Pirates! ?

[Peacedog]

Well, I'm off on my career. I got a quest to escort a governer on his journey, and the course was plotted on my map. But I'm not entirely sure where he wanted to go, and I didn't follow him.

I did keep a nasty Spanish ship from attacking him, though. I'm sure he was greatful, but the Spanish governer from a nearby town didn't appreciate it. Them's the breaks.

I was "port hopping" looking for a place to sell my plundered sugar. I picked up a ship upgrade that made my sloop more durable for 500 gold. Bartenders have hinted at other upgrades as well. I've also gleaned quit a bit of information about some of the notorious pirates out there. I struck paydirt in an English Mission - the abbot claimed a certain pirate new the whereabouts of a relative. I'll have to have a "chat" with him.

My I followed the defeat of the spanish ship by taking a pirate ship. No duel - I was too effective in ship combat it seems. I was rewarded by a quatermaster who wanted to join my crew, though. The victory brought with it a message that the govener of a nearby town wanted to see me, and I was promoted to Captain (fame 1, woo hoo!). His buxom daughter even stopped in to flirt with me briefly (can you blame her?).

I then headed north, and helped deliver a second govener to a port. The port is exepcted to flourish as a result. We got chased down by a pirate, but made it to port. As it so happened, he was still there when I left, and despite being outgunned and outmanned, I was feeling adventurous.

My tactics and judicious use of various munitions carried the day, and with a slight crew advantage boarded. I experienced my first duel. The interface offers several moves - 3 attacks, 3 defenses, and taunt. When he attacks, a defense button flashes quickly. The fight carried across the deck and up onto the fore castle as I started to gain the upperhand. The captain displayed several daring moves in an attempt to evade my attacks, even swinging away on a rope at one point. I forced him over the edge and took the ship, though.

I over-extended the crew and they were getting unhappy, so I stopped off in town to divide the plunder. Just 4 gold a piece (sorry lads), and the months ticked by as I rested and the ship got a good spit & polish. I think perhaps I'll follow up on that lead about my relative next. . .

*******************************

There are some bugs:

1) Right clicking while sailing around brings up the "spyglass" view, which is pretty cool. But it appears to be buggy. It doesn't always show what you're hovering the spyglass cursor over.

2) My wind arrow is always pointing dead west, which is annoying.

3) I'm not sure if the first governer mission was bugged or not.

Moving around is easy. Everything can work from mouse or keyboard. In combat, left click to turn/sail in that direction and right click to fire. The number-pad interface also appears on screen, so you can use the numbers on the keyboard *or* click on the icons on screen. You can click on the buttons at sea to sail, use the keyboard, or just sail. Ditto swordfights. The icons are layed out like a number pad in the lower right, and obvious pictures combined with a word or phrase tell you what the buttons do. The interface isn't obtrusive, which is nice.

Really fun so far, but I have things to do, so no more Pirates! for now.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Just picked up the game an hour ago, and played for a quick ten minutes.

Looks likes fun, but the sailing speed for my ship is arcadishly fast on my P4 2.6gb. My ship flies around the word map, and is hard to control. Anyone know how to slow the game speed down? I can't find anything in the manual. It's especially bad with the wind. I have all I can do to sail the ship.

I did manage to track down a Spanish barque and pummel the thing into submission. Combat is fun, and the game speed isn't bad there.

[Peacedog]

I was actually pining for a "speed up" option on the world map. Port Royale did a good job here.

One thing I do like about the world map is how big it is. It feels like Pirates. Port Royale has a small map you can zip around pretty quickly, but that fits that game and Pirates! needs something you really feel like you are exploring.

[setaside]

Looks likes fun, but the sailing speed for my ship is arcadishly fast on my P4 2.6gb. My ship flies around the word map, and is hard to control. Anyone know how to slow the game speed down? I can't find anything in the manual. It's especially bad with the wind. I have all I can do to sail the ship.

Just wait until you're running against the wind or the wind just dies on you ... you'll be praying for arcadishly fast speeds then.

[Hrdina]

Must....resist.....urge......to buy.......on............first................day.

[Ronin]

On my second crew now, as an English Privateer taking it to "the man" (just about everyone else) The game is addictive, along with being open ended. You want to wander around and trade? Sure. You want to kill everything that floats on water? You can do that to.

Picked up the Limited edition DVD. Which has a number of extras along with a copy of Pirates! Gold. There is a readme on it, and it can be run on windows compatibility mode, and with a CPU slower (because it will run too fast on anything higher than a 233. Straight from the readme.) 144 pg spiral bound manual, with map in a cardboard sleave.

The Wind hasn't shifted for me either yet, always from the west. I believe I've at least tried all I can so far, so I'll run through them all really quick.

Sea Battles are easy to get into, and seam to support a good amount of tactical decision making. Where you attack your quarry will depend on where you start on the battle map, and like Rome: Total War, where you engage determines what the terrain will be like. I try to engage upwind from my opponent, so I can pound him and advance at my leisure. "Crossing the T" is also supported, with cannon fire at a ships bow or stern (lengthwise) will do more damage than trading broadsides, and prevent him from shooting at you to boot. Chain shot and grape shot will take out sails and crew respectively, and you also have the option to reef your sails which will give you great manueverability, yet slow you down quite a bit.

Closing with the ship gets you into the duel, and like has been mentioned before, the action sequences have a heavy hollywood pirate movie influence, which adds to the flare. The number keys control your attacks and defenses. I have also dueled the captain of the guard in one of my port calls, who was being a little aggressive with the lovely barmaid at the tavern.

Sneaking into a town who is hostile to you is interesting. Basically a top down view of a town and you, with your crew behind you. Patrolling around are guards that you must avoid or knock out. You can hop over certain walls, or hide behind hay bales. If you approach a guard from behind you will club him. Your objective is to sneak into the places you need to go I've only been to a tavern, so I have yet to see if you can find the merchant, the shipwright, or the governors mansion for that matter. If you want to get out of the town before you reach an objective, you have to get back to your crew who is waiting on the outskirts of town.

Dancing is also controlled by the numpad. The keys will flash quickly as the hand signals are confusing. However if you get the rhythm of the dance, and anticipate the next move (also being in rhythm with the music) and succeed, your character will do a flourish that increases yourself in the ladies eyes. If you miss a key your character will stumble, and do this too much and the lady will deny you some lovin.

Land combat is a simplistic set piece battle. I was overwhelmed by the french (I know, a disgrace). You have 3 basic units, Buccaneers, Pirates and Officers. Buccaneers are pure riflemen, Pirates are pure melee, and Officers are uber melee. Use of cover and elevation is taken into account for morale and damage, and its all fairly intuitive. (Forest provides cover from rifle fire, height increases moral etc. etc.)

The items and specialty crew can enhance your ship, your ability to woo the ladies (Cavarsia anyone?), you can also get intell on ports that the shady guy in the corner of the tavern has visited, or he will sell you items that will keep crew moral high, or you can get a treasure map from him. The barmaids and the bartenders will give you rumors about pirates to hunt, or important shipments that will be moving through certain areas. The governors will promote you and give you missions that further their factions own ends.

So basically, its damn addictive. I think it does the classic game good. And I'll probably be distracted by it a good bit for a while.

[RMC]

In regards to the Mouse Vs Keyboard..

I was using the keyboard, but accidentally clicked on the sea where I wanted my ships to go, and it warned me it prefered me to use the keyboard...

Same keys I remember from the good 'ole days of Pirates...Have not even cracked the manual, so I have no idea what buying the improvements do...

I captured a Spanish War ship and it had Bronze Cannons...Man what the hell do they do, but who cares it's Pirates!!!

[Godzilla Blitz]

Looks likes fun, but the sailing speed for my ship is arcadishly fast on my P4 2.6gb. My ship flies around the word map, and is hard to control. Anyone know how to slow the game speed down? I can't find anything in the manual. It's especially bad with the wind. I have all I can do to sail the ship.

Just wait until you're running against the wind or the wind just dies on you ... you'll be praying for arcadishly fast speeds then.

I did head back to Tortuga against the wind, which surely was slow, but when I tried to turn right I turned too much and the wind caught the ship: it flew away back to the west like a napkin getting whipped off a picnic bench in the wind.

I think I could get a hang of the sailing after a while, but the difficulty is that other ships are moving just as fast: by the time I can read what they are, they're well past me.

[setaside]

Looks likes fun, but the sailing speed for my ship is arcadishly fast on my P4 2.6gb. My ship flies around the word map, and is hard to control. Anyone know how to slow the game speed down? I can't find anything in the manual. It's especially bad with the wind. I have all I can do to sail the ship.

Just wait until you're running against the wind or the wind just dies on you ... you'll be praying for arcadishly fast speeds then.

I did head back to Tortuga against the wind, which surely was slow, but when I tried to turn right I turned too much and the wind caught the ship: it flew away back to the west like a napkin getting whipped off a picnic bench in the wind.

I think I could get a hang of the sailing after a while, but the difficulty is that other ships are moving just as fast: by the time I can read what they are, they're well past me.

Fair enough ... I surely wouldn't complain if they added an option to speed up/slow down time in the game.

[Eduardo X]

I think the wind always blowing west is true to reality. Watch the weather and you'll almost always see the wind blowing west in the Carribean.

I guess I'm pretty good at this game, because I've already found 5 pirate treasures, sacked a town, captured a pirate, became #7 on the top 10 pirates, and found a map to my sister. Too bad I can't actually find her! The map tells me a general location to look, but... I can't find her anywhere! Dammit! I march around "West of Puerto Principe," which isn't even a port, for months with no luck!
I know that the locations are random, but does anybody know if it gets harder to find treasure and secret locations the harder you make the game?

[Lassr]

Well, I got the game setting here in front of me ready to install but DAMMIT there's a thunderstorm and a tornado watch right now. SO I'm going to have to (SHIT...lightning strike close by just then) turn the computer off and wait until tomorrow. I've lost one computer to lightning don't wanna do that again...

[Daveman]

A bit more playing time in and I'm still loving it. I'm playing mostly loyal to the British and am almost an Admiral. The British capitals governor has one hot daughter but she's not interested until I'm at least a Baron. Until then, I'll keep chatting with the lusty tavern wenches

I'm commanding a Sloop of War and have generally done quite well with it. My biggest plunder was a Spanish War Galleon that was carrying 8,000 some odd gold in military pay. My toughest fight was *sob* against the French. A similar Sloop of War did one hell of a run around me, hit my sails with chain shot and then closed in to board. A spirited duel with their captain went on while the 100 or so men on each of our ships fought it out.

Sailing seems a little too fast to me. I know, I'll think otherwise when returning from Mexico against the wind... but it still feels off to me. As for the wind shifting, I've only seen it blowing west too. Perhaps this is a function of the difficulty? There was some talk in the pre-release thread the other day ago about the wind being tied to the difficulty level... maybe this is what we're seeing. Assuming we're all playing at the easiest difficulty

[Asharak]

Sid Meier junkie that I am, I'm really hoping my local EB has this in stock by tomorrow afternoon. Especially since I have the day off.

- Ash

[Godzilla Blitz]

Played for the past five hours straight. Yikes. I never played the original game, so I'm coming at this from a fresh perspective.

The game is a tremendous amount of fun. I played about 20 hours of Port Royale, and in many ways Pirates feels like Port Royale with the tedium and micromanagement removed.

I'm a few years into a career at the second difficulty level. Gameplay is pretty easy at this level, and I've yet to lose a sea battle or duel. For dueling, I just hammer the thrust key and it wins every time. I imagine this won't work as I run into more difficult pirates, or if I were to increase the difficulty level. Sea combat is great fun. The animations are detailed, and there is surprising variety in combat considering that it is almost always one ship vs. one ship.

The dancing stuff is pretty simple, but I seem to screw it up about two-thirds of the time. It's a tiny part of the entire game, but I've found it mildly entertaining.

Regarding the game sailing speed, I'd have to say that it's not a problem for me any more. Matter of fact, it started to feel just about right after a couple of hours of sailing. You get better at the controls and get better at identifying enemy ships quickly as you play more, and by the third hour of play I had no problems at all.

[Chesspieceface]

For some reason I'm not getting the era, difficulty, skills selector. Any one else with this issue? Or am I missing something?

EDIT: I guess its only the first game. I just went and started again and VOILA! thanks anyway

[Peacedog]

As for the wind shifting, I've only seen it blowing west too. Perhaps this is a function of the difficulty?

I can't find commentary about this in the manual. IF someone does, please point it out.

My arrow was always pointing due west at apprentice. However, the wind didn't appear to always be blowing due west. I'm not 100% certain about that concerning the world map, but in battle I felt like there wer times when it was different. Different positions brought me to a dead stop, not the same one every time.

Westward winds might be realistic, but I'm not sure I want them in the game, all of the time. Perhaps I'm missing something, but I think an advanced game options screen could have owrked wonders.

[Chesspieceface]

On Journeyman I noticed it range betwen slightly west-north and slightly west-south so there is some variation, but I guess this is all about historical accuracy.

Also each ship type has Best Points of Sailing as detailed in the reference of the manual. This might explain the different handling in combat. Before I figured this out I tried to attack some Spaniards with an un-upgraded Barque. That wasn't really very fun.

The game has been quite fun so far. Apprentice is just way too easy though. It gave me a false impression of what was to come. I'm enjoying the challenge now.

[Peacedog]

Also each ship type has Best Points of Sailing as detailed in the reference of the manual. This might explain the different handling in combat. Before I figured this out I tried to attack some Spaniards with an un-upgraded Barque. That wasn't really very fun.

It would not explain heading roughtly northwest being fast one battle and then causing you to come to a dead stop in another. I can't say for certain, but that's what appeared to be happening. That means the arrow isn't working as it should, or wind is doing something it shouldn't.

[Tareeq]

Stupidass game. I stayed up til 2am and completely alienated my wife playing it. She did comment that the harpsichord music was nice when she came upstairs to shriek at me about the time.

[LordMortis]

I played a bit last night, just to see if it works. It works find with my 32 meg video card....sort of. Occasionally my machine spontaneouly reboots. A friend recommended that I under clock my processessor that the memory is being taxed too hard. I don't know the validity to his solution.

The game itself was fun when working, it is very similar to my memory of the original, though that memory is vague.

It's going to take awhile to get used to coming in range and then turning to fire. As it goes I sweep back and forth and board the enemy ship every time as my ability to shoot cannon seems to suck.

[Kraken]

After reading this whole thread, I don't have a sense of whether the swordplay and dancing are arcade-y or not. Is the game fun for the slow and uncoordinated, too, or are these sequences frantic?

[Peacedog]

After reading this whole thread, I don't have a sense of whether the swordplay and dancing are arcade-y or not. Is the game fun for the slow and uncoordinated, too, or are these sequences frantic?

I played a little on Journeyman (difficulty 2) so I can better comment, at least on swordplay (but dancing works the same in principle).

On Apprentice every thing is "telegraphed" on the buttons. The bad guy starts an attack, and the corresponding defense button flashes. You have about a second or two to hit that button (some attacks "wind up", and take longer to land. A thrust is quick; a chop is very elaborate). This makes it easy, period. Don't even pay attention to the duel window.

On Journeyman, you must watch your opponent, things are no longer telegraphed (but I would swear I've seen the occasional flash - perhaps when a certain counterattack is appropriate?). The three strikes are *distinctive*, and you must use the correct defense or get hit and "driven back" (and that's bad). You don't have much time to do this, again we're talking a couple of seconds tops. It is definately reflex intensive, but I wouldn't quite call it arcady. This isn't Street Fighter 2. For me, the sequences feel like a good mix of "think!" and "think quick!". I've gotten a tad frustrated with duels before the exploit, but I'll elaborate on that below. Now, things are simpler with sword fighting. 3 basic attacks & their defenses. There are special attacks, but presumably they fit into 1 of the 3 categories. Dancing has more moves, and might be tougher.

I've had a touher time on Journeyman, but sword fighting feels like something I can get better at. Though the default key config messes with my brain a little (I don't know if it is changeable; I'm guessign no). Jump is the 8 key, and 2 is the duck key (the three "columns" each represent attacks, defense, and the third clumn has a taunt button. Also, special attacks might go here). That makes sense, I'll grant you. Except that Jump is used to dodge slices, a low attack that comes from the 1 key. For some reason, I want to use the same "level" key to defend that attack (8 for a 7, 5 for a 4, 2 for a 1), but 8 defends 1 and 2 7, and it's *killing* me. If I can unwrap my brain from that, I think I'll do *much* better without having to cheese through fights.

There is an exploit. I fight with rapiers, because they are quick (you get 3 sword choices: rapiers with quick attacks, cutlass that are good at defending and longsword that is good all around or somthing), and because it's the sword of choice for would be displayers of "daring-do". If the enemy does a Chop(7) or a slice (1), you can get a thrust in very easily before they can complete the attack. So all you have to do when an attack starts is thrust. Chop & Slice mean you get a hit. If he thrusts, you have a "dueling flourish" where no blow is landed. Kind of cheap. I have no idea if this works at higher levels.

[Reed]

My biggest concern I have about it are the mini-games; the dueling, dancing and sneaking into towns. Really just not interested in those aspects of it.

So, how big of a part do these play in the game? What percentage of time is spent doing those things?

[Peacedog]

If you batter a ship enough, there is no duel (though it may be that the major pirates always duel). I've generally found that with double crew strength, I just get a surrender. Duels in taverns can be avoided by not talking to a maid engaged with another person. You don't have to woo anyone's daughter either. And you don't have to sneak into any towns, though I suppose if you piss the 4 nations off enough that will limit your options.

This is one reason I'd have liked to see a more detailed game options for setting up a game. Some people might want the wind and ship combat in all it's glory. They're probably going to *have* to fight the occasional duel at sea, though (maybe if you are really good, you don't *shrug*). Give them the option for easier fights, I says.

[setaside]

My biggest concern I have about it are the mini-games; the dueling, dancing and sneaking into towns. Really just not interested in those aspects of it.

So, how big of a part do these play in the game? What percentage of time is spent doing those things?

You don't ever have to dance if you don't want to. Just decline when she asks.

Dueling on the other hand may be more difficult to avoid. It can be done, but it's trickier. One option you have is to always sink the other boat. Don't engage it directly. This isn't always your decision however. If your opponent wants to take it a duel, all he has to do is ram your ship. You can also, if you're good, pummel the other ship into surrender. Pound it until it's pretty much dead in the water and then board it. In most cases, they will surrender.

[Tareeq]

You can also, if you're good, pummel the other ship into surrender. Pound it until it's pretty much dead in the water and then board it. In most cases, they will surrender.

If you're concerned about destroying prizes, remember to use grapeshot at short range. It's the seventeenth century neutron bomb. Grapeshot kills crew but leaves the ship intact.

[Daveman]

I started up a game on the 3rd difficulty level and have definitely noticed a difference...

- The wind is shifting a fair amount, but is still generally westward as one might expect. I no longer feel the sailing speed is too fast, especially when I've just won a tough fight only to have pirate hunters show up and pursue me.

- The prompts for swordfighting and dancing are gone. I occasionally see flashes on the keypad display (my attention is on the duel itself now) but I think those are in response to my keypresses.

- I'm getting a hang of the dueling, and for the most part I only have a tough time when I've picked the "rock" sword to their "paper" one. You get a lot of practice by taking on "rude" captains in the taverns. As near as I can tell the only penalty for losing might be that fewer men will be available to join you, but you can lose and come back as many times as you want. Just look for a barmaid who's talking to a captain and challenge him.

- I still suck at dancing, in part because I've only had a few stabs at it. I have yet to get a favorable response.

[Peacedog]

If you're concerned about destroying prizes, remember to use grapeshot at short range. It's the seventeenth century neutron bomb. Grapeshot kills crew but leaves the ship intact.

Also, the less crew he has, the less quickly he will be reloading guns.

[Misguided]

As near as I can tell the only penalty for losing might be that fewer men will be available to join you, but you can lose and come back as many times as you want. Just look for a barmaid who's talking to a captain and challenge him.

IIRC, in the original game, there was always a chance you'd get wounded if you lost, which could force you to retire.

[SuperHiro]

Alright, when you play you're stuck with the same character right?

[setaside]

Alright, when you play you're stuck with the same character right?

Yes, though you can play him however you want him. No customization though, unfortunately. That could have been a pretty cool feature.

[Enigma]

What exactly does the collector's edition do for you? Is it worth it? I'm especially interested in the "extra game content" feature ..if that is true.

[RMC]

I just walked into EB and got the Limited Edition, which comes on DVD, Bonus.

It was the same price as the normal edition, so I picked up the DVD version...

[triggercut]

Peace, did you ever play the original?

I ask because my college buddies and I logged maybe 10,000 total manhours on that game our frosh and sophomore years, and the westerly wind thing is a hallmark of the Pirates! play. I think in that total time we saw maybe, maybe 20 minutes of easterly wind.

That wind and the tacking back east is a strategic consideration. You'd better have enough food, and a happy enough crew to make your trip. It's also a lot harder to avoid pirate hunters and raiders that way.

I'm absolutely LOVING this game. It does everything and plays everything JUST LIKE THE ORIGINAL but with better graphics, music, sound, etc. And then on top of that, Sid added a bunch of other stuff to make the game even deeper.

BTW--last year I bought a Belkin n52 Nostromo controller for DAoC (you can't play a minstrel or sorceror effectively without one) and am finding that Pirates! was *made* for the n52. It really helps out at higher difficulty.

[Eduardo X]

In the game, my name is Django, and I drive my "Coffin" around. Its a massive War Galleon, and I love it so much! I captured it from Bartholomew Roberts when I kicked his sorry ass. He was chasing me for stealin' his booty.

[TheMissingLink]

Why did I have to venture into this thread...I must buy this game now

[Lee]

Just picked it up from my local EB, my first time in there. I go up to the counter, and the clerk turns the box around and holds the bottom flap with the system requirements on it up to my face and tells me to read it. I never divert my eyes from his, and tell him I don't need to, I know them. He keeps holding it in front of me telling I better make sure it will run on my computer because I can't return it. I assure him I know, still without looking at the box he wants me to look at so bad. After what seemed like 2 minutes (it was probably 20 seconds) he rung me up. I have never had a store do that to me, is that common?

So I get home and look at them just out of curiosity. A PIII 1ghz and a 64 meg video card! I can see him being pushy if I just bought HL2, but come on now! I met those system requirements at least 3 years ago.

[Peacedog]

Peace, did you ever play the original?

Arrr, yes. However, I didn't get into it because I only came into a copy of the game many, many moons after it came out. For some reason, I didn't get any documentation (I don't even think there was any on the CD, but this was awhile ago), and thus I was sort of hosed. Also, this was before I came to the net. I do remember the wind. Anyhoo. . .

I ask because my college buddies and I logged maybe 10,000 total manhours on that game our frosh and sophomore years, and the westerly wind thing is a hallmark of the Pirates! play. I think in that total time we saw maybe, maybe 20 minutes of easterly wind.

I know, and I understand the strategy aspect. I've always had mixed feelings about the design because 1) it does affect strategy but 2) it can get annoying sometimes. The strategy I like, but the "dum de dum, when am I going to get to that port way over there?" aspect can be frustrating (that and the fact that no matter how many times I shouted Rel Hur, and no matter the intonation, the wind didn't change direction).

So I get home and look at them just out of curiosity. A PIII 1ghz and a 64 meg video card! I can see him being pushy if I just bought HL2, but come on now! I met those system requirements at least 3 years ago.

The way someone was talking earlier, it seemed like people were expecting a 32meg card requirement and then it changed late in the game. I guess some people didn't realize it, and comapnies wanted ot make sure people knew thanks to the no returns policy. The guy at Gamestop asked me the same question.

[Inverarity]

How's the economy? I'm assuming it's dynamic, but is it dynamic and random or are there outside influences such as wars and plagues? Can you influence it yourself? (like can you bring enough goods to a small port that it grows in size?)

And yes, I played the original - too many hours to count. I'm specifically wondering how much deeper the economy is compared to the original.

[setaside]

How's the economy? I'm assuming it's dynamic, but is it dynamic and random or are there outside influences such as wars and plagues? Can you influence it yourself? (like can you bring enough goods to a small port that it grows in size?)

And yes, I played the original - too many hours to count. I'm specifically wondering how much deeper the economy is compared to the original.

It's about the same depth as the original as far as I can tell. I haven't really tested it, but it looks like you CAN alter the economy by escorting settlers/travelers to poor towns (the bartenders let you know when a town is looking to bring in more people. Like I said, I haven't tested this so I don't know if that's the case or not.