Sid Meier's new "Pirates" game is insidious

[Nelson]

ah, Nelson.... i had no idea! Trek on mainframes! my first foyer into the realm of computer gaming.... also on mainframes in the early 70's :) now, did you ever play the one in which you played as an alien race in a space ship? you played against about 3 or 4 AI players, all of different races and all having different ship capabilities. i normally played the one in which you had 'torpedoes' and you had to calculate the firing vectors in your head in simulated 3d. drive me nuts a few times :)

sorry, that was off-topic. we now return you to our regularly scheduled programming.

K.

Krae, we have definitely flashed our Old Fart Club membership cards for all to see! Were you a programmer? Back in ’75 I started out writing COBOL in a shop with CDC and Burroughs mainframes. One day after Star Trek came up in a conversation with a CE, he says to me, “Let me show you this game.” So a friend and I went off with him to learn more about this underground extravaganza.

You could play with other people and/or the AI. The player was the Enterprise, an E in the center of the screen. When your shields were up, you looked like this (E). That was the extent of the graphics. Kingons were Ks, Romulans were Rs and torpedoes were Ts. Yeah, the vector had to be computed in your head! Stars were * of course. All in beautiful monochrome green. It was written in ALGOL. I learned ALGOL just so I could modify the game to include M5 robot ships to help me out. I could give the M5s simple orders and they would fight my enemies. It was geeky but life was good in the soft glow of late night coding, testing, pizza eating and Klingon bashing. Little did I know that in just 9 years I would own my own C64!

Go get ‘em, M5! The @ was an explosion!


* . * (K@ *. T T (M) *

* *
* (E) *

And just so I'm topical, I bought Pirates! for my wife to give me for Christmas. Every man needs toys for Christmas. $40 on sale at Best Buys.

[Nelson]

sorry to be slightly OT-ish, but Nelson and Forward Observer, if by "Panzer Commander" you were referring to SSI's Panzer General, then there kinda is a kind of remake.

Bloodrast, the Panzer Commander FO and I refer to is a first person WWII tank sim published about 6 years ago, IIRC, also by SSI. It looked great and was fun to play but was limited by the omission of infantry and a truly dynamic campaign (the lack of which has been the bane of many a sim). The graphics were very good though.

[Kraellin]

nelson,

well, i've got ya beat by about two years :) somewhere after '71, but before '74, a friend showed me that we could sneak into the local and very new computer department of the local community college. they had a computer lab, with terminals set up around the room and on desks. they also had a few trs 80's on one side. the terminals, of course, were hooked to the mainframe(s).

we spent many an hour in there and finally came to find out that we didnt have to sneak around at all. they actually welcomed 'outsiders' as a promotional thing to try to get folks interested and signed up. i never took any classes, but i did buy a couple of the basic books for the trs 80's and learned to write my first code in BASIC. naturally, my first lines of code were of the entrance, in first person, to a cave (or castle, since it was all drawn line by line in straight lines only :) man, that thing was slow :)

and yes, good old Trek!

. . . . . . . . (8 by 8 grid or, one sector)
. . . . . . . .
. . *. . . . . (*'s were stars)
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . E. . (yeah, E or X was the Enterprise)
. . . . T. . .(T was indeed torpedo)
. . K. . . . . (yup, K was for Klingons)
. . . . . . . .

you also had phasers, but in the early versions there was no representation for this. you simply got a text message of a hit or miss. i believe we had shields, but they werent represented graphically either, as i recall. but another text thing kept track of it.

the overall game had the 8 x 8 grid for the sector, but the overall game was 8 x 8 sectors. you were given the mission to move through the sectors and find a known quantity of klingons and destroy them. you had a limited amount of turns/time to do this. the overall map was a simple display of:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
a . . . . . 1 . .
b . . . 2 . . . .
c 1 . . . . . . .
d . . . . . 4 . .
e . . . 3 . . . .
f . 1 . . . . . .
g . . . . . . 2 .
h . 2 . . 1 . . .

so, you could warp to sector 1a or 5b or 3c, and so on. the numbers in those sectors represented the number of klingons in each. but, they moved each turn, or at least could move each turn. you never knew. and yes, your display was that ugly white on green :)

the game was just about as simple as you can get with a computer game, but i was entranced. that was just too cool :) a year or two later i hooked up with a guy who worked on mainframes, repairing and maintaining. we decided we could make a business of this and what if we linked up computers in 'arcades' and let folks play this sort of thing.....and, and, what if we hooked up with someone like 'Playboy' and introduced this 'network' to all the playboy mansions so that folks could play anyone else in any other playboy mansion! hehe...my creative processes were going full tilt.

alas, my friend only had a passing interest in all this, and i, sadly, wasnt trained and knowledgable enough, nor did i have enough captial, to start this up by myself. and, inevitably, others finally made the creative leaps to all those things i had envisioned earlier :) i was WAY ahead of the pack on this one.

i could also give you a clue as to where computers and computer gaming are going, but that would spoil the surprise :) trust me, there's some cool stuff eventually going to be produced. this industry is still in its infancy, somewhere around the crawling stage. there's lots more to come. things like multi dimensional logic...oh wait, you're not quite ready for that yet ;)

K.

oh yeah.... i like Pirates. ;)

[Quillan]

Did you know that Trek game was still around in the early 80s? I ran across it in about 1984, at the computer lab at the university I was attending.

[Blodrast]

Bloodrast, the Panzer Commander FO and I refer to is a first person WWII tank sim published about 6 years ago, IIRC, also by SSI. It looked great and was fun to play but was limited by the omission of infantry and a truly dynamic campaign (the lack of which has been the bane of many a sim). The graphics were very good though.

oh, I see. My mistake then. Damn, how come I missed this one ? :)

[frogbeastegg]

Gah! Froggy is now officially an addict; got it, installed it, played for 5 hours straight. I only stopped because my eyes are tired and I probably should eat sometime this evening.

Are you supposed to get a choice of difficulties, time period and skills at the start of the game? I didn't; I only had chance to change my name. Looks like you should, from my very quick look at the manual.

[Spino]

Gah! Froggy is now officially an addict; got it, installed it, played for 5 hours straight. I only stopped because my eyes are tired and I probably should eat sometime this evening.

Are you supposed to get a choice of difficulties, time period and skills at the start of the game? I didn't; I only had chance to change my name. Looks like you should, from my very quick look at the manual.

I was able to choose the difficulty and time period before beginning my current campaign. However you don't need to start over to change the difficulty level. Each time you divide the plunder with your crew the game gives you the option of progressing to the next difficulty level.

[solypsist]

me too!

good thing i have four straight days off

Gah! Froggy is now officially an addict; got it, installed it, played for 5 hours straight.

[Efrem]

I'm glad I'm waiting for the holiday season to get this.

[BDC]

This game is so fun. Stupendously hard though on higher difficulty settings. Especially duels when you are outnumbered... Not too fun that.

Some sort of campaign and proper battles would have been funner though. Maybe we will see Pirates: Total War...

[Bob the Insane]

OMG!!!

I have never play a game which is by turns so much fun and so fustrating...

Fustrating not because of any technical issues (though in the heat of the moment I often accuse it of cheating... ;)) but simply because here is a game that is capable of giving the player a genuine arse kicking...

I am totally addicited and played for hours and hours over the weekend...

The only way I could think to improve it would to have more of the game... More quests, even more backdrops for the subgames, maybe more subgames but I can't think of any... I don't think anything actually in the game could be any more fun or polished than it already is... Simple controls with challenging gameplay and too much fun for it's own good...

And to anyone playing on Swashbuckler level and being successfully, I am hard serious respect for you reactions and game skills.. :D

Is it just me or is there a huge step in difficulty between Rogue and Swashbuckler??? I am playing on Rogue and doing okay but on Swashbuckler I just get my arse kicked all the time...

P.S. anyone else find the dancing more nerve-racking than then fighting???

[solypsist]

as you've probably discovered, on the higher difficulties the dancing gets really tough; the keypad is no longer highlighted so you have to follow your partner's hand movements.

[BDC]

as you've probably discovered, on the higher difficulties the dancing gets really tough; the keypad is no longer highlighted so you have to follow your partner's hand movements.

I can't do it.

The foreward and backward stuff is especially hard.

[frogbeastegg]

:blinks: The keypad highlights? I was playing on the easiest level for a good few hours before I was offered the chance to ramp things up and I have always followed the hand movements. I'm getting good now; I've done a couple of flawless dances and most of the time I only make 1 or 2 mistakes. I'm only playing on the middle level though, slowly working my way up as soon as I'm offered the chance. I'm still annoyed I wasn't offered the choice of difficulty and era right at the start; I hope they didn't remove it from the UK version.

I've never got the fabled 'dip' dance ending, but then I'm not interested in a clevage shot of my partner anway.

[ShadesWolf]

I just love this game.

I still believe the SLOOP rules the waves, But I must admit I cant dance.

I find the town attacks a nice board game type addition and sea battle are wonderful.......

Still on my first game and curretnly classed as a preachers (or somethig similar)

I have killed four pirates and curretnly rated as an English and Dutch Baron.

[Nelson]

What will become of me if I never master dancing? It always sounded like something I wouldn't like much. If I don't dance at all will it be very crippling to my character? If I never get to marry the guv's daughter, well, I could live with that.

Please tell me that you don't need to dance well to be a good fencer.

[Bob the Insane]

I'm still annoyed I wasn't offered the choice of difficulty and era right at the start; I hope they didn't remove it from the UK version.

I have the UK version, being in the UK and all, and it is in... What is happening is that the first time you play it automatically starts you at the lowest difficulty on the 1660 era...

But when you start a new game you get a form where you can select difficulty level, era and special skill... Add to that certain eras are only avaliable at certain difficulty levels I believe...

[Bob the Insane]

What will become of me if I never master dancing? It always sounded like something I wouldn't like much. If I don't dance at all will it be very crippling to my character? If I never get to marry the guv's daughter, well, I could live with that.

Please tell me that you don't need to dance well to be a good fencer.

Seriously...

1. Romance is only worth a maximum of 10 points of your final total and there are only one or two quests exclusive to it (I think)..

2. It has nothing to do with fencing (other than having to duel with her other man at some point)...

Additional: Technically speaking the dancing is no harder than the fencing, you have only 6 different controls on the num pad (one less than fencing) and you have a short time to react to on screen prompts, her hand signals. It requires approximately the same skill as fencing IMHO... It sometimes requires slightly faster reactions than the fencing at first, but if you spend a little time you will actually learn the dances and so you will know what comes next unlike the random fights... It can be quick but no one is dodging out of your way...

[Jeanne d'arc]

Sounds like a fun game and its an enjoyable review to read, will this come out on the pc?

[Forward Observer]

Well, I finally got the dip/swoon response from a dance routine. This netted me a choice of 3 gifts rather than two. Acquiring items this way can really save you some gold over having to purchase them in the taverns.

Here are a few pointers about dancing that I have picked up by experience and by info I read at the Pirates Ahoy fan site.

There are three responses possible from your partner--distaste if you mess up, a kiss on the hand if you don't make many mistakes, and a big dip/swoon if you have lots of twirl flourishes in your dance. Although the last result may get you an extra item to choose or an extra piece of information, either of the last two will get you on to the next step in romance sequence--that of being told of another suitor which you will have to fight on your 3rd visit.

The prettier the daughter, the harder the dance routine is. You will notice that the plain daughters give straight forward signals while the really hot babes will wave their arms around making the signals harder to read.


The dance moves all seem to have four reps. They may consist of the exact same single move repeated four times. or the same move alternated and mirrored for a total of four, or a sequence of two moves repeated four times. The one exception may be a back--forward--left twirl-left twirl move that is reversed on the next rep.

You only have an allotted amount of time to press the correct key, but you can hit the wrong key and still correct if you quickly hit the right one.
Of course getting the dancing shoes will auto correct a certain amount of mistakes. To get the flourishes, you have to hit the key on the next first beat of the music. The songs are either in 3/4 or 4/4 time which may help those who are musically inclined (that leaves me totally out.)

By the way, I also got a famous pirate defeat cut scene variation just last night that I had never seen before. Up until now for at least 15 or 20 pirate battles, all I had ever seen were the two versions of the pirate being knocked off the ship by the swinging crate---one on the first swing and the other version on the back swing. This time the pirate ducked and then somehow managed to jump on the crate---he then cut the rope with his saber just as he realized that this stupid move sent him and the crate flying off into the ocean.

I also finally got married on my second career, but I only managed to snag one useless piece of a lost city map, before I had to retire.

On this--my 3rd carreer, I chose medicine as my starting skill since this is supposed to let one have the longest career possible. I was forced to retire in my mid forties for my first two careers. I am also playing from the second starting period. There are a lot less ports in total, and Spain has the most by far. My goal is to convert every port I can to English to see how close to world domination I can come.

I have also discovered that if you ransack a city and install your own governor, it is wise to stay in the vicinity for a while for a couple of reasons.

First you can head on off any invasion force which will come pretty quickly. and secondly you can both visit the closest mission plus the closest settlement of same nationally This will allow you to bring immigrants from the mission and a new governor from the settlement. Both of these assignments will require fighting a couple sloops, but they both will help insure that your new port becomes successful and also remain in your country's hands.

One last thing--the manual mentions but does not show a picture of a ship of the line. It also says these ships are rare in the game, and that if you capture one the country you got it from will chase you constantly to get it back.

Has anyone seen one of these yet?


Cheers

[solypsist]

I didn't either, on my first game. So I started a new one and got all the options.

I'm still annoyed I wasn't offered the choice of difficulty and era right at the start; I hope they didn't remove it from the UK version.

[solypsist]

I did, with a Spanish one,and was harrasssed unrelentingly by 20-gun pirate-hunters whenever I got near a Spanish port.

One last thing--the manual mentions but does not show a picture of a ship of the line. It also says these ships are rare in the game, and that if you capture one the country you got it from will chase you constantly to get it back.

Has anyone seen one of these yet?
Cheers

[Red Harvest]

I'm going to have to try this "Pirates." The last sailing game I bought was Age of Sail II by Akella. It is one of only two titles I have returned for refund because they were unusably bugged. I doubt I will ever get conned into purchasing something with Akella's name on it again after watching their BS patch dance. It was an eye opener into how some of the Russian designers operate. Too bad, because the game had some beauty...if the underlying engine had worked.

The game that got me interested in sails was "Ironsides" or something like that for the Commodore (another student down the hall had one.) Simple, but very entertaining, and logical compared to Akella's AOS II which appeared to have purely random gunnery. Anyone know where I could find some sort of PC version of Ironsides (or whatever it was called?

[Bob the Insane]

Sounds like a fun game and its an enjoyable review to read, will this come out on the pc?

It is already available on the PC (at least in the UK) and only on the PC at the moment, but suspect it is heading for the XBox as well, it would certainly fit well on a console..

[Spino]

The game that got me interested in sails was "Ironsides" or something like that for the Commodore (another student down the hall had one.) Simple, but very entertaining, and logical compared to Akella's AOS II which appeared to have purely random gunnery. Anyone know where I could find some sort of PC version of Ironsides (or whatever it was called?

It was called "Broadsides" and I LOVED that game! It even came with a battle editor so you could change all the variables.

[Red Harvest]

That was it, knew it was something with sides. It is a lot of fun,

[Kraellin]

'Broadsides' was also originally a board game.

K.

[Jacque Schtrapp]

Has anyone run into a "ship of the line" yet? I've been dying to go up against one of those and I can't seem to find one anywhere in any era.

[solypsist]

48 guns - huge.

Has anyone run into a "ship of the line" yet? I've been dying to go up against one of those and I can't seem to find one anywhere in any era.

[The Tuffen]

Has anyone run into a "ship of the line" yet? I've been dying to go up against one of those and I can't seem to find one anywhere in any era.

I have, nicked one of the french, i was coming up to Tortuga from the east and out of the other french port there i saw a ship that said new warship. I thought yeah i could liberate a warship of the french. went to go into combat and saw that it was a ship of the line. I scared the hell out of me when it fired its 48 guns at me. Didn't think my ship would survive the hit. Thankfully it did and i boarded the ship and beat the captain in a duel. It is now my flagship and one full hit of chainshot nearly takes down the mast of most ships.