Avast, ye scurvy dogz! Here there be Sid Meier's Pirates!, first impressions... aargh

[cartman]

Well, my new favorite friend, the FedEx man, just delivered my copy. I'll start the install in about 30 minutes, and give some of my initial thoughts soon after.

WOOT!

oops, I mean..

ARRGH! Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

[sachmo71]

YOU'VE RUINED THE TRADITION!

I HATE YOU!!

[SLAMS DOOR]

[Dutch]

Damned Pirates! Aaargh....ruinin' fine traditions, they be doin'.....arrgh....

[Icy]

Arffff tell us tell us!!!! write a dynasty about how the box smells, what you felt oppening it, how the cd sounds in your dcrom drive while spinning, give us more!! :)

[cartman]

YOU'VE RUINED THE TRADITION!

I HATE YOU!!

[SLAMS DOOR]

Aww, c'mon Sach... I did put the 'z' in there...

[cartman]

Arffff tell us tell us!!!! write a dynasty about how the box smells, what you felt oppening it, how the cd sounds in your dcrom drive while spinning, give us more!! :)

It was a partly sunny day. A heavy rain fell earlier, covering everything in a watery sheen. The knock at the door startled me, as I was thinking about the nurse. Yes, the same nurse that tended my injuries in the war. I will never forget that girl.

Slowly, I opened the door. It was as I expected. The FedEx man. He has brought me many boxes over the months. Some with good things, some with bad. But the contents of this box were like none other. Yes, the outward appearance of the box was generic. There were no notable marks to give a hint of the goodness within. Much like the fishing knowledge of the old man in Cuba.

I held the box up to inspect for any hidden damage. The box was good. It was smooth, nary a crumpled edge in sight. With quick aplomb, I ripped open the box. It was done in a manner not unlike the trout I have gutted in Idaho. Quick, and with little damage to the surrounding area.

The plastic smell wafted upwards. Yes, the smell was that of a new poncho, or perhaps even the Saran Wrap covering a leftover meal. But inside this wrapping there will not be any day old meatloaf. Only the goodness known as Sid Meier's Pirates!

[to be continued]

[heybrad]

The sea was angry that day my friends. Like an old man trying to send soup back in a deli.

[Icy]

It was a partly sunny day. A heavy rain fell earlier, covering everything in a watery sheen. The knock at the door startled me, as I was thinking about the nurse. Yes, the same nurse that tended my injuries in the war. I will never forget that girl.

Slowly, I opened the door. It was as I expected. The FedEx man. He has brought me many boxes over the months. Some with good things, some with bad. But the contents of this box were like none other. Yes, the outward appearance of the box was generic. There were no notable marks to give a hint of the goodness within. Much like the fishing knowledge of the old man in Cuba.

I held the box up to inspect for any hidden damage. The box was good. It was smooth, nary a crumpled edge in sight. With quick aplomb, I ripped open the box. It was done in a manner not unlike the trout I have gutted in Idaho. Quick, and with little damage to the surrounding area.

The plastic smell wafted upwards. Yes, the smell was that of a new poncho, or perhaps even the Saran Wrap covering a leftover meal. But inside this wrapping there will not be any day old meatloaf. Only the goodness known as Sid Meier's Pirates!

[to be continued]

Lol Awesome

[rkmsuf]

You're going to be the first pirate!

http://www.berrysmediahut.com/seinfeld/images/puffys2.jpg


I don't wanna be a pirate.

[SirFozzie]

Making a formal request to change dogz to boyz. WE MUST HAVE TRADITION!

(ok, compromise, Dogboyz? :D)

[rkmsuf]

Making a formal request to change dogz to boyz. WE MUST HAVE TRADITION!

(ok, compromise, Dogboyz? :D)

avast ye scurvy BOYZ?

Uh, yeah. What kind of pirate ship ye be runnin?

[Buzzbee]

It was a partly sunny day. A heavy rain fell earlier, covering everything in a watery sheen. The knock at the door startled me, as I was thinking about the nurse. Yes, the same nurse that tended my injuries in the war. I will never forget that girl.

Slowly, I opened the door. It was as I expected. The FedEx man. He has brought me many boxes over the months. Some with good things, some with bad. But the contents of this box were like none other. Yes, the outward appearance of the box was generic. There were no notable marks to give a hint of the goodness within. Much like the fishing knowledge of the old man in Cuba.

I held the box up to inspect for any hidden damage. The box was good. It was smooth, nary a crumpled edge in sight. With quick aplomb, I ripped open the box. It was done in a manner not unlike the trout I have gutted in Idaho. Quick, and with little damage to the surrounding area.

The plastic smell wafted upwards. Yes, the smell was that of a new poncho, or perhaps even the Saran Wrap covering a leftover meal. But inside this wrapping there will not be any day old meatloaf. Only the goodness known as Sid Meier's Pirates!

[to be continued]Quit wasting time!!! Play the damn game and give us game reports!!!

We don't need no stinkin' prose. We need stinkin' Pirates! Harrrr!

[moriarty]

Quit wasting time!!! Play the damn game and give us game reports!!!

We don't need no stinkin' prose. We need stinkin' Pirates! Harrrr!

Well said!

[Franklinnoble]

It was a partly sunny day. A heavy rain fell earlier, covering everything in a watery sheen. The knock at the door startled me, as I was thinking about the nurse. Yes, the same nurse that tended my injuries in the war. I will never forget that girl.

Slowly, I opened the door. It was as I expected. The FedEx man. He has brought me many boxes over the months. Some with good things, some with bad. But the contents of this box were like none other. Yes, the outward appearance of the box was generic. There were no notable marks to give a hint of the goodness within. Much like the fishing knowledge of the old man in Cuba.

I held the box up to inspect for any hidden damage. The box was good. It was smooth, nary a crumpled edge in sight. With quick aplomb, I ripped open the box. It was done in a manner not unlike the trout I have gutted in Idaho. Quick, and with little damage to the surrounding area.

The plastic smell wafted upwards. Yes, the smell was that of a new poncho, or perhaps even the Saran Wrap covering a leftover meal. But inside this wrapping there will not be any day old meatloaf. Only the goodness known as Sid Meier's Pirates!

[to be continued]

This would have been better had you spoken like a pirate.

[Radii]

I love this thread already.

[cartman]

The opening of the box brought new surprises. Games, like women, are usually all the same. There is an attractive exterior, but nothing else to seperate them. Except for that Spanish nurse.

The box included a map. Not a battle map, nor a treasure map. Simple a geographic map of the Carribean. Also there was a game manual. These are only needed for those who have never tasted the salt in the air. Or felt the hot lead of a bullet nuzzle their cheek. Fear is for cowards, and so are game manuals.

But this manual is different. It is not bound by glue, as most mortal manuals are made. Nor was it assembled using the sinews of a felled elk. That would not work for mass production. Instead, it is spiral bound. Spiral bound. It reminds me of the bore of my rifle. This makes me happy.

The DVD is quite non-descript. Neither here nor there. It enters the drive quietly. Much like David, who also went quietly during the charge up San Juan Hill. He was one of the ones who had to read the manual. Maybe his name was Bruce. It is hard to remember such things.

During the installation, there was a request for a "CD-Key". What is that, I questioned. Is it some sort of plot by Franco to win the hearts of the revolutionaries? Or was it simply a method to install the game? I broke down and consulted the manual. Not since I was a little boy, had I felt less as a man. I was redeemed a bit, when this "keycode" was found on the first page.

Upon entering the game, I felt a rush. A rush not unlike that of battle. Or seeing a new woman on the beach. A strange sensation, but one that must be tamed. For if it is not tamed, it is impossible to move on.

[to be continued]

[moriarty]

Oh hell, you've created a monster.

Two pages of writeup and he hasn't even booted up the freakin' game yet.

[Buzzbee]

Arrrgh! Ye best be gettin' ta playin' tha game er the only bootin' that'll be goin' on aroun' here'll be my boot goin' up yer arse!!

[cartman]

Beauty comes in different shapes. And forms. A sunrise over the Sawtooths. A dolphin following your ship. And that nurse. I will never forget her.

The game provides a bit of history. When you choose to start, you are reminded of how your family, those poor souls, were sold into slavery. But a slave's life is not in your future. You run, and vow revenge.

You select the country of the captain you wish to take you to the free world. Not a simple choice, but not an overly tough one either. Your choices are thus: England, Spain, Holland, or France. They all have their plusses and minuses. At that moment I once again thought of the nurse. And the good times we shared. This led me to choose Spain.

The Spaniard was a cruel taskmaster. Queequeg longed to aspire to The Spaniard's levels of cruelty. Finally, having had enough, the men revolt. The captian is tossed into the sea. With this tossing, comes responsibility. The crew, the boat, they are in your hands. It hits you full force, once your first mate asks where to sail. Cuba? Spain? Other points? Only you can make the choices from now on. Choose wisely.

[rkmsuf]

Queens!

[Franklinnoble]

Beauty comes in different shapes. And forms. A sunrise over the Sawtooths. A dolphin following your ship. And that nurse. I will never forget her.

The game provides a bit of history. When you choose to start, you are reminded of how your family, those poor souls, were sold into slavery. But a slave's life is not in your future. You run, and vow revenge.

You select the country of the captain you wish to take you to the free world. Not a simple choice, but not an overly tough one either. Your choices are thus: England, Spain, Holland, or France. They all have their plusses and minuses. At that moment I once again thought of the nurse. And the good times we shared. This led me to choose Spain.

The Spaniard was a cruel taskmaster. Queequeg longed to aspire to The Spaniard's levels of cruelty. Finally, having had enough, the men revolt. The captian is tossed into the sea. With this tossing, comes responsibility. The crew, the boat, they are in your hands. It hits you full force, once your first mate asks where to sail. Cuba? Spain? Other points? Only you can make the choices from now on. Choose wisely.



Damn.

I have to go to Costco to pick up Harry Potter at lunch. If this game is there, I'm gonna hafta make an ill-advised impulse buy...

[Coffee Warlord]

Ye get ta playin' now, ya scurvy dog, 'less I send ye ta the bot'um of davy jones' lockah! Arr!

Spoken from someone who didn't make the 45-hour long drive ta get it. I elected to order it online if it sounds good.

[Qwikshot]

Picked it up today...going to be playing soon....

[Coffee Warlord]

Damn.

I have to go to Costco to pick up Harry Potter at lunch. If this game is there, I'm gonna hafta make an ill-advised impulse buy...

Yeah, two things I wanted in a single day makes for bad news. I could get Harry Potter in town, I couldn't get Pirates in town. Easy, if annoying, choice.

[cartman]

Ok, the prose from Papa is done.

First impressions:

The graphics are incredible! You see dolphins swimming in the sea, the storms that come up, and there are varying levels of storms! When you have a cannon battle, parts and people fly off of the ships. You can actually see people drop down slowly to Davy Jones' locker!

The sounds are great as well, they fit the game nicely.

I had a small issue first starting out. I'm using the DiNovo bluetooth keyboard, mouse, and keypad combo from Logitech. For some reason, in game, I can't set the keypad into numlock status. But I disovered that you can use only the mouse, by clicking on the HUD in the lower right corner of the screen. Not sure if this is a problem related only to this keyboard, or if there might be a general problem using keypads.

The gameplay reminds me almost exactly as that of the original. I've only been playing for about 30 minutes, but I am having a blast. There have been improvements obviously. Remember, back when the original came out, 12mhz and 640KB of RAM was a cutting edge machine! When you are sailing, and you are miles from anywhere, a prompt comes up asking if you'd like to set course to certain towns. So you don't have to make guesses when there are no land references. Also, once towns do get close, but not quite on the screen yet, their names appear in the general direction you will need to go.

In town, the gameplay is similar. They have added something to the shipwrights. In addition to repairs, certain ports can also perform enhancements as well, such as better cannons, better handling, etc. At the governor's house, I've only met one daughter, and no dancing yet.

As for the battles, they are a blast. It is still fun trying to manuver your ship into the optimal cannon spot. You can also fire the cannons before all of the guns are reloaded. Once you get into the swordplay, this is where the most changes have some from the original. It is much more fluid and changing. I've knocked one guy overboard, pushed another into a fire, and simply whack-a-mole'd another.

Haven't gotten enough men together yet to assault a town, so I haven't tried that part out.

But so far, I'm having a blast. The game has met or exceeded my initial expectations!

[cartman]

dola,

Are there any questions in particular that people have about the game? I'll do what I can to get them answered.

[Crapshoot]

I actually really enjoy the prose from before Cartman- great stuff. If you can keep writing like that- this could be an awesome dynasty.

[Coffee Warlord]

The rapid aging I've heard about concerns me, and I've heard tell of naval combat being extremely 'arcadey' (as in you've got two boats running at warpspeed with some insane turn radius).

There's the two bigguns I've heard of that do worry me.

[cartman]

The rapid aging I've heard about concerns me, and I've heard tell of naval combat being extremely 'arcadey' (as in you've got two boats running at warpspeed with some insane turn radius).

There's the two bigguns I've heard of that do worry me.


I haven't played enough yet to see the aging. As for the naval combat, it is all relative to the wind speed. If there are huge gusts, you will turn quicker. But I've been in a couple of battles where there was almost no wind, and it took a while to get the boat turned around.

[Coffee Warlord]

I'm holding out a shred of hope. Just called the local wally world on the zero chance in hell they got it already, they said they had a freight unloading at the moment.

Maybe. Just maybe.

[Crapshoot]

dudes, how on earth do all you people have time during the day to play it ?

[cartman]

dudes, how on earth do all you people have time during the day to play it ?

It's simple....

Work from home, baby!!!

:D

[BreizhManu]

Earlameyer The Butt Pirate :"Ahoy, sissy! Whatcha got in your mouth sissy?"</pre>

[Desnudo]

It's simple....

Work from home, baby!!!

:D

Or live the life of a man of leisure.

[KWhit]

Spoken from someone who didn't make the 45-hour long drive ta get it. I elected to order it online if it sounds good.
A 45 hour drive to get it?!?!

You must really live in the boonies.

[Coffee Warlord]

A 45 hour drive to get it?!?!

You must really live in the boonies.

Weak.

[MrBug708]

45 hours does seem a tad long. You'd think chicago would have it...;)

[Anthony]

if you needed to drive 45 hours to get that game that meant your store was in northern Alaska.

[Solecismic]

For those of you with the game, how is it for people who get motion sick from games like Doom?

[Franklinnoble]

For those of you with the game, how is it for people who get motion sick from games like Doom?

Now we know why the FOF games will never be any flashier than a brightly colored spreadsheet. ;)

Which is fine with me, by the way... I abhor all the fluff... stick to the meat and potatoes. :D

[cartman]

For those of you with the game, how is it for people who get motion sick from games like Doom?

The animation is pretty fluid and smooth, not the fast-twitch style of Doom. The only flashes are from the cannons, and they are quite a small part of the screen. And, it has ballroom dancing, for cripes sakes... :D

[Desnudo]

How is it for people who get sick from having to ballroom dance in a video game?

[klayman]

Post some pics of the nurse.

[Coffee Warlord]

Sigh. No dice at Wal Mart. Could buy a zillion copies of World of Warcraft if I wanted, but did they even get Pirates? Nooooo.

[GrantDawg]

Post some pics of the nurse.

http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/227/227550/folders/178379/1323857Sandra.JPG

[Franklinnoble]

Post some pics of the nurse.


I'm amazed it took 43 posts for this one...

[Surtt]

The opening of the box brought new surprises. Games, like women, are usually all the same. There is an attractive exterior, but nothing else to seperate them. Except for that Spanish nurse.



Their boxes are nice, though.

[Buccaneer]

Stopped by EB Games on the way home (finally a game store in my part of the city). Went a little wild and bought not only the Limited Edition but three other games as well: MoH Pacific Assault, Children of the Nile and Mafia (for $3.95). Three of the games are for Christmas, one obviously isn't.

[Flasch186]

money bags, i only bought 1...you know which one ARGH!!!!

[MrBug708]

Their boxes are nice, though.

http://www.mattresspeddlers.com/futons/images/box_girl.jpg

[Philliesfan980]

Stopped by EB Games on the way home (finally a game store in my part of the city). Went a little wild and bought not only the Limited Edition but three other games as well: MoH Pacific Assault, Children of the Nile and Mafia (for $3.95). Three of the games are for Christmas, one obviously isn't.

Wow. Mafia for 3.95 is a steal. Great game.

[Buccaneer]

We had talked about Mafia a while back and got turned off by their change of engine/design to more of a GTA-type game. But for $3.95 (75% off of their used game price), it's probably worth a try.

I'll be loading up soon. I've waited 10 years for this (since my obsession with P!G and the origin of my internet handle).

[Solecismic]

Am I the only one here who gets motion sick from many video games? (Can't watch NYPD Blue, or Arrested Development, either).

[GoldenEagle]

Am I the only one here who gets motion sick from many video games? (Can't watch NYPD Blue, or Arrested Development, either).

I remember I could not play any 3D games as a teen (I threw up after playing the demo of Tomb Raider). It has gotten better, but I still will get motion sick sometimes.

[Buccaneer]

Jim, I take it then that you didn't get into Sea Dogs? They were the first to revolutionize ship sailing on a realistic sea with the ship going up and down..up and down...rolling aft and fore...leaning port and starboard..rolling..rolling... Oops, sorry, got carried away.

I had thought motion sickness and vertigo only comes from movement in the 1st person?

[Buccaneer]

Nice map that comes in the box. A map of the Caribbean and the Spanish Main on fake parchment. Seeing the names of some of the cities reminds me of trying to find the Treasure Fleet in port and the devil of a time trying to get through the cannons of Cartagena. Those were great memories.

[Buccaneer]

See what me 'earty cartman said about the manual. It truly is a work of genius - and 144 pages too!

[Philliesfan980]

Am I the only one here who gets motion sick from many video games? (Can't watch NYPD Blue, or Arrested Development, either).


You don't get sick off of basic football graphics do you.. just wondering.. no reason ;) .

Yeah, I have a mild case case of "video game sickness" as well. First person shooters are normally out of the question for me, unless they are slow.

[Fritz]

Stopped by EB Games on the way home (finally a game store in my part of the city). Went a little wild and bought not only the Limited Edition but three other games as well: MoH Pacific Assault, Children of the Nile and Mafia (for $3.95). Three of the games are for Christmas, one obviously isn't.

You just killed my over/under bet on how long it would take you to post.

[Buccaneer]

Fritz, had to work all day, so no rum for me until now.

[Buccaneer]

I don't see this posted anywhere, even at firaxis, but the manual has a neat section for old Pirates!/P!G games like me that wants to know what's changed. Here they are:

1. Ship vs Land combat - Gone. When you choose to attack a town, you move your men ashore and attack via land combat.

2. Sun sightings - Gone. Don't remember this.

3. Insufficient crew - remember you had to have a minimum of 8 plus 4 for each cannon? If you didn't, all of your cannons didn't fire and if under 8, you had to abandon ship. Now it's set by type of ship and this affects sailing speed, maneuverability. You can fire all your cannons but reloads take longer. As ships take damage, the number of minimum crew increases.

[more]

[cartman]

I'm finding all sorts of neat things after playing for the past couple of hours:

you can see other pirates in action. I was sailing along, minding my own business, when I saw a pirate attacking a Dutch ship. Pretty cool

the dancing is pretty tough! It's kinda like whack a mole. You have a short amount of time to press the right direction. Mess up, and you look like me on the dance floor :) Do it right, and you earn favors from the governor's daughter.

I've met quite a few of the governor's daughters, but evidently the one in Sanitago is a major babe. At least that's what the tavern guys across the Carribean tell me. I haven't gotten the chance to meet her yet. The ole' Guv is keeping her under wraps.

The land battles are much improved. There's actually strategy involved, instead of a mass of guys marching around.

Yes, believe it or not, the puffy pirate shirt is included as a bonus item!

Nothing yet to disappoint me in the game. It is still living up to all the expectations I've had build up over the past couple of years since it was announced!

[Buccaneer]

What's new are

4. Multi-ship combat

5. Sneaking in and out of cities. In the originals, it was a pass or fail thing, now you have to guide your character through the streets and alleys to get where you want to go (merchant, governor, etc.), avoiding or knocking out patrol guards.

6. Dancing. Ummm....

7. Special items like jewelry (to impress the governor's daughter), swords (for better dueling), and many others.

8. Crew specialists including cooks, gunners, sail-makers, etc. - all to help at sea for morale, battle repairs, etc.

[klayman]

http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/Groups/227/227550/folders/178379/1323857Sandra.JPG
:( disappointing

[Franklinnoble]

What's new are

6. Dancing. Ummm....



Yikes... that just might have turned me off this game.

[Franklinnoble]

:( disappointing

Oh, come on. Do a google image search on "nurse" if you want something more satisfying... just don't expect to see it posted here.

[Buccaneer]

Everything so far looks very familiar to me. You choose your nationality, your starting era, your skill (fencing, gunnery, navigation, wit and charm or medicine) and difficulty level. You start in one of the main ports of your nationality. The map is the same as before - except that instead of flat 2D, it's in full 3D. When you enter a port, you have the same options as before: visit governor, merchant, shipwright, tavern or bank. Your ships carries pretty much the same basic cargos as before: gold, food, luxuries, goods, spice and sugar (I think these is era-dependant), and cannons. I am gald that they did not try to complicate this by adding more port buildings or cargos. The genius of the original game was, like Civ2, in its simple yet deep gameplay.

[Buccaneer]

Yikes... that just might have turned me off this game.
According to the manual, you dance to help earn the daughter's favor but it's not the only way. If you don't dance (which is just an add-on from the original pass/fail die-roll), then you don't climb the highest society rung, you settle for others.

[Buccaneer]

To answer the question about motion sickness. While under sail, there are two view: one more of a traditional top-down isometric and a new view from "behind the shoulders (or ship in this case)". The latter view can cause some motion discomfort I imagine, much like watching the horizon tilt in a plane. The former view should present no problems and will work great for sailing and combat.

[Poli]

Ye get ta playin' now, ya scurvy dog, 'less I send ye ta the bot'um of davy jones' lockah! Arr!

Spoken from someone who didn't make the 45-hour long drive ta get it. I elected to order it online if it sounds good.

Shouldn't this read, "sink your bones to Davy Jones"?

[Buccaneer]

A note about performance. I haven't built a new PC yet with the 64-bit chips and stuff so I'm still using the same system I built almost 2 years ago: amb 2000+ cpu, 512mb memory and 128mb geforce4. There are a number of game settings and I let it choose what's it's recommended for my system and it pretty much has upper-end graphics details but at 800x600. I tend to play all graphics games (including Gothic and MoH) at that resolution and to me, it looks great - including this game. Given how smooth everything runs now, I think I could bump it if I wanted to without noticeable degradation. For example, I could lessen the details (e.g., object details - like other sailing ships and passing ports - is at max right now) and go to 1024x768. The specs call for 1 Ghz and 256mb memory so I don't think performance will be big issue for most gamers.

[Blackadar]

Jim, I take it then that you didn't get into Sea Dogs? They were the first to revolutionize ship sailing on a realistic sea with the ship going up and down..up and down...rolling aft and fore...leaning port and starboard..rolling..rolling... Oops, sorry, got carried away.

I had thought motion sickness and vertigo only comes from movement in the 1st person?

No, anything that moves the camera can do it. Some of us are worse than others. I have a dreadfully bad case of it.

[Blackadar]

Am I the only one here who gets motion sick from many video games? (Can't watch NYPD Blue, or Arrested Development, either).

No sir, you are not. Most 3rd person games are off-limits for me unless there's a static background (the people turn, not the background). 1st person? Forget it.

[Desnudo]

:( disappointing

http://www.mayo.edu/mshs/images/nurse_anesthetists.jpg

[Flasch186]

one thing ill say is, i can play FOF for an unreal amount of hours, but after a few hours of Pirates, ive had to take a break.

[Buccaneer]

I just played around for the past 2 hours and it was hard to stop. Everything that I ever wanted in an upgrade is there and unlike the disappointment of Civ3, the firaxis team did a GREAT job in sticking with what worked and made Pirates so much fun and intense to play.

The only quibbles that I have are that with some of the text colors, it makes it hard to read and sometimes the information that I want to know is either a little hard to find or missing. Also they appears to have sped up the game but I don't know if there is a speed setting.

I'm going up to bed and will take the manual with me to read. It's going to be a fun Thanksgiving week (though it's too bad I have to go into the office on Friday).

Yo ho!

[Blade6119]

:( disappointing
http://www.juliestudio.com/anime/chansey/pics/nurse.JPG

Any hotter for you? ;)

[gstelmack]

Am I the only one here who gets motion sick from many video games? (Can't watch NYPD Blue, or Arrested Development, either).
I have trouble with FPS games that incorporate "head bob". Any FPS that does not let me turn off head bobbing doesn't get played for very long. Games without head bob I can play for a while, barring weird issues with how they animate (low framerates can get, for example).

[klayman]

Oh, come on. Do a google image search on "nurse" if you want something more satisfying... just don't expect to see it posted here.
Oh wow...there is like porn all over the internet!!! Thanks Franklin, why didn't anybody tell me this sooner.;)

[klayman]

http://www.juliestudio.com/anime/chansey/pics/nurse.JPG

Any hotter for you? ;)
Much better.

[Abe Sargent]

avast ye scurvy BOYZ?

Uh, yeah. What kind of pirate ship ye be runnin?


It's called matelotage, look it up. It's a pirate homosexual marriage, and it was quite common during these days. Now, if this game built in matelotage, I'd be very impressed about the historical addition.


-Anxiety

[Anthony]

(takes one step away from Anxiety)

[CamEdwards]

It's called matelotage, look it up. It's a pirate homosexual marriage, and it was quite common during these days. Now, if this game built in matelotage, I'd be very impressed about the historical addition.


-Anxiety

Common according to whom, other than B.R. Burg, author of "Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition"? Every article I've read that references that work seems to think that despite Burg's work, there's not a lot of evidence that matelotages were common outside of Tortuga (and even then only for a relatively short period of time).

Not to taint this thread with cultural politics... just wanted a bit of a rebuttal. And this game sounds amazing. Now to convince my wife that I should be able to buy a game one month before Christmas.

[rkmsuf]

(takes two steps away from Cam)

[CamEdwards]

(takes two steps away from Cam)

get back here ya big sissy. I just like to do research when I hear something that sounds too weird to be true.

[GrantDawg]

(puts his right foot in. Takes his right foot out)

[rkmsuf]

get back here ya big sissy.


Sounds like a phrase used many times back in the day.

[cartman]

ok, enough about matelotage, rebuttals, and other things related to pirate butt lovin'. That's a side of pirate booty this game doesn't cover.

I played until 3am... Good thing a holiday weekend is here, and I finished my projects ahead of time. I can honestly say that if you loved the original, there is nothing that changed in this game to keep you from enjoying it just as much, if not more. They kept the core of the game pretty much the same, and the additions they made only enhance the experience, they don't take away at all.

If you are looking for a sailing sim, a fencing sim, or (I'd be really worried about you if you were looking for this) a ballroom dancing sim, you are going to be disappointed. The game is by no means arcadey, but the physics are exaggerated a bit, for the sake of presentation. The emphasis on the pirate lifestyle, and this is where the game excels. Going from port to port, sailing the high seas, tracking down treasure ships, it's all there.

One of the big things I noticed different from the original game are the addition of pirate towns. You might be in an area where the main cities are owned by nations that do not have too high an opinion of you. If you need to get a boat fixed, or buy some food, in the old version you were pretty much hosed. Now there are pirate towns, where you can sail in and get things fixed, albeit at a higher price than a colonial town.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Because I wanted to play ESPN College Hoops, my wife grabbed Pirates! from me. When my basketball game was done, I watched her play for an hour or two, and it looked like it was as fun as ever. There will be one part of the game that could trigger motion sickness. Try sneaking into a town sometime. Your character stays at the center of the screen and always faces the top of the screen. That means the entire screen rotates every time you turn. I got dizzy just watching it. :(

Everything else seemed great, though. I actually think the dancing looks hilarious but fun.

[Icy]

Am I the only one here who gets motion sick from many video games? (Can't watch NYPD Blue, or Arrested Development, either).

I enjoyed a lot Call of Duty but after a few hours i need to stop so ill, sometimes about to puke because the movement. It's specially bad if i drink a lot of coffe. Damn who said that to play the whole day is for lazy guys? it's a great effort! :)

[Qwikshot]

I enjoy this game. I wrote a review, but it's gone.

[Abe Sargent]

Common according to whom, other than B.R. Burg, author of "Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition"? Every article I've read that references that work seems to think that despite Burg's work, there's not a lot of evidence that matelotages were common outside of Tortuga (and even then only for a relatively short period of time).

Not to taint this thread with cultural politics... just wanted a bit of a rebuttal. And this game sounds amazing. Now to convince my wife that I should be able to buy a game one month before Christmas.


I was doing research on Tortuga when I discovered matelotage, so if it was rare outside of Tortuga, and just common there, I'll accept that. I apologize for making it sound more widespread among the carribbean.

-Anxiety

[Qwikshot]

I was doing research on Tortuga when I discovered matelotage, so if it was rare outside of Tortuga, and just common there, I'll accept that. I apologize for making it sound more widespread among the carribbean.

-Anxiety
Ah the French and their wacky ways.

[Godzilla Blitz]

I enjoy this game. I wrote a review, but it's gone.

Me too. I played until 3:30AM last night, wrote a couple of paragraphs here about it, and now those words have vanished. The abbreviated version:

The game is great fun.

[Buccaneer]

I gave this a lot of thought to today at work (slow day) as well as finished reading the manual cover to cover. I agree with cartman that, like the original, it's a lot of things that work well together without being too bogged down in any one area (that was the fatal flaw of Port Royale, imo). A great strategy game has to flow smoothly despite having a lot going on and the way Sid does it by focusing your "character" on a single element (in this case, your ship) and keeping all of the details simple and manageable.

The ballroom element is simple once you get the hang of it but here's what is in the manual:

"You can impress a governor's daughter by gaining higher rank (but only from her nationality). You can also win her heart by skillful dancing and by presenting her with jewelry she covets."

I think I forgot to mention land battles last night. That was the achilles heel of P! and P!G and for this version, it is tremendously improved - almost like a strategic chess game or turn-based capture the flag.

After reading the manual, I really like how they kept all of the eras and nationalities. What they did improve upon, as been said, is that there are more ports of all types in each era - from Jesuit missions to Native villages. Also, they did expand upon the types of ships as well as making the list more accurate and realistic. Before, you went from Pinnace to Sloop to Barque; now we have Mail Runner, Sloop of War, Royal Sloop and various Brigs and three kinds of Barques for small to medium-sized ships.

[Calis]

Hmm, this isn't Pirates related, but Sid related.

The Civilization franchise got sold today apparently, and it's rumored to be a pretty good sum. No word yet on who bought it, thought it was interesting.

The likely culprits would be EA or MS though.

Keep the thoughts on the game coming in, I was (un)forunately given World of Warcraft, so I'm going to end up waiting on Pirates a bit..want to be able to focus on it without other games around taunting me. ;)

[Buccaneer]

You know, I saw something funny. In the manual for Pirates, there is an acknowledgement for the CivIV team. I hadn't visit Apolyton in a long time so that caught me by surprise. And now this news which I think firaxis will still develop but be published by someone else?

[Calis]

I would think so since they've supposedly been working on it already, but I don't know.

I know Infogrames has been hurting, so I can see them selling it. I heard rumors that the franchise was bought for over 15 million Euros which seems ridicolous to me, but who knows?

[Buccaneer]

But didn't Atari buy Infogrammes a while back?

[Calis]

I think Infogrames owned the Atari name for quite a while, but they never used it until Neverwinter Nights...they brought it back to boost some sales with the nostalgia.

[Swaggs]

Any tips on ballroom dancing? I suck at it to the point that I turn down meetings with the daughters.

[LionsFan10]

I don't really think there can be much tip given to the dancing. You've just gotta be ready to hit the button when it glows. I know once a dance starts, the most nerve-wracking moment(s) for me are the beginning, but once I notice the pattern it's pretty easy for me from there. This portion has a lot to do with twitch, so if you haven't been keeping up on your twitch gaming, you might suffer a touch in this department.

Pirates! is a great game

[Franklinnoble]

I haven't seen it yet, but I can't help but conclude:

Dancing in a computer game = gay

I mean, really... can't you just win over the governor's daughter by buying her a nice piece of jewelry? Is there an option to just get her really liquored up?

[Desnudo]

I haven't seen it yet, but I can't help but conclude:

Dancing in a computer game = gay

I mean, really... can't you just win over the governor's daughter by buying her a nice piece of jewelry? Is there an option to just get her really liquored up?

If you were really a pirate, wouldn't you just kidnap her?

[Godzilla Blitz]

Any tips on ballroom dancing? I suck at it to the point that I turn down meetings with the daughters.

Still playing at the journeyman level, so I guess it will get harder at higher difficulty levels, but I'm starting to get the sequences perfect with the beautiful women now (who are more difficult to impress). Some thoughts:

1. Memorize the six possible moves and know which key goes with each one.

2. Ignore the flashing keypad hints. It's more difficult that way.

3. Get the dancing slippers.

4. Stay relaxed. You've got enough time to hit the correct key, as the woman's gesture comes about a half beat before the move. See the gesture, then hit the key.

5. Try to get in time to the beat of the music. Ideally, it's "see the gesture, then hit the key on the subsequent beat". If you get the beat down, you can get a lot of flourishes in a row. The whole thing got a lot easier for me when I started paying attention to the music.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Dola...

Played another five hours tonight. Damn, this game is addictive. Some thoughts...

1. You can take over towns and install governors from the nation of your choice. I've now ransacked five Spanish towns and installed French governors. I read in an article about the game before it came out that you can influence the history of the area, and this seems to be one big way to do so. I imagine with enough effort, you could carve out a pretty big chunk of a nation's holdings.

2. There is always a million things to do, and they are all fun. There is enough variety of things to do (trade, dance, ship-to-ship combat, land combat, duel, look for treasure, little missions, big quests, etc.) that none of them get monotonous. I've found all the treasures, knocked off six of the other pirates, captured or sunk about 60 ships, made Duke with the French, and sailed all over the Caribbean, but there are still some areas of the game (quests for lost cities, for example) that haven't even started yet.

3. The game is very streamlined, so that it's easy to accomplish things without the interface getting in the way or without having to wait for things to load. I can visit a town in a couple of minutes now, which is helpful because that part of the game can get repetitive. There is little tedium. About the only place I wish there were a way to speed up is when I want to sell a few hundred of one commodity. The acceleration is kind of slow when you hold the mouse on the sell/buy arrow, so it can take a few seconds to make the transaction.

4. Buc's comment about the game in many ways being like Port Royale without the micromanagement is right on the button. The land combat reminds me of the older game Conquest of the New World.

Have now played about ten hours altogether (only one crash to desktop so far), and I'm still having a blast. Really looking forward to going up in difficulty, but I'm going to wait until my second pirate, as I think I might retire this first guy once he gets a wife.

[MrBug708]

Is it like Cutthroats or Port Royale where if you dont find early success through trading or plundering, you might as well restart because you are so far in debt? Or is there less emphasis on that and more on the adventures?

[Qwikshot]

Is it like Cutthroats or Port Royale where if you dont find early success through trading or plundering, you might as well restart because you are so far in debt? Or is there less emphasis on that and more on the adventures?
This isn't like those games. I would say it is very hard to acquire debt if there is such a thing. You start off with a ship, a nationality (take Brit or French) and you just put a hurt on the Spanish, then once you have amassed wealth, a fleet and some fame, you can go for bigger fish, Pirates.

I've taken out Blackbeard and a few others.

I've ransacked towns all over the coast (St Augustine, Trinidad, Numbres de Dios, and a few others are British now).

I'm highly ranked in French, British and Dutch nations (I have a 25k bounty on me from the Spanish and it's likely to grow). It's easy to take over a town as long as you have more soldiers than the fort, seems almost automatic. I'm sure the other towns like Havana, Santiago, San Juan and the like are harder to take over because of more soldiers.

I like the fact that there are settlements all over the place for one to refit your ships. It's a nice touch.

Dancing is stupid and sneaking into town I have rarely used, I'm sure at higher level sneaking into town becomes a viable alternative to say, attacking a major stronghold.

The game is fun, they did it well.

One caveat, land battles seem a little too drawn out for me, and I have faced some strongholds with so much rock that there is no way to get the gates from any starting position.

[Buccaneer]

I haven't seen it yet, but I can't help but conclude:

Dancing in a computer game = gay

I mean, really... can't you just win over the governor's daughter by buying her a nice piece of jewelry? Is there an option to just get her really liquored up?
You can (win her over with nice jewelry). The downside that they are hard to get and it will come later in your years. But the whole purpose is for prestige and an elite ranking, thus you can ignore marrying altogether and not have to deal with this dancing nonsense. As GB said, there are so many other things you can do that it makes this whole affair a minor element.

GB, I am so glad you have found this game addictive and fun, I count you as one of the best gamers here. CNW is in my top 10 favorite games of all time but I didn't mention it when talking about land battles because I didn't think anyone would remember it. The more I think about it, I really like the capture-the-flag analogy, which CNW cleverly did in a more finite way than Pirates.

In studying my old logs from my P!G games, it seems that what I had done on difficulties was starting out at Adventurer, do 2-4 expeditions and then opt to do up a level, finally ending up at Swashbuckler. But then again, the last few games I played, I played Swashbuckler the whole way and easily got the #1 ranking of King's Advisor. I am sure that this version will be harder because the economics are different - in that we won't be able to make 30k-40k gold each time in shuttling back and forth from St. Kitts to Nevis. I explored the prices of commodities more last night and found that it is now more balanced in that commodity profits will now be a smaller portion of your overall wealth and the prices are a magnitude lower than before (e.g., in P!G, you could buy for 60-75 and sell for 150-180; now it's more like buy for 4-6 and sell for 12-13 - and this is in the boomtimes of the 1660s). There are many ways to make money and we should engage in all of them to be successful.

[Buccaneer]

Qwikshot: Don't forget that you have three starting options. You TAB through each one and choose the one that you think gives you the best advantage.

[LionsFan10]

I started a play around game last night to get a feel for things and now I'm ready to sit down and concentrate and play as well as I can but I can't figure out how to delete the save games? Anybody help me with that?

[Buccaneer]

I just looked and in the folder, there's a shortcut to a My Games/Sid Meier's Pirates folder under My Documents. That's where you'll find the saved slots. That's pretty weird, I have never seen something like that before.

[jetpunk2000]

I just looked and in the folder, there's a shortcut to a My Games/Sid Meier's Pirates folder under My Documents. That's where you'll find the saved slots. That's pretty weird, I have never seen something like that before.


I think Sim City 4 did the same. I remember going crazy looking for the save folder when I had to reinstall for some reason.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm pretty sure FM2005 does that as well.

[daedalus]

I just looked and in the folder, there's a shortcut to a My Games/Sid Meier's Pirates folder under My Documents. That's where you'll find the saved slots. That's pretty weird, I have never seen something like that before.That seems to be the new big thing. Apparently, The Sims 2 does the same thing as well. (And, unlike the aforementioned FM '05, it apparently does not let you choose an alternate folder.)

[Godzilla Blitz]

Despite only intending to play for an hour last night, I ended up playing until 5:30AM. That breaks the record for me this year, and is the first time in a long time I've played a game all night.

I'm still on my initial pirate, but he's now 44 years old and in "failing health". I bumped the difficulty up to adventurer (the middle of five) about ten years ago, but things only started gettting more difficult when my pirate turned 40. Fencing became more difficult at that point, as his reactions are a lot slower. He's lost a few duels now, one of which cost him the souped up brig, the "Revenge II", that he had been using for nearly 20 years. It's gotten to the point where he's got to rake enemy ships with grape shot before big duels and play a stalling game in the duel until his crew can overwhelm the enemy.

Still, his fame is 78, and he's accomplished quite a bit in his lifetime. For a decade he stopped searching for lost relatives and got wrapped up in ransacking Spanish towns and hunting down pirates. By the time he was 35, he was personally responsible for the French colors flying over a half dozen towns that were previously under Spanish control. He also cleared the Caribbean of all but one of the top ten pirates. The top ranked pirate still eludes him, despite spending the past year looking for clues as to his whereabouts.

On the negative side, he's only found one of his lost family members. This is the goal he'll aim for before he settles down with his beautiful wife, but whether he can make it or not in his weakened state is another question.

I'm really looking foward to starting a new game with a new pirate at the rogue difficulty level. I'm guessing that will be about perfect for a while. The first three levels seem easy, although I think it would be harder to start at the adventurer level that to move up to it partway through a game, as you keep all the neat stuff (objects and specialists) that you pile up on the lower difficulty when you move up in difficulty levels partway through a game.

[MJ4H]

Any tips on ballroom dancing? I suck at it to the point that I turn down meetings with the daughters.

This post is my first exposure to this game. Skipped right to page 3. I am unsure how to proceed.

[cartman]

Any tips on ballroom dancing? I suck at it to the point that I turn down meetings with the daughters.

I found, that to do this right, you need to learn the hand gestures. They are listed out in the manual. Most of the time, they are single moves, but there are quite a few combos, usually a step to the back, then a move to the back right or back left. Also, using the keypad is more accurate than using the mouse.

[Icy]

Ok, got it yesterday and played 10 hours betwen both days. The game is so simple as the old was, but at same time it has the "will play a bit more" thing. I'm playing at Rogue level and i haven't ever lost a duel so i'll start again the next level that is the harder one. I must admit i haven't fenced against the top pirates yet but i have vs all kind of militars, mercaders etc and also vs a captain of the guard that wanted to fight because we share a girlfriend and also vs another captain into the tabern (this was the most fun fight until now)

About dancing, i did it really bad until realized that each kind of dance is break into patterns, once you learn the patterns it is so easy, i think i can even write the patterns if i play again and take notes, but i think that will be a huge spoiler. Just a hint, forget about the flashing keys, just look at the girl and signs and the patterns and song beat. As real sailors, now i have a girlfriend on each seaport thanks to my dancing skils:)

I have enjoyed it a lot and haven't been able to stop to play until football started today at TV. Now that i have stopped to play for 5 hours... i think i'm back to FOF2k4 to start a new long term dynasty. I guess i'm so used to sport text sims now and for long term games nothing can beat them. Pirates can get repetitive after some time...but at same time i know if i start to play again i won't close the game for a good amount of hours again.

[gstelmack]

That seems to be the new big thing. Apparently, The Sims 2 does the same thing as well. (And, unlike the aforementioned FM '05, it apparently does not let you choose an alternate folder.)
The reason games are doing this is because only Administrators can write to "Program Files" under Win2k/XP. But many pre-purchased PCs come configured for home use where the user is NOT an Administrator. Alternately, parents use the user-switching feature to set up their kids with non-Administrator privileges. So, any files that games write need to go someplace where users can get to them. "Application Data" is actually the preferred area, but "My Documents" is where more users know to look for them.

[Buccaneer]

I have been playing quite a bit myself (not all night though) - I am at year 8 in my typical methodical way of playing. I am still with my first pirate on the Adventurer level. As the English starting in 1660, I have been preying upon countless Spanish Trade Galleons, some Treasure Galleons, several annoying Spanish Pirate Hunters and occassionally sacking some of the big towns. Up to year 6, I had been using a Brigantine until I found and beat Raynoso and got his War Galleon. I then used that to quickly find myself what I really wanted, a decked-out Brig of War.

Usually carrying about 80-130 men, I haven't lost a fight (Fencing is my skill) and once I figured out to fight with the Rapier (don't have to do defense), I could occassionally take on larger ships despite being outnumbered. With a smaller, quicker yet powerful ship, I have used my usual tactic of just raking the enemy ships with grape until I get the odds pretty good. It's the Pirate Hunters in their Fast Galleons that I really have to concentrate and fight well (both at sea and in the duel).

With the last Treasure Galleon I got, I picked up my 6th specialists and that has helped me to extend my current expedition to its 4th year (up to 65,000 in gold).

I don't dance so there's nothing I can say about that.

What I really like about this game (and the same was true for the original) is that every time I sell off cargo and ships at a port (usually Nevis/StKitts/StMartin if in the Leeward Islands, or Curacao if I'm hanging around the Main), I then have to think about what I want to do when I leave port. Do I find more Spanish ships? Do I attack a town? Do I find a pirate's trasure (I have found 3 of 8 so far)? Do I trade? Do I look for a lost relative? Do I venture out to somewhere new? Do I have too few or too many men for what I want to do?

Two new things I'm liking include: land battles (not easy) and sneaking into town.

Besides dancing, the things I don't like include: way too easy to rise in rank (I'm an English Duke and Dutch Baron already and I'm still young); with the rise in rank, I get repairs for free and other advantages; so far no other way to get a daughter without dancing; swordfighting is easy (particularly at this level and age); and special items are too cheap (i.e., the decision comes down whether I want it (or not), not whether I can afford it).

[Icy]

Buccaneer as i said before i agree with you, fencing is too easy even at rogue level, i never defense, you just need to fast atack middle and then down or up, and again and again as you're faster than the other guys. At first i used a pinnacle as it is so fast, almost no cannon fire, just direct aproach and board, and with 30 guys i could win large warships with 120 guys on them as i'm so fast beating their captain on fencing.

[Buccaneer]

That is not unlike the original (or at least, P!G which I only played). I think it's a game design choice because I know they saw the crticisms about swordfighting from Sea Dogs (almost too hard all of the time with lousy mechanics). Methinks they put in dancing to counterbalance that. Lol. I expect a patch to address these two features, I think.

What made P!G and now this version definitely replayable is that each era (and pretty much each nationality within each era) does play differently. Starting in 1660 is easy because there are so many ships and towns everywhere. Not so in the other eras. I remember playing at the Swashbuckler level in one of the real early eras and having to go months without getting much income at all.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Lol.
Quoted for posterity.

Anyway, I've started to get the hang of the dancing. You have to be quick, yes, but it's not impossible. As for the swordfighting, well, I defend a lot. Maybe I don't really need to, but it puts a lot more fun into the swordfighting. In the original Pirates! on the Commodore 64, I could be the only man left in a battle, and I could win a swordfight against anybody at any time. The swordfighting has always been easy in the Pirates! games. I doubt that there will be any changes to it.

So far, I consider the game damn near perfect. I wish there were a way to turn off the animations in the land battles, but that's just because it seemingly takes FOREVER for each unit to move one square. Also, when sneaking into town, I don't see anything to indicate which way I need to go to get to a particular building. These are new concepts to the game, though, so I'm not surprised that they're a little flawed.

Still a great game.

[Flasch186]

Im certainly in the minority but I find this game to be a bore. I am back to playing FOF2k4, and civ3 Conquests with the Rise and Rule mod. Im waiting ot hear about the new Vampires game, so if anybody plays that start a thread and let me know what you think of that.....but Pirates just aint doin' it for me.

[Eaglesfan27]

Flasch, I've talked about the new vampires game a bit in a few threads, but to consolidate my thoughts, I'll briefly post here:

Potentially a great RPG at least temporarily ruined by a few things:

1) Quite a few bugs including some big ones in quests.

2) It uses the same engine as HL2, and like HL2 it has stuttering problems at times (particularly with sound which is key in creating the atmosphere in some of the areas.)

3) The bugs cause some crashes to desktop!! Very frustrating (particularly if you haven't saved for 2 hours like I hadn't :( )

4) The combat system is kind of loose right now... Basically, it seems to have some targeting problems with guns (at least it seems that way to me) On the other hand, melee combat is very powerful (albeit somewhat clumsy). As a result, I was running right up to my opponents and killing them because they couldn't hit me...

5) AI is weak right now.. opponents will let you sit back and recharge (even feeding on their comrades) rather than charging you...

I hear (and sincerely hope) that all of these issues will (except for perhaps the combat clumsiness) will be patched. However, there is no estimate as to when the patch will be done. I was getting frustrated with it, so I put it on the shelf for a while..

[Buccaneer]

I finally figured out what I was doing wrong with dancing. Apparently the manual is wrong about the Pirouette buttons. Instead of 7 and 9, it's supposed to be 1 and 3.

As far as sneaking and finding buildings like the tavern, the 4 times I did that, the tavern was about 3-4 blocks beyond the governor's house in about the same place.

Pumpy, I think you may need to check the details setting? I have each melee resolve fairly quickly, in a few seconds.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Interesting comments. I had been hoping the dueling would get harder on the upper levels, but it sounds like rogue is easy. Anyone try swashbuckler yet?

I agree with you on the ships, Buc. I found anything larger than the brig class to be so sluggish that I immediately went back to my brig. I really like the tight turning radius, and those war galleons and frigates are so damn slow in the water. I generally find that I can keep a brig intact with evasive action as soon as the enemy fires. If I don't do something stupid like turn into the wind, I find that I can make it through most battles without getting hit by more than one or two cannonballs: duel from long distance to eliminate the enemy guns, close, blast away the crew with grape shot, then close more and accept the ship's surrender. I suppose a quick charge and winning a duel would keep more captured ships in better shape, but my dueling skills are fading fast now, and this tactic is working much better.

Regarding the dancing, someone posted on another board that many of the patterns repeat four times. Leff, right, back left, back right, etc., then do that four times before starting a new pattern. At least at the middle level of difficulty I've found this to be mostly true, and it makes things easier. I wouldn't let the dancing keep you away from this game. You get the hang of it after about 30 times, and it's such a small part of the game.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Dola...

Well, my first pirate was forced to retire at the age of 46, despite only rescuing his sister and never finding the top pirate in the Caribbean. Nevertheless, he became a successful surgeon and settled down in Port-de-Paix with his wife, the beautiful daughter of the Governor of Leogane. Final score of 80.

Started a new game as an English pirate in 1660 at Rogue difficulty, and was abruptly dumped into the ocean on my second duel. Lost another one shortly after escaping from a Santiago jail, and was left on a deserted island for a half year before getting rescued and given command of another ship. Yikes, rough start. Who said dueling on Rogue level is easy? I lost a few more times after that, but have finally started doing better lately (probably about 20-5 overall now). My dancing skills have won me a set of perfectly balanced swords, some armor, and a fluffy fencing shirt, so things have gotten much easier in the past couple of months. I'm so fast now that using the rapier and attacking at the enemy's first movement is pretty much a lock on winning a duel. Getting the right items changes the game dramtically.

I think this level is much harder than the previous three, and feels about right for me now. Ship-to-ship combat is harder, finding crew is trickier, keeping morale up is difficult. Good stuff.

I'm kind of embarased by it, but the only thing that I'm good at at this level is the dancing. I only occasionally miss a step, and have yet to mess up a dance. The weapons and stuff the women give me has really helped in fencing.

[Swaggs]

Anyone know how to get this game into a window or is it full screen for everyone?

[chinaski]

I looked all around various P! forums and couldnt find out if its possible. *hopes for a command line switch*

[Calis]

Im waiting ot hear about the new Vampires game, so if anybody plays that start a thread and let me know what you think of that.....but Pirates just aint doin' it for me.

Vampire is a great but buggy game. If you're familiar with Troika games, you know what to expect. ;) I had a blast with it, amazing the facial animations they put in with the Source engine and great dialog. It's 50/50 whether I'd recommend it or not, as a lot of people find it very frustrating with poor combat and bugs, but personally I loved it.

So back to Pirates, I haven't seen much more said on the aging process? Doesn't sound like it's negatievely affecting play, is that correct? One thing that worries me, as I'm a pretty slow and methodical player as well.

[Franklinnoble]

Anyone know how to get this game into a window or is it full screen for everyone?

I doubt it.

[Buccaneer]

You can Alt-Tab out easily.

[klayman]

I'm kind of embarased by it, but the only thing that I'm good at at this level is the dancing. I only occasionally miss a step, and have yet to mess up a dance. The weapons and stuff the women give me has really helped in fencing.
Screenshot of GB's pirate:

http://fgm.nm.ru/index_files/Stewie_Captain.gif

[Abe Sargent]

I did everything over the weekend with the French at the third level of difficulty (Found Inca and Aztec Lost Cities, defeated 8 pirates except for L'Ollinais, rescued bunches of family members, married the daughter of the Governor of Tortuga, beat the Marquis at his home, finished with Duke in three kingdoms (French, Dutch, and English), etc) I upped the difficulty to Rogue and am currently replaying as the Dutch.

Here are my thoughts:

Letters of Marque should have a fiscal implication so that you do not want to be raiding for three people at once. It is too easy to work for the French, English and Dutch taking Spanish ship after Spanish ship. Yielding up a percentage of the profits to all countries that you have Letters of Marque from, however, would be a nice move.

I took skill in navigation and I am still winning too many duels. I have yet to lose after 8 years as a Rogue. I simply cannoned ships early until I had the money and dancing ability to to acquire some of the dueling items, (I think I currently have both swords, both pistols, a leaher vest and both shirts).

I find that on the harder levels you need more power in your ship. On level three, my Brig of War was quite sufficient for eons. On level four, my Brig has been outmatched several times, the AI is better at fighting, ships often carry more cannon, and heavier and more powerful ships are used as Pirate Hunters. Plus, the distance away from a major port required to send out a Pirate Hunter has increased. Spanish Pirate Hunters are a Fast Galleon at least and I had to fight a French Brig of War Pirate Hunter and a Frigate Pirate Hunter. (Had to sink one and run away from the other, or I would have taken them). I find myself running from battles occasionally, and I never did that previously. Some AIs will charge me and go straight to dueling, but others are really good at distancing themselves and aiming well with the cannon. Some Spanish ships reload faster than me, and I have a Gunner and Bronze Cannon. I had a Spanish Pirate Hunter sent after me and I was light years away froim the coast taking out a measly Grain Transport just to keep my blokes happy, when the Pirate Hunter music played and eventually the Hunter caught up with his Fast Galleon. (Fast Galleon is faster than a Brig in most directions, at least on level 4). AS such, I am finding level 4 to be much more challenging.

The most challenging thing, however, is that my men get pissed much quicker and its harder to appease them. I find myself taking out Grain Transports and Smugglers just to pass the time. You never want to sack a vessel directly outside a major harbor because they will almost always send out a Pirate Hunter, and they have good ships. I like the added danger a lot.

Killing Pirates is too easy, especially the named ones. I must have killed off all but the Blackbeard and Morgan with ease. Morgan was only difficult because his was the first Frigate I had fought against at the time. Blackbeard was only difficult because I tackled him early in the game.

Dancing is fun and easy. It;s also a great way of scoring valuable items. I suspect that on the hardest level yopu'll need as many items as possible, making dancing more important. Plus, if you want City of Gold info, you need to rescue a daughter. Here is the order to seducing a daughter:

Dance
Dance
Give Item
Fight Courier
Dance
Abduction and Rescue
Proposal of Marriage

Every daughter follows this path, it seems. At least I'e not witnessed any variation. If you are married, you can do everything with other daughters except propose marriage. You can get items from the daughter at any stage. I've given Ruby Rings to daughters and then received a great item like a Brace of Pistols or some such. Since I have found Ruby Rings for 1200, that's a great deal.

I'll probably try a different era with the gunnery skill and Swashbuckler difficulty next. I might give a go at being Spanish and going up against everybody else, since picking on the Spanish is so easy.

-Anxiety

[Franklinnoble]

I got this game over the weekend and have played it for a while.

Some good strategy in here.

I avoid dancing like the plague, mostly because I play on a laptop, and it's impossible to do without a keypad.

Otherwise, the game is fantastic.

There's some good strategy tips in this thread. There's also some good stuff over at http://www.addictedtopirates.com/

[chinaski]

i got a dumb question.... whats the purpose/point/objective of sneeking into a town?

[rkmsuf]

i got a dumb question.... whats the purpose/point/objective of sneeking into a town?

If done properly it enables you to rape the horses and ride off on the women.

[chinaski]

As far as sneaking and finding buildings like the tavern, the 4 times I did that, the tavern was about 3-4 blocks beyond the governor's house in about the same place.

Now that ive read every post in this thread, i think i understand the deal with sneaking into town. I like rkmsufs' idea tho.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Klayman: Funny ha ha. At least you didn't post a picture of John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever. ;)

Actually, in my dancing pirate's defense, he's gotten much better at dueling at the rogue level now (although he still hasn't messed up a dance). I've been practicing by fighting with the obnoxious officers in the taverns. I'm now having a lot of success with the defensive cutlass, and have gotten much better at jumping and ducking. I actually got attacked by Morgan, the number one pirate, last night, and beat him without getting hit once.

I can still get in a rut and screw up though. If I'm not focused, I really get beat fast. Right after beating Morgan and getting his top-of-the-line frigate, I lost the ship by getting beat in a duel against a pirate hunter, and I've been tossed in prison or dumped in the ocean at least a dozen times at rogue level.

Anxiety, I agree: The rogue level is more challenging. I impressed that you have not lost a duel yet at that level. Well done! My biggest problem now is keeping enough crew to fully man my ships. I tend to get a lot of crew killed, and it's harder to get replacements at this level. I've lost a handful of duels by getting my ship boarded with less than 20 crew on it. I can't win the duel before my crew is eliminated. It's also hard to win at ship-to-ship combat when you don't have enough crew to reload your cannons quickly. I suppose if I wasn't so greedy with captured ships and looted goods I wouldn't have this problem so often, but it seems like such a waste to fight a good fight to take a ship, then just sink the thing with half its cargo on board.

On another note, I'm curious as to what factors influence the aging process. I know the medicinal skill and the medicines slow it down, but I wonder if getting thrown in jail and getting hit in duels causes your pirate to age faster.

[Abe Sargent]

Klayman: Funny ha ha. At least you didn't post a picture of John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever. ;)

Actually, in my dancing pirate's defense, he's gotten much better at dueling at the rogue level now (although he still hasn't messed up a dance). I've been practicing by fighting with the obnoxious officers in the taverns. I'm now having a lot of success with the defensive cutlass, and have gotten much better at jumping and ducking. I actually got attacked by Morgan, the number one pirate, last night, and beat him without getting hit once.

I can still get in a rut and screw up though. If I'm not focused, I really get beat fast. Right after beating Morgan and getting his top-of-the-line frigate, I lost the ship by getting beat in a duel against a pirate hunter, and I've been tossed in prison or dumped in the ocean at least a dozen times at rogue level.

Anxiety, I agree: The rogue level is more challenging. I impressed that you have not lost a duel yet at that level. Well done! My biggest problem now is keeping enough crew to fully man my ships. I tend to get a lot of crew killed, and it's harder to get replacements at this level. I've lost a handful of duels by getting my ship boarded with less than 20 crew on it. I can't win the duel before my crew is eliminated. It's also hard to win at ship-to-ship combat when you don't have enough crew to reload your cannons quickly. I suppose if I wasn't so greedy with captured ships and looted goods I wouldn't have this problem so often, but it seems like such a waste to fight a good fight to take a ship, then just sink the thing with half its cargo on board.

On another note, I'm curious as to what factors influence the aging process. I know the medicinal skill and the medicines slow it down, but I wonder if getting thrown in jail and getting hit in duels causes your pirate to age faster.

I've never had people join me at sea on Rogue level. You have to recruit at Taverns. One of the reasons that I've not lost a duel is because I keep a fairly hefty crew aboard my ship and grapeshot the opponent. My favorite tactic is this:

(((My Ship, the Brig "Thor"}}} {{{Opposing Ship)))

Charge each other. Turn near the last second:

^
T
H {{{Opposing Ship)))
O
R
V

Then fire off a massive round of grapeshot. If you turn into the wind, you can usually get a second round of grapeshot off before engaging in boarding combat, and the advantage is yours. Different pirate captains have different skill levels. If he's good, I just go into a holding action and get the occasional poke in. If he's not, I charge in and can end a fight quickly.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

i got a dumb question.... whats the purpose/point/objective of sneeking into a town?


Sometimes you need to get into a town of an enemy. You might want to go to the Tavern and capture a fugitive, for example. Or, maybe you need to talk with the governor. Also, after breaking out of jail, you need to sneak OUT of the town.

-Anxiety

[Icy]

I never use any defensive movement when fencing, and haven't lost a duel in Rogue. I just use the 4 in the numpad, to keep swords crossing, then as soon as i see them starting an top or down atack movement, i atack too, first midle (4) and then down (1) or top (7). As i always choose the fast sword, they aren't ever faster than you if you do it in the right moment, it's all about timing, i can get series of middle, down, middle, down, middle, top and combat won without being touched. This is the biggest show stopping for me, as i can beat them so fast, i don't mind if my crew is 30 and theirs is 100. I need to try the hardest level but i'm back to FOF2k4 and FBCB by now.

[Godzilla Blitz]

I never use any defensive movement when fencing, and haven't lost a duel in Rogue. I just use the 4 in the numpad, to keep swords crossing, then as soon as i see them starting an top or down atack movement, i atack too, first midle (4) and then down (1) or top (7). As i always choose the fast sword, they aren't ever faster than you if you do it in the right moment, it's all about timing, i can get series of middle, down, middle, down, middle, top and combat won without being touched.

You may have already tried this, but you can make the dueling harder by not selecting the fencing skill at the start of the game.

I was using the same strategy to good effect at the lower levels, but I had some trouble with it at Rogue against the fastest captains when my pirate was just starting out. Now that he is souped up with the balanced swords, puffy shirt, and cuirass, he can use this strategy (especially because he has the fencing skill), but I'm guessing it won't work consistently against the fastest pirates without such advantages, and I don't think it will work when your pirate gets older. I'm also not that confident in the strategy at the Swashbuckler level. Lastly, I do take some hits this way even at my peak, and ideally I'd like to find a way to fence that consistently lets me win duels without getting hit, as I have a feeling that the beating you take in dueling causes your pirate to age faster. I'd also like to get good enough at fencing so that I can select the Medicine skill and lengthen my pirate's career.

I'm starting to believe that defending then countering is the best long term strategy for fencing for me. That's what I've been practicing the past 30 or so duels. When I'm on the mark there, no one can touch me. I just have to get more consistent.

I don't mean to put down your strategy, by the way. I may have slower reflexes that led me to have troubles with the "fast sword, watch for the pirate's movement" strategy.

[Franklinnoble]

Sometimes you need to get into a town of an enemy. You might want to go to the Tavern and capture a fugitive, for example. Or, maybe you need to talk with the governor. Also, after breaking out of jail, you need to sneak OUT of the town.

-Anxiety

Captuer a fugitive?

I haven't seen this feature yet... please explain...

[Godzilla Blitz]

Captuer a fugitive?

I haven't seen this feature yet... please explain...

After you dance with a woman, she'll sometimes give you a tip about some fugitive who is holed up in some town somewhere. You go to the tavern in the named town, and the bartender will offer to take you to the guy. If you beat the guy in a duel, you get the reward money for catching him. Often the fugitive will offer you a special item if you agree to let him go free.

[Franklinnoble]

After you dance with a woman, she'll sometimes give you a tip about some fugitive who is holed up in some town somewhere. You go to the tavern in the named town, and the bartender will offer to take you to the guy. If you beat the guy in a duel, you get the reward money for catching him. Often the fugitive will offer you a special item if you agree to let him go free.

Ah. I don't dance. That would explain it.

[sterlingice]

If done properly it enables you to rape the horses and ride off on the women.
"Now I don't have to tell you good folks what's been happening in our beloved little town. Sheriff murdered, crops burned, stores looted, people stampeded, and cattle raped. The time has come to act, and act fast. I'm leaving. "

SI

[Buccaneer]

Good stuff here.

[Coffee Warlord]

Finally bought it a couple days ago.

The only thing that irritates me, is I was courting a lovely english lady in Margarita. However, while I was off plundering the Main, France invaded the town, and since it kept my status with the 'new' governors daughter, I wound up married to a Frenchy.

Apparently, once you have a wife, you can't install a new governor in the town either. I launched like a dozen raids in a row on the town to try and turn it back to England. No luck.

Henry Morgan's souped-up Frigate rocks. Cap'n CW took him down in his Brig of War 'Pontifex Maximus', and transfered his flag to that lovely piece of work. Now, my rocking prize, aptly renamed 'Centurion', dominates any who dare oppose him.

[Galaril]

i have read over on the gonegold well now they call it Octopuss Overlords or something like that about Pirates of the Caribbean. Which is basically Sea Dogs 2, is more realistic of a pirate sim now with the Mod 12 that is out for it .That mod fixes nearly all the crap that peopel complained about.

[Buccaneer]

I took a couple nights off to watch a movie but when I stopped, it was an interesting turn of events.

I had just divided the plunder for the 4th time (in my 12th year). After a loooong layover, I talked to the governor again and he told me that we are not at war with the Spanish Dons anymore but the Dutch (my previous trading partner)! Playing with an English LoM in the 1660s era, that presents some choice scenarios. I could actually wipe out the Dutch off the whole map, and then obtain tremendous profits by trading in some of the very rich Spanish cities that were previously off-limits. I wonder how long that will last though.

[Coffee Warlord]

I'm always at war with the Spanish Dons, whether or not they are at war with any nation.

I didn't take up piracy to listen to some damned noblemen thousands of miles away. If you want to heap titles and land on me while I'm raking in my fortunes, fine by me. If not, I'm still getting my fortunes!

[Calis]

Finally grabbed this today against my better judgement. I had gone quite a while without picking up any games, and now have bought like 4 in the last month! Ughh, not enough time!

Only got a chance to play for a few hours, but it feels like Pirates! I didn't see an option to pick a skill(ala fencing) when I started or a time period, does that only come about after you finish your first game?

I've mostly been trucking around in my Royal Sloop and attacking any Spanish ship I can find. I thought about trying out a Brig, but wasn't sure how much of a drop off in speed I'd take, sounds like it's not too bad?

Just out of curiousity as well, how long are you guys going between splitting up plunder? I went about 2 years before mine and I'm wondering if that's good/bad. Hate to waste any precious months!

As for the dancing..not sure what I think on it. I actually succeded on my 3rd try sorta. It can get annoying when the moves start flying, but I picked up some item that helped with dancing from a tavern and I think it really made a difference. Not something I really enjoyed, but I don't see it being TOO annoying.

I'm a bit confused also as I found the first main quest guy, Baron Ramondo or whatever and dealt with him. Now everyone is telling me where he's at and to find him. Is this a glitch or do you have to hunt him down multiple times?

[EagleFan]

Yeah, I've noticed that too about Baron Raymondo. He's like the freaking Energizer bunny, he just won't go away.

I'm loving the game, really takes me back to the days of the original.

One thing is that I still can't figure out the benefit of gettnig a bigger ship. I've had much better success with my original Sloop, souped up to the max, than I've had with larger ships. The key is keeping the wind in your favor and just maneuvering the hell out of your opponent while getting in round shot to take out his guns and a few chain shots to rip those sails down and render them helpless.



I still have to find some time to finish Half Life 2 though and my 4 year old daughter loves it when we play RCT3 and build the roller coasters and firework displays. This has been one great period for PC gaming.

[Buccaneer]

Calis, your first game automatically starts at a default setting - a tutorial in a way. To make your own game settings, quit that game and start a new one. Then you will have all of the options available.

As far as dividing, just watch your crew morale. If nothing you can do brings them more than content, then you need to count down the months. The minute you take on more crew or do something stupid, then you will see it go down to Unhappy and I would be looking for a nearby bank. However, the tactic that I typically use one my crew stays around content is to fight a land battle (in attacking a big city). That will get your number of crew down significantly and with the smaller number, that means more share of the loot - and a Happy crew once again. With a smaller crew, say 40-60, you can trade for quite a while or beat up on some smaller ships. In my current career, the last 3 times I lasted for 34, 47 and 33 months.

As far as Raymondo, yes you have to chase him. You will likely not find him in port but if you get lucky, you will be right near a city that he just left from. All you have to do is to find his ship (it's clearly labeled) and take it on. I got lucky early on (in year 5) and got his War Galleon. The common tactic I use with a small ship (like a Brigantine) is to do what someone said earlier - just keep pivoting behind him, raking him with grape until his numbers equal yours.

[Buccaneer]

EagleFan, the advantages are two-fold: 1) more guns to fire from a side at once and 2) the ability to carry a large crew to take on big cities and large fleets. Whenever I want to do so, I load up my Brig of War to the max (200 men) and take them on. However, there will come a time that I would need 300-500 men and the choices are 1) get a bigger boat or 2) drag along multiple boats. The first is preferable because you don't want to lose any of your trailing boats to those blasted Pirate Hunters.

[Franklinnoble]

I agree with CW... the Spanish are too rich a target to remain peaceful with. I generally leave the British alone, and pick off the occassional Dutch or French ship... but mostly, I hover around the numerous Spanish ports along the north coast of South America and feast off the Spanish ships coming and going.

[Buccaneer]

Seeing all of those Trade Galleons off of the Main is like scooping up fish in a net.

[Franklinnoble]

I have the largest warship possible as my flagship, because I want superior numbers every time I board a ship or get boarded. I find the loss in speed/maneuverability to be an added challenge.

Right now, I have a Flag Galleon (I think that's what it's called) - Max crew with triple hammocks is something like 375. That means that my 32+ guns get reloaded real quick.

I typically only fire one solid salvo of round shot at an opponent. Even just this can sometimes accidentally sink the ship. After that, I move in for a burst of chain to shred the sails, and then grape shot to cut the crew down. Nine times out of ten, they strike their colors when I get close enough to board.

I keep two large warships in my fleet - in case I fare poorly in a battle, and need a fresh ship for anything I encounter before I can make repairs. I also have a large merchant ship or two in tow to haul the goods I plunder - I rarely have the patience anymore to take a damaged ship I've captured back to port for sale - it cuts down my available crew for the trip, and slows me down too much.

With a fleet of 3-4 ships, fully outfitted, I'm a match for any ship or settlement. The only challenge is keeping the crew happy - which gets more and more difficult as the crew gets larger, unless I'm cashing in a ton of plunder. This makes long trips very impractical at most times - I generally reserve specific pirate hunting, treasure hunting, or family member hunting for right after I've divided plunder, and I only have my flagship to worry about.

I don't bother with any of the diplomatic missions any longer. Escorting a new governor or a mail ship is a waste of time - I suppose if you wanted to play as a trader and exploit the economic engine within the game more, it would be worthwhile - but being an escort just means fending off pesky pirates that aren't as richly loaded as Spanish treasure galleons.

I still don't dance (laptop makes it impossible), so I don't know when I'll explore that side of the game.

[Swaggs]

Is there any way to bury your treasure or "stash" your gold, so you don't have to share it when you begin your next journey?

[Franklinnoble]

Is there any way to bury your treasure or "stash" your gold, so you don't have to share it when you begin your next journey?

That's a good question...

[Coffee Warlord]

Better question: Why does every evil nobleman prefer staying in freaking Vera Cruz or Campeche? They get free beer there or some shit?

Such a damn huge pain in the ass to get all the way up there.

[Franklinnoble]

Better question: Why does every evil nobleman prefer staying in freaking Vera Cruz or Campeche? They get free beer there or some shit?

Such a damn huge pain in the ass to get all the way up there.

I've noticed they always end up on the exact opposite side of the Caribbean from where I'm currently at. It's annoying. That's probably why I didn't bother to rescue my sister for about 5 years after I found out her location... it was just too far outta my way.

[Coffee Warlord]

I've found the best thing to do if someone you're looking for winds up in the middle of nowhere is wait till they move. Talk to every tavernkeeper/barwench when you hit port, and sooner or later, you'll find out they've changed locations.

Usually what's happened for me is they start in Campeche, and wind up sailing to Cuba, which is not as huge of pain in the ass to get to. Besides, my relatives were waiting what, 10 years or so to begin with. They can wait awhile longer till I'm good and ready to rescue their dumb asses.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Since the game is installed on my wife's laptop, I'm not in a position to try this yet, but can someone try adding "fullscreen = 0" to the game's config.ini file and see if that puts it into windowed mode? I'm very curious.

[chinaski]

Since the game is installed on my wife's laptop, I'm not in a position to try this yet, but can someone try adding "fullscreen = 0" to the game's config.ini file and see if that puts it into windowed mode? I'm very curious.
haha, well done. it works! http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Abe Sargent]

I think my next campaign will see me as the defender of the Spanish against all other European powers.

-Anxiety

[Barkeep49]

What do you have to do in order to attack a city? I sail at cities and all it does is let me in. What do I have to do in order to take one over?

[Buccaneer]

You anchor your ship outside of the city, like on the coast a couple of inches in either direction, then it will ask you if you want continue sailing or form a landing party. Take your landing party and walk towards the city. It will ask you if you want to return to your ship, sneak into city or attack city (assuming you have enough men to make that feasible). Then you fight the clever and challenging land battle. The first time, esp. if it's a large city, you will end up sacking it. Once done, if you turn around and go back to the city, you can fight again with the left over men. Usually the second or third time, depending how many of an advantage you might have, you will have the option to install a new governor. This scenario is typical for me since I usually have about 160-180 men to attack a city of 200-260. If you significantly outnumber them, all you have to do is to win a duel with guard on the gate (just like in the original) and then you likely take over that town. Also not there is at last one city that you cannot get to from land (St. Eust) because there are no anchor points. There maybe others, I don't know.

[Honolulu Blue]

What do you have to do in order to attack a city? I sail at cities and all it does is let me in. What do I have to do in order to take one over?

Bucc's advice above is good, but I hate marching on land and avoid it as much as possible.

So, I would suggest angering your target country - taking a ship or two should do it, especially if it's right outside the city. Then sail in and you should get the option to leave, sneak in, or attack.

[Pumpy Tudors]

If you sail up close to a town, you can hit the space bar to send cannon fire at it. Do it repeatedly, and the town will get pretty pissed off, so then you'll get the option to attack when you sail in.

[Barkeep49]

If you sail up close to a town, you can hit the space bar to send cannon fire at it. Do it repeatedly, and the town will get pretty pissed off, so then you'll get the option to attack when you sail in.
Does the cannon fire have any sort of effect? That is a great piece of advice. I think part of the problem was as Honolulu mentioned I hadn't angered the country enough to give me the option to attack or else was looking at settlements versuses cities.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Honestly, I'm not sure if the cannon fire has any effect on the number of soldiers remaining in the town. It might just cause them to get angry with you. It's worth finding out for sure, though.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Honestly, I'm not sure if the cannon fire has any effect on the number of soldiers remaining in the town. It might just cause them to get angry with you. It's worth finding out for sure, though.

I'm not so confident it reduces the number of men defending the town directly, but it will often piss off the town enough that they send out a pirate hunter to get you, and when they do that I believe the troops in the town get reduced by 20 men.

[Franklinnoble]

Stupid question... how do you get to Panama?

[Buccaneer]

You walk, just like Henry Morgan in his famous sack of that town.

[Buccaneer]

I just finished my first career, playing more than half of it at the Rogue level. I retired at age 40 in failing health (too many swordfights despite all of the medicine). I accumulated about 70,000 in personal wealth with nearly 6000 acres. I am ranked as the 4th most notorious pirate and retired as a Fencing Master (ranked #6). I did finally get the hang of dancing and married a gorgeous girl from St Kitts who kept supplying me with endless goodies (dancing with your wife, as I found out, is very easy). Found all of the treasures plus one of the Lost Cities (I only had a sliver of a map so I stumbled upon it as I spent a year exploring all of Mexico). I am most proud of the fact that I installed about 6-7 governors.

Overall this game exceeded my expectations in that I am still surprised at how much of the original they kept. There are a lot of little elements that they improved upon but kept the game simple yet deep to make a career quite fun and interesting.

Next time I will play at the Rogue level but in an earlier era where there are very few non-Spanish ports and the Dons are more powerful.

[Godzilla Blitz]

(Long) Final Thoughts on Pirates…

(I wrote this a couple of weeks ago, and wanted to see if my feelings about the game changed before I posted it)

My second pirate’s career is drawing to a close, and I have tallied about 40 hours on the game so far. I thought this would be a good time to make some more conclusive observations on the game…

There are a lot of things to like about this game. In a sense, the game is a hodge-podge of mini-games that are all wrapped up in the career of your pirate. Ship-to-ship combat is engaging, fun, and filled with subtle tactical considerations. Dueling and dancing are reflex-oriented reaction games: learning to duel well at the highest difficulty can take quite a bit of practice, and is fun. I found the dancing enjoyable, if not somewhat easy. Hunting for treasure, family members, and lost cities is challenging in a puzzle-like way. Land combat presents some interesting tactical wargaming. Sneaking into cities seemed tedious, and I couldn’t stick to it: I’d always storm the city instead. The economic diversion of trading goods can also add to the game’s enjoyment.

With all of these things to do, and each of them affecting the “score” of your pirate, you’ve got the foundation of a tremendously addictive and fun game. And addicted is what happened to me. This game pulled me into its world in a way that no other game has done in a long time. For a string of six straight days until this Thursday, my earliest bedtime was 4AM. Considering that I get up at 7AM every day of the week with little kids in the house, you can imagine what kind of shape I was in by the end of this week. I’d start playing “for a half hour” at 11PM and play non-stop for five or six hours. For the first time in my life, I took a day off from work because of game exhuastion. I needed the sleep that badly. And instead of sleeping, I played the damn game.

Given all this, you’d expect me to say that this game is one of the greatest games ever made, but unfortunately that is not so. Midway through Thursday’s gaming session, the game went from fun to absolute drudgery. I was nearing the back end of my second pirate’s career, and all his major goals were accomplished except for finding lost cities, rescuing some family members, getting revenge on Count Montalban who enslaved his family, and making some (unattainable in my current game) promotions. It was right then, with a handful of years left to go before retirement, that the entire game went from entertainment to repetitive tedium. I think this happened for two reasons.

First, while each of the mini-games is fun, they are in themselves not deep enough to engage a gamer for more than 5 or 6 hours. For me, all the mini-games ran out of steam at about the same time. Instead of thinking, “Great, another duel!” I felt myself groaning, “Ugh! Another duel!” Same with all the other mini-games as well: there just isn’t enough variation to make them interesting over the long-term.

Second, the game is infused with unnecessary similarity. To find your lost family members, you have to catch the evil Raymondo. Once you catch Raymondo, he gives you a quarter of a map to one of your relative’s locations, and then, guess what! You get to hunt him down again! At which time he gives you yet another quarter of the map. This goes on and on with each family member. In order to find your four lost family members, it appears that you have to hunt Raymondo down 16 times. Yikes. And this happens in every career, with no variation. Not only that, but Raymondo has the annoying habit of reappearing at the opposite end of the Caribbean from where you are. In Barbados? Pop! Raymondo appears in Vera Cruz, at the other end of the damn sea. In the Florida Keys? Pop! Raymondo is spotted in Trinidad.

Getting revenge against the Count Montalban is similar in that you hunt him down and he gives you a quarter of a map to his hideout. Do this four times, then go to his hideout, beat him in yet another duel, and apparently he becomes your retainer. This isn’t the same degree of repetition as Raymondo, but still, why do we duel the same guy five times?

The lost cities quests are similarly uninspired. If you dance well with your wife, she’ll give you a quarter of a lost city map. Dance well again and she’ll give you another quarter of the map. Although you don’t have to hunt your wife down, it is painfully boring to get these pieces of the map. You dance well, leave port, return to port, dance well, leave port, return to port, dance well, etc. You get the idea. At least four consecutive identical sequences to get the four map sections, then off you go to find the lost city, which generates a beautiful cut scene when you find it. However, whether you find the Aztecs or the Incas lost city, the cut scene is exactly the same. Now, you could argue that you don’t have to do the four dances in a row, but often you could be years before you’ll get back to the port your wife is in, and it is simply more efficient to do it all at once. In essence, the search for the lost cities becomes the same quest repeated four times, and each quest requires you to dance successfully with your wife four times. Sigh.

Also, there are many elements of the game where things are simply too similar. Regardless of the port you’re in, nearly all of the visual information is identical. Uniforms change and some of the characters change, but essential elements and backgrounds for the most part stay the same. Although prices and the occasional shipmaking specialty are different, there is an uninspired sameness to all the game’s ports. Pirate havens, Indian towns, and religious missions are likewise identical. Cut scenes are painfully repetitive. Once you’ve seen your opponent jump into the sea with a burning arm for the 50th time, you’re almost ready to jump into the sea after him. Sure, you can easily skip the cut scenes, and it would be impossible to create extensive variation, but it seems like there could easily have been a bit more done to add some spice to this area of the game. The one exception, I should note, and which serves to highlight my point, is dueling itself. There are numerous times where an opponent will swing from a rope, kick a bucket at an enemy, or jump back to dodge a blow. This added variation gives dueling a cinematic flourish that brings the event to life. The rest of the game could use such variety and nuance.

The bottom line of all this is that you’re left with a game that is incredibly addicting for about 40 hours, then falls off the chart almost immediately after that. The sad part of all this is that with a little more effort, this game could have easily added another 60 hours worth of gaming. Why on earth must we hunt down Raymundo 16 times in each and every game we play? How hard would it have been to add some variation and randomization to this, both in terms of the tasks needed to find our family members and the characters that come into play?

I feel the same way in regards to the world development in the game. At first, I felt like I was playing a part in the history of the Caribbean when I could take over a port and change its governor. However, the AI appears to only half-heartedly counter these moves, and for the most part, the game world appears dead historically. Occasionally, when two countries are at war, one will take the port of another, but for the most part things stay the way you make them: if you take San Juan from the Spanish and install a British governor, San Juan will most likely stay British for the entire game. So much more could have been done with this. For example, how much fun would as a British privateer, to see Spanish fleets actively bearing down on English settlements, basically trying to drive your nation out of the Caribbean? That would add an entirely new “wargame” element to the action. Sure, ports can change hands in the current game, but the effort is lackluster, and I’ve never felt any sense of urgency to sink a transport full of troops.

In conclusion, I’m really happy I bought and played this game, and feel that I more than got my money’s worth in 40 hours of furious gameplay. However, I’m disappointed that I feel in many ways “finished” with the game: I thought for sure it would have more legs than this. I may be wrong yet: I’ve yet to try the Swashbuckler level, and maybe the increased difficulty will make the game more challenging and more compelling, but at this point I’m not sure I really care; the point of the duels and combat is to advance your career and tell your story, but there is so much similarity in Pirates with regard to story and career that I don’t think the increased difficulty will motivate me to play: I don’t think I can take the repetition.

[Flasch186]

so you agree with me!! ha!!

[Franklinnoble]

Good points, GB.

I hate wandering around on land looking for hideouts and lost cities. I can't ever navigate properly... no map use makes it a bitch.

[Buccaneer]

Believe it or not, I think GB's review is dead on. Only after two days from release, there was a rather lengthy thread in at piratesahoy (I believe) that said something like, "Do you feel like you have done everything in the game?". I have not started my second career and probably won't for a while - unless they release an update (not a patch mind you, just updating some things). The game is not that deep but it is deep enough for about 30-40 hours, as GB said. But I really don't know - beyond adding variety on the villians - what they could do to update the game to make it more deep. I'd still give this game a hearty recommendation but it won't be one of those you'll play for months on end, I don't think.

[Franklinnoble]

Believe it or not, I think GB's review is dead on. Only after two days from release, there was a rather lengthy thread in at piratesahoy (I believe) that said something like, "Do you feel like you have done everything in the game?". I have not started my second career and probably won't for a while - unless they release an update (not a patch mind you, just updating some things). The game is not that deep but it is deep enough for about 30-40 hours, as GB said. But I really don't know - beyond adding variety on the villians - what they could do to update the game to make it more deep. I'd still give this game a hearty recommendation but it won't be one of those you'll play for months on end, I don't think.

Did the original game have the same problem?

[Buccaneer]

Yes, esp. since trading was so lucrative that you kept doing that endlessly. But despite the criticism, bear in mind that we are talking about a game that would give you 30-40 hours of addictive fun - it's just a career can drag on a little at the end. There is a difference between playing Pirates! (or Pirates!Gold) back then and playing the new version. Now we have other, more complex strategy/hybrid games to compare it to while 10-15 years ago, we didn't have as much.

[Godzilla Blitz]

There is a difference between playing Pirates! (or Pirates!Gold) back then and playing the new version. Now we have other, more complex strategy/hybrid games to compare it to while 10-15 years ago, we didn't have as much.

I think this is where they failed with the new version of Pirates. They didn't upgrade the variety and volume of play to match the expectations of today's gamers and the capabilities of today's computers. 15 years ago 40 hours of playing time from one game would have been great mileage, and even now that's got to be considered decent mileage from a game.

However, Pirates could have been so much more by simply adding more content and more variety to the game. They could have stayed perfectly in line with the spirit of the original Pirates and beefed up their gameworld in the new version to make the game more compelling to play a second and third time. The repetition in hunting down Raymondo sixteen times in every game is so "1980's" that it struck me initially as being an obvious bug; it took me a couple of days to believe that someone had intentionally made the game that way. The game engine is excellent, and this game could have been a booming hit had they expanded the variety of potential lives that your pirate could live. As it stands, every game plays roughly the same. It strikes me as playing out like a linear RPG from the 80's like Might & Magic I rather than an expansive, free-form RPG like Morrowind or Gothic.

Perhaps I wouldn't feel this way if I had started the game at the Swashbuckler level so that I wouldn't have achieved all the possible goals so quickly. I felt like I saw everything that the game offered the first time through, and the second time through felt like I was just playing the first game again, with slightly more difficult fencing (until I got the hang of it). A lot of my drive in my second game came from wanting to see what the second lost city looked like, and the final blow of tedium hit right after I found it. I realized that all four of the lost city quests were the exact same quest, with the only variation being the randomly generated location of the city. I just finished dancing with my wife four times, sailing all the way across the Caribbean, and searching for the city. You want me to do the exact same thing again? And then again? You're kidding, right? Where's the fun in that? The Raymondo quests are even sillier: 16 times in every game? With the capabilities of today's computers, this is an unfathomable design decision.

[sterlingice]

If it's fairly successful saleswise (I haven't seen any numbers), there's no reason a sequel won't be coming and I'm sure they realize that they'll have to refine a lot of things in it to keep people coming back. I think this was just a "let's see if we just remake it and improve on a few things, is there even a market for this genre of game" and if it proves to be so, it's time to start full blown development on a series.

SI

[Franklinnoble]

I think there's probably room for an expansion pack... in fact, the game's shortcomings might have been by design (sadly), in order to package and sell the expansion in six months.

I'm such a cynic...

[sabotai]

Sid Meier isn't the kind of developer to rush sequals out. Expansions (as we saw with Civ 3, yes, but not sequals). I suspect it could be quite awhile before we see the next installment of Pirates. However, I wouldn't rule out an expansion coming out sometime next year.

[Godzilla Blitz]

I think there's probably room for an expansion pack... in fact, the game's shortcomings might have been by design (sadly), in order to package and sell the expansion in six months.

I hadn't thought of that, but it makes a lot of sense. Be interesting to see where this goes.

I'm ok with that, however. I'm satisfied with my purchase of Pirates and would happily buy a decent expansion pack, once it dropped down to about $20. I think the game has a lot of potential.

[Franklinnoble]

I hadn't thought of that, but it makes a lot of sense. Be interesting to see where this goes.

I'm ok with that, however. I'm satisfied with my purchase of Pirates and would happily buy a decent expansion pack, once it dropped down to about $20. I think the game has a lot of potential.

I agree - I'd probably buy the expansion, just because I did in fact enjoy the game, and would like to see it with a little more meat on its bones.

However, it disappoints me that we have to do this. What ever happened to pride in workmanship? What ever happened to delivering a solid, superb product in the first place? I mean, I love Civ3, but it wasn't "finished" until the 1.29 patch (seems like many months after the release, if I recall...), and the game didn't really get fleshed out completely until the second expansion pack - in fact, while the first expansion pack included multiplayer, it really left a lot to be desired, and felt like another rush job. I think Pirates! will probably have a similar fate.

On an unrelated note, I'm surprised more hasn't been done with the SimGolf game... such wasted potential... but I digress.

Thank God we have Jim Gindin. FOF2K4 is significantly improved now over its initial release, and he didn't ask for a dime for it. Is it any wonder that many of us are practically throwing money at him at this point? At this point, Jim could make Front Office Ballerina his next project, and I'd buy it - just on principle.

[Pumpy Tudors]

On an unrelated note, I'm surprised more hasn't been done with the SimGolf game... such wasted potential... but I digress.
I'd just like to say that I wholeheartedly agree with this.

[Sharpieman]

This is a great game, but I've been too occupied with FOF and FM2005 to have any time with this title.

[gi]

I think this is where they failed with the new version of Pirates. They didn't upgrade the variety and volume of play to match the expectations of today's gamers and the capabilities of today's computers. 15 years ago 40 hours of playing time from one game would have been great mileage, and even now that's got to be considered decent mileage from a game.
I think the point was to recreate this game without changing too much. I am so happy with this game because of the very fact that it is not overburdened with extras. Simple addictive game play that makes the money I spent on it worth it because I had fun last night. I long for the quality of 1980's gameplay sooo much since today's games mostly fall well short of the bar set by gaming's golden age (1980's). In comparison, most first person shooters only have around 20 hours of gameplay, but that is 20 hours of intense GOOD gameplay. I for one do not think more hours equal better, I want quality over quanity. I actually was able to recreate an experience that I've missed with this game. I stayed up WAY too long because I just had to plunder one more ship....then it was 3am....

[sachmo71]

So, anyone still playing?

Lasting impressions?

It's on sale a gogamer.com, so I'm lookin' for input! :D

[cartman]

So, anyone still playing?

Lasting impressions?

It's on sale a gogamer.com, so I'm lookin' for input! :D

Yep, I'm still playing it. But like the others, not nearly as much as when it first came out, but I'll still boot it up a couple of times each week.

[sachmo71]

Yep, I'm still playing it. But like the others, not nearly as much as when it first came out, but I'll still boot it up a couple of times each week.

Good to hear. Any annoyances?

[WSUCougar]

The game is a kick, but redundancy was my biggest issue. I think Godzilla Blitz pegged it.

[sachmo71]

Thanks for pointing me to that, Coug. For some reason, I blew right past that.

[Franklinnoble]

It's screaming for an expansion pack. I hope they have plans for one.

[cartman]

Good to hear. Any annoyances?

No annoyances for me. In fact, it's rare these days that a game is out for a few months, and there aren't a ton of people screaming for a patch to fix this or that. The main requests I hear are for expansion packs. To me, that is a good sign.

[WSUCougar]

I just thought of something which brought a goofy smile to my face.

For those of you who haven't played the game, you interact with English, French, Spanish, and Dutch governors and other characters. But none of the characters speak those languages...they speak in what I can best describe as cartoony gibberish. You get subtitles so you can understand, but the voice acting says stuff like "Boodentarr!" (French governor) or - and this one haunted my dreams for quite awhile - your crew celebrates capturing a ship by shouting "SNARK BASHNAW!" over and over.

What a hoot. But it's really one of those "have to hear it" things. I'm guessing the guys that have played it are grinning now, but those who haven't are thinking I've had too much Robitussin.

[Franklinnoble]

I just thought of something which brought a goofy smile to my face.

For those of you who haven't played the game, you interact with English, French, Spanish, and Dutch governors and other characters. But none of the characters speak those languages...they speak in what I can best describe as cartoony gibberish. You get subtitles so you can understand, but the voice acting says stuff like "Boodentarr!" (French governor) or - and this wanted haunted my dreams for quite awhile - your crew celebrates capturing a ship by shouting "SNARK BASHNAW!" over and over.

What a hoot. But it's really one of those "have to hear it" things. I'm guessing the guys that have played it are grinning now, but those who haven't are thinking I've had too much Robitussin.

I've played it.

But that doesn't change my opinion regarding your consumption of Robitussin.

[CamEdwards]

i got this game for christmas. after much frustration installing the game, i was able to play it three times. Then my computer refused to recognize the disc. I went to the atari message boards and read that this is apparently a fairly common problem with absolutely no fix available. And they're not offering refunds. What a gyp.

[KWhit]

I enjoyed it for about 5 hours (played over maybe 3 nights). Then I got bored and haven't touched it since. Too easy and too repetitive.

[sachmo71]

I'm going to wait for the bargin bin, I think. Or an expansion pack.

[Shepp]

i got this game for christmas. after much frustration installing the game, i was able to play it three times. Then my computer refused to recognize the disc. I went to the atari message boards and read that this is apparently a fairly common problem with absolutely no fix available. And they're not offering refunds. What a gyp.

I'm kind of suprised that there hasn't been any sort of patch for this game. Aside from the disk reading problem there are a couple other smaller issued that should be fixed. I guess they are happy to bilk gamers $50.00 a pop to cash in on nostalgia. :(

[Draft Dodger]

i got this game for christmas. after much frustration installing the game, i was able to play it three times. Then my computer refused to recognize the disc. I went to the atari message boards and read that this is apparently a fairly common problem with absolutely no fix available. And they're not offering refunds. What a gyp.

try going to GameCopyWorld and downloading a NoCD patch. I don't know if that'll resolve it for sure, but it can't hurt. When I install a game, the first thing I do is get a NoCD patch for it so I don't have to have the disc in the drive. Not only does it save you from having to swap discs out...but it often gives you a bit better performance.

[Buccaneer]

After playing FBCB now for another month, I have been thinking about (re-)playing a strategy game. I thought about Pirates and came up with something a little different - playing Rogue/Swashbuckler in an early era - but 90% of the game would be identical to the first time I played it. Not sure I want to do the same things all over again. I'll wait till later this year as well as hope for an expansion pack.

[Fonzie]

i got this game for christmas. after much frustration installing the game, i was able to play it three times. Then my computer refused to recognize the disc. I went to the atari message boards and read that this is apparently a fairly common problem with absolutely no fix available. And they're not offering refunds. What a gyp.

I'm in the same boat - I got this game for Christmas and am just now getting around to installing it. And whaddya know, I happened to get the special edition DVD version whose copy protection refuses to recognize that this it is running off an original disc. Thus the game will not start.

What a pantsload. Does anybody know anything more about this problem?

[Fonzie]

Dola-

There is a fix available for the DVD issue I mentioned above. It can be found at:

ftp://ftp.infogrames.net/patches/pirates/pirates-DVD-rpl.zip

[cartman]

If you are thinking about picking up this game, and have a Fry's nearby, they are offering it for $19.95, after a $20 mail-in rebate. Not sure if the rebate is for any store, or if it is only from Fry's.

[cartman]

almost one month dola...

There is a patch that just came out. You can get it here: ftp://ftp.atari.com/patches/pirates/Pirates_101_US.exe

Here's the list of things fixed:

Fixes:
- Privateer crash where they had an invalid "home" and could not return.
- Return NumLock state to whatever it was prior to game start.
- Montalban map unaccessible from arrows.
- "Terminator guy" player character on Intel graphics chipsets.
- Crew will no longer be seen swinging from ropes in dueling when eliminated.
- Treasure replay lists 1000 less gold.
- With rank, no bounty appears in status screen.
- Wrong color shirt in promotion replays.
- Just because it annoyed me, all occurrances of "Treasuer" in log.cpp have been changed to "Treasure"
- Barmaid - men in settlement.
- Load/Save button enabled in port after loading arrival save.
- Landmarks can disappear when two maps share same one.
- Treasure map - no X.
- You can still view treasure map after retrieving treasure but before returning to ship.
- Wrong ordinals for PC in top ten pirates list and retirement screen.
- Landmarks spawn under cities/not visible.
- Leaving Panama/Gran Granada jail leaves player stuck.
- Can't reassign left and right for nav (keymap.ini). Or SeaBattle, for that matter.
- Player can walk off the right edge of the map when on land.
- If lost relative mission and Montalban mission both enabled and you complete the relative mission, the Montalban mission button is not visible on the menu.
- Bartender resets upgrade at shipwright.
- Reefs did not damage player's ship in SB.
- Camera clip in dance (Spanish ballroom).
- Treasure fleet respawn issues.
- Possible crash when trying to access one of the functions of DirectX before it was initialized.
- Sea Nav: Port, Negative -2420 soldiers appear.
- When firing grape or chain shot at the end of a ship battle, the sounds continue to loop in sailing.
- Timing of dance help flash is earlier.
- Land Battle exploit.
- No food/no mutiny exploit.
- Top 10 Pirates in wrongly named ships.
- Water geometry not updated properly when scaling changes.

Changes:
- Sped up land battle animations.
- Bar duels now more difficult - based on rank.
- Dance rating modified by difficulty.

[Franklinnoble]

That's nice... but I want an expansion pack.

[cartman]

Evidently the programmers knew the significance of Sept. 19th. Load up the game and see if you notice anything different while you are playing...

:D

[Galaril]

Evidently the programmers knew the significance of Sept. 19th. Load up the game and see if you notice anything different while you are playing...

:D

I don't understand what you mean? :confused:

[dawgfan]

I don't understand what you mean? :confused:

I believe it's related to this (http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html) bit of information...HARRR!

[ThunderingHERD]

So what's it do? I don't have Pirates installed on this comp.

[cartman]

So what's it do? I don't have Pirates installed on this comp.

It changed all of the character dialog to Pirate Speak. So the Governor's daughters would say things like "Will ye be takin' me to the Ball?"

:D

[dawgfan]

So I finally picked this one up a couple days ago (yeah, I'm slow when it comes to buying PC games).

I'm hooked - this is going to be a dangerous game for me, one of those ones that will cause too many nights of staying up too late and dragging my ass at work the next day. I'm looking forward to reading the whole thread when I have more time and seeing the impressions from others and their strategies.

First impressions are, it's a simple game yet highly addictive. It should tide me over nicely until Civ4 comes out (that one I will buy right away...)

[Buccaneer]

dawg, wait till you want to play it a second time.

[dawgfan]

Well, I retired my first pirate last night after realizing the aging thing went a lot quicker than I'd first assumed - at age 35 my pirate was in poor health and just couldn't hack it anymore in duels with anyone halfway skilled.

After having read the whole thread, I'm eagerly anticipating firing up a new career. I'll probably study the handbook thoroughly as well to pick up on some of the subtleties I missed by diving right in the first time (which the book actually encouraged)...

[gottimd]

bump

[Pumpy Tudors]

Bump for what?

[lighthousekeeper]

Bump for what?
One last hurrah for this thread before the world ends today.


Arrrgghh, and what a good thread she was...

[Izulde]

Does the XBox version still have the same thing with the old NES version where, if you wait longer and do more stuff in between getting promotions, you get a lot more land and money with each rank?

[Edward64]

Izulde. Sorry about not answering your specific question, I only have the PC version. I just want to say I played the C-64 version back in the 80s and have played the current version for the past 1+ years ... and its still a top 5 game for me.

I've beaten it several times and it does get a little boring but at least once a month, I boot it up and have a great time 'living the life'.

Also, my 7 year old son plays it alot on the easy 'Apprentice' mode.

One of the best game series ever.

[Izulde]

It's definately a great series. Unfortunately, it just locked up on me. *sigh*. Oh well, at least I only rented it or I'd be really ticked. Guess I should've saved sooner.

[Franklinnoble]

I like the game, with the exception of two elements:

1. Dancing (ugh)
2. Marching blindly through the jungle to find crap.

Otherwise, it's a pretty sweet game, and I kinda wish they'd make an expansion pack for it or something.

[Edward64]

It's definately a great series. Unfortunately, it just locked up on me. *sigh*. Oh well, at least I only rented it or I'd be really ticked. Guess I should've saved sooner.

Izulde. For what its worth, in the hundereds of hours playing PC Pirates, it has never locked up on me ... Dell 4700, GMA900 w/512MB RAM.

Franklinoble. I agree, I really wish Sid would come up with an expansion pack or declare a Pirates 2008. Unfortunately, all indications are this is it (at least for a long while). I am actually seriously thinking about buying a 2nd copy of this game $19.99 (ex. son leaves CD lying around to be damaged).

[Franklinnoble]

Wow - I thought I was a harsh dad.

Well, the kid did leave the Pirates! CD lying around, after all. ;)

[sachmo71]

Here's (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=A5n841vf6zzpa) a new album for you pirate lovers!

[Buccaneer]

I guess it all has come full circle for me. Easily my most favorite (and played) game in the 1990s (the Mac's Pirates! Gold version), but I was dismayed by this dumbed-down version when it came out (i.e., good for one play, limited replay value). Now I got the iPhone version and played it for 3 hours last night before my batteries ran out. While I had a little trouble reading the small text and navigating the ships by touching, I thought this is a great app for the iPhone and probably even moreso for the iPad. Alll along, I had hopes for this sequel for the PC but it goes to show that even the PC version was nothing more than a glorified iPad app (just didn't know it at the time).

[Toddzilla]

I saw Franklinnoble and threw up in my mouth a little

[Edward64]

Any good Pirates games out there? Son has moved on the Call of Duty, Skyrim but I'd play a new Sid remake anyday.

And what did Franklinnoble do?

[mckerney]

Any good Pirates games out there? Son has moved on the Call of Duty, Skyrim but I'd play a new Sid remake anyday.

If you're looking for something that's come out since Pirates! the answer is probably no. Unless there's something I'm forgetting Zack & Wiki on the Wii is probably the best pirate themed game to come out since then. Paradox released Pirates of Black Cove which is kind of like Pirates!, but it's not very good.

If you really want a pirate themed game there's Jolly Rover an adventure game that is kind of okay and Risen 2: Dark Waters, an RPG that really isn't that good.

[Peregrine]

Well personally I have really enjoyed the newer version of Pirates, and have played it a ton over the past several years, however I never played the original version.

[RendeR]

THe most recent version is still an awesome game and while it does lack a bit when it comes to replayability it IS replayable on the different difficulty levels.

I also make up my own house rules to see how far I can get.:

New game, start as the spanish, cannot ever attack the spanish, cannot use anything bigger than a barque as my flagship. (did this one a few times, still haven't really succeeded with it but damn if its not challenging!)

[tarcone]

Pirates is on the iPad. It is outstanding. Although I hate the dancing.