Some observations about the map

[Airsaw]

I've been thinking, (and I've oft' been told this is dangerous, but I do it anyway.) One of the major challenges facing us in this game we call "Pirates!" is zipping about the open seas without floundering about. (Flounder are flatfish that prefer lying on the bottom to swimming, so when they swim, they look rather odd, and are very inefficient compared to say...barracuda.) It's strategy, efficient sailing and good use of resources that bring-in a need to see the Carribean in a certain light.

I'm not sure if anyone else does this, but I have the feeling many do, I tend to (after much gameplay) view the map in sections. Each can be seen as a separate set of problems from the others. Sailing from one "section" to another is like finding yourself on a completely different gameboard. Prevailing winds, the lay of the land, and available ports all play a part in what I see as a natural division. Here's mine (what's yours?):

Thuh North - What creates this northerly section is really the way Cuba sits. If you've sailed east along the Cuban coast, it's probably reminded you of wading through molasses in the wintertime. Cuba's northern coast seems endless, and the winds there are not your friend whilst going east. Going around Cuba in either direction is an ordeal I dread whenever it becomes a must. So, I take that as the southerly border of the Northern section. Havana, Florida Keys, Grand Bahama, Eleuthera, sometimes Nassau, and inconveniently way to the north, St. Augustine are there. Tortuga seems a looooong ways away, and by the time you make it there from the North section, you're so close to what I'd call the Central section, only the most critical reason could make me sail back north. On the western end of this section, Havana and the Keys are the last ports of note for some long while if you're heading west. The Florida penninsula makes a long wall north and south, and sailing along it in either direction isn't easy, though north seems more difficult than south. To the east of that are a lot of islands that can be navigation traps with prevailing winds that seem to drive you into shallows, and are never really going in the direction you'd like. There's a lot of Spanish shipping from Havana to Augustine. When the French own the keys there's a lot of French shipping from Tortuga to there. The Brits usually own the few ports on these islands to the east. There's plenty of those ships, too.

Thuh Central - Tortuga & Port de Paix are at this section's northern tip. I've sailed the northern coast of Hispaniola from Tortuga to Santo Domingo once, and that was enough to cure me of that! They sit, however, at the northern end of the Windward Passage, and very near Santiago. Close enough going south to Port Royale, Leogane (when it's there), Petit Goave then at the easterly end, Santo Domingo, make up this section. It's rough going to the east, south of Hispaniola, very difficult going North from Santiago to Tortuga and making Tortuga from this route going east is bone-crunchingly difficult. However, there's a ton of Spanish traffic going TO and FROM Santiago to the South American coast. Close to Petit Goave and along an eastern track you'll find a lot of French, some Dutch and some Spanish traffic. Going east beneath Hispaniola from Santo Domingo to San Juan Puerto Rico is a bear, too. I recommend you follow the southern coast of both islands to get to and fro from these two ports. At San Juan you're at the entrance of the next section.

Thuh East - This is a lucrative area to travel. If you're Spanish, you can use San Juan as a base. Trinidad is just too far south. St. Martin and Eustasius are generally Dutch. Dutch shipping tends to go along Puerto Rico's southern coast, though smugglers and merchants often take the northerly track around Puerto Rico. They also can be found heading SW toward Curacao. The ports held by the English (St. Kitts, Antiqua, Nevis) tend to send ships along that same northern track toward Gran Bahama and Eleuthera, far to the north, but also south toward Barbados. French ships usually leave from Montserrat and Guadalupe on a WNW tack toward Petit Goave, or south to Martinique, which is the northernmost port of the next section.

Thuh What-the-!?!? - Martinique, Barbados and Trinidad. What can I say? They are close to the eastern end of the South American Coast, or the Spanish Main, but it's a pain getting BACK, though it's real easy going west to attack the target-rich Spanish ports on the Main. Martinique is generally French, Barbados; English and Trinidad; Spanish. It's hard to find a reason to go that far east to Trinidad if you're Spanish, with so many Spanish ports more conveniently placed. If you're finding lost cities on the Mexican coast, and your lady-love is in Barbados, you'll be traversing the entire width of the map (out AND back) at least four times, which gets to be rather LONG!

Thuh Eastern Main - This is from Margarita to Curacao, Puerto Cabello, Caracas, Cumana inbetween. Invariably Spanish, but for Curacao. If you're NOT Spanish, Curacao is the only practical port to ship from, so you'd better not be in Dutch with the Dutch, unless (of course) you make Curacao your own, which in these waters, isn't a bad idea.

Thuh Central Main - Coro to the east, Rio de la Hacha to the west. There's that inlet with Maracaibo and Gibralter. Spanish again, but Curacao is centrally located to this section, for a haven, again you either have to conquer IT, or be good buddies with the Dutch.

Thuh Western Main - This is my least favorite place to be. It's so Spanish, that if you're Spanish, there's rarely a target for you. If you're anyone else, there isn't a friendly port within months of sailing, unless you create one. You haven't lived till you've traveled east from Puerto Bello, the most westerly port in this section, to Curacao, (though I count Santa Marta as the most easterly port in this section) with pirate hunters jumping out at you from each port you pass, while bucking an easterly wind that makes you wish you'd invented the diesel engine, and turbo-prop! Westernmost, forming a wall north to south, is the Yucatan Penninsula to the north. Further south of that is the Honduran Bay, or some such. Many pirate havens here. Good for recruiting at 25 men a pop, er...stop. If you're high up the Yucatan, Havana or Florida Keys are reachable from here for resupply. Santa Catalina is lower down on an island (sometimes) near Honduras. It's usually Spanish, so if you're not in good with Spain, head for Port Royale. If Spain likes you, and you're heading FOR the Main, use Santa Catalina. It's possible to be a Spanish pirate hunter in this lower section of the "great north/south wall" separating the Carribean from the westernmost Gulf of Mexico.

The entire Spanish Main, or northerly coast of South America, is Spain's bread and butter, and if you're going to attack Spanish shipping, there's more here than you can hope to capture in a lifetime. But, you're a long way from home, and will need to make a home of some sort, or the pirate hunters will write your epitaph eventually.

Thuh Mexican coast - Campeche, Villa Hermosa, Vera Cruz - easy getting in, the devil getting out. Once, again, Spain Spain Spain. If you're going into this area, try to take with you multiple reasons for being there. Chasing Montebaln from Vera Cruz to Havana, or even St. Augustine, takes some planning and forethought. The winds don't like due east any more than the Wicked Witch of the West liked water. A northeasterly tack, back to southeasterly will get you back, but don't get caught in the waters north of the Florida Keys, or to the south of the western tip of Cuba. Naturally, going west is a breeeeeeeeze.

I use this breakdown to determine my strategy on the "can it be done?" scale. Until you've got a crew that smiles through the most arduous journeys, it's wise to try to work these as zones, then try to plot efficient courses to reach other sections. Work each section for as much as you can before moving on. When Port Royale is available, you'll soon learn how important is its location for resupply while traversing the map end-to-end in all compass directions, generally, but especially west to east, east to west.

I hope this is of some use. Some of you seasoned sailors may have a tip, or two to add. I'm happy to use any ideas I can get.

[CGM3]

A nicely presented analysis, Airsaw. I suspect most of us have sub-divided the Caribbean, based on perceptions of association and proximity. Here are the "regions" I tend to see (with the assumption that, as a general rule, I will NOT be on the King of Spain's birthday greetings list):

1) The Windward Islands, reaching from San Juan (which is a bit of a stretch, I know, but it works for me) to Barbados. With the profusion of English, French, and Dutch colonies in the later eras, this is the place to go if you want to hammer somebody other than the Spanish. Also presents opportunities for profitable trade, if that turns your crank.

2) The Triangle, incorporating Jamaica, eastern Cuba, and the island of Hispaniola. Again, the concentration of French towns in western Hispaniola beginning in 1620 lets the anti-Francophile indulge himself, while the wealthy Spanish cities of Santiago and San Juan, coupled with Tortuga and (when present) Port Royale as refuges, can provide rich pickings.

3) The Florida Channel, going from Havana to St. Augustine. The former is usually a good source of rich Spanish targets, as well as a transit point to the Gulf of Mexico (see below), and the Florida Keys gives you a perch from which to swoop, but the latter is generally too poor and small to let you sell your plunder. The English colonies in the Bahamas are also poverty-stricken as a rule, although installing a new governor is always a good way to get happy points from a "patron" nation. And I confess to a bit of nostalgia: in the original Pirates!, I enjoyed intercepting a galleon or three of the Treasure Fleet as it shaped course for Europe.

4) The Spanish Main, spanning the coast from Trinidad to Cartagena, sub-divided into East of Curacao and West of Curacao. If you really want to prey on the Spanish, this is your happy hunting ground, especially from 1620 on (when Curacao is available). Even if you do antagonize the Dutch (they sometimes ally with Spain), the presence of a fortuitously located pirate haven -- say, at the mouth of the Gulf of Venezuela -- gives you a base of operations, while the often prosperous French towns of the Triangle (see above) aren't too far away for the sale of booty (I find tacking north and south very easy if you restrict yourself to sloops and brigs, and get the Cotton Sails upgrade).

5) The Great Empty Quarter, which for me is just about everything west of Cartagena and south of Cuba. True, the great (if "inland") cities of Panama and Gran Granada are here, along with Puerto Bello, Nombre de Dios, and -- from 1660 on -- Santa Catalina, not to mention a high percentage of Lost Cities and Montalban hideouts (especially around Lost Lake in the southwest corner of the Gulf of Honduras), but it still feels like the backside of the beyond. You can terrorize the Spanish shipping, but its a long, upwind haul back to a friendly port.

(Of course, events can alter circumstances. In one 1680 scenario, the Dutch seized Santa Catalina early in the game (without my help), and after careful nurturing (escorting immigrants from nearby Jesuit missions and new governors from the two Dutch settlements on the Honduran coast) it became Curacao West, allowing me to profitably plunder the Isthmus of Panama.)

6) The Gulf of Mexico, which in the original game I equated with Siberia, but is now a distant adjunct to the Florida Channel. As a rule, I only go there for a reason -- a map, a Named Pirate, the presence of a villain -- and while the Spanish commerce is plentiful, it's hard to shake the feeling of isolation.

Anybody else have a subjective "Caribbean cartography" to share?
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I only do what the voices in my head tell me to do.

[fossaman]

Typically, I see it as six or seven regions: The San Juan-Barbados area, which I use early on quite often to get rank from everybody but the spanish, the island west of San Juan and Cuba, The Florida Keys area, The Bahamas area, The Gulf of Mexico, Spanish main East and Spanish main West.

I personally stick to the Windward islands, and the cuba area usually.
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Like my fossa? He's a pirate!

[CGM3]

[Airsaw]

[Captain Squid]

As always, Airsaw, your post was well written, well thought out, and informative. Combined with CGM3's response there really did not seem to be a lot more to say on the subject. But on second thought I do have a question for those that have pondered the areas of the map and the best ways to move between them.

When returning from a foray to the Mexican coast (or the Bay of Campeche, or however you think of it) and heading back east, which route do you prefer to take? Do you head northerly into the Straits of Florida, or do you bend to the south, heading for Santa Catalina or Port Royale? I am always vexed by this choice. The cities to the north are closer, but after touching at Florida Keys you are left having to sail east along the north coast of Cuba, which as Airsaw points out is "like wading through molasses in wintertime". But it's such a looong way to Port Royale if you take the southern route.
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"Have you struck? Do you ask for quarter?"
"I have not yet begun to fight!"

[Westley_Roberts]

Now, see, there's a question I can respond to...

The main posts summed up everything so well, it didn't need a response..


As for me, Coming back from that god-fosaken territory, I tend to go the southern route, only for the simple fact there is MUCH more room to tack in and get home sooner. I normally make my home the top edge of the antillies (sp) Nevis, St Kitts and the like.
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Have an Army Day

[Airsaw]

[Grimmelshausen]

Great work, Airsaw! Though I must admit, I find it far easier to sail all the carribean in one trip in this game than it was in Pirates! Gold, alone due to the fact that our crew keeps content for quite some time. In the old game, a travel into the Bay of Campeche was one campaign of it´s own, now it can be done in a round trip starting from Barbados, going all the way along the Main, heading back north at Puerto Bello and slipping through the Yucatan Channel into the Bay of Campeche. Back it goes up the Florida channel and along the north coast of Cuba, then either north into the Bahamas ( if privateering for the English) or south- east to Hispanola (if on the French side). The Dutch are usually additional to one of those, but if playing mainly for the Dutch, it´s good to use the same rout as if sailing for France, and then going south throught the Windward Passage and across the Carribean to Curacao. As that´s a mainly southern course, it´s easier done than trying to get to St. Martin or St. Eustatius.

[Mycroft Stanyer]

I was playing my first 126-point game today when I scooped up two East Indiamen treasure ships, one French and one English, in the Lesser Antilles. After toddling my way to the Windward Passage with my Brig and these two Indiamen, my thoughts turned to this thread on the forums when I contemplated saying that the west coast of Hispaniola is mighty fine hunting ground for French treasure ships. I recalled seeing a couple pass on way through Tortuga and Leogane when I was in my law-abiding stage of this 126-point game (needless to say, I was past that after attaining Duke in all four nations).

Then, what was to happen after this thought came across my mind? Four French treasure ships. Four East Indiamen laden with gold, spice, and luxuries. One right after another, popping out of Leogane and Tortuga. I snatched them all up, adding them to my fleet until I had a Brig of War and six East Indiamen to catch up all the swag I was gathering.

So, with that, I'll say that the west coast of Hispaniola is pretty nifty hunting grounds for French treasure ships.
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Let's get one thing straight: Errol Flynn pretends to be me— not the other way 'round!

[Airsaw]

[TheDon]

[Grimmelshausen]

I´ve even been pirating in an East Indiaman for some time, after Montalban sank my Brig of War when he had the weather guage. It´s actually not too bad for that (the East Indiaman), though not as good as the merchantman had been back in Pirates! Gold as a figate replacement. But it´s got a nice big cargo hold, packs a nice amount of cannons and with copper plating and cotton sails, it handles quite fine. The only drawback is, even with iron scattlings, the hull isn´t as stable as that of military ships.

[Airsaw]