Sid Meier's Pirates: Who here has played it yet.

[Jeje2]

When to go for Pirates (treasurs)?

While playing now my current game (look above) am on my second sailing.

Now I started to wonder that is it good to let the competing pirates to live ... (Saw Kidd West of Havanna)

So does it pay of to let them live (in greater loot when you then finally take him)?

How about the hidden treasurs? (Found a 2000 gold one as my second trasure yesterday) Are these fixed or can they also increase over time?

[Kassiopeia]

Was the 2000 gold one you found Rackham's treasure?

[Jeje2]

Cann't remeber (but name sounds familiar) - have to check when get home tonight

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Adagio
What's the longest time you have been at sea? Right now I've been at sea for 38 months and I've got 232,000 gold

At the lower settings I was at sea for almost 5 years and had like 225k gold. Finally, one of my spare ships just decided to sail off on it's own. I caught up to them but the computer would let me attack them but they didn't become independent pirates which attacked shipping either. They just sat there where they ran aground in Haiti doing nothing until I got a new crew and then they were gone.

[Chemical Ollie]

I've been to sea for almost 5 years at one time and had over 300k on Yourneyman level. I'm still only in my second game (played the first for an hour, then restarted) so I stay on Yourneyman to see how the game works. And a full campaign seems to take 20-30 hours, so I have been playing the same campaign for almost a week now. Found all pirates, all treasures, 3/4 relatives, 3/4 hidden cities, the villain hideout, got 24/24 in wealth, ranked 7/8 in Spain and 8/8 in all others. I have 9/10 in romance with my wife in Curacau but can't figure out how to get to 10. I figured out how to get the dip last night, but that didn't help. Temporary retired as a Governor. And I have perhaps 5-10 years left before forced retirement.

I wonder how I will be able to beat that score on higher levels? Do you get any score bonus as award for playing higher levels, except for a larger share of the plunder?

One of the joys of playing is that they have hidden small jokes here and there. Like when you fence with a captain and cut a rope so that a box hits him. And the tavern owner who sometimes asks if you shouldn't have a parrot on your shoulder.

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
One of the joys of playing is that they have hidden small jokes here and there. Like when you fence with a captain and cut a rope so that a box hits him.

The first time I saw that, I burst out laughing. And there are variations on that too. Sometimes the enemy captain will duck and the crate will miss him but then it swings back and gets him. Also, I think it was when I beat Morgan, he actually jumped onto the crate as it swings by and cuts the rope with his sword thus falling with the crate into the water.

[Kassiopeia]

I have 9/10 in romance with my wife in Curacau but can't figure out how to get to 10.

Is she attractive or beautiful? I was at 9/10 when I married an attractive one in my first game, 10/10 when I married a beautiful French daughter in my current one. I suspect the rather plain variety gives you a paltry 8/10.

[Chemical Ollie]

So I should dump her then? Perhaps sack the town and install a Spaniard instead of her father, then sail off to find a new girl?

But I don't think that would work. They obviously spent much more programming time improving the graphics than improving the logics from the original.

[Kassiopeia]

Actually, when I sacked my bride's town and changed the nationality of the governor, the romance meter started to count my second best "achievement", a 6/10 phase beautiful girl in an entirely different city. Ended up reloading from the arrival autosave.

[Arrian]

I was in need of a Pirates! fix, so last night I fired up my copy of the original Pirates! and played for a while.

I did get a reminder of why I typically don't play the 1620 time period, though. Too much peace, and when not, it's England allied with Spain. Bah, screw that.

I only wish it didn't have the money bug (if you cross a certain amount of cash, it freaks out... IIRC, it's just north of 320,000 gold). I can't remember if that bug existed in the C64 version... I don't think so. Oh well.

You know, after 17 years, it's still a damn good game.

-Arrian

[Jeje2]

OK - just made a very nice move.

I visited to native villages and got them to attack Spanish Havanna.
Result: Thier army was reduced from 500 to 140 soldiers => have you seen the new French Havanna?

[Chemical Ollie]

Now how do I beat this on higher levels? Is there some kind of bonus award depending on the level you play (except for your share of the plunder)? If not, I believe this game won't last long.

[Muad'Dib]

Pirate Treasures, Daughters & Morale

First:

Now I started to wonder that is it good to let the competing pirates to live ... (Saw Kidd West of Havanna)

So does it pay of to let them live (in greater loot when you then finally take him)?

How about the hidden treasurs? (Found a 2000 gold one as my second trasure yesterday) Are these fixed or can they also increase over time?

Pirate Treasure amount are based on the Pirates rank. Meaning, Henry Morgan, who is #1, his treasure is worth 10K in gold. Kidd's is worth 9K and so on and so on. Remember, when the game begins, you're ranked tenth (#10). Also, the game will only let you go after one pirate treasure at a time. So, it is best that after you get your first treasure, you should immediately go after that pirate and defeat him so the others move up in rank.

Second:

I have 9/10 in romance with my wife in Curacau but can't figure out how to get to 10.

Marrying a Plain daughter will get you 8 of 10 romance points, Attractive gets you 9 of 10, and Beautiful gets you a perfect 10.

So I should dump her then? Perhaps sack the town and install a Spaniard instead of her father, then sail off to find a new girl?

Once you marry, your scoring for Romance Points is over. So if you marry a plain daughter, you can't marry an attractive or beautiful one afterwards.

Third:

Finally, one of my spare ships just decided to sail off on it's own.

If you crew is Unhappy or Mutinous for quite some time, they wiil start to desert. If you have a fleet, they wiil take one of your ships. If leaving port, a random number will leave. The Concertina, the Cook, and the Quartermaster all help with morale and preventing desertions.

Finally:

I only wish it didn't have the money bug (if you cross a certain amount of cash, it freaks out... IIRC, it's just north of 320,000 gold). I can't remember if that bug existed in the C64 version... I don't think so. Oh well.

There was no bug in the C-64 version. I repeatedly hit the Million Gold mark. And to my knowledge & personal experience, there is no money bug in the current game because I have hit 400K & 500K a couple of times; I've been trying to reach the Million mark in this game.

Note: The C-64 version and the current game, with regards to generating gold, are vastly different; it was easier to generate gold in the C-64 version. And in the C-64 version, I could capture the Silver Train or Treasure Fleet with ease and often. In this addition, NO Silver Train, and capturing the Treasure fleet is quite a task. Also, cities in the C-64 version had gold amounts in their info screen, no such info here. Cities were wealthier in the C-64 version (I sacked a few that were over 100K). In this one, the largest amount I got from a wealthy city was 9600 in gold.

[Muad'Dib]

Now how do I beat this on higher levels? Is there some kind of bonus award depending on the level you play (except for your share of the plunder)? If not, I believe this game won't last long.

Firstly, you can marry a Beautiful daughter instead of an Attractive one, so there's room for improvement there. Secondly, the more gold & land you have the higher your fame score will be at the end. As for a bonus based on difficulty, at this time I can't answer that personally because I haven't finnished a 2nd game yet.

[Muad'Dib]

Sid, The Mysterious Traveler

Has anybody encountered him, and what was the special item you got from him??????????????????