Still going through my first play through, so I haven't tried the other eras or different starting abilities.

I did have a question though. If you're only firing half of your cannons at an enemy vessel, why do you need to wait for ALL the cannons to reload before you can fire a full load?

Good question. I don't know.

Did find a ship of the line the other day. It's quite nice. I suppose it goes without saying, but if you see one, snag it. Holds 450 men, and functions as a one ship task force for raiding cities or destroying other ships.

That said, the Royal Sloop is probably my favorite ship for general piracy. You're fast enough to control the range of engagement, more agile than anything that can hurt you, and you pack enough guns to hurt the bigger ships. On top of that, you're also a small target, which means that only part of a large broadside will hit you. Say you're fighting a large frigate. Your entire broadside will hit, but only about half of his will. Sure, he has more armor, but you have just as many effective guns as he does, and you can dodge everything he throws at you.

Well, my Pirate is still living it up on the high seas. 61 years of age, still tearing about propping up the economy of Barbados so he can sell off his spices and enduring the indignity of dancing about with govenors daughters so he can find that last lost city...

I've got a question and I know I'm missing something stupid, but i just played it for the 1st time last night and cannot figure out how to raid a city... If I sail into it I just dock there.. If I land nearby and march my men in, I just walk in friendly-like. How do I go in with plundering on my mind??
And btw, great game. I'm playing it on my laptop so using the numeric key pad sucks, but I'm slowly learning to feel it out with the Fn key. I need to upgrade my desktop's video card in order to play it there.

I think you can buy USB keypads. I was thinking of getting one so I can play on my laptop too.

If it is an enemy city and you have = or < the number of militia, you go to a strategic attack game. If you have > you sword fight. But the city has to hate you for you to attack.

Man, that strategic attack game is hard. But then again, the game's called Pirates and not Landlubbers.

Land nearby and walk into the city. then you can attack wahtever city you like, even friendly ones.

Yep, that's the way I bankrupted the Spanish Main for a couple of decades, picking up the land grant from the next city, then attacking it, replacing the governor and getting more land from him too...

ive never played the original games but this game sounds great and the pictures ive seen of it looks great.... i cant wait to get it

The more of a meticulous pedant you are, the more you will love this game.

It's open ended, so some people will start multiple games and pillage and pillage until they can pillage no more.

Other people, strange peopl, like me, prefer to have a single game where they get unhealthily obsessed with the finer aspects of economic exploitation, moving spices across the map, propping up key ports, sacking towns to get bargain sugar...

I really, really like this game...

played long enough and figured it out. Though I don't see how you can attack a friendly city. Attack enough ships around a city and they'll hate you. easy enough. Then you can attack away.
I agree with the others. If I start playing this game when i get home from work and settle in, say 8pm... I'll look up at the clock and it'll be 3am, and i convince myself i can play another hour so I can get an even 4 hours sleep before going back to work. This game is way too addictive. I have to struggle to stay away from it.

Dude, simply park your ship on the coast nearby to any city, and walk over to it. You then have the option to attack.

Sid Meier's Pirates! is a fantastic game. The open-ended gameplay alone makes it worth trying out. Everything is well excecuted and highly polished. This is one of the best games I've seen.

I've spent about 15 hours playing. I rented the XBox version with my gamepass so I have played without a map or manual. I have used the Brig of War mostly but will try the Ship of the Line. I am at 3/5 difficulty and rely on sword combat so the royal sloop doesn't pack enough crew for my comfort. I may try it again as my skills improve.

Avoiding stumbles while dancing seems extremely easy. Maybe I'm overlooking something or maybe it's just easier on XBox than PC. Am I imagining it or can you throw in extra flourishes like spins or half spins during some of the moves? It doesn't count against you if you don't do them but a ring of tiny hearts develops if you do. If you have to fill that circle to marry, then I see how difficult that would be.

My focus so far has been on earning rank and riches. Conquering cities and donating them makes the process smooth and easy. I never could find an option to park my boat and walk anywhere in the XBox version but it's easy enough to make a nation angry.

My main frustration has been looking for buried treasure or relatives after you complete a map. Over and over I make landfall in the area indicated but I get the "your search found nothing" popup. I've only found what I was looking for 3 times in spite of many attempts. I wish you could get out of the boat and walk around a bit.

If anyone has questions as I did you may find this helpful.
http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/dosw...sm_pirates.txt

I, too, have the XBOX version, and it doesn't allow you to walk on land. Weak-sauce.

It's still an amazing game, though. I find myself playing for hours on end.

Flourishes in dancing only happen if your timing is spot on with the beat.

i love this game, nothing better than unleashing 40 guns on some scurvy bastard!

Word. I've been sailing around w/ Henry Morgan's ship, which has all the upgrades and 40 cannons. Fun as hell.

Oh yeah, when it comes to ground battles, just stay in the wooded areas. Most of the defenders will have guns or bows & arrows, and it's extremely difficult for them to hit you if you're in the woods. When they run out in the open, gun 'em down, or if you have a squad of swords nearby, rush 'em with a flank attack. Easy wins every time.

There are a few interesting subtleties in the ground battles. The wooded areas are indeed a big help. There are also some interesting bonuses that affect things. Melee types have a bonus when attacking most ranged fighters. You don't want to use melee fighters against any sort of indians but ranged attacks seem to work better than usual. Having the higher ground helps some, especially since it increases the distance of ranged attacks. I've had occasional success at creating bottlenecks or cover for my ranged attackers with the rocky ground.

I have a few questions. Are cavalry weaker in the woods? Is it just superior numbers in the attacking unit that give a morale bonus? Is there any way to affect the distribution of troop types or the size of units (such as what nation they're from or how many are recruited at a time)? When do you get a flank attack bonus?

Henry Morgan's ship sounds amazing. I won't sell it off so quickly next time. I have been using Captain Kid's.

I have achieved 15 dancing flourishes in a row and ended a dance with 12. I think the only difference is a slight change to the cut scene at the end of the dance. It still beats collecting stars in a platformer.

*edit* My mother-in-law is visiting this week and I have her addicted to SMP now. Arrgh! */edit*

I tried this out for the Xbox and was pleasantly surprised - it's a hell of alot of fun! There were a few games that Sid Meyer made back in the early 90's that I used to play as a kid, and I forgot that Sid Meyer was behind this game. Great game, lots of fun, I approve!

The more flourishes you get on the PC game in dancing means better stuff.

Thanks for filling me in japhyryder!

I received the pc version as a gift this week and the graphics are much better. This is a beautiful game. It's less frustrating on the pc and the controls are remarkably easy to use. I recommend the pc version.

I love this game. I was surprised that I liked it so much.

This game is definitely worth a look. My problem is that it really is short. You can do other things after you beat it, but the game just does not have much replay ability. Still, the first time through, it is really a solid game. I just wish there was more to it.

Arghhhh!

I was just playing and my guy was 26 years old and I had a wife and $100k+ gold and then I freaking got beaten by one of theose damn pirates!

I lost all of the special items I had bought over time and I wa left with a dinky little Sloop and 100 gold! WTF!

Yeah but you still had a wife with huge boobs right?

I've never been captured for some reason, guess I'm just so freakin good!

i always forget to look at how many crew i have -- as rogue i can beat most people.... but you just can't win when you have 16 crew against 130 enemies!!! You'll end up in the prisons for sure! And when it happens, i let it happen, and not reload the game like most of you nerds! No Way! A good pirate deserves to have lived a good portion of his career in irons; that's what makes him a pirate who truly hates the flags of the god-fearing nations!

and kostya, you're right. just land and walk, you can attack. no idea how i missed it last time.

Yeah that was the first time I have ever been beaten by a pirate. I got cocky and attacked when I shouldn't have..

I have gotten captured a couple of times before, but I always sneak out. None of that bribing bullshit. I am a stingy motherfucker!

I love saving and reloading when something bad happens. It makes playing games more relaxing and fun for me.

A tip in case you haven't noticed it yet: When a ship flies a white flag during cannon skirmish, they will automatically surrender when you board them. If you use fast vessels like sloops and are patient enough, just hang back until they run their underwear up the mast and move in for the free booty.