Anyone else playing Sid Meier's Pirates?

[ivylass]

We got hooked on Pirates! when it was a Nintendo game. Now we have the computer version and it's so much fun! Ivylad plays and I sit beside him and keep track of his quests and where he needs to go and help him track down the buried treasure.

The only thing I don't like is that you can't attack cities and forts from your ship any more; you have to land and storm the gates. It was easier to shell from the safety of the sea.

It's so easy to get sidetracked on missions and quests, and the Caribbean is a huge place! But we're learning our geography!

We always buy treasure maps, because the yield is more than what you pay for, and we've had to buy ruby rings for the governor's daugthers. We don't buy the other stuff.

We had a problem figuring out how to save the game, but now we know how.

We have recently uncovered a treasure south of Puerto Cabello, and we're on the way to track down Raymundo, even though our men may be itching to divide the plunder.

We also chose Skill in Medicine, but although that worked well with the Nintendo game I've found that our fighter gets dizzy? (I'm assuming that's what those halos are around his head) during duels.

We're playing War for Profit right now.

Any tips or secrets anyone want to share?

[RickJay]

I've played it quite a bit. I was thrilled it worked so well on my laptop.

My only problem with it is that gunnery has become unimportant. There's situations where a well placed shot is important (slowing down a faster ship, mostly) but in 99% of sea battles I just drive my ship straight at 'em and take them with a swordfight, and as you point out, it's no longer a part of fighting cities. It was a big part of the game that no longer really matters.

[ivylass]

We've found gunnery useful. If the crew is bigger than ours we use grape shot to trim them down to size, and if the ship is getting away from us we use chain shot to take out their sails. Of course, if we can take the ship without damage we can sell it for a good price.

We favor the smaller ships for maneuverability and speed. We've found that it's hard to plunder anything but food and guns from ships. Do you buy cheap in one port and sell high in another, rather than plundering?

[Darkhold]

We also chose Skill in Medicine, but although that worked well with the Nintendo game I've found that our fighter gets dizzy? (I'm assuming that's what those halos are around his head) during duels.The 'dizzy' is when your opponent has correctly read your move and done the correct countermove. It makes you react slowly so he has a chance for a free hit. The same will happen to him if you do the same.

I LOVED the original but this one with it's mini games irritates me. I don't want to dance or wander around some dark town clubbing guards. That's why I have Thief II and III for......well not the dancing part.

And I find the overall effort at being 'cutesy' less then appealing. Ahh well I did bring back fond memories for a short time.

[Anonymous Coward]

Oddly enough I just started playing Pirates again on the NES. I may have to look at the PC version now as well :)

[CapnPitt]

FWIW, you might want to check out this (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=288018) thread from around the release date.

I really like the game but I haven't played in several months. As Darkhold stated the dancing and sneaking really get on my nerves. Far too important if you ask me.

However, it's a really really good game.

[Domokun]

Pirates! on the Amiga was one of the first games I really got into. Love the remake in totality but I do have a couple of gripes.

The difficulty seems a bit off. It's a breeze up until Swashbuckler then it goes insanely hard.

Also is there a reason to pick any sword except the rapier? In the original the heavier swords would do more damage so could be tactically useful if you needed to kill the enemy captain real fast. Now each hit does the same amount of damage and the heavier swords are too slow.

I liked the way you could get lost or blown off course in the original. The Caribbean seemed huge and dangerous. Knowing your position constantly takes some of the thrill away for me.

No silver fleet >: (despite what those teasing barmaids have to say).

Just spent a load of time bitching there. But I do love the game. Especially like the improved world model where you can see every ship in the 'main going about it's business.

Gunnery becomes much more useful when you've got some decent cannon in your flagship. If you've got something like a fast frigate or galleon combined with copper plating you can destroy those tough military crews without even crossing swords.

If you're getting dizzy it means your guy in losing the battle initiative. It'll make him slower to react and your crew will die faster. Every time your opponent blocks, dodges, hits or taunts you'll lose some and vice versa. So try to keep that to a minimum.

[Miller]

Also, if you haven't downloaded it already, get the patch. They fixed the incredibly aggravating dancing mini-game. It's still not exactly fun, but it's tolerable, and opens up a bunch of new quests.

[ivylass]

How exactly does it "fix" the dancing? Besides the fact that it's easier to dance with the plain daughters and the beautiful ones tend to flip their hands around more so you can't tell what move she wants you to do, what does it fix? And where does one get the patch?

We've bought a lot of ruby rings, but no one has offered a diamond necklace. And tracking down Raymundo is hard!

I was so mad at Ivylad today. We attacked Havana, made it French, then attacked Harry Morgan, but he sank us. But did he save the game recently? NO! So when we reloaded, we had unhappy men and although we sacked Havana again, we didn't get nearly the same amount of plunder and it wouldn't let us install a new governor. Grrrrrr.

And how come you can't attack some ports and settlements? They're the enemy, but when you land and walk toward them all you do is get the normal In Town options.

[Dewey Finn]

Doesn't the game auto-save before any battle? So you should be able to restore the game to just before you attacked Harry Morgan (although I think that was Henry Morgan), and sail away rather than attack him.

But I agree with those who don't like some of the mini-games. I'd rather not do the dancing.

[ivylass]

We had problems saving it. According to the book, you hit Shift S. But when we went to load, it went to a game that we had decided to abandon. So we started over, and we figured out how to save it by clicking on the CD logo and hitting save game. But then, after a bad battle, we hit Shift L to load and got an abandoned version of game #2, where Ivylad had been completely destroyed by Raymundo.

I didn't think of hitting Shift L, and now it's too late. :smack:

[Domokun]

You have a reputation with each port in addition to the major powers. If a port likes you or is neutral you can't attack it. Just pirate some ships near the port and they'll quickly get pissed off enough to be attackable.

[ivylass]

No, we were trying to attack a Spanish settlement (they currently have a bounty of $21,000 on our head) and after walking to town it let us stroll right in and conduct business.

Can you only attack towns with governors? We tried to attack a Dutch town with a governor, and I don't know if it's because the town takes up the whole island or what but we couldn't walk to it to attack. (St. Eustatius, in case it matters.)

[Ephemera]

This sounds a bit like New Horizons, the SNES game I loved playing when I was about 12 or so. Is it?

If so, I might have to order a copy.. I'm starting to get tired of Civ III.

[Kaotic Newtral]

I have to 37th the opinions on the dancing. It was tough at first, mundane at the end. I lurved just sailing around and being a pirate! Having to dance with the daughters of folks in what seemed like thousands of was annoying. The fights are the same to me, you can meet Captain Kidd on the high seas and knock him out with a few blows, all you have to do is get the pattern down.


Dancing though...there are only a few basic steps, man it got old.

[ivylass]

Well, we're an English Duke now. Is there any reason to keep being friendly to the English? We won't lose our rank and the upgrades will still be free, right? I'm not saying we'll go out and attack them, but maybe we should concentrate more on the French right now, and only pull into English ports as the needs arise.

The Indian war canoe suggestion from the thread CapnPitt linked to is intriguing. I think we'll try it next time we play!

And the governor's daughters keep offering us stuff we already have, like the Spanish rutters or the Perfectly Balanced Swords. How do we use those, anyway?

[Sublight]

Well, we're an English Duke now. Is there any reason to keep being friendly to the English? We won't lose our rank and the upgrades will still be free, right? I'm not saying we'll go out and attack them, but maybe we should concentrate more on the French right now, and only pull into English ports as the needs arise.

And the governor's daughters keep offering us stuff we already have, like the Spanish rutters or the Perfectly Balanced Swords. How do we use those, anyway?
Well, even after you've become a Duke, the governor will keep rewarding you with land if you keep doing things he likes, so Duke's not quite the dead end that it was in the older versions. As for the rutters and balanced swords, I think those are just automatic: the rutter makes more information show up on your map, while the balanced swords give you a speed edge when fighting.

I love that you can chase down ships now, rather than just randomly encountering them like before. Much more enjoyable. I've been making nice with the Spanish until I can get married (the governor's daughter in Caracas is a hottie), after that I'm going to go berserk and trash the whole Spanish empire.

[cckerberos]

I love the game (I even didn't mind dancing once I got the hang of it). My only gripes are that its very much a remake, rather than a sequel, and how repetitive it can get at points (tracking down the same guy again and again... they could've changed his name at least). I think they could have added a bit more depth to the game without ruining its charms.

[ivylass]

How do we get married? We've fought some fiances and beaten them, and the daughters have given us gifts. Is there a wedding ceremony? If so, does that mean the other governors' daughters are off limits?

[cckerberos]

How do we get married? We've fought some fiances and beaten them, and the daughters have given us gifts. Is there a wedding ceremony? If so, does that mean the other governors' daughters are off limits?

There is a wedding ceremony. When you get high enough relationship-wise, you'll visit the governor's mansion to find out that she's been kidnapped. You have to complete that mission before getting married. After you get married you can still dance, etc., with other governors' daughters. In one game I had a daughter get kidnapped while I was already married, but I didn't rescue her, so I don't know what happens.

[Miller]

How exactly does it "fix" the dancing? Besides the fact that it's easier to dance with the plain daughters and the beautiful ones tend to flip their hands around more so you can't tell what move she wants you to do, what does it fix? And where does one get the patch?

The daughters' hand signals are easier to identify, and the timing on hitting the keys isn't as demanding. Also, screwing up once doesn't set the heart meter back to zero. I think they also changed the dance patterns. I seem to recall most dances ending with super hard combos that were sure to eliminate all your progress. Now, there's almost always a series of easy combos right at the end, so you can make up a little lost ground before the dance ends.

[CapnPitt]

Well I guess I need to get the patch and get back to sea. The heart-meter getting set back to zero is what really ticked me off about the dancing. But I swear I'm still getting those damn slippers as soon as possible easier-dancing or not! :)

Plus I feel crappy that I haven't properly finished the game yet.

[Miller]

Oh, forgot to say, I got the patch at Gamespot.com. You can probably also get it directly from the Atari website.

[CapnPitt]

You can get the patch here (http://www.firaxis.com/games/downloads.php).

Don't know if this is true or not but supposedly in the new patch "the biggest complaint will be that you can't change ownership of towns more than once."

[Lute Skywatcher]

We've found that it's hard to plunder anything but food and guns from ships. Do you buy cheap in one port and sell high in another, rather than plundering?Depends on the type of ship. Anything marked as "Treasure Ship" is likely to have sugar and/or spices on board, as well as a bunch of gold. Same for any ship you hear about while visiting a pub.No, we were trying to attack a Spanish settlement (they currently have a bounty of $21,000 on our head) and after walking to town it let us stroll right in and conduct business.

Can you only attack towns with governors? We tried to attack a Dutch town with a governor, and I don't know if it's because the town takes up the whole island or what but we couldn't walk to it to attack. (St. Eustatius, in case it matters.)Bounty doesn't really affect how towns feel about you. You need to attack ships either leaving from or heading to that city.

[CapnPitt]

Darn you straight to heck ivylass! :) I'm losing hours of my life again playing this game.

I'm playing in Buccaner Heroes or whatever the 1660 scenario's called. And for some reason, I'm the rootin-est tootin-est city pillager the Carribean's ever seen.
Don't know why but big crews and city attacks seem to be my modus operandi for this pirate. Didn't plan it that way, just the way it's working out.

Just married the beautiful daughter of the gov'n of Nevis (what a hot girl's doing in that podunk, I'll never know). English Duke, Spanish Marquis, and French Captain and it's somewhere around 1666.

The problem is that I'm way behind in the family rescues and pirate-killing. I hate going out to the Yucatan peninsula because it takes forever to get back from there. Villa Hermosa...a pox upon thee.

And despite my disdain for big ships in the other thread, I find myself using a War Galleon as my flagship :eek: . Pretty slow, but people tend to pay attention (and gold) after they've been nailed by a 32 gun broadside. :cool:

Oh yeah, and the dancing is MUCH easier with the patch. I still wish you could skip it altogether, but I'll take what I can get.

[Monstre]

Is this a newer version of "Pirates! Gold", or is this something different? (It sounds the same, from the descriptions here).

I picked up a copy of that for the Mac years ago (pre - OS X) -- then later a cartridge of the same game for an old Sega Genesis. Haven't played it for a while, but now that I'm thinking about it, I want to go back and play again!

[cckerberos]

Is this a newer version of "Pirates! Gold", or is this something different? (It sounds the same, from the descriptions here).

I picked up a copy of that for the Mac years ago (pre - OS X) -- then later a cartridge of the same game for an old Sega Genesis. Haven't played it for a while, but now that I'm thinking about it, I want to go back and play again!

Yes, it's a newer version of Pirates!, the same game that was remade into Pirates! Gold.

[QuizCustodet]

The problem is that I'm way behind in the family rescues and pirate-killing. I hate going out to the Yucatan peninsula because it takes forever to get back from there. Villa Hermosa...a pox upon thee.


Both of our Immortal Adversaries (maybe Baron Raymundo and the Marquis de Montalban got hold of some of the cursed gold from Pirates of the Caribbean?) seem to hang out around Spanish towns. Thus, if you don't mind annoying the Spaniards for a while, a long pillaging trip from Florida to the Yucatan can change the ownership of all the cities in the area. I've not been able to take this scenario to its logical conclusion (I had almost driven the Spanish out of the Caribbean when I had to reinstall Windows and lost my saves) but I suspect that if you reduce the Spanish to only one or two conveniently located cities, the Immortal Adversaries will be pinned down and easy to find.

[CapnPitt]

Both of our Immortal Adversaries (maybe Baron Raymundo and the Marquis de Montalban got hold of some of the cursed gold from Pirates of the Caribbean?) seem to hang out around Spanish towns. Thus, if you don't mind annoying the Spaniards for a while, a long pillaging trip from Florida to the Yucatan can change the ownership of all the cities in the area. I've not been able to take this scenario to its logical conclusion (I had almost driven the Spanish out of the Caribbean when I had to reinstall Windows and lost my saves) but I suspect that if you reduce the Spanish to only one or two conveniently located cities, the Immortal Adversaries will be pinned down and easy to find.

Hadn't thought of it that way, but it would seem to work. I guess you'd need to get your Dukedom from the Spanish out of the way first, then you could spend the rest of the game flipping Spanish towns and pinning down the Immortal Adversaries (I like the phrase...have you trademarked it or can I use it freely?). Oh well, I guess that means another game after I finish this one.

[ivylass]

We've fought some fiances, and I think I may send Ivylad back to whoever his girlfriend is (it's listed under status, but he's danced with so many I can't remember which one is pining away for him) and see if I can marry him off.

Do you have to be a Duke before you get married? We're an English Duke, but I think the girlfriend is French.

[CapnPitt]

We've fought some fiances, and I think I may send Ivylad back to whoever his girlfriend is (it's listed under status, but he's danced with so many I can't remember which one is pining away for him) and see if I can marry him off.

Do you have to be a Duke before you get married? We're an English Duke, but I think the girlfriend is French.

I don't think you have to be a Duke. I think you just have to keep going back to the port where *she* is. Of course until you're married the *she* can change. I think it's more likely that by the time you're married, you've co-incidentally been made a Duke.

[QuizCustodet]

After further play, two more things that I'd like everyone else's thoughts on (if anyone else is still playing!)
- Is it just me, or does it seem that the sword-fighting game must be broken if it's possible for you to not take a single hit during a fight, kill the enemy, and yet lose lots of men and 'advantage' because you somehow weren't doing it *right*?
- Also, if there are any meteorologists: is the wind always east->west in the Caribbean? It would add a whole new element to the game if there were seasons with winds in different directions. Miss your window to sail east with the wind? Hope you like the countryside around Villa Hermosa, because you'll see a lot of it as you crawl around the Yucatan.

[CapnPitt]

After further play, two more things that I'd like everyone else's thoughts on (if anyone else is still playing!)
- Is it just me, or does it seem that the sword-fighting game must be broken if it's possible for you to not take a single hit during a fight, kill the enemy, and yet lose lots of men and 'advantage' because you somehow weren't doing it *right*?
- Also, if there are any meteorologists: is the wind always east->west in the Caribbean? It would add a whole new element to the game if there were seasons with winds in different directions. Miss your window to sail east with the wind? Hope you like the countryside around Villa Hermosa, because you'll see a lot of it as you crawl around the Yucatan.

IANAM but the trade winds are apparently pretty consistent across the Carribean from the NE, but bending around as they hit Middle of the Americas and turning into the Westerlies somewhere north of the Tropic of Cancer. So I think the wind model is correct. Also it would stand to reason that the route taken by the Treasure Fleet would match these winds: enter the Main south by Trinidad and circle around exiting past the Florida Keys with maybe a stop in San Juan).

Obligatory wikipedia article (this has a decent map (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind#Winds_by_spatial_scale)
PBS Savage Seas (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageseas/neptune-side-winds.html)
Very illustrative map of the current wind conditions from iWindsurf (http://www.iwindsurf.com/windandwhere.iws?regionID=132&regionProductID=1&day=0&timeoffset=0%2C0)
Cumbersome WeatherOnline current wind charts for the Carribean (http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/cgi-bin/windframe?03&LANG=en&WIND=g145)

As far as the swordfighting goes, I haven't had that problem. Sometimes it's actually convenient to take your time and lose some crew in order to improve morale (now that's an ass-backwards model...the beatings will continue until morale improves).

[ivylass]

We've rescued the Tortuga's governor's daughter and I guess she's waiting for a proposal. But we have another governor's daughter to rescue. Can we still rescue governor's daughters after we're married? We only got one piece to the Inca treasure map so far.

We're a French Duke now, but our men are unhappy and it's only been 19 months. We have to sack some towns or get some treasure quick.

[CapnPitt]

You can rescue governor's daughters ad infinitum. In fact you pretty much have to in order to get the complete Inca map...and whatever comes next.

How big of a crew are you running? And do you have the fiddle and the concertina? 19 months is a little soon unless you're carrying a big crew.

[ivylass]

We have about 214, and we do have a fiddle and a concertina, I think. I think it's because we've been busy chasing Raymundo and Montalbaln and haven't had much chance to sack towns and attack ships.

I'm partly to blame, because I want to get somewhere and finish our mission or dig up the treasure, and Ivylad wants to fight every enemy ship that comes near, and then ships get damaged and men get lost, so we have to pull into a friendly port and get fixed, and by that time Raymundo has moved on or we're given another mission and they're just the next town over...

Well, you know. :D

[CapnPitt]

I know indeed. :)

Can either of you do swordfighting pretty well by now? If so, you might find you don't need that big of a crew (unless you're going a-sacking). And a small crew is a happy crew. ::insert eyepatch pirate smiley here:: Toward the end with this last guy I didn't ran with right around a hundred pirates. But it all depends on what you want to do.

[CapnPitt]

durr..."with this last guy I ran with about a hundred pirates most of the time."

Oh side note: have you gotten pretty good with the land battles? If not, I highly encourage you to do so.

[ivylass]

As far as I can tell, you just need more men than the town soldiers, right? Once when we outnumbered them about 200 to 60 we had the sword fight right in town. We didn't have to do the field maneuvers outside the gates.

[CapnPitt]

If you have them outnumbered *significantly* you'll go right to the swordfight as you describe. However, if you don't outnumber by too much or have some lesser number then you go into the battlefield mode outside the city walls.

I find the game's AI to be a pretty weak general. If you use the forest spaces and your buccanneers (gun toting pirates) correctly, you can defeat a significantly larger force. If you haven't done this too much, I'd suggest you get some practice at it because it's important later if you're going to finish the story.

Remember that these are just suggestions...don't want to sound like I'm going to make you walk the plank if you don't. :D

Part of the fun is that you can really play the game a number of different ways.

[Lute Skywatcher]

I'm partly to blame, because I want to get somewhere and finish our mission or dig up the treasure, and Ivylad wants to fight every enemy ship that comes near, and then ships get damaged and men get lost, so we have to pull into a friendly port and get fixed, and by that time Raymundo has moved on or we're given another mission and they're just the next town over...

Well, you know. :DUnlike the previous versions, I doubt you'll ever find Raymundo in a town; seems he's always on his ship somewhere. From what I've seen, once he gets to a town, he immediately turns and heads toward some other Spanish port. Raymundo sightings are now only good for narrowing down the area he's in. The best you can hope for is to either hit the very last port he was in or the one that he's on his way to, then figure out the quickest way to where he's headed to (or from) and bump into him.

[ivylass]

Well, our men were getting harder and harder to keep happy (we recovered 9000 in treasure and they were only content) so we retired a surgeon in Tortuga. We didn't find any members of our family or the Inca treasure, but we did get married and defeated all the pirates except L'Ollonais.

Not too bad our first time out. We shall start a new campaign later today, which should go more smoothly now that we know how to dance with the ladies. Ivylad wants to concentrate on the quests first, and IIRC, the first mission we had we were able to remain at sea with happy men for nearly three years.

Avast!

[yastobaal]

I brought this game after hearing good things about it but haven't played for a couple of months now due the fact I couldn't find any treasure using the maps. Anybody got some advice about that?

[CapnPitt]

Advice, my friend, I have in spades. And shovels. And pickaxes. :)

First question would be: were you working from a partial map or a completed map? If a partial map, then you are somewhat unlikely to find a treasure until you're *really* used to the geography of the Caribbean. To remedy this, keep going to the mysterious stranger in the back of the taverns until you get one that will sell you another piece of the map (repeat until you get a full map).

At that point, you should have some writing at the bottom of the map that says something like "Search West of Santo Domingo." There might be a landmark on the map that says something like "Blood Rock." It will say Buried Treasure Landmark when you sail near it on the main sailing screen. Use those landmarks to figure out where you should anchor your ships. Sail there toward your target (West of S.D. in this case), find the (Blood Rock) landmark and sail your ship directly into the appropriate patch of coastline, then select anchor ships here from the menu.

When you're taken to the landscreen, start walking in the direction you think the X on the map is located. The 9 key on the keypad will open up the spyglass circle to give you vision at a distance. see if you can find any landmarks like a stone head, Incan temple, stone arch, etc. Keep referring back to the treasure map as much as you like. Switching back and forth you should be able to orient where you are in relation to the landmarks on the map and the X. Just keep moving in the direction you think the X is and keep sweeping your spyglass across the land. Eventually you should see a stylized big pile o' rocks. This is the X you've been looking for. When you get near it, your men will run toward it start digging and you'll get a little movie and a variable amount of gold depending on which pirate's treasure you just looted.

Happy digging and let me know if this was any help to you. I might have accidentally omitted something inadvertantly.

[ivylass]

You'll also see a glowing red skull and crossbones on the pile, and that's where the treasure is.

[RickJay]

Unlike the previous versions, I doubt you'll ever find Raymundo in a town; seems he's always on his ship somewhere.
He can never be found in town; the only way to catch him is by intercepting his ship.

On occasion, the game can kind of lose an evil Spaniard; I've had situations where Raymundo was going from one port to another nearby port and he simply vanished for years.

[ivylass]

Well, we're able to buy information in the tavern and have captured Raymundo twice, and we haven't yet danced with a governor's daughter!

We've found if we stop in a pirate haven, and tell the captain to attack a nearby town, then they can "soften it up" for us before we go attack it. We may not get as much money, but we've converted three towns from Spanish to other nationalities.

[D_Odds]

Time to fire up again Pirates. I went through the game in three periods, then shelved it to return to City of Heroes, but catching this thread (can't believe I missed it fo rtwo weeks) has put me back in the mood.

First job, find a Royal Sloop and upgrade it with everything. Next is to find the biggest, slowest ships available for hauling troops and goods throughout the Caribbean. Time to rescue my family (again).

For those of you with the deluxe DVD version, it includes the original Pirates! Gold. You'll need a 'slow-down' program, as it is keyed to processor speed, but you can find them for free.

Thanks for re-awakening my love for this game.

[CapnPitt]

D_Odds I was a little surprised to not see you in this thread either, since you were such a spectacular contributor to the old one (maybe the OP?). Good to see you.

ivylass the reason you haven't danced with a daughter yet is because Sid and his band of programming rogues think of everything. Unless you have "Wit and Charm" or the Chapeau or the Ostrich Cap you can't dance with a "decent" (don't charge me with sexism!) daughter until you've gotten a noble rank. So you have to put in the time and fight for somebody and get your rank up to at least Baron before you can start chasing Montalban. Or get one of the hats, but that's up to random chance.

FWIW, I still haven't finished the whole game (didn't finish all the lost cities in the last game). Maybe this time through...I'm off to a good fast start anyhow (4 years in and I'm almost married and both a Spanish and French Duke).

[QuizCustodet]

ivylass the reason you haven't danced with a daughter yet is because Sid and his band of programming rogues think of everything. Unless you have "Wit and Charm" or the Chapeau or the Ostrich Cap you can't dance with a "decent" (don't charge me with sexism!) daughter until you've gotten a noble rank. So you have to put in the time and fight for somebody and get your rank up to at least Baron before you can start chasing Montalban. Or get one of the hats, but that's up to random chance.


I thought until recently that you could only start chasing Raymundo this way, until a friendly abbot pointed me in the right direction in my most recent game. Can you definitely not get pointed towards Montalban without dancing with someone? In the same game, alas, I was vastly disappointed to find that even on the lowest difficulty level Raymundo only gives you one quarter of the map at a time. After three games, I'm quite tired of chasing Raymundo, Montalban and the random heiress-happy coronel all over the Caribbean, and was hoping this would make it easier.

One tip which was ( I think) in the previous thread has made life considerably easier: if your flagship is an Indian War Canoe, it speeds up all of your travel, even if you're hauling Henry Morgan's Large Frigate behind you. It's also handy because when you're selling ships in preparation for dividing the loot, any of your crew that can't fit on to the canoe get fired without pay, making everyone else's share that much bigger.

I've rescued most of my lost relatives at one time or another, and defeated Montalban pretty much every time out (he really needs some proper Spanish troops) but I must confess I've never had any luck at all with the lost Inca cities quest. On my most recent game, I got a full map only to find that it didn't seem to match the area it purported to. After a month or two of traipsing around Gran Grenada, I gave up. Any tips?

[D_Odds]

Thanks for the kind words, CapnPitt. Spectacular contributor...that's an 180 degree change from the way most of my posts are viewed. ;)

My best game, in any incarnation of Pirates, was a fast starter in 1660. The early missions didn't send me off in 300 directions, and I had fun destroying the French and rapidly rising in the Dutch and English ranks. One of the few shortcomings in the game is that I 'only' married a good-looking, not beautiful daughter. I do remember taking on the Boss bad guy with a small little band the first time...that didn't work out well. Had to re-amass a fleet and next time took him on with about 2.5-to-1 odds. That'll learn him!

I've never taken 'Wit and Charm', nor have I bought nor accepted the Chapeau / Ostrich Cap as items. ivylass, I generally stay on the left side of the map early, and beat up whomever has the most enemies among the English / Dutch / French. I love seeing just how much I can damage a ship without sinking it. Beating up one side of a war will earn quick promotions from the other. If someone is fighting with two or more countries, you can garner favor with both quickly. A few escort missions from the settlements won't hurt getting promotions, which lead to prettier ladies, either.

[D_Odds]

QuizCustodet, finding some of those places, especially lacking any landmarks, can be difficult. All I can say is use landmarks to their fullest.

Also, I'm not 100% sure, but whenever you lose crew, they leave with a share. This also goes for when you recruit more than you can hold. Perhaps someone who tracks their gold more closely than I do can confirm this. Whenever I want to pare down my crew, it's time for a land battle. I just leave some people out in the open and watch their numbers dwindle. The gold is a bonus.

[CapnPitt]

I thought until recently that you could only start chasing Raymundo this way, until a friendly abbot pointed me in the right direction in my most recent game. Can you definitely not get pointed towards Montalban without dancing with someone? In the same game, alas, I was vastly disappointed to find that even on the lowest difficulty level Raymundo only gives you one quarter of the map at a time. After three games, I'm quite tired of chasing Raymundo, Montalban and the random heiress-happy coronel all over the Caribbean, and was hoping this would make it easier.

Ah yes, I forgot about the Jesuits. You're exactly right about that...a friendly abbot can start you in that direction. But it is kind of randomized. But thanks for catching my error. And no doubt the random chasing can be (well, is) tiresome.

I've rescued most of my lost relatives at one time or another, and defeated Montalban pretty much every time out (he really needs some proper Spanish troops) but I must confess I've never had any luck at all with the lost Inca cities quest. On my most recent game, I got a full map only to find that it didn't seem to match the area it purported to. After a month or two of traipsing around Gran Grenada, I gave up. Any tips?

In addition to what D_Odds said about using landmarks, using landmarks, and using some more landmarks, all I can say is that those lost city maps can be difficult. Mainly, as I'm sure you've noticed is that you don't often get a seaside landmark. So you have to do a bit of Sherlock Holmes and eliminate the seaside places that it can't be. For example, one map I had said search north of Gran Granada, but only had the slightest hint of seashore at the very top. So what I did was look north of GG for swaths of seaside that might even remotely match what was on my map. In other words, orient the seashore on the map to the shore on the sailing screen to limit your options. Then landmark, landmark, landmark. I don't know that what I've written is helpful, because it's really kind of an intuitive thing.

Also, it took me forever to realize that the gadget on the bottom left serves as a compass when you're walking overland. :smack: I'm pretty sure everyone else recognized that but me, but if it helps you, then so much the better.

[Lute Skywatcher]

I thought until recently that you could only start chasing Raymundo this way, until a friendly abbot pointed me in the right direction in my most recent game. Can you definitely not get pointed towards Montalban without dancing with someone? In the same game, alas, I was vastly disappointed to find that even on the lowest difficulty level Raymundo only gives you one quarter of the map at a time. After three games, I'm quite tired of chasing Raymundo, Montalban and the random heiress-happy coronel all over the Caribbean, and was hoping this would make it easier.Ah yes, I forgot about the Jesuits. You're exactly right about that...a friendly abbot can start you in that direction. But it is kind of randomized. But thanks for catching my error. And no doubt the random chasing can be (well, is) tiresome.Not just Jesuits. Bartenders, primarily Spanish ones, also can have info on them.

[CapnPitt]

Bartenders will have info, but I don't know that they can get you started on the trail. Could be wrong though.

[ivylass]

The plain daughters won't dance with you until you're a Captain.

The attractive ones want a Colonel.

And the beautiful ones want a Baron. We tended to stay away from the Jesuit missions and the Indian villages the first game. Other than finding Raymundo, is there any benefit to visiting them on a regular basis?

[D_Odds]

Sometimes a bartender will tell you the town needs a good Indian raid, or influx of immigrants. Also, Indian raids will weaken a towns defenses without stealing it's gold. Jesuits will send immigrants, which will make the governors like you. If you've been pissing off the French, but want to sail into town, escort some immigrants and the French will be more receptive to your overtures. It's how I get into Spanish towns.

[QuizCustodet]

Sometimes a bartender will tell you the town needs a good Indian raid, or influx of immigrants. Also, Indian raids will weaken a towns defenses without stealing it's gold. Jesuits will send immigrants, which will make the governors like you. If you've been pissing off the French, but want to sail into town, escort some immigrants and the French will be more receptive to your overtures. It's how I get into Spanish towns.

Additionally, abbots (by the way, why do Jesuit settlements have abbots? Since Jesuits are almost universally priests, rather than sworn brothers, I've never seen a group of them referred to as an abbey...) will occasionally offer to intercede with the governors of nearby settlements. I've never taken them up on the offer, but I think it gets you out of paying your way out of the bad books.

[CapnPitt]

Additionally, abbots (by the way, why do Jesuit settlements have abbots? Since Jesuits are almost universally priests, rather than sworn brothers, I've never seen a group of them referred to as an abbey...) will occasionally offer to intercede with the governors of nearby settlements. I've never taken them up on the offer, but I think it gets you out of paying your way out of the bad books.

I did this once and it worked. Never really had cause to do it again.

[CapnPitt]

I finally finished the game with a maxxed out 126 fame. Our illustrious pirate Redbeard retired as Governor of Montserrat in 1669 at the age of 47 in poor health. He amassed 143171 dubloons and had land grants totalling 19050 acres. His special skill was medicine.

I know that chasing our Immortal Enemies (Raymondo and Montalban) can seem to get tiresome, but I have to tell you that it's a lot more fun than the way I spent the last five game years. I was on a quest for land grants so all I did was sail around and attack towns (mainly Spanish), flipping them to whichever nationality I thought would give me the most acres.

Fun Fact 1: the biggest land grant I got was 1050 acres from the French for making Maricaibo French.
Fun Fact 2: the Spanish once had a 42,000 gp bounty on my head. :cool:
Biggest plunder from a city: Vera Cruz, 11000 gp.

Turning Cuba all English was kind of cool, but largely it got pretty dull pretty quick without having side quests. I was even ::shudder:: considering doing honest merchant sailing.

[Rhythmdvl]

Zombie Pirates!!!!

I love this game. Re-installed it via Steam a short while ago and have been terrorizing the seas ever since.

Resurrecting this because I found the thread searching for variations of “can’t attack town.”

I seem to have taken advantage of a bug/unexpected situation with regards to pirating immortality. I’m 64 years old in failing heath, having been at sea for 438 months. However, my 368-member crew is happy (or my decrepit invincibility command keeps them from reporting the truth to the pollsters), I’ve amassed 1,097,487 gold pieces, have maxed out every rating (e.g., fame, romance, treasures/lost cities found, etc.), and am tooling around in a rather impregnable Ship-of-the-Line (Rhythmdeath).

I long ago turned the just about the entire Caribbean over to English hands. I left one or two of each other nation to finish out the ranking for each nation, but the world is predominantly English. Mighty pirate and kingmaker that I am, I want to switch everything over to another nationality. But I can’t get English forts to fight. The one where I got married does fight, but no matter how overwhelming I take it (e.g., 300+ v. 20 guards; the sword fight challenge) I never get the option to install a governor. Other English towns, no matter how many of their ships I sink right on the front door, no matter how much of a reward is on my head, and no matter whether I approach by land or sea, never put up a fight. When sailing past them I get shot at (and there are lots of pirate hunters out there), but I haven’t had a decent land battle in ages.

Is it that I can’t replace the governor of my wife’s town? And that I can’t fight a town where I installed the governor? Or is this an artefact of whatever let me keep sailing for 36 years with a happy crew?

Loooovvvee this game.

[Marley23]

Moved to The Game Room from Cafe Society.

[CapnPitt]

Ack!!! It's been too long since I've played it. Sorry I can't help on this one. Might have to fire it up again. :) and :( at the same time.

[asterion]

I enjoyed it, but then I found that it got too repetitious and tedious. So while it wasn't the worst use of my gaming dollars ever (MOO3, I'm looking at you) I haven't played it in years. Maybe it's time to dig out the discs and load it onto the laptop.