FAQ/Strategy Guide by Sashanan
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corsair91
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 Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 2:52 pm Post subject: FAQ/Strategy Guide by Sashanan |
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corsair91
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corsair91
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corsair91
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| Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 7:25 pm Post subject: |
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Sid Meiers Pirates Cheats
http://www.cheatbook.de/files/sidmeierspirates.htm
Sid Meiers Pirates
Easy Specialists:
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Submitted by: Muhammad Aizzat Rohimi
Attacking and boarding a smuggler's vessel usually yields a specialist (for example,
Carpenter, Sailmaker, etc.).
Double Shot:
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Submitted by: Muhammad Aizzat Rohimi
When choosing the ammo type, select the chain balls. Then, immiediately after firing, click the round balls and you will fire both of these ammo types in the same shot.
Easy dance sequences:
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Submitted by: Haspa
Press [Pause/Break] when your dance partner gives you a hand signal for you to move. Then, quickly resume the game and press the correct direction key.
Alternate dialogue:
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Set the system date to September 19th to have everyone's dialogue sound like a pirate.
Easy sea battles:
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When battling other ships, get in front of them. Have them chase you, and when your guns are fully loaded, turn, fire, and straighten again. Repeat this until you wish to board or their sail falls and they surrender. It is best done when you use grape shot or chain shot.
Easy land battles:
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Land battles are difficult to win, even if you have more soldiers than the enemy. The key strategy to remember is to hide in the trees.
The soldiers attacking your troops in the trees will have less than a 20% chance of inflicting critical damage, and all damage is divided in half.
Also watch your morale. If your troop's morale gets low enough, they may run away from battle.
Always enter battle with about one quarter moor troops than the city guards. You can also weaken enemy ports and cities by alerting Pirate Havens and Indian Villages. The Indians or pirates will assault the town, making the town lose guards, whether or not they win the battle.
This also makes the city lose wealth, however . If the city was once "Prosperous" it may go down to "Poor" or "Modest".
If this happens too much, alert the missionaries in the Missionary Camps. Tell them to travel to the city you want to become wealthier, then attack the city. You must attack cities at the correct moment. Waiting too long after sending in missionaries may result in more guards accumulating than before. You should wait only two to five days.
Get your buccaneers to the front lines whether in the trees or not. It does not matter if you have a significantly greater force. Then, have your pirates and officers get into position for flanking. The best way to do this is to send more than one group of pirates against one enemy in case the enemy moves. Before you attack the soldiers with your pirates, attack them with your buccaneers by holding [Shift] then selecting the "Next Turn" button on the control panel. This should either kill or significantly weaken the soldiers. Also, make sure you search for a hill to flank the enemy from.
If you use this strategy, you can easily defeat an enemy that is only five or more soldiers weaker than yourself.
Easy money:
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Reach the rank of Count with any or all nations. Then, go into ship battles with any desired ship. Damage it a lot, but not to the point where it explodes. Keep the ship and go to a port where you are at the rank of Count or higher. Talk to the shipwright.
You will get free repairs. You can repair a damaged ship for free and sell it for a lot more.
Alternate dancing mini-game ending:
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When the Governor's daughter gives you the hand signal, select the button for the hand movement just after she gives you the signal. You will do a special dancing move which will get her heart up very fast, if you do it many times in a row. If her heart is big enough when the mini game is over, instead of kissing her hand, you will spin her around and she will then kiss you. Afterwards she will likely give you a present or extremely valuable information.
City characteristics:
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The following are the different types of cities and their characteristics.
Note: Poor defenses and weak defenses are different. Poor defenses are worse than weak defenses.
Capital Cities : Large and wealthy with strong defenses.
Port Cities : Large and wealthy city with weak defenses.
Towns : Large and poor with strong defenses.
Colonies : Large and poor with weak defenses.
Trading Posts : Small and wealthy with strong defenses.
Strongholds : Small and poor with strong defenses.
Villages : Small and wealthy with poor defenses.
Outposts : Small and poor with poor defenses.
Unlock Ship of The Line (Frigate class):
----------------------------------------
Relentlessly attack shipping of the English, French, or Dutch, keep watch for a "New Warship"
Ship of The Line sailing about.
Unlock Royal Sloop (Sloop class):
---------------------------------
Often seen as a Pirate Hunter out of Spanish ports, attack shipping around a Spanish port and one may come out to attack you.
Unlock Brig of War (Brig class):
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Often seen as Military Payroll carriers, or Troop Transports, attack as normal, beware of large amounts of enemy crew.
Unlock Mail Runner (Pinnace class):
-----------------------------------
Offer to escort a war declaration or peace offering from a colony, and then attack the courier once out of port.
No easter eggs here, mate:y
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Open up the Piratopedia and look up the entry for St. Eustatius. Early in the entry the word 'Eastern' is used and only the 'Easter' part of it is a hyperlink. Click it to access a hidden page that firmly denies the existence of any easter eggs in Sid Meier's Pirates.
Mysterious Sid:
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In rare and random occasions, the Mysterious Traveler at the back of the tavern will instead be Sid Meier, the executive producer of the game. He will be most distinct, as he lacks the trademark beard of the other mysterious travelers. He otherwise acts just like a normal Mysterious Traveler.
Easy money:
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If you have more than one boat and are sailing and your crew says that they are taking one of your boats, just follow them and take it over. You will get it back, plus more money as it gives that boat's plundered money.
Happy Crew:
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A good way to keep a happy crew is to keep a good amount of food/luxuries/goods/spices/sugar but this is hard to keep on hand. Get your good ship upgraded then get a treasure ship ( you will hear about them from bar maids or just find 'em) they carry a lot of cargo so just keep two ships permananetly. Sell the others because they are usless. Keep a battle/fun ship and your big ship that carries supplies for long voyages.
Alternative dancing mini-game ending:
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When the Governor's daughter gives you the hand signal, select the button for the hand movement right after she gives you the signal. You will do a special dancing move which will get her heart up very fast, if you do it many times in a row. If her heart is large enough when the mini-game is over, instead of kissing her hand, you will spin her around and then she will kiss you. Afterwards she will usually give you a present or extremely valuable information.
Hint:
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Submitted by: anon
To do the flourish during dance sequences, hit the button for the correct direction when the girl nods her head at you.
Large Frigate:
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Henry Morgan has a Large Frigate. Boarding his ship leads to a fairly easy sword fight, even on Rogue difficulty. This will provide access to a powerful ship without angering any of thefour nations.
Sword-fighting Style:
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At the beginning of the game when you're a young swashbuckler, I've found that simply doingquick strikes with the cutlass is an easy way to win sword fights. However, later in the game as you start to age and slow down with your moves, you'll need to start fighting moredefensively or perhaps stack the odds in your favour (by using grape shot on the opposingcrew *before* going into hand-to-hand combat).
Escorting Ship trick:
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Sometimes when meet a Governor at a town or settlement, or at a monastery (almost always with settlements) the Governor or Monk may require you to escort ship for various purposes(sending immigrants, ultimatums, seeds, transporting a new governor, etc.)
This ships will almost always be intercepted by 3 opposing enemies (from other nations, orby pirates), prompting a "sea battle" on the main political sea map. This process maybe a little irritating especially if your not in the mood for another sea battle. There is a wayto get around this: Attack the ship you're escorting! Seriously, but when you enter the combat screen, sail away from the ship (flee - most likely the other ship will sail in the opposite direction as you).
After you exit the combat screen, the escort ship will have sailed quite a long way from you. If you're close to the target destination, the ship you'reescorting should arrive automatically and complete its mission.
Note: May not very well if target destination is still far away.
Gaining Rank and Carribean Politics:
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One of the most important features in the game is Carribean Politics which you can view on your personal status sheet. This shows which countries are at war with each other. The best way to make use of this is to wage war (pirate attacks) against the country that has the most enemies.
For example if you the Spanish are at war with the French and the Dutch, ispolitically easier for you to gain military rank if you fight the Spanish than if you fightthe French and the Dutch. Fighting more ships and plundering more cities also provide you with more "acre" bonuses each time you gain rank.
Mind you this tactic depends on the situation of Carribean politics and economics. Using the example above, if the French and the Dutch have better and more cities/towns (wealthier),it might be better to wage war against them instead since wealthier (and more) cities, this means they have more ships sailing than a country that has weak and less cities/towns.
So if you want to wage war against a country, remember not to always plunder a city to the brinkof poverty as this will mean less ships to attack. Try changing the political powers of certain Carribean regions by capturing cities and giving them to nations that do not have a city or town in that region. For example in Eastern seas (around Martinique), the Spanish do not have a town there. The closest is Trinidad (South) and San Juan (North) but none in the middle. Providing a city/town for the Spanish in that area may prove beneficial for future political wars.
Dealing with Unhappy Mates:
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Obtain special items.
Certain special items decrease the unhappiness of your ship mates. Items such as musical instruments are invaluable for long sea valuables. Obtain these items from the mysterioustraveler at the pub or from Governor daughters. Recruit Mates with Specialties. There are many person(s) in the Carribean which will decrease the unhappiness of your ship mates.
Among others: The cook will provide better meals, the quartermaster will enforce discipline, etc. To obtain these special mates, ask the local barmaid for further information on ship carrying them and try to capture those ships. Also, just because they are unhappy, doesn't mean you have to retire soon. You can push the crew to the limit even though their status
is "unhappy". Its when they are "mutinous" that you know you're in trouble.
So always balance your cash reserves with your crew size. Thus you can even sail for more than 2-3 years without having to "divide the plunder" any time soon.
Trick the enemy during a duel:
------------------------------
You can trick your opponent when in a duel. When you go to attack the enemy in any way, quickly press in the opposite direction. For example, if you press up, quickly press down or left, etc.
Duke rank with all nations:
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Attack a town and defeat all of the enemy soldiers. Place a governor in charge. Visit him and you will be promoted. Leave the town and immediately attack it again. Install a different governor. This will have the effect of making that nation very happy and promoting you a level.
Repeat the process until you become a Duke with every nation. This has the added bonus of increasing the amount of land that you own. Note: Make sure you have enough troops to begin with.
Avoiding battles while escorting ships:
---------------------------------------
Sometimes when you meet a Governor at a town, settlement (most often), or monastery, the Governor or Monk may require you to escort ships for various purposes (sending immigrants,ultimatums, seeds, transporting a new Governor, etc.). The ships will almost always be
intercepted by three opposing enemies (other nations or pirates), prompting a "sea battle"on the main political sea map. To avoid this, attack the ship you are escorting. When you enter the combat screen, sail away from the ship to flee. Most likely the other ship will sail in the opposite direction. After you exit the combat screen, the escort ship will
have sailed quite a long distance. If you are close to the target destination, the ship you are escorting should arrive automatically and complete its mission.
Note: This may not work very well if the target destination is still far away.
Dance flourish:
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To do the flourish during a dance sequence, press the key for the correct direction when the girl nods her head at you.
Ships:
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The following ships will appear under the following conditions:
Brig Of War (Brig class): Often seen as Military Payroll carriers, or Troop Transports.
They attack as normal, but beware of large amounts of enemy crew.
Last edited by corsair91 on Fri Mar 12, 2021 3:18 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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corsair91
Sailing Master
Posts: 8155
210621 Gold -
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| Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 6:43 pm Post subject: |
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Xbox Cheats
https://www.ign.com/wikis/sid-meiers-pirates-live-the-life/Xbox_Cheats
This page contains a list of cheats, codes, Easter eggs, tips, and other secrets for Sid Meier's Pirates! Live the Life for Xbox.
Character Names
To unlock the following cheats, insert the name given as your character’s name.
B.Caudizzle - Crew has high morale
Bloody Bones Baz - In ship-to-ship battles, you’ll have invincibility
Bonus Frag - You get some new clothes
D.Gackey - You’ll start the game with the best ship and a full crew
Dragon Ma - Invincible while dueling
Firaxis - Unlocks Jeff Briggs
Max Remington - Unlocks Sid Meier
Scooter - Keep the Governor’s daughter’s love
Sprinkler - Your fleet will have twice its normal speed
Sweet Tooth - Your food stock is always full
Fencing Exploits
When fencing choose the rapier for a quick attack. Wait a second at the start of a bout until fencers cross swords. If your opponent draws his sword back at waist height blade pointing towards you (thrust), then parry, and counter attack with your own thrust. Opponents sword held high on his right hand side will be a chop, duck, then counter attack. Opponents sword held high on his left hand side (arm across the body) will be a slash, jump, then counter attack. Look out, its easy to confuse the slash and chop.
Here Be Free Gold!
1.) Start a game and save immediately.
2.) Close game and open saved slot in a hex editor.
3.) Go to offset B94.
4.) Follow instructions below.
5.) Save file and restart game.
The gold amount is stored in B94, B93, and B92. It is in hex and is BACKWARDS.
Example:
1,465,494 gold is 165C96 in hex. So it would show up in an editor as:
B92: 96
B93: 5C
B94: 16
A high amount of gold will keep your crew from mutinying, running off, and complaining. |
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corsair91
Sailing Master
Posts: 8155
210621 Gold -
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corsair91
Sailing Master
Posts: 8155
210621 Gold -
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corsair91
Sailing Master
Posts: 8155
210621 Gold -
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corsair91
Sailing Master
Posts: 8155
210621 Gold -
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| Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2021 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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Starting Strategies FAQ
https://www.ign.com/articles/2005/05/27/sid-meiers-pirates-starting-strategies-faq-619934
8 Feb 2013
-------------------
Pirates Starting Startegy Tips - by Duke Bloodbath
https://web.archive.org/web/20060111170433/http://www.addictedtopirates.com/strategies/dbpsst.php
wayback machine can be sluggish
Pirates Starting Startegy Tips - by Duke Bloodbath
Starting Out
Starting Strategy
The Best Way To Get The Booty
Dancing
Pimp My Ship
What To Do Now?
Tips
Town-Sacking
Naval Combat
Fencing
Food, luxuries and other stuff in the hold
Crew Happiness
Montalban's Hideout
Raymondo
Pirate Treasures
Fame Points
Wealth Points
Romance
Lost Relatives
On becoming the most notorious pirate
Places to hang out and terrorize
Other
Pirates! Strategy and Tips
Written by Duke Bloodbath, the bloodiest pirate of all!
Pillage and plunder, let the blood wash over the decks!
I am not affiliated with anything having to do with the computer video game industry, I just like Pirates!. All Hail Sid Meier!
Starting strategy:
You can choose to do many things in this game; however, you must get started the same way each time. There is an easy way to begin and a hard way. I talk about the easy way. Myself and my crew like to plunder and kill, we don’t waste time.
You start with a boat, some food and a bunch of mangy low-lifes. Hopefully you made the choice of choosing fencing as your requisite skill in life – fencing is important. I’ve found that the best nationality for the beginning levels can be Dutch. But hey, it’s your preference. English and French are a close second. Spanish works, but the starting point of the game can land you deep in Spanish territory, without any enemies to fight. Just go Dutch.
The best way to get the booty:
You can sail around the New World, killing and pillaging until you collect all the very useful game items, or, you can get them in a short period of time by obtaining your Letter of Marque, getting promoted, heading to ports that have the same nationality as your Letter of Marque and recruiting a crew of 150 to 200 pirates. Once you have a small army, find a small (poor) port to take over again and again (this is the illustrious “Duke of all Nations†strategy). Make sure that you follow a pattern of replacing governors like this:
Replace your English governor with a Spanish governor, then a Dutch governor and then a French governor (just make sure you replace a warring nation with another warring nation). Dance with the governor’s daughter each and every time you change the leadership of the port. If you dance well, she’ll give you items each time. Also, after you change the port’s leadership, visit the tavern and talk to the mysterious traveler, he’ll sell you items. After sacking and sacking and sacking, your crew will start to get mad and leave, jerks! Take a break if you need to and capture some of the ships the barmaids tell you about in the tavern. Take over the same port 32-35 times and you will be a duke with all the nations. This means free upgrades and free repairs for your ship(s). Also, if you take over a few ships in between, you should have enough cash to buy any items not given to you by the governor’s daughters and have them all by the time you are finished.
One other important thing about this strategy is that each time you take over a city and replace the governor with one from a nation at war from the previous one, they start to fork over free land like madmen. The last time I did this, I had 55,000 acres of land when I was through. This satisfies all the wealth points for the game. Thanks governor!
Dancing:
Once you have played through your first game, it becomes easy. Dancing gets a bit tiring, doing it over and over. The items help. You can mess up on the lower levels and still be okay most of the time. After you get all the items, you are sent out to find a bunch of dastardly characters in various ports. If you sit through the boring dance sequences where the daughters laugh at you over and over, you will soon find that there is some jerk in every town you sack or visit that will provide you with some cash. Most of the time, it is not worth it. I am not a bounty hunter, I am a bloodthirsty pirate. If I have to fence Mr. A-Z Connery one more time, I’m going to go crazy. 5,000 gold is not worth the trouble most of the time.
Some people skip dancing altogether. You can, but it means longer time acquiring the items in the game. The time it takes to do the “Duke of all Nations†thing is much shorter than waiting for the mysterious traveler to sell you the items for outlandish amounts of money.
Pimp my ship:
Next, ditch the crappy sloop you start out with and get a Frigate (the 80 ton kind). Keep building your men until you have about 350 and then start sacking cities until you have 50,000 or so in cash (sack 5-8 cities). This will keep your crew happy for a while and buy you time to seek out a lost relative, a villain or some booty.
I have read many people’s opinions about ships. Blah. Blah blah. Get a frigate, they can go upwards of 16 knots and take a beating. Brigs are a waste, they are difficult to fire from. Sloops are good as a second ship, but they are pretty weak in fire-power and crew compliment, but they sail fast as you head from city to city. Head for English territory and you’ll find a Frigate fast. You might want to have an Indian War canoe or a Mail Carrier for higher levels of the game, but a good frigate can’t be beat. All the ship of the line stuff matters little, I have yet to see one and I’ve played three games through.
A really quick method of getting a good ship is to just locate Blackbeard and take his Frigate, it’s a good ship and will do you good. Stay away from the big Spanish ships, they’re like sailing dump trucks. Barques are not as bad as people make out. Fluyts, Merchantmen and Grain Transports are a waste.
The other pirate ships in the game are pretty weak. Captain Kidd’s ship is just as good as Blackbeard’s. Wait as long as you can to kill the other pirates in the game, though. They will have more money later on. Make those jerks work for you.
What to do now?
Once you’ve got a small fleet of fast ships, a few hundred thousand in cash (plunder the cities, make the masses kneel before you!) a big crew and a lot of food, the world is your oyster.
Here are some ideas when you get bored with dancing and taking over ships:
1. You can follow the prescribed plot of the game and track down Ramondo and find your family, start a romance with a governor’s daughter and then kill Montalban. This is pretty boring to focus on the entire time.
Or,
2. Sack towns and place the control of neighboring towns under the control of competing nations. This will turn the New World into a virtual war zone and allow you to make progress faster in the game. Then go out and finish the tasks of the game. Creating chaos in the game will benefit you. Don’t be stupid and make all the cities French, this will just limit your possibilities.
Or,
3. Do what I do. Kill anyone that gets in your way. It is a simple strategy and will earn you a nasty reputation. Let the wind take you where it will. Usually the wind will surprisingly take you to Montalban and Raymondo anyway. Splatter the decks of enemy ships with the blood of those who stand in your way. Start your own bloody bloodbath! N’yarrr! You can also follow the directions in option “2â€, this will help you in finding Montalban and Raymondo.
Or,
4. Do your own thing. Even Sid Meier says he designed the game so that you can do pretty much whatever you want. If you played the game on the old Commodore 64’, you probably did your own thing anyway. I put about two summers of my life into Pirates! In between basketball games and camping trips and only once did I follow the story line and find my family.
Tips
Town-sacking tips:
Towns have more money than ships. Period. Take for example the famed pirate Henry Morgan. Henry Morgan had a contract to share all the wealth he made from taking enemy ships with his benefactor. His contract did not stipulate anything about sacking towns. So, he went around sacking towns and quickly became quite rich. Take a look at the top ten pirates on the status screen. Henry is at the top.
Watch out for the cavalry. Those nice-looking little horsies will take their toll on your crew. Draw them into the jungle areas by retreating backwards. Then, pummel them with waiting officers in a flank attack. The first time the little horsies kill off two or three groups of your crew, it can make you afraid of them, don’t be. Traditionally, horse-mounted troops have served as effective defenders and good attackers. Think of the 14th century Samurai warriors, they were devastatingly wicked. Don’t fear the little horsies, shoot them. Think of how hard it is to ride a horse through dense jungle, do you feel a little less nervous now?
The Indian Scouts and archers seem to develop low moral when they are shot at a few times. They are more likely to give up the fight than the infantry and guards. Maybe because they have a feeling that all those white guys want to do more than just trade.
The game’s AI seems to pick up on your first troop movement of each turn. If you try to sneak a pack of mangy pirates to the city gate, move them last and use the cover of the jungle as you go. Or, make the defenders split themselves in half by using your first move to head in an opposite direction as the rest of your troops. Stupid AI. When will it ever learn?
If you place all your troops in a horizontal line, you are asking to get slaughtered. This will work in your favor if you want to quickly shrink your crew (like just before you divide the plunder). The best way to move your troops forward is in a square formation of 3x3 or 2x3 with the buccaneers at the end of the line of attack. Keep your officers behind a group of pirates, save them for the last of the battle, unless you have to kill the cavalry troops. Other people say that the buccaneers do just as much damage from far away as they do up close. I disagree. They do slightly more the closer they get. It takes about three to four consecutive shots to make the enemy flee when they are in the cover of the jungle squares and two to three shots when they are in the open. Of course, this is when you are evenly matched against the enemy. It’s fun to have a group of 99 buccaneers unload on a group of guards. Face the firing squad suckers!
Lastly, drawing the enemy into the jungle where you are waiting is always good when you are outnumbered, and even better when you aren’t. You can even fire off a few shots as they approach from the cover of the jungle. Use flank attacks and slaughter the enemy as they step into the jungle. It is easy to be outnumbered 2 to 1 and still lay waste to the entire defense force if you draw them in one at a time. When you are outnumbered 3 to 1, you might want to consider a suicide mission to reach the city gates. If you do, try to head left, right and straight, making the enemy split itself up. It’s not impossible to slaughter the enemy when they have three times as many troops, but it is going to be really trough. Ask yourself this, would a man suffering from scurvy, who hasn’t left his ship in months patiently wait with his crew, or is he going to look out for good old number one?
One more thing. You will probably lose troops in a battle. So, after you have sacked a town, sack it again until you can change the governor. Change the governor to the nationality you signed up with (if you can remember) and then visit the tavern AFTER talking to the new governor. If you sacked a wealthy town, there will probably be enough men to make up for the troops you lost in the battle. Poor towns sometimes yield no extra crew.
Naval Combat tips:
Always try and approach your enemies with the wind behind your back BEFORE pressing the button to engage them in combat. Only shoot at your opponent if you have to lower the amount of crew on board the enemy’s ship. Otherwise, settle things in a duel like a man! If you have all the items, fencing becomes an easy task. Take the ship and sell it in the next port. Don’t let the enemy turn you in circles and keep firing, this will only result in more damage to your ship and more lost crew. Go sack a town if you need cash.
Fencing:
Thrust, thrust and thrust on the lower levels. Learn how to block when you go to higher levels. Use the rapier on lower levels. Depending on your skill, you might want to use the cutlass on the higher levels (defense). Don’t get hit. Try to get hit only once a year if you want your pirate to last. Supposedly dividing the plunder helps to improve your health, I don’t know about this.
Food, luxuries and other stuff in the hold:
Food and guns, food and guns. Everything else is not worth it unless you really need the money. After all, are you a merchant, or a bloodthirsty pirate bent on getting booty? A crew of 450 eats about 35 tons every two minutes of game play without specialists to help make the food last. Those fat bastards!
Crew happiness:
A happy crew is one with a lot of money and more money coming in at a constant rate. Who wants to sail with some poor guy? If they get mad, and stay mad then divide the plunder, build up your men as soon as you start again and make a tremendous amount of money sacking all the cities you can. Pirates like blood and money, if you are playing the game because you like to trade goods at various ports, you are missing out on the fun that can be had massacring poorly defended towns. There is infinitely more money in sacking cities and ports than in taking ships. Just get that small group of pirates to that city gate!
Montalban’s hideout:
Keep your buccaneers at a distance and pick off the scouts and archers as they approach. Compared to other people’s experiences with this, I have found this battle very easy. Where is Tattoo?
Raymondo:
Boring quest. Little reward. Necessary task. Hunting for the Baron is like paying the bills, you don’t want to do it, but you gotta. Just figure out where he is, head there, head to where you suddenly find out he is on his way to and fence him. DO NOT spend your time trying to pummel his ship with cannon fire. He is too good of a sailor. Head straight for him and duel it out. Then collect your scrap of a map and chase him down again and again.
Pirate treasure:
Find it, dig it up. And then do not be tempted to fight the pirate when he comes looking for his loot. Wait. The longer you wait, the bigger the booty. Keep talking to the mysterious traveler even though he will just tell you about cities you have been to most of the time. My experience with the traveler is that he gives you a new map after two or three visits to him in different taverns AFTER you find the buried treasure. Be patient. What makes this guy so mysterious anyway? He just hangs out in a bar. He does change his clothes a lot though.
Fame points:
You will easily be at or near 50 points if you follow the “Duke of all Nations†strategy. Then, just let the points accumulate.
Wealth points:
Follow the “Duke of all Nations†strategy and if you keep replacing the governor with a governor whose nation is at war with the previous one, you will have maxed out on the wealth points by the time you are done.
Romance:
Boring. Do it when you have time. DO NOT let the suitor hit you in the fencing match. What a lame wedding, where is the bachelor party?
Lost relatives:
If they are all alone in the abandoned cabin, why haven’t they escaped yet? Face it, your relatives are lazy people. All they do is sleep. Did they contract malaria? They can’t even find their way home. Just keep chasing Ramondo, but don’t sacrifice plundering for the lost relatives quests.
On becoming the most notorious pirate:
You will become the most notorious pirate. Be patient. In the meantime, you have to earn that reputation by plundering and hacking some fools to death with your sword. Sometimes you’ve just got to spill some blood to make a name for yourself.
Places to hang out and terrorize:
I like the area around Havana, and the Florida Keys, and anything else around there. It’s quiet, the weather is nice and its fun to change the political structure of the area by making every other port at war with the other. I stay away from most of the ports on the right side of the map, it’s a fun place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.
The Spanish Main is fun to sack on a dreary day. I like to change the politics of this area too. Make sure that if you decide to focus on pillaging this area that you utilize the Indian villages. The humiliating scene where you talk to the village chief is insulting, but try to look beyond this to the benefit of the locals in weakening the forces of the garrison you want to slaughter.
It seems the game’s AI likes to place Raymondo at ports that lie in between the places you spend the most time. It might be easier to track down the Baron by choosing ports in the farthest places in the game to frequent.
Other random advice:
If you start to find the battles boring, divide the plunder and raise the difficulty level of the game. It’s easy to get good quickly.
Last edited by corsair91 on Mon May 16, 2022 5:22 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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corsair91
Sailing Master
Posts: 8155
210621 Gold -
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| Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2021 9:29 pm Post subject: |
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Before I play
Sid Meier's Pirates! Guide
https://www.beforeiplay.com/index.php?title=Sid_Meier%27s_Pirates!
(paste link into your browser)
11 March 2018
Sid Meier's Pirates! 2004
Bigger isn't necessarily better; smaller ships have smaller crews, which are easier to feed and keep happy. Small vessels are also highly-maneuverable in combat and travel the world map quickly.
When your crew has two or three thousand gold apiece as their cut, they'll stay permanently content and you can play indefinitely.
If you intend to complete the main quest or marry, do those quest chains before your character gets old and becomes a slow fencer.
A Ship of the Line is quite a rare ship. If you see one, or an unmarked large frigate that might be one, attempt to capture one. As good as small ships are, there's nothing quite like firing broadsides from SotL.
Unless you get a Ship Of The Line, only ever make sloops, sloops of war and royal sloops your flagships. In a sea battle, you want to get your ship into theirs as fast as possible without inflicting/taking too much damage, so a nippy maneuverable ship is your best bet. Only ever use grapeshot against enemy ships.
I usually take my starting sloop and camp out around some Spanish cities stealing trade galleons until they send a royal sloop out to get me. Don't worry about being outnumbered in sea battles, swordfighting is easy enough that you can be outnumbered 5-1 and still prevail.
For city battles, I usually try and equal or outnumber the opponents forces. Cover is your friend: Stay in the trees until absolutely necessary. That way cavalry are fucked against you and you take way less damage from gunfire. As soon as you have the manpower, start plundering cities. You get tons of cash, the battles are easy if you're sensible and if you install a new governor, that country will love you.
The best tactic to start out is to take a few trading ships, return to your base port and get promoted and repeat, until you are famous and wealthy enough to do whatever you want. I generally try and keep at least one nation on side at all times, just so I have safe havens to go to if I need repairs.
Download a mod to make dancing automatic. Dancing isn't fun or piratical, but it does get you some neat stuff.
If a barman tells you that a ship is carrying a carpenter/cook/whatever, ignore its nationality and attack it. The special crewmembers are really handy, and the odd ship here or there won't make a nation turn against you.
Working for the Spanish isn't worth the effort. They've got the most treasure/ships flowing through the Caribbean and they're almost always at war with one of the other European powers.
Seconding the sloop business. If you want to make ca$h money on captured cargo, just commandeer the galleons the loot came in and sell the leaking wrecks to the shipwright.
Unless you really need what they hawk, don't buy anything but treasure maps and gift jewelry from mysterious strangers. Dancing nets you the same helpful things.
The native charms and the religious artifacts (impress Indians and Jesuits, respectively) are broken and do nothing. Don't bother with those.
(EDIT: see further below as these items are not as useless as
originally claimed)
Yes, you're going to chase down Montalban and the other villains an awful lot. Keep at it.
Last edited by corsair91 on Sat Apr 27, 2024 12:20 am; edited 5 times in total |
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themodelcitizen
Gunner
Posts: 862
14635 Gold -
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| Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 6:17 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for posting these. Interesting how different guides can suggest completely different strategies as optimal  love the non-linear quality to the game, even if the minigames get repetitive (won't fault anyone for using autodance on the trainer) |
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corsair91
Sailing Master
Posts: 8155
210621 Gold -
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2021 8:35 pm Post subject: |
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Sid Meier's Pirates!
https://www.moviemistakes.com/main7234
Sid Meier's Pirates! mistakes
Continuity mistake:
When you are romancing a governor's daughter, and the city she lives in is captured by another nation, a new governor with his daughter is installed. This new girl looks completely different from your old romance (and her father is a completely different person), but she nonetheless remembers you. You are still at the same stage in your relationship, even if the girl has never met you before. You can even (for instance) rescue a blonde Dutch woman from her captors, and end up returning with a black-haired Spanish girl.
EDIT:
Sid Meier's Pirates Patch 1.02
[FIX] - Don't allow AI sack of town of we've gone as far as rescuing the daughter.
[FIX] - Daughter reset if AI takes over town
Bug:
When walking on land, if there are no game objectives (buried treasure, lost relatives, Indian cities) nearby, you can pass through solid objects such as cabins, totems and stone heads. These are only solid when they are to be used as landmarks to find the hidden objectives.
Other mistake:
When fighting Baron or Colonel Mendoza in ship-to-ship combat, they occasionally surrender, if you damage their ship enough. Nonetheless, you still have to fight the duel on deck with them, and your men are fighting it out off-screen despite the Spaniards having surrendered just seconds earlier.
Continuity mistake:
When you attack a city with overwhelming force, you are allowed to skip the land battle and go directly to dueling the Captain of the Guard on the ramparts. When you win this fight, by forcing the Captain into the gunpowder depot, he falls backwards through the door with his sword in his hand. Cut to an inside view of the Captain lying on the ground, and his sword is nowhere near or on him.
Other mistake:
The "Indian Relic" and "Jesuit Cross" are said to improve your relationship with Indian chiefs and the monasteries, respectively. However, both the Indians and Jesuits are always friendly towards you, and their attitudes can not be changed, rendering these two items completely useless.
EDIT: see further below as these items are not as useless as
originally claimed
Bug:
After a tavern fight, whenever the main character sheathes his sword, the sword can be seen to pass through a portion of his leg.
More for Sid Meier's Pirates!
Trivia:
Artillery is listed in the Pirate-o-pedia as the most powerful resistance you can meet when attacking a city. But you will never encounter artillery in-game, since it was taken out in the final stages of game development.
Last edited by corsair91 on Sat Apr 27, 2024 1:59 am; edited 2 times in total |
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fleetp
Boatswain
Posts: 3719
36038 Gold -
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| Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2021 3:07 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | "Bug:
When walking on land, if there are no game objectives (buried treasure, lost relatives, Indian cities) nearby, you can pass through solid objects such as cabins, totems and stone heads. These are only solid when they are to be used as landmarks to find the hidden objectives.
" |
This bug is actually useful when you are hunting for buried treasure, lost relatives and lost cities. If you can pass thru a geyser you will know you are not anywhere near the game objective you are seeking. |
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Pirate
Helmsman
Posts: 5589
109759 Gold -
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| Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2021 4:47 am Post subject: |
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When you are romancing a governor's daughter, and the city she lives in is captured by another nation, a new governor with his daughter is installed. This new girl looks completely different from your old romance (and her father is a completely different person), but she nonetheless remembers you. You are still at the same stage in your relationship, even if the girl has never met you before. You can even (for instance) rescue a blonde Dutch woman from her captors, and end up returning with a black-haired Spanish girl.
Somebody please sack my house and install a new Governor. |
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Roland
Helmsman
Posts: 4085
22541 Gold -
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| Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2021 11:55 pm Post subject: |
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| corsair91 wrote: | The "Indian Relic" and "Jesuit Cross" are said to improve your relationship with Indian chiefs and the monasteries, respectively. However, both the Indians and Jesuits are always friendly towards you, and their attitudes can not be changed, rendering these two items completely useless.
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If I recall correctly, doubt was cast on this assertion by subsequent research. |
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