Pirates!

[Kraxis]

Obviously Sid is a great gamemaker. He has managed to retain much of the flavour of the old game and added to it. I especially like that as you get older you become slower and have to defeat your opponents (in dueling) with skill rather than speed, you know use your head rather than your brawns. That is hard (poor litle head).

But am I the only one who thinks the Rapier is the only weapon you can use properly in the game? Whenever I try the other weapons, especially the Cutlass I tend to have a much harder fight on my hands, some times even losing (I lost my beautiful Brig of War, perfect ship for a pirate, to a pirate hunter using a cutlass against his rapier). Teh cutlass is simply too slow to get enough hits in on a rapier. I simply dread fighting rapiers, but luckily the cutlass and longsword is more used.

Also have anyone noticed that the Treasure Fleet is always on its way to Rio de la Hacha??? I have never encountered it, nor any of its ships (the few Treasure Galleons I have met were not that fat on money). What gives?

And dancing... Well that takes a lot of skill, but those boots and slippers sure do help a lot. Btw it can really help to have a lot of mistresses around the sea, that way you gain a lot of valuable info and map pieces when they get kidnapped, as well as you feel like a true dashing pirate sweeping the women off their feet.

[ShadesWolf]

But am I the only one who thinks the Rapier is the only weapon you can use properly in the game?

Greetings old friend hope you and the good lady are well

I totally agree, I love the Rapier but the other swords are a waste of time if you ask me.

[Thoros of Myr]

The other swords are too slow. Always been that way since the very first Pirates! game. I wonder if there are any strange people out there that prefer the cutlass or longsword?

[xemitg]

On the old "PIRATES!" game on Apple II my friends and I used to play in elementary school had sword fights. Interesting enough the rapier was the sword we would always use because it was the fastest.

[Kraxis]

She has actually been a little ill the last half year, an infection in the sinus cavities. Painful crap that. And to top it off her doctor isn't the best guy around. Would hear of taking a sample of it so she could get some specified antibiotics, no he would rather use some broadspectered stuff... And they wonder why we are seeing more and more resistant bacteria.
Anyway, nothing has worked so now she will get a small operation to clean it out and hopefully end it.

Back to the game.

Actually I used the cutlass in Pirates! Gold, it was so much more powerful than the others, a couple of swings and the other guy was defeated, often speed (as in the whole fight) was more important as you would be fighting impossible fights, like 50 vs 350. In such cases the rapier or longsword didn't have a chance. But back then there was the difference in power, now there isn't.
I actually sacked Havanna with those 50 guys in a 1560 game from the get go. That was cool.

I had hoped the other pirates would come back but they don't. They just die. So if you fight them too early the game will become a lonesome one. I advise people to let the other pirates be in the early game, and don't engage them until you are about 30, by then they have become very very rich and you can have a single cruise of bagging 3-4 of them give you about 100k in gold. And this really brings you into the graces of all the nations, so be sure to have gotten amnesty from Spain (they are most troublesome after all).

Nobody noticed the Treasure Fleet bug? It is quite irritating as I remember how I used to chase the Treasure Fleet and Silver Train around. And always gunning for it if they were near, even with desperate low forces. Such deperate gambles were great fun. Also they would ensure that there would be that much more leftover for you (now you get a percentage). It is still viable to bled off the men before deviding because it will get each man more (I try to get them down to about 130 men) and it will make you a more popular pirate next time (good hiring).

In my current game I have managed to get married to a beautiful Spanish girl (and have plenty of lovers on the sideline, even a few I rejected for marriage), but that was hard as I made sure to never become an enemy of the other nations. So it was a thin red line that had to walked on, one ship here, then I had to take another from their opponents and so on. Now I'm a Marquis of Spain and France, Duke of the Dutch and Colonel of England (haven't visited them much). But now the time has come for all out plunder. Since I have been a sort of neutral factor I have mostly prayed on privaters, invasion forces, pirates and indians. The good surprise is that now the Spanish are wealthy like nothing else, and the Main flows with fat Galleons and tempting cities. But even the others have prospered a great deal as I have laso run a lot of errands, getting new governors and immigrants for them (when I had taken out too many of their ships).
My popularity in all ports makes it possible for me to create massive forces fast to take on even the impregnable Cartagena with her 700 troops. I have the mighty Brig of War fully upgraded as my main ship, but usually attack and capture Frigates and Large Frigates early in each round, so I can put more strength in there if needed (though the BoW is so maneuverable and powerful that I ahven't done that yet). And since I get free repairs everywhere more or less I tend to not sink ships, especially not the big ones (like the Colonel, Baron and Marquis' ships).
Let the plunder begin!!!

[ICantSpellDawg]

incredibly overrated game, imo
good tho

[Spartiate]

I really enjoyed Pirates for a while but it just gets too easy and repetitive.I sometimes go back to it and just sack cities so the mighty ship of the line will come after me.Love fighting it.