing." Lost Cities are kind of a wrap-up quest that is offered as an alternative to the main one of vanquishing Montalban. There are four Lost Cities in the Caribbean belonging to various famouns Indian tribes, and finding them is a daunting but profitable task. As with pirate treasures and family members, you need to gather map pieces, but you'll find that with Lost Cities this is only the beginning. They are usually in very out of the way and hard to find places. First off, to get a Lost City map piece, you must do one of the following: - Rescue a family member, and already know the location of Montalban or have vanquished him; - Dance near-perfectly with a beautiful governor's daughter, under the same conditions; - Rescue a governor's daughter from the evil Colonel Mendoza. You basically get a Lost City map piece as an alternative to Montalban's location if you don't need it, or by rescuing a daughter (something you will typically do only once). On Apprentice level, a single map piece will get you the entire map to the lost city just like with pirate treasures. On Journeyman, two pieces will complete the map, and on higher levels you need to find four pieces to get it complete. You don't strictly need the entire map to be able to find a Lost City; in fact I have heard uncomfired rumours that you can blunder across a Lost City before you have *any* of its map pieces. If true, that means Lost Cities spawn at the start of a game, unlike pirate treasures and family members. Finding a Lost City takes a lot of luck and patience. They are often in the middle of Mexico or other big land masses, nowhere near the city they are claimed to be in the vicinity of (though closer to there than any other). There is often a lack of shoreline on the Lost City maps, making it very hard to have any idea of where to start your search. All I can advice you to do is to check the map carefully, and sail around the coast hoping to recognize any landmarks. Failing that, you'll have to march, check your treasure map frequently, and hope for something recognizable. A Lost City looks like two red poles opposite each other. Quarter map pieces for Lost Cities are worth 1 fame point each. Completing a map (or finding a Lost City without completing the map first) earns you the full 4 fame points for that city, and a chance to start gathering map pieces for the next. Each Lost City you find also has a littlle bit of treasure waiting for you...50000 gold, to be exact. A fitting reward for the headache of finding one. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [7.6] MARQUIS DE LA MONTALBAN -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The main quest of Sid Meier's Pirates, and certainly the most convoluted one, is tracking down and defeating the evil Marquis who made off with your entire family in the introduction movie. To do this, you'll need to find his hideout and defeat him there; but to do that, you'll need to track him down at sea a couple of times, first. To be able to find Montalban at sea at all, you'll need to get a lead on him just like with Raymondo, except the lead is a little harder to get. You must: - Rescue a missing family member (which in turn requires you going through the whole Raymondo chase several times); - Dance near-perfectly with a beautiful governor's daughter. Either will get you Montalban's location. You will then need to chase his Flag Galleon in exactly the same way you track down Raymondo; talk to bartenders and crews of captured ships to find out where he's gone off to next. Soon as you catch up with him, you need to defeat him in a ship battle, which is no easy task. Flag Galleons may be slow, but they're very powerful, and Montalban only sails fully upgraded and stocked ones. He's powerful in duels, too, probably the most powerful opponent in the game. Just how hard he is depends on the level, of course. Defeat Montalban at sea and he'll manage to escape, but searching his ship will turn up a map piece for his hideout. On Apprentice level you only need to find two of those to get the complete map, but on all other levels you need four. Then, when you finally have the complete map, you run into the same problem as with Lost Cities: more often than not he's got his hideout somewhere in Mexico, far away from the coast, and very hard to find. When you do finally come across his hideout, it's not over yet. The exterior is protected by a band of Indian mercenaries that you need to defeat in a land battle. Depending on the difficulty level, you will likely need several hundred crewmembers to win this. If you get through all that, you finally need to face Montalban in a one on one duel and prove one more time that you're his master with the sword. The reward for going through all this is solid though. You get 2 fame points for every map piece to the hideout you uncover, and a total of 10 fame points for tracking him down and defeating him. Furthermore, you get 100000 gold from his hideout - the highest gold reward in the game - all crew specialists that you don't have yet, and any further family members you rescue/beautiful daughters you charm will give you Lost City pieces so you can focus on that very profitable quest. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [7.7] ROMANCE -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -------- OVERVIEW -------- Apart from gathering riches and tracking down villains, a significant part of your fame points and happiness come from romance. Your ultimate objective here is to get close enough to one of the many governor's daughters in the Caribbean to win her hand in marriage. More points are earned for charming a more beautiful daughter (looks really do count in the 17th century, it appears). A maximum of 10 fame points can be earned for marrying a beautiful daughter. You need to go through a couple of steps to marry a daughter, and here they are: - First, you need to get introduced. This requires you to at least be a Captain for a plain looking daughter, a Colonel for an attractive one or a Baron for a beautiful one. The latter two requirements can be bypassed if you have either or both of the fashion items (French Chapeau / Ostrich Feather Hat). Once you are introduced, you must accept the daughter's invitation to dance with her at that night's ball, and you must dance at least moderately and not make a fool of yourself. More info on dancing in paragraph 6.4. - On a subsequent visit, the daughter will remark she would really like to have a Ruby Ring or a Diamond Necklace. Subtle. She will keep repeating this on next visits until you actually give her one. Obtain them from the mysterious traveller in the tavern, or occasionally as a bribe from a fugitive criminal. - The next time you visit town after giving the governor's daughter a gift, it turns out she has a fiance who is now less than pleased with you. In fact, he will challenge you to a duel. You fight this duel the next time you visit *after* this (you can immediately revisit the governor in this instance to get it over with). You'll need to win it for the romance subplot to continue. - On a subsequent visit, you may have to dance a second time, but this doesn't always happen. Strangely, the game will make it sound like you are meeting her for the first time again. If it happens, as before, you need to dance properly. - The next time you visit, the governor will tell you his daughter has been kidnapped by the evil Colonel Mendoza. You need to track down his ship (a Fast Galleon) and defeat him in battle to rescue the daughter. Tracking him down works in exactly the same way as Raymondo and Montalban, and the battle is slightly easier. The next time you return to the city the daughter will be reunited with the governor. - On your next visit to the port, you have the option of asking for the daughter's hand in marriage. If you do not, you don't get another chance and will have to go for another daughter. If she is beautiful, go ahead and do it; if she is less so, it's up to you if you're okay with ending up short of the maximum fame score. - After marriage, subsequent visits to the city give you a chance to dance with your wife and gain more rewards; messing up the dance now causes no permanent harm, but yields no rewards either. You can still flirt with any other governor's daughters you desire, playing the romance subquest right up until marriage, but you can only marry once. Once you retire, your wife will move to whichever city you settle down in. You don't have to stop your career in her home city. ------- REWARDS ------- You get a reward in fame points based on the best romance result you've had so far. You could be running a dozen romance subplots in different cities at the same time, and whichever one is worth most based on the daughter's beauty and how far you have advanced the plot is the one that determines your fame points. The rewards are as follows: SUBPLOT PLAIN ATTRACTIVE BEAUTIFUL Completing the first dance 2 3 4 Giving her a gift 3 4 5 Hearing that fiance is jealous 4 5 6 Beating the fiance in a duel 5 6 7 Completing the second dance 6 7 8 Rescuing daughter from Mendoza 7 8 9 Marriage 8 9 10 In addition, you can get two grades of reward from a daughter whenever you advance the plot. Which reward you get depends on how well you've handled this particular part of it, and once again, on how beautiful the daughter is. For the purposes of the table below, good/perfect handling means the following: - For dancing: good handling means a moderate dance where you end up kissing her hand. Perfect handling means a near-perfect dance which ends in an embrace. - For gifts: a Ruby Ring is good handling; a Diamond Necklace equals perfect handling. - For defeating the fiance: beating him without taking any hits is perfect handling. If you do take at least one hit, it is merely good handling. - When you rescue a daughter from Mendoza, she always gives you a lost city map piece regardless of her beauty. After handling a part of the subplot, your rewards can be: - Information on a fugitive criminal (see paragraph 7.1); - A free item (see paragraph 8.4); - Information on the location of Baron Raymondo (see paragraph 7.4); - Information on the location of Marquis Montalban (see paragraph 7.6); - A lost city map piece (see paragraph 7.5). The following table describes which reward you get under which circumstances: BEAUTY GOOD HANDLING PERFECT HANDLING Plain Criminal Item Attractive Item Raymondo Beautiful Raymondo Montalban If you already have all items you can get from governor's daughters, you will get information on a criminal instead. Similarly, if you already rescued all family members and no longer need to chase Raymondo, you'll get information on a criminal. If you already know where Montalban is or you have vanquished him, you get a lost city map piece instead. If you've cleared Montalban *and* found all Lost Cities, you get information on a criminal. (Basically, at that point, charming daughters has stopped being worth it.) =============================================================================== [8] REFERENCE LISTS =============================================================================== -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [8.1] SHIPS -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- This is a complete list of all 27 ships in the game, sorted by 9 different classes. Info comes directly from the game and should be accurate. Note that the term 'combat galleon' does not come from the game, I made that up. Had to distinguish somehow between the merchant types and the warship types, and since 'war galleon' was already the name of a specific type of ship, that would have been a little awkward to use. Hence 'combat galleon' is how I refer to the fast/war/flag galleon line of ships. CLASS SHIP SIZE TURNING TYPE SPEED Pinnace War Canoe Small Very tight Merchant Very fast Pinnace Pinnace Small Very tight Merchant Very fast Pinnace Mail Runner Small Very tight Merchant Very fast Barque Coastal Barque Medium Tight Merchant Slow Barque Barque Medium Tight Merchant Slow Barque Ocean Barque Medium Tight Merchant Slow Fluyt Fluyt Medium Wide Merchant Very slow Fluyt Large Fluyt Medium Wide Merchant Very slow Fluyt West Indiaman Medium Very wide Merchant Very slow Merchantman Merchantman Large Very wide Merchant Slow Merchantman Large Merchantman Large Very wide Merchant Slow Merchantman East Indiaman Large Very wide Merchant Slow Merchant Galleon Trade Galleon Large Very wide Merchant Very slow Merchant Galleon Royal Galleon Large Very wide Merchant Very slow Merchant Galleon Treasure Galleon Large Very wide Merchant Very slow Sloop Sloop Small Tight Warship Fast Sloop Sloop of War Small Tight Warship Fast Sloop Royal Sloop Small Tight Warship Fast Brig Brigantine Medium Medium Warship Medium Brig Brig Medium Medium Warship Medium Brig Brig of War Medium Medium Warship Medium Combat Galleon Fast Galleon Large Wide Warship Slow Combat Galleon War Galleon Large Wide Warship Slow Combat Galleon Flag Galleon Large Wide Warship Slow Frigate Frigate Large Wide Warship Fast Frigate Large Frigate Large Wide Warship Fast Frigate Ship of the Line Large Wide Warship Fast CLASS SHIP CREW CANNONS CARGO Pinnace War Canoe 50 8 20 Pinnace Pinnace 60 10 25 Pinnace Mail Runner 80 12 30 Barque Coastal Barque 75 12 60 Barque Barque 100 16 70 Barque Ocean Barque 125 16 80 Fluyt Fluyt 50 8 80 Fluyt Large Fluyt 75 12 100 Fluyt West Indiaman 100 16 120 Merchantman Merchantman 125 16 100 Merchantman Large Merchantman 125 20 120 Merchantman East Indiaman 150 20 140 Merchant Galleon Trade Galleon 100 20 120 Merchant Galleon Royal Galleon 150 32 130 Merchant Galleon Treasure Galleon 200 40 140 Sloop Sloop 75 12 40 Sloop Sloop of War 100 16 50 Sloop Royal Sloop 125 20 60 Brig Brigantine 125 20 60 Brig Brig 150 24 70 Brig Brig of War 200 32 80 Combat Galleon Fast Galleon 160 24 80 Combat Galleon War Galleon 200 32 90 Combat Galleon Flag Galleon 250 40 100 Frigate Frigate 200 32 80 Frigate Large Frigate 250 40 90 Frigate Ship of the Line 300 48 100 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [8.2] SHIP UPGRADES -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Note: all ship upgrades are done in port, and every shipwright has only one specialty. These are random in every game, so you have to find out where to get which upgrade done. Best way to find out is to talk to bartenders, who will often hint at possible upgrades your flagship doesn't have yet if they can be done in nearby ports. Your first ship in every game starts with the Grape Shot and Chain Shot upgrades already in place, and ships captured from the enemy might have any number of upgrades. Warships and pirates tend to have some, and named enemies (like the most famous pirates, or the various evil Spanish noblemen) tend to have most or all. GRAPE SHOT Allows the ship to use Grape Shot as an alternative ammunition type. Switch to Grape Shot in battle by pressing 1; this can be done while the cannons are loading and even when they're already loaded. Grape Shot has the shortest range of all shot types and is hard to hit with. However, it mostly does damage to the enemy crew, doing only very light damage against sails and hull. It is perfect for weakening an enemy crew before boarding while leaving the ship as intact as possible. CHAIN SHOT Allows the ship to use Chain Shot as an alternative ammunition type. Switch to this by pressing 7 in battle. As with Grape Shot, you can do this at any time. Chain Shot has better range than Grape Shot but not as much as regular Round Shot does. When it hits, it mostly damages the enemy's sails but leaves its hull intact. This is particularly useful if an enemy is threatening to outrun you or maneuvering around you. A good broadside of this can cripple an enemy ship without any real danger of sinking it before you have a chance to plunder it. COTTON SAILS Cotton Sails improve the overall sailing speed of a ship, both in and out of battle. Out of battle its usefulness is limited as, unless you get this upgrade for all your ships, your flagship will still have to adapt its speed to whatever the slowest vessel in your fleet is. But in battle the advantage of Cotton Sails is too important to pass up; it can be the difference between catching an enemy or not. Or when you're the one who is in danger, it can be just what you need to escape. IRON SCANTINGS Iron Scantings provide extra protection to a ship's hull, making it harder to damage. Your ship will take less hull damage from enemy broadsides, allowing you to sail that much longer. Only hull strength is affected, so damage to your cannons, crew and sails is the same as always. BRONZE CANNONS Bronze Cannons fire more accurately than regular iron ones. Your shots count as hits more readily than usual. This is of course also affected by the difficulty level, but overall your broadsides will do considerably more damage this way. FINE SHOT POWDER Fine Shot Powder gives your cannons a better range for all three ammunition types. Especially with the short range on Chain Shot and Grape Shot, this difference can be significant. TRIPLE HAMMOCKS Triple Hammocks increase the maximum crew size of your ship by 50%. This allows you to carry larger boarding parties into battle. Your crew size is hard capped by the maximum carrying capacity of your ships (contrary to what the manual states you are not allowed to overload), so this is one improvement you might want to get for *all* your ships, not just your flagship. Particularly if you're putting together a large crew for an imminent attack on a large Spanish port. COPPER PLATING Copper Plating lets you turn your ships faster in battle. The importance of this upgrade can't be overstated, as all your success in battle - be it with gunnery, catching and boarding an enemy, or running away from a very angry Flag Galleon - depends on being able to turn swiftly and outmaneuver your opponent. While this upgrade won't turn a Galleon into a Sloop, it always helps, and should be obtained as soon as possible. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [8.3] CREW SPECIALISTS -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Enemy ships might carry specialists which you can recruit for your crew. This happens automatically if you capture such a ship, and specialists remain with your for life. They are basically "crew upgrades", each of them affecting a different part of the game to your benefit. Bartenders can often tell you if there's a ship sailing nearby that has a specialist you don't have yet, so you can follow their advice to get them. You can also just randomly attack ships and gather them soon enough; especially when you don't have any yet, you'll find some easily. Finally, if you capture Marquis Montalban (see section 7.6), you will get a full complement of specialists right there and then if you didn't have them already. CARPENTER Carpenters are capable of making hull repairs at sea. At the start of each month (signified by the sound of a bell), Carpenters repair a small % of hull damage to all your ships. The effect is strong enough to be useful but not so strong that it's an absolute lifesaver. You'll still do the bulk of your repairs in port. COOK Cooks prepare tasty meals at sea, which helps to keep crew morale up. With a cook, you can basically go for longer without your crew getting unhappy. Particularly on the higher levels where your crew tends to be unruly, this makes a big difference. The cook is therefore one of the most useful specialists around. COOPER Coopers help you preserve your food in barrels. In gameplay terms, this reduces your food consumption rate, and thus lets you sail longer with less food. This saves you money for supplies, decreases the risk of starvation and frees up cargo space for more valuable goods. All in all, a specialist you want to have. GUNNER Gunners train your crew in fast reloading. Your accuracy is unaffected - but that's where Bronze Cannons come in - but the reloading speed is increased significantly, almost doubled by some accounts. This is an important advantage in battle, depending on how often you rely on your guns. If you're the kind of pirate who prefers to ram the enemy without using your cannons at all, you'll likely be indifferent about the gunner. NAVIGATOR Navigators increase the speed of your ships both in and out of battle. It should be obvious that this is a significant improvement: shorter voyages and better battle results. As with the other upgrades that affect speed - Cotton Sails on your ships and the Navigation skill for yourself - you'll find this especially helpful when sailing against the wind. Saves you a lot of headaches. QUARTERMASTER The quartermaster enforces discipline at sea. This manifests itself in the same way as the cook's special ability: your crew remains happy for longer than usual. The cook and the quartermaster are equally effective, and they're also cumulative. You'll want to get them both at your earliest opportunity, especially if you intend to maintain large crews. SAILMAKER Just like carpenters repair damaged hulls over time, sailmakers do the same to sails. A small % of repairs is done to the sails on all your ships at the start of every month. The sailmaker *seems* to be able to repair a higher % of damage than the carpenter, too, but I haven't run enough tests to confirm that. Might have been luck of the draw. At any rate, the repairs are minor; useful but not vital. SURGEON Surgeons can treat injured crew members. This basically manifests itself as fewer losses in battles of all kinds, as crew members who might otherwise die or be too injured to continue sailing can now be patched up. How big the impact is, I haven't been able to figure out yet. The surgeon does not affect the decay of your character's health over time as far as I'm aware. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [8.4] SPECIAL ITEMS -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- This section describes the special items you can get over the course of the game, and their effect. There are a whopping 17 categories of items, and two in each category; the basic item and the upgraded one that has a stronger effect along the same lines. Items can be obtained in three ways: - They can be bought from mysterious travellers in taverns. They offer a random item for sale sometimes, a one time offer for a flat fee of gold. How much gold depends on the item, the difficulty level, and luck. I've seen Ruby Rings for as little as 600 gold on Apprentice level but as much as 3300 on Swashbuckler. Similarly, I've seen a Dutch Rutter for sale for 6000 gold on Apprentice so I dread to think how much that would cost on higher levels. - Items can be gotten as ransom from fugitive criminals. When you catch a criminal, they will often offer you an item if you allow them to escape. If you accept this offer, you forfeit your gold reward and a chance to make the nation that wants him happy; the criminal disappears forever. But if the reward is low and/or the item is good, it can be a good deal. - Finally, items can be given as gifts by governor's daughters you have impressed sufficiently with your dancing or with subsequent actions on return visits. You normally get a choice between two and four different items. However, not all items can be obtained this way. I've indicated in the item descriptions which items can and can't be given out by governor's daughters. Below is a list of all items in the game and their effects. I have sorted them from most to least important in the eyes of yours truly. 3-STRINGED FIDDLE / CONCERTINA Among the most important items, these help keep your crew happy. They basically work by extending the time it takes for your crew to become unhappy, just like the Quartermaster and Cook specialists do, and like getting more gold in your hold does. The Concertina has a stronger effect. You'll want to get these at your first opportunity, particularly on the later levels. Fortunately they are often offered by governor's daughters. MEDICINAL HERBS / INCAN MYSTIC SALVE Another important set of items, these are harder to find. They increase your health, basically ensuring that A) you don't get slower with age as quickly and B) you can extend your career for longer. The effect of these items is retroactive, so even if you acquire them late in your career, your health will be boosted right back up. The Incan Mystic Salve has a stronger effect. Have them both as well as skill at Medicine and you can extend your career as far as age 54 (farther if you don't divide up the plunder). Get these when you can; an extended career is never a bad thing. I've never seen a governor's daughter offer these, but you can get them from travellers in taverns. RUBY RING / DIAMOND NECKLACE By far the most common item in the game (at least the Ruby Ring is), this is also the only class of item you can lose once you've got it. Basically, these are gifts for the governor's daughter, which can be given to her on your second visit (after you danced with her the first time). This advances the romance subplot and will also get you a reward in return. Which reward it is depends on the beauty of the daughter and the item you gave her. A Ruby Ring does the same as dancing adequately would, and a Diamond Necklace is equivalent to a perfect dance. You can't get these items from a governor's daughter (obviously). However, you will find the Ruby Ring is the single most offered item by travellers in taverns. In fact, you probably want to get one and hold on to it if you want them to offer you anything else, because they'll rarely do otherwise. CALFSKIN BOOTS / DANCING SLIPPERS These items are particularly popular because they help with dancing, which many people consider the hardest part of the game. These items have the same effect as the Wit and Charm skill (and are cumulative with it): when you do not press a button during a dance scene, or the wrong one, there is a flat % chance that the move succeeds anyway, though without a flourish. Basically, this helps cover up mistakes. The Dancing Slippers offer a higher percentage and let you get away with even more slip ups. Note that neither item will help you do more flourishes, but they should help you get through a dance somewhat gracefully if you don't have the hang of it. These items are never offered by a governor's daughter. You may be able to get them from travellers, but they're not commonly seen. If a fugitive criminal offers you these in exchange for his freedom, I suggest you give it some serious thought. SET OF BALANCED SWORDS / SET OF PERFECTLY BALANCED SWORDS Since you are going to do more swordfighting than anything else in the game, most likely, items that help you with this are among the more important ones to have. This is particularly true on the higher levels where a few of your opponents can be very tough, or if your character is aging and becomes slower in combat. Balanced swords improve the speed of your attacks. They may also improve your speed at defending, but I'm not positive on that one. The perfectly balanced swords have a stronger effect. Balanced swords are easy to get from travellers and governor's daughters alike. FENCING SHIRT (PUFFY) / SILK FENCING SHIRT Fencing shirts are the other item to improve combat speed, and as such just as important to have as balanced swords. They improve the speed of all your defensive moves - parrying, jumping and ducking - and may improve attack speed as well. Not sure about that. The Silk Fencing Shirt is more effective than the puffy one. Like balanced swords, fencing shirts are often offered by governor's daughters as gifts. Getting them early should be no problem. ONE-SHOT PISTOL / BRACE OF PISTOLS Owning a pistol, apart from adding a cool extra scene to the start of battles, gives you an edge in terms of your starting position in combat. Normally when a sword fight starts you and your opponent are in "neutral" positions in the middle of the battlefield, and it takes an equal number of blows for either to be driven back so far that they'll be defeated. A one shot pistol shifts the balance one step in your favour at the beginning; a brace of pistol gives you two free steps. It is basically the same as getting a free thrust or chop/slash on your opponent, respectively. Pistols are easily obtained both from governor's daughters and travellers. LEATHER VEST / METAL CUIRAISS Armor is the final enhancement battle for sword fights. Leather Vests give you a % chance to deflect a thrust or take only half damage (1 step back rather than two) from a slash or chop if you fail to block it. This is basically an extra safeguard that allows you to make more mistakes in battle. The Metal "Cuiraiss" (their typo, not mine) gives a better chance to deflect blows. Like the other battle items, armor can be gotten both from travellers and governor's daughters. QUALITY SPYGLASS / FINE TELESCOPE After the battle items I'd consider this one among the more useful things to have. Spyglasses improve the range at which you spot other ships at sea. Without them, you don't necessarily see ships even if they're close enough to be displayed on the overhead view (depending, of course, on how far you are zoomed in). The Quality Spyglass improves the range at which you see them somewhat, and the Fine Telescope is good enough to let you spot pretty much all ships that sail into the range of your screen. The spyglass items can be obtained from travellers and governor's daughters alike. WEATHER GLASS / PRECISION BAROMETER Among the middle class items in terms of usefulness, the Weather Glass and the more effective Precision Barometer reduce the damage caused to your ships by sailing through storms. This damage isn't so bad to begin with (at least on the lower difficulty levels), and usually you can avoid sailing through storms (though once again, on the lower difficulty levels you can afford more in terms of straying from your course). These items are useful, but not vital. Buy them from a traveller if offered and affordable, or get them from a governor's daughter if she has nothing better to offer. DUTCH RUTTER / SPANISH RUTTER The Dutch Rutter contains the names and locations of a number of "hidden" settlements, missions, Indian villages and pirate havens. The Spanish Rutter contains even more. What I'm not sure about yet is if getting them means that these now show up on your map but were accessible all along, or getting these items actually makes these places *spawn* on the world map (which would be far more useful). Either way, it's a decently useful item but nothing vital. Mostly interesting if you rely a lot on Indians and pirates to weaken down ports for you, or you just like to lure them out and then ambush them to improve your standing with the four nations. Rutters can be bought from travellers but tend to be among the most expensive items they offer. You're probably better off getting them from a governor's daughter at some point. FRENCH CHAPEAU / OSTRICH FEATHER HAT These two stylish items of clothing allow you to get invited to the ball easier. The French Chapeau lets you bypass the requirement to be a Colonel to dance with an attractive daughter, and the Ostrich Feather Hat lets you dance with beautiful daughters even if you're not a Baron. It is theorized that they will also let you see the daughters more often in general (i.e. they'll show up more often if you visit the governor) but I'm not so sure about that part. One way or another, getting promoted is usually not a big problem (at least not to Colonel) and you get to see governor's daughters quite often as it is, so these items have low priority. Note that you cannot get stylish clothing from governor's daughters. FALSE MUSTACHE / THEATRICAL DISGUISE Wealthy Spanish ports will often refuse to trade with you if your relations with Spain aren't very good. The likelihood of this depends on how much Spain hates you and how poor (i.e. desperate) the port in question is. The False Mustache helps ease the equation and make it easier for you to trade even in hostile ports, while the Theatrical Disguise ensures that you are always allowed to trade no matter what. The usefulness of these items is limited as they only apply to trading, not to being able to get into the port in the first place. Not much use being allowed to trade in Spanish ports even when they have a price on your head, when there is no way to sail your ship into port in the first place. You would only be able to sneak in (and then you can't trade), or plunder the port and trade directly after; and if you plunder a port it typically ends up so poor that you'd be able to trade with them to begin with. As such, these items have little practical use as far as I can tell. Disguise items can't be obtained from governor's daughters. LOCKPICKING KIT / SKELETON KEY If you're down on your luck and get captured, you might find yourself imprisoned for quite a few months. With luck you'll get a chance to try and escape along the way. You can help Lady Luck a little by having either or both of these items; a chance to escape will come sooner and assuming you do not mess up the sneaking out of town part, you can escape very quickly and thus shorten your time in captivity if worst comes to worst. The Skeleton Key offers you an opportunity even more quickly than the Lockpicking Kit does. These items will probably be of little value to you, though. Most players would reload the game if they lose a battle and get captured, anyway; the fact that an autosave is done right before every battle certainly encourages this. But if you decide to play a game in which you do not allow yourself to rely on saving and loading to get you out of trouble, you'll likely find these items somewhat more important. Lockpicking items can't be obtained from governor's daughters. SIGNALING MIRROR / SIGNAL FLARE The signaling items serve the same purposes as the lockpicking ones, except that these are meant for when you are marooned rather than captured. The time it takes for a ship to pick you up is shortened by the Signaling Mirror and shortened even more by the Signal Flare. Once again, how important you find this is going to depend on whether or not you just reload your game if you lose your last ship. If you do, these items are useless. If you don't, their value to you is going to depend on how often it happens to you. Signaling items can't be obtained from governor's daughters. GOLDEN CROSS / SACRED RELIC The purpose of the Golden Cross and the Sacred Relic is to improve your standing with the Jesuit Missionaries, making them more likely to offer you missions or offer to speak on your behalf to a nation that has a price on your head. It appears, however, that this part of the game is either bugged or not implemented, as Jesuits are *always* on good terms with you. Unless this changes in a future patch, these items have no purpose. SHRUNKEN HEAD / CARVED SHAMAN STAFF Similar to the Golden Cross and the Sacred Relic, these items are meant to improve your standing with native Indians and make it easier to convince them to attack a port on your behalf. However, the same situation arises here; Indians are always friendly to you no matter what, and unless this is a bug and it gets fixed in a future patch, these items are useless. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [8.5] RANKS AND BENEFITS -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Rank is earned by making certain nations happy with you and then visiting their governors afterwards. You get 1 'happiness' point for every merchant ship you take that belongs to an enemy of the nation in question, as well as for serving them in another minor way (catching a criminal, intercepting an enemy governor, helping them get a special shipment of some sort through). You earn 2 happiness points if you sack an enemy town, capture one for them (this is cumulative!), or take an enemy warship. For the purposes of 'taking' an enemy ship, capturing and destroying both count, and even just engaging a ship and then fleeing or letting them flee counts as long as you damaged it. You lose happiness points with a nation if you destroy any of their ships or sack any of their towns. How bad these losses are, and how many happiness points are needed to get promoted to each rank depends on the difficulty level. In general, you'll find all-around promotions much easier to get on the lower levels, wheras on the higher levels you must pick your battles carefully to avoid pissing off all four nations at once. The following is a list of all ranks and the benefits you get with a certain nation for earning one. Veterans of the old Pirates games will note that the Ensign rank has been scrapped. RANK BENEFITS Captain % bonus to recruiting in taverns Major % discount on ship repairs Colonel Merchant offers more goods and has more gold Admiral % discount on ship upgrades Baron Boosts recruitment bonus further Count Free ship repairs Marquis Boosts merchant bonuses further Duke Free ship upgrades Benefits only count in a port belonging to the nation you hold the rank in question with. French ports couldn't care less if you're an English Duke. Note that if you ever piss off a nation enough to make them put any kind of price on your head, you retain the rank (and the fame points) but you lose the benefits of your rank. You regain them as soon as you reconcile with them, however. Rank also is a factor in which governor's daughters are willing to dance with you (and thus start the romance cycle). Plain daughters will be willing to dance with Captains and up, attractive daughters with Colonels and up, and beautiful daughters with Barons and up. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [8.6] FAME POINTS -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Fame points are the closest thing you have to a score in Pirates; a numerical representation of the success of your exploits. You earn points in specific categories up to a certain maximum. About half of these points come from how wealthy you've managed to become and what ranks you have reached with the various nations. The rest comes from completion of the game's various quests. A "perfect" game, in which you get the maximum ranks, enough wealth to qualify for all wealth points and full completion of all side quests, would earn you the maximum of 126 fame points. On the personal status screen, fame points are referred to as 'achievement points' instead, but it's the same thing. Fame points are divided into the following categories: WEALTH (24) Fame points for wealth are earned based on how much land you've been granted, and how many gold pieces you've managed to put away for yourself. Land grants are given in addition to promotions if you've done particularly well, and as alternatives to promotions once you have achieved the rank of Duke with any country. They come in units of 50 acres. Gold flows into your pocket whenever you divide up the plunder at the end of an expedition; you get a set percentage of the total loot based on the difficulty level you're playing, unrelated to how many men your loot is divided amongst. I have yet to determine the formula for wealth, but I found so far that ending with about 25000 gold and 20000 acres of land equals 20 wealth points. An exact formula will be added once I figure it out or find somebody else who did. RANK (32) More fame points to be gained here than anywhere else, and the formula is simple: every promotion gains you 1 point. There are 8 ranks and 4 nations to gain them with, so if you manage to become a Duke in all four nations, you get the maximum of 32 fame points for rank. Whereas if you only managed to become a Captain with England and a Major with France, you'd have to make do with 3 fame points. PIRATES (9) There are 9 other named pirates out in the Caribbean of various levels of strength. Each pirate you track down and defeat in a naval battle earns you a fame point. It doesn't matter if you capture his ship or sink it, though you *always* want to capture them as they carry large amounts of gold. TREASURES (9) Each of the named pirates has a treasure hidden somewhere in the Caribbean, which you can find if you buy at least one map piece off a mysterious traveller in a nearby tavern. The value of the treasures varies between 2000 and 10000 gold - based on which pirate it is, the higher ranked pirates have the bigger treasures - and each one earns you a fame point for finding it. As well as the wrath of the owner, if he's still alive. LOST RELATIVES (16) You have four lost relatives - your sister, your uncle, your aunt and your grandfather - held captive in the Caribbean. To find them, you must learn the location of the evil Baron Raymondo, track him down and defeat him in battle either on land (sword fight only) or on sea (naval battle followed by sword fight). Each time you find him he'll give you a piece of the map to find the next relative in line, and you'll need to track him down and fight him again for additional pieces. You get 4 fame points for every relative you find and rescue, and a fraction of that for merely getting pieces of the relevant map. Rescuing all four family members gets you the maximum 16 points. LOST CITIES (16) There are four lost Indian cities in the Caribbean, which you may find if you get map pieces either from governor's daughters or from rescued family members. This is worth doing as every city holds a treasure of no less than 50000 gold, and you get 4 fame points for every lost city you find. A fraction of that is earned for getting map pieces but not finding the city in question. Finding all four cities makes you a very wealthy man, and gets you the maximum 16 fame points too. ROMANCE (10) Your romance score is determined by how far you managed to get with any governor's daughter, and how beautiful said daughter was. Just having danced with a plain looking daughter will earn you only 1 fame point, but you get far more if you manage to marry any daughter. The maximum of 10 is only earned if you marry a daughter in the "beautiful" category, so be picky if you are after a maximum score. You can only marry once. VILLAIN (10) The last 10 fame points are earned for tracking down and capturing the evil Marquis Montalban who wronged your family. This is a long and complicated quest - easily the most time consuming in the game - but is well worth it. A full 100000 gold await in his hideout, and capturing him gets you the maximum of 10 fame points for this quest. Merely defeating him in ship battles a few times and thus getting parts of the map to his hideout will earn you a fraction of this. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [8.7] RETIREMENT JOBS -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Your job when you retire is determined solely by how many fame points you have earned. It is a direct representation of how well you did as a pirate. Here is a list of jobs and the range your fame needs to be in to get this specific job. The list is somewhat tentative. It was compiled with the help of forum members, and for a few of the values, I received conflicting information. Unsure yet if in these cases somebody was mistaken, or if the results aren't entirely set in stone. It's been suggested that playing on different levels may cause minor changes to what fame you need for what job. That said, the list is mostly accurate. If you get different results, I'd appreciate an e-mail with a screenshot of your final results screen. JOB FAME RANGE Pickpocket 0 Pauper 1 Clerk 2 Fisherman 3-4 Mortician 5-7 Bartender 8-10 Constable 11-14 Butler 15-19 Farmer 20-24 Parson 25-30 Merchant 31-37 Innkeeper 38-44 Shipwright 45-52 Fencing Master 53-60 Magistrate 61-69 Surgeon 70-79 Mayor 80-91 Bishop 92-102 Governor 103-126 =============================================================================== [9] FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS =============================================================================== This section contains questions I have seen asked on GameFAQs' Sid Meier's Pirates forum with some frequency, as well as other anticipated questions about aspects of the game that don't specifically fit in one of the other sections. It has been structured in classic question & answer format. Q: I wanted to pick a difficulty level and a skill but it just went right into the game, and now I'm an Apprentice with skill at Fencing. How do I change this? A: The game locks you into these options for your first game after installing, as a sort of tutorial mode. If you start a second game you'll be able to set the options yourself. Q: I want to pick a different starting era than 1660 but the options are greyed out. How do I unlock them? A: Play on any other level than Apprentice. You're restricted to 1660 on Apprentice level, probably because it's the easiest era. Q: I want to divide up the plunder, but the option is greyed out. Why can't I do it? A: On Apprentice level only, the option is greyed out if your expedition has only just begun; as it is usually a bad idea to divide too early. I think it forces you to be out for at least 6 months. On higher difficulty levels you can divide whenever it suits you. Q: I want to attack a city, but whenever I sail to it I just enter it! How do I attack? A: This happens if you try to attack a friendly city from the sea. It won't work. There are two ways to attack a city: - Beach your ship some distance away from it, choose to march, then march over to the city. When your men reach it you get the option to attack it even if it is friendly. - Get the city hostile. This approach may be necessary if the city is on a small island where you cannot actually beach your ship next to it (St. Catalina comes to mind, as do many of the cities on the Windsward Islands). If you try to sail into a hostile port, it will fire on you and you get the option to attack it. If the nation already has a price on your head, that should be enough to convince most or all of their cities to open fire on you. If not, a good way to get an individual city mad enough at you to open fire is to capture some of the ships going in and out. They have very little patience with this if you snatch them right outside port. Alternatively, or in addition to this, pressing the space bar just outside a port lets you bombard their fort. This doesn't seem to do much (if any) damage but it will piss them off. Soon you should be able to do an attack from the sea. Q: I want to attack a city, but the option is greyed out! Why? A: You have brought so few men that you don't stand even a remote chance. Come back with a bigger crew, and/or convince nearby Pirate Havens/Indian Villages to attack the target. They can soften it up for you. Q: I successfully sacked a city, but I didn't get the option to replace the governor. What did I do wrong? A: You only get this option if you completely overwhelmed the city. Try using a bigger crew, and make sure you win the battle by wiping out the garrison, not just running past it to the city gates. It also appears that cities are easier to capture if their economy is poor. In some cases, you may be able to capture a city by sacking it twice in a row; the second time the city has already been made poorer by your earlier attack and the garrison will still be thinned out. Q: The manual mentions I can get Indian units to fight on my side? A: So it does, but it's wrong. The best you can do is to go to a nearby Indian village and convince them to attack the city before you do. They will send out war canoes to do it; just stick close, intercept any ships trying to sink them, then let them enter the port before you do. They'll thin out the garrison and if they are successful, the population as well, without touching the city's wealth. That's where you follow up with an attack against the weakened city. You cannot actually get to command Indian units in battle, though. That's for the AI only. Q: I am using a laptop and I don't have a keypad. How will I be able to play the game properly if nearly everything is controlled with the keypad? A: There are two things you can do. First, your laptop will have an "Fn" key, likely near the bottom left of the keyboard. While that is pressed, certain keys will function as a surrogate keypad. Look for secondary functions on the front of your keys (as opposed to on the top), and you'll be able to see which keys these are for you. For instance, on this laptop Fn + the U key emulates the left cursor/4 key on a keypad. If you find this hard to do, you can also remap the keys. Go to your Sid Meier's Pirates folder through the Windows Explorer, and open the keymap.ini file you find there. You can change the keys for most functions in the game here, so just replace all references to the keypad with whatever keys you want to use instead. Make sure you make a backup of the .ini file before you change anything in it; that way if you mess up, you still have a version that works and won't have to reinstall the game to fix it. Q: How come the Treasure Fleet is always said to go to the same port? OR: Why is the Treasure Fleet not where the barmaid says it will be? A: This looks like a bug. It appears that the first time you are given the location of the Treasure Fleet, it is accurate, but it doesn't update anymore after that. Hence, even years after it will still be said to be going to the same port - even if it's no longer Spanish at this point. Unless and until this is patched, the unfortunate result is that finding the Treasure Fleet is a matter of luck. Q: Is the compass working incorrectly? It seems to be pointing east when I go west and vice versa! A: No, it's working correctly; this is what compasses do. The gold indicator does not point in the direction you are going in; it's indicating where north is. Therefore, if you are going west (which means the north is to your right), it will be pointed to the right; that doesn't mean it's pointing east. Note that the gold indicator only changes direction at all if you're using a view that rotates based on the direction you are sailing in. In the overhead views, the top of the screen is always north. Q: The manual states that I need to be on good terms with pirates or indians to get them to attack a port. Yet I never seem to have any trouble convincing them. Why is this? A: Looks like a missing feature. Jesuit missions, pirate havens, indian villages and even the four nations' settlements always seem to be on good terms with you regardless of what you've done. You can even offer to escort governors for nations that have a huge price on your head, ambush them immediately outside of the settlement, then visit the next settlement and do the same again, over and over. I haven't tested this sufficiently on higher levels yet, so maybe it's just a low level thing, but so far I've never seen anything suggesting that. This probably also means that, unless this is fixed in a patch, the items that improve your relations with the missionaries and the indians are worthless. Q: Is my health affected by being hit in sword fights? What about being captured or marooned? A: Tests suggest that none of these things have any impact on your health. Your health is a direct factor of your age, the possession of either or both of the healing items, and having picked skill at Medicine. Even getting captured or marooned (which was equal to taking an 'injury' in Pirates and Pirates Gold) doesn't impact your health apart from the fact that you lose precious months while you are waiting to be rescued. Difficulty level doesn't appear to be a factor either. Q: The manual says I can go on pirating indefinitely, yet I divided up the plunder and was told it was "time to retire". What gives? A: The manual is misleading here. When you divide up the plunder, if you're too old and in failing health, you will be forced into retirement. However, as long as you do not divide up the plunder, you *can* sail on indefinitely on your last expedition, or at least until you can't keep your crew happy anymore. Q: Is the fact that I'm always chasing the same Baron Raymondo to learn about my family members a bug? A: We're undecided on that one. It might be a randomization bug - perhaps related to the one about the Treasure Fleet's location? - but it's also possible that this is intentional, one of Pirates' humorous quirks. The latter theory is supported by the fact that the manual makes a quip about "never trusting a guy named Raymondo". =============================================================================== [10] REVISION HISTORY =============================================================================== v1.0: (22 Dec '04) First version of the FAQ. This is a work under construction, so expect to see updates in the future. Possibly corrections, new sections, updated info, whatever I can get my hands on. If there's something specific you'd like to see, don't hesitate to mail me your suggestion. =============================================================================== [11] FINAL WORDS =============================================================================== ABOUT THIS FAQ It's been a good four years since I started writing for GameFAQs, and longer still since my first offline experiments at FAQ writing, but my first full FAQ for a recent game sees the light. Until now, my full FAQs have been limited to retro games - decidedly easier to write an exhaustive FAQ for - and for more recent gaming I've stuck to specialist, in-depth guides which don't require broad coverage. This project has been a fair time investment, though I also hope it is going to be the first of many. Sid Meier's Pirates was, above all, fun to write for and I hope that the end result will be of use to you. For questions, comments, suggestions, praise and criticism, please contact the author, Sashanan, at sashanan@gfmods.com. Whatever you wish to share about this document or Sid Meier's Pirates, chances are I'll want to hear it. Any serious mail will be answered. Specifically, if you have additional strategies or different views on the ones I've posted, I'd love to hear about it. Reader input helps to make any FAQ better and more comprehensive. If you wish to do anything with this FAQ except for just reading it, check the Disclaimer section at the top of the FAQ to find out what you can and can't do. When in doubt, you can always mail me. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Born in 1980, a good 300 years too late to be a pirate, Sashanan has settled for being a software engineer. Unlike his countrymates Bart Roberts and the Roc of Brasiliano, he will likely never be rich, nor feared all over the Caribbean, though he'll likely live longer. When not creating small business applications following a RAD prototyping method, he is usually found playing games or writing about them. He does not like macaroni. THANKS The author would like to thank the following people for their help in bringing about this document: - bansama, for being his primary proofreader; - ASchultz and Falsehead for their continued providing of motivation and inspiration; - The regulars of the GameFAQs/GameSpot "Sid Meier's Pirates" forum for their many insights and the discussions that helped shape this document; - CJayC and Sailor Bacon for their tireless efforts to keep up GameFAQs as the best place for any gamer to hang out and find all the information he could possibly want. This document is a copyright of Sashanan, 2004. All rights reserved. Disclaimer at top of document. Avast!