Cannon Ammunition
There are three primary types of ammunition available for your cannon round shot, chain shot, and grape shot. Round Shot This is the standard issue cannonball. When you begin a battle, your cannon are loaded with round shot. Round shot has the longest range of any of the ammunition-types. While it can hit any portion of a vessel, it tends to do most of its damage to the enemy's hull or cannon. Chain Shot Chain shot is a ship upgrade that consists of two smaller balls linked together by a chain....
A Word About Your Goals
Sid Meier's Pirates is an open-ended game, which means you can pretty much do what you want. If you want to be a peaceful trader and avoid conflict, you can certainly do so. If you want to be a reckless pirate and take on everybody, you can do that too. Or you can be a romantic hero, seeking to sweep every governor's daughter off of her feet. You control your own destiny do what you will with it. But make your decisions count, because your career will not last forever. As you age, some of your...
Unit Types
Pirates Armed with cutlasses and boarding axes, pirates are very good at close combat. Pirates cannot make ranged attacks. Buccaneers Buccaneers are armed with muskets and very good at ranged attacks. They can fire at enemy units within four spaces but are not good at close combat. Officers These elite pirates excel at close combat, but cannot make ranged attacks. Infantry Armed with muskets and swords, these are the local militia. They can make both ranged and close-combat attacks, but they're...
Town Sneak Screen
You Your character, that handsome devil City Guard The enemy keep out of his way. Building A dwelling. You can't enter any of these buildings. Neither can the guards. They can't see through them, either. Objective Buildings These are the marked locations in town Governor's mansion, tavern, and so forth. Your Men Your faithful crew, waiting for you on the edge of town. You need to reach them if you're heading out of town. Fence You can climb over fences, but the city guards are too fat and lazy...
The Division of Spoils
When you divide the plunder, the voyage's gold is divided between you and the crewmen. As captain, you get a fixed percentage of the loot. The percentage varies depending upon the difficulty level you've chosen, ranging from 5 for an Apprentice captain to 40 for a Swashbuckler captain. The remainder of the money is divided equally among the crew. The crew's reaction to the size of their share is dependent upon the game difficulty, the length of the cruise and the size of their portion. They may...
Landing Parties Searching
During the course of the game, you may acquire portions of maps to buried treasure, lost Incan cities, or even kidnapped relatives. These maps direct you to search near specific coastal landmarks. To disembark and initiate a search on land, steer your ship into a point on the shoreline. The game prompts you to confirm that you want to form a landing party to search, and then informs you once you've found something. Be warned that each landing party will take about a week of game time, so be...
Villains
There are many villains wandering the Caribbean. A surprisingly large number of them have done you or your family wrong. Others are wanted by the State. Some villains are sedentary and stay in one place until you get around to dealing with them. Others move from city to city across the Caribbean at whim. If you take too long to reach a villain's last known location, you may discover that he has long since moved on. You may chase a villain halfway around the Caribbean before you catch him.
Sneaking About Town
Overpower guard when struggling From time to time you may find it necessary to get in or out of a town unnoticed. Perhaps you've been making war on the Spanish and have discovered that your arch-enemy is hiding in the tavern in Cartagena. Lacking the manpower to take the city by storm, your only alternative is to sneak into the city, find the tavern and confront your foe.
Dancing With The Governors Daughter
In the 17th century, young gentlemen and ladies were expected to be competent dancers especially if they were looking for a mate. One could not attain the highest rungs on the social ladder if one did not cut a fine figure on the dance floor. Courting a Governor's daughter can be a very rewarding activity besides the companionship, they are often wonderful sources of information and have access to fantastic special items that an enterprising rogue would love to get his hands on.
Other Settlement Types
Cities are not the only human habitations in the Caribbean. There are other, smaller enclaves, as well. These smaller places change location from game to game. Jesuit Mission Missions are small settlements where members of the Jesuit religious order try to convert the natives to Christianity. Jesuit priests often have influence with nearby cities they may be willing to intercede with enemy governors on your behalf. These are temporary settlements where pirates gather to recruit crewmen and plot...