FAQ/Strategy Guide by Sashanan

[corsair91]

Sid Meier’s Pirates!: Game Walkthrough and Guide
https://gamesread.com/sid-meier-s-pirates-game-walkthrough-and-guide/

August 8, 2022
By Jonny Gamer


Come to the ocean no earlier than you understand my instruction:

Wait until you know the sober. And then –

Come to the ocean, without risk to go blind at the sight

Seven islands from legend, seven islands gold…
M. Shcherbakov

I noon could not decide to open a box with a disk. It would be so felt art historian who learned that someone based on the latest scientific data anew to “Venus Milos”. Watch scary. Have her hands attracted her? And what?
Immediately I will say that “Corsairs” can sleep calmly, “pirates” they are not a competitor. Fortunately, LED Meyer did not make a sailing simulator, but remained within the ancient and great genre of the epic game.

Swimming, artillery duels, fencing, searching for treasures, terrestrial battles are still in equal rights, and some new classes added to them. All this is quite accessible to anyone individually taken by the player, although something noticeably complicated (for example, to acquire a decent wife now much more difficult than to take a dozen galleons to take on board).

And all this is damn beautiful!

On the meaning of life

Young man, what for the sake of you chose a dangerous pirate career? For money? Sit down, Two. Zhada go to Port Royale and organize there a trading house. For the sake of romance? Could you clarify your answer? Here, now exactly! For glory!

In the past incarnation of “Pirates”, the question that defines our final position in the “Hall of Glory” and the life path after the resignation, was the main mystery game. That is, the general principles seem to be clear – the title, money, earth, everything and more – but, confess, I felt very stupid, when after completing the pirated career in the rank of Admiral and with several thousand dangum, I turned out to be in the “small merchant” orEven “Tramps”.

In Pirates-2004, LED Meyer decided to dispel the veil of the mystery. In the sea and on land with us always measured our glory, it rests between the crossed blades higher compass. And on the screen of our personal status (see. the picture) can be given in addition, for which the points of glory are due, and how much we can buy.

So, the limit of the possible (where fanfare, damn?): 126 Slava points (they are – achievements).

That’s what I should strive for any respected pirate:

• wealth(land and money) – up to 24 points;

• honors(ranks from four enemy nations) – up to 32 points, 8 per each;

• love(marriage on the beautiful daughter of the prosperous governor) – up to 10 points;

• Victory(defeated famous pirates) – up to 9 points, similarly;

• hidden treasures(found clands of famous pirates) – up to 9 points, 1 per each;

• family(wrank relatives) – up to 16 points;

• revenge(caught rascals who kidnit your family) – up to 10 points;

• Secrets(Search for hidden cities) – up to 16 points.

More details? There will be more details. But first let’s talk about how Flibuster lives in the Caribbean Sea.


Farewell, the birthplace city

Before entering the new light to us, as usual in epic and role-playing games, you need to solve something. Namely:

• as us, actually name;

• What we prefer to smell on sails;

• What kind of power serve;

• What specializing in;

• When the case takes place.

Well, the level of complexity, of course, but a conversation is separate.

The choice of nation is a matter of taste, and nothing more. You will tell you all more than once. So especially do not worry. The emblem on the sail also can be changed to taste.

Advice: Not bad thought – put on sail… Indian signs. Then you do not confuse your ship with someone else. After all, to distinguish the Brig from Indian Pieces will be able even to peacock from the Governor Garden!

The choice of historical period changes the entire card. 1660th and 1640th years – the heyday of piracy, then play the easiest. In the 1600th you will see that almost the whole world belongs to Spain, and in the 1680th piracy is declining.

But the specialty is a thin question. They, as before, is offered to choose from five: fencing, navigation (navigation), guns (Gunnery), charm (WIT & CHARM) and medicine.

Choosing one of the first four, you will get a significant advantage in this area. The fencer will easily manage with duels at the level until Adventurer (unless the opponent has an overwhelming superiority), the navigator will move faster, the canonir – more precisely, and the cute and charming flibisther will get more time to the response to the dance. As for me – it makes sense to choose from this list only the sword and dancing.

Well, if the speed of the reaction is your strength and in the congestions of this kind you do not need – then, no doubt, take medicine. After all, whenever a subtle Spaniard saber leaves notice on your dubble skin, she clings to the hour when the wilts will have to leave marine travel. Pirate gramnog is old, his health is withdrawn, and you have to go on peace – but not so much! Although self-treatment and dangerous for health, for pirate it is the best way to extend the glorious career.

By the raging seas

No matter how much expected temptations on land, Pirate House – His Ship. Let’s talk about what is waiting for us in the sea.

The main difference from the “Last Life” is striking: Finally, we see other ships! In old Pirates, we only accidentally pushed them into the sea, immediately choose the mining from afar. The Dutch gate is running ravo, here is the clumsy spanish galleon… And the handsome one seems to be crazy from the Cartagena for our soul!

The compass on the left below indicates to the north, the little shooter will tell on it where the wind blows, and around it is a useful information: what is the day, how much money in the wallet, how much food is enough, how great the team.

Pay attention to the physiognomy next to the number of the team: it shows it. If the muzzle is cheerful to rock, you faster swimming, better shoot – in general, life is beautiful. Sad dogs threatens sabotage and riot.

On the right below – the menu that can be activated by the mouse, but better – buttons (it corresponds to the numeric keypad.

This is a bug:On some computers for unknown science, the cause of the ship management is possible only with the left set of arrings (and mouse), and all other commands are perceived from the numeric keypad.

The left upper corner is assigned to active tasks. These include treasure maps, information about relatives and t.P.

It is important: missions like “spend the ship there and there something” here notDisplay. Why? And Dolphin knows him!

By sight, the ship is easy to understand how he is doing with sails (holes are clearly visible) and the body (about malfunctions to smoke).

At times, the wind brings thunderstorm clouds;It is advisable to shy away from meetings with them, and if it does not work – to dump the sail to a minimum.

And finally, the most delicious novelty: Spyglass. If you click the right mouse button, you will see distant edges. Apparently, the optics in those times was not a couple: the pipe cheerfully looks kilometers for three hundred. This is useful mainly for searching for treasures, but also on the sea will come in handy.

Here turned onboard flagship frigate…

But we went out into the sea, not then to keep track of how the herring frolic in the azure wave. Sooner or later, a suitable target is found for our attack, and we prepare to press the “5” magic key…

A piece of the card on which this action occurred is rapidly approaching, and now we are only two ships – our and enemy. The whole squadron, which we have already had time to pour, remained waiting for your fearless flagship, which for some reason climbs into battle one. Well, those here are the morals.

This is interesting:At the lower levels of the complexity, opponents also take the rule “one one”, and at the highest, they are not churaged to attack you and in the company.

The rules of the battle changed little. Pirate maneuver, trying to evade enemy fire and attach the enemy aboard his volley. Cannons after a shot of some time charge (depending on the size and combat spirit of the team), but there is no difference, shoot from the left or right side – still beaten all Ship guns. Hitting can damage the body of the ship, cannons, sails and masts – either hit the team. Most of the volunteers combines all these effects. At the moment when the vessels come into contact, the boarding battle begins (or, if the superiority of the pirate is overwhelming, the opponent just raises the legs up).

But there are new…

First Of these, of course, the idea of “with a beard” – the transition to the last decade generally accepted in the “sailing” games set from the cores, boch and bookkels. Now in Pirates, too, you can also use all these fashionable things, and switching from one mode to another, about Divo, does not require time. I already seem to say that there is not a sailing simulator?

To use these fruits of progress, you must still establish the appropriate “improvement” on your ship. On Improvements See. In the chapter “Fortress”. Without this, only the cores are available.

As it should be, the kernels are especially effective against the hull and guns, the Knippel is crashed and rigging, the cannay,. Since any self-respecting pirate seeks to capture and sell ships, the cartoon is the main weapon, but do not forget that her freakue lags behind the nuclei several times!). Strongly beaten ship is better to immediately throw, if the port is not near – only slows down the movement, but will give me anyway.

This is a bug: If you have more than 20 guns, and all of them are charged, you can switch to a bookpel, shoot and quickly switch to the core: in this case you can make a “combined shot” chains and cores. It does not always work, but quite often.

Secondinnovation – now you can shoot, underwhelming – the number of guns that is ready for shooting.

Third– Slops sometimes spoil the ship cargo. But I would not call it important.

And shouted the captain: “On the board!”

Who saw the deck during the boarding battle, he is not confused even during a fire in a crazy house, from which Tornado threw the roof. There and here they run some completely unfamiliar negros, soldiers, jungs, rods and a man in the cook cap. Who is your own who is someone else’s? And the demon knows him. And, that is best, it does not matter. The real hero from a random strike does not die!

Captains find out relations among themselves, as he likes gentlemen (at least natural, at least “good luck”). The teams at this time methodically exterminate each other, and if one of them manage to bring this thing to a logical end, then the captain of the loser side remains only to surrender. Your fencing successes encourage the fighters, and the blunders will instill despondency and pale unfortunate. All as it is believed!

Movements available in battle, exactly seven, and in their layout on the keyboard, the Jesuit trick of Side Meyer manifested.

Attacks correspond to the left up, left and left down – respectively, along the upper, middle, lower zone. But the protection is arranged on the contrary: the up arrow is a jump, effective against Nower Attacks, down arrow – squatting, saving from the top, and the five – Parry of direct strike. Without half a mall of pirate grog you will not get used to. The arrow back means not the retreat – the pirates of such a word do not know! – A teasing opponent. But we seem like pirates, and not Bandar logs?

Before fighting both sides choose weapons. Rapira quickly pokes the enemy, the cleaver reflects the blows, and the sword (LongsWord) is a gold (?) Mid. As for me, the weapon of the real pirate – Rapira: We don’t seek the enemy?

This is interesting: Previously, the choice of weapons meant the balance between the length of the blade and the damage, and the rapier fell from the maximum distance, but three times weaker than the tessel.

The level of skill of the enemy depends on the relationship of the forces of the teams (somehow beyond yourself, when you have two hundred fighters behind you!), and from personal skill. Pirates (especially nominal), villains and (sometimes) Commanders of garrisons own a clinics much better than the captain of the cargo locher. Finally, a significant impact on the result has equipment – Shirts, accelerating movements, kings, improved blades, pistols. At first you can only boast only you, but with time…

All that the sea gives us…

After the capture of the ship comes it is time for “harvest”. I think it is not necessary to explain that the whole cargo should not carefully pacify, demolish it, except that there is no place at all (and in this case, most likely, it is reasonable to leave extra guns – you almost always have an excess, and they are worth the pennies).

This is interesting:Judging by the pictures, our sailors at the Olympics would not leave the rods not a single chance. You just look like cheerfully they are transferred Chests with gold, which should weigh the minimum kilograms of three hundred!

But to place the ship – this is a question more complicated. As I said, a lot of bite extraction is worthless and only slows down on the road. My advice: all sorts of Indian canoes and even Spanish barks just try, except for the friendly port is very close. And if you in the distant seas mined a military galleon, but the board was illuminated by 50% and broke sails by 60% – to the top and do not spare him. Not the first, not the last…

From the moment the repair for you becomes free, you can start taking everything in a row – but only not far from the port, you don’t have to drag.

Sailors captured ship also from time to time offer their services. Take or not take?

The experts of the original “pirates” remember that there the main reason for the discontent of the team was too frequent recruiting new fighters. Here it is not so actually acts, but still, if you type the team every five minutes, an hour of derage profits will trips wherever it would like to. Moreover, it seems, plays the role precisely Number of sets, but not Number of sailors.

My opinion is to take the sailors from the captured ship. It makes sense only when they are not necessary now, or if there is no single little friendly port nearby. Otherwise, it will wait cheaper to the tavern.
1234

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Sid Meier’s Pirates !: Advice (Tips and tactics for the game)
https://gamesread.com/sid-meier-s-pirates-advice-tips-and-tactics-for/

January 21, 2020
By Jonny Gamer

The game is generally very cool, perhaps it cannot be compared with the Corsairs 3. But it is more interesting, that’s for sure, now I’ll tell you about the many possibilities of the game.

First, you have to swim a lot.

The ship is a means of transportation, try to sail with the wind, the wind indicator is a red arrow at the bottom. Try to find a barometer so that storms do not harm you and when you see it swim, your speed will increase under it. and the item will not allow damage to the ship.


About battles at sea.

You can choose buckshot, knipels, but they are not given right away, they must be installed. And all the nuclei are given, just figure out the trajectory and shoot.

BOARDING. You fight the captain if you have a much larger team, take a saber and defend yourself. If less, then rapier and beat him quickly so that the team does not die.

In 1v1 battles without a team, take a rapier on a lyubak, they don’t defend here, but you need to bludgeon the enemy.

Another variant of the battle is the capture of cities, here the strategy is turn-based, there is nothing to think about, we take the shooters and put the fields in the shelter, and the pirates forward, try to cover the officers until they reach and enter the battle. Well that’s all with the battles, now about life.

RANGI.
Urine everyone and often swim to different colonies, getting ranks will give land.

Girls – there are three options for girls, the governor’s daughters
1-uninteresting
2-attractive
3- charming.

I advise you to think about the wedding first, because the level needs to be raised, so we swim in different colonies and look for a charming girl. Having found it, at first play at a low level and start better even as a student, although I am experienced and I dance coolly for beginners in the storm of the seas.
So get a hat, this is a special item and even a charming girl with a low level will invite you to the ball, look for a charming girl according to your taste.

So dance, try well, then sail away and immediately swim into the city, present a ring or necklace.
Then defeat her fiancé and dance again. Then they will steal her, save her and it will be possible to marry, that’s all.
I will not talk about the salvation of relatives, there is a passage. By the way, defeat all the pirates – the videos are funny.


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Good ships for flag ship

https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/160220/good-ships-for-flag-ship

See thread for further Info

-----------------------------

Stuck Ship Hint

If the ship gets stucks on the beach,
just leave the ship and walk short distance away,
then choose to sail again.
The ship is in a little different place.
Do it couple of times and the ship should be free.

Last resort, revert back to a previous Save Game
before the Ship got Stuck

-----------------------------

Difficulty level
https://www.reddit.com/r/SidMeiersPirates/comments/ppd8l3/difficulty_level/

See thread for further Info

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How to defeat marquis Montalban on Swashbuckler level in Sid Meier's Pirates
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD4ltc_Fvgo

Maxim R
Oct 4, 2016

Quote:

It's also important to obtain items that can help to make our pirate's fencing moves quicker: set of perfectly balanced swords and both silk shirts. In addition protective items will help not to lose much advantage when being hit: a leather west and a metal cuirass. Brace of pistols makes the fight shorter is what we want.

Before getting to Montalban himself we need to defeat his Indians or to run and reach the gate of his camp before the Indians. There are over 400 Indians so we need to get as many pirates as we can to improve our chances. The amount of money is the key to have a bigger team so it will keep them from leaving.

The best fencing tactics against marquis Montalban is mostly defense with quick counter attacks after his thrusts. Taunting can help to gain advantage and slow him down but also is very risky as he can hit quickly before our pirate has finished taunting. In this video I didn't use taunting at all.

[corsair91]

Sid Meier's Pirates! Hints and Tips
https://www.neoseeker.com/sid-meiers-pirates/faqs/105559-sm-pirates-tips.html


Sid Meier's Pirates!: Live the Life
Quick Reference FAQ
Version 1.0
By Jason Venter

Updated to v1.1 on Jan 18, 2007

See thread for further Info

[corsair91]

Sid Meier's Pirates!
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/SidMeiersPirates

Click on YMMV Button


..

Obvious Beta: The 2004 version shipped with several intended features not available.

As originally intended, you would have needed to build up your relationship with the Indians and the Jesuits before they would help you, but instead, they just trust you completely all the time.

There are items that are described as improving your relations with Indians or Jesuits, but what they actually do is reduce the time you have to wait after the Indians or Jesuits have given you a mission before they can give you a new one.

This means the in-game descriptions of said items are quite misleading, and have led many players to believe that they do nothing at all.

[fleetp]

[corsair91]

Strategy Guide (PC) by Sashanan
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/915017-sid-meiers-pirates/faqs/34143

Version: 1.6 | Updated: 05/18/2023

v1.6 (18 May 2023):
additional tip on preferred location for marrying a beautiful governor's daughter (in the west to cut on sailing time for hunting down Lost Cities),
minor spelling corrections, an an update to the fates of Jean LaFitte (suspected) and Henry Morgan (known) where the Piratopedia wasn't quite correct, and clarification on whether Blackbead was named Teach or Thatch (sort of, as they're both correct).

[corsair91]

Captain's Reef, vague landmarks and bad luck maps
https://steamcommunity.com/app/3920/discussions/0/2791619883085462427/

...

realist1003 20 Jul, 2020 @ 3:32pm

"Northwest of Gran Grenada". I still can't find Maltoban's hideout because the only non-generic landmark is "Capain's Reef" in the middle of a lake. Where is Captain's Reef?


I've gotten maps with a seamark in this particular lake several times. It's a lake that's a bit inland at the southeast base of the Yucatan peninsula. I've put an oval around the area on this map -

https://imgur.com/a/qjHRwiy

Sid Meier's Pirates Map.
Oval highlights lake with seamark that will be described as either "northwest of Gran Granada", "south(east) of Campeche", or "southeast of Villa Hermosa"


You can just barely see this lake by sailing into the "elbow" where the shoreline there changes from east-west to north-south. That can be a bit tough to do, because there's a settlement (or pirate haven, mission or Indian village) at this elbow that's easy to enter when trying to sail in this area.

Depending on the precise location of what's on a treasure map around this lake, it may have a description of "northwest of Gran Granada", "south(east) of Campeche", or "southeast of Villa Hermosa". (The maps always reference the closest city, and this area is an equal distance from all three of those cities.)

Hope that this information is helpful.



realist1003 20 Jul, 2020 @ 4:08pm

I'll also offer (repeating and summarizing from other comments) some general ideas for treasure maps that I've found helpful:

(1) When the treasure maps don't show any sort of seamark (the named rocks and reefs) or settlement, it usually helps to realize that there should be one nearby. It's like the treasure map is zoomed in and that reference is just off the map. This point has often helped me when Lost Cities or Montalban's hideout are "north of Veracruz" without any seamarks visible on the map. It also helps to realize that "north of Gran Granada" - without any visible seamark or settlement - will be a location just south of the stretch of east-west shoreline north of Gran Granada (that has many settlements, havens, Indian villages, and missions).

(2) As a general point looking for treasures and landmarks, I turn on the telescope and keep it straight ahead of me at all times as I walk around searching on land. It's a technique that I stumbled onto over time and that I find helpful especially at the higher levels, where the overhead doesn't show a very big area when you're on land. It often helps me see landmarks that I otherwise would have missed.

(3) Building on point (2), it's also often useful to go up on top of a hill or mountain and take advantage of that good line of sight by using the telescope to look around. Montalban's Hideout and Lost Cities are usually visible from quite some distance, so that often works as a way to find them once in the generally correct area. Also, the treasure maps - especially at the higher levels - are usually "correct" but not "complete". In other words, the landmarks on the treasure map are all there, but there will be some landmarks (the Inca Temples, stone heads, etc.) that aren't on the treasure map. A key to being sure of landmarks is therefore looking at the pattern of where two or more of them are located, and the good view from on top of a mountain helps *a lot* for doing so.

(4) For the pirate treasure maps, I've learned never to buy the first piece of one in Campeche, Villa Hermosa, Vera Cruz, or any of the settlements / pirate havens that are toward that side of the map. Pirate treasures are generated in locations close to where you buy the first piece of a map. When buying the first piece of a pirate treasure map in or near those cities, the pirate treasures can therefore be generated in tough to locate spots with maps similarly difficult to the maps for Montalban's hideout and the Lost Cities. Even worse, the pirate treasures are smaller on the screen, meaning tougher to see from a distance (with the telescope) than Montalban's Hideout or Lost Cities.


see above link for full thread content

[corsair91]

Sid Meier Pirates
https://www.bradcook.net/games/articles/2008/09/pirates/

Brad Cook

Includes


Tips and Tricks Fer the Scallywag in Ye
https://www.bradcook.net/games/articles/2008/09/pirates/index2.html

Brad Cook

Barry Caudill, executive producer at Firaxis, has a few thoughts for aspiring buccaneers, and we add on some tips and tricks of our own, including the locations of a few Easter eggs. There’s a lot of depth in Sid Meier’s Pirates!!, so read on.


“I’m a ‘do it all’ kind of guy, so I try to make sure I’m making constant progress as a citizen, as a pirate, and as a ladies’ man,” explains Caudill. “I usually start out as an Englishman. The English begin at war with the Spanish and very likely with the French, so I get promotions as fast as I can, and then I start switching sides. I’m really good at the dance mini-game, so I also woo every daughter I meet.”

Caudill continues: “My ship of choice is either a Royal Sloop or a Brigantine because you can take on pretty much anyone else, from war canoes all the way up to frigates, if you use the wind to your advantage. They’re fast, maneuverable, and able to hold lots of cannons. I also dig up lots of treasure and will definitely look for my relatives because they help you find even more of it.”

“Nothing keeps the crew happy like finding a lost city of gold,” he concludes. “And nothing says ‘patriot’ like using the land battles to capture a town and install a new governor.”

The game includes a Pirate-O-Pedia containing information about everything from types of weapons to city descriptions to biographies of the top nine pirates. If you look at the entry for St. Eustatius, you’ll find a link on the word “Eastern,” which takes you to a hidden page claiming that Easter eggs don’t exist in the game. Of course, you can’t take those scurvy dogs at Firaxis at their word, so watch for a few surprises to pop up during the game, including Firaxis CEO Jeff Briggs replacing the monk at one of the Jesuit monasteries, and Meier appearing sometimes as the tavern’s mysterious traveler. And don’t forget to play the game on September 19th, International Talk Like a Pirate Day, to see how the dialogue and menus change.


There are five difficulty levels in the game, from Apprentice to Swashbuckler.
By default, you begin your first adventure on the easiest setting, which takes place in the year 1660.
When you start your next session, you’ll be able to not only choose a different difficulty but also select which era to play in — 1600 through 1680 — and which of five skills you want to emphasize: fencing, gunnery, navigation, wit and charm, or medicine.
Not only are battles tougher on higher difficulty levels, but the mini-games require greater dexterity, the wind is less predictable, and so forth.
However, your spoils are greater, including your share of the loot when you divide plunder with your crew.

If you’re outgunned by an enemy ship, you can always ram them and defeat their captain in a swordfight to win the battle. Your success in the duel improves your crew’s morale even if they’re outnumbered, enabling them to defeat superior forces.
Alternately, you can head in the direction of the wind and let it carry you out of range, allowing you to escape.

Raking shots, which hit a vessel at the bow or stern and travel along its length, do more damage than broadside volleys. The downside is that you have a smaller target to hit.

Opposing ships may lose sailors and cargo when you attack them. Sail over the crewmen and barrels floating in the sea to pick them up.


You have the option of adding a defeated ship’s men to your crew.
Occasionally, the vessel may contain a crew specialist, such as a sailmaker or a navigator, who will improve your fleet’s abilities. Some specialists, such as cooks, also make your crew happier.


Your fleet is only as fast as the slowest ship, so if you’re on the run from an opponent, you can abandon a slowpoke if it’s holding you back. You may also want to get rid of a ship if you don’t have enough men to provide an adequate crew for it.

How a country feels about you doesn’t always dictate what its cities think. For example, a governor might give you a promotion, along with some nearby land, for attacking ships of enemy countries and defeating pirates, but another city of the same nation might fire at you on first sight, if you insist on attacking ships near its harbor, as well as vessels sailing to or from it.

Not all ports of call are equal. Impoverished ones typically have little to offer, while others are wealthy and can pay top prices for your plunder. Some, however, have merchants who will only trade with reputable sailors, which means you need to be affiliated with their country and come with a good reputation, unless you can get your hands on a disguise.

Your ability to recruit sailors at a tavern depends not only on your rank and number of fame points but also your standing with their country. The more favorable those criteria are, the more new crewmen you’ll attract.
Keeping your crew happy is key to their performance, which affects everything from sailing speed to how ferociously they’ll fight if your ship is boarded; if they become mutinous, some of them might steal one of your ships or run away when you dock at a port of call.
The bottom line is they’re a greedy lot, and they’re waiting for you to end the current voyage and divide the plunder. The longer you take to do that, the more they’ll expect for their share, which means they’re constantly eyeing the loot level and calculating how much they’ll get.

At Apprentice level, you only keep 5% of the gold when you divide the plunder, so they know they’ll be well-compensated and thus will be easier to please, but on Swashbuckler level, you get 50% of the gold and they will be tougher to satisfy. Of course, the larger your crew, the less gold each man will receive, so don’t maintain more sailors than necessary. Big crews also need more food, which means your ships will have less room in their holds for loot; again, your sailors’ accounting skills will come into play and they’ll be unhappy if they realize you have little space for riches.

Your best strategy: Build up a large crew as quickly as you can and sack as many cities and defeat as many large ships as possible during the first couple years of game time. When you think you have enough gold, downsize your fleet, tack on a few final conquests, and dock in port to divide the plunder. After you do so, you’ll start over with one ship and a small crew, but the level of fame you achieved during your last expedition should allow you to quickly add new sailors and start the process again.

Your character ages, which means he’ll be a little less effective at all aspects of the game as the years go by. You’ll eventually want to retire him to a new career of leisure, which is decided by the number of fame points he accumulated. Then you can create a new character and try a different strategy.

[corsair91]

Sid Meier's Pirates!(2004)

https://www.speedrun.com/sid_meiers_pirates_2004/guides

Small Timesaving Strategies
Yhabby

Guide - Beautiful Wife
Yhabby

Comprehensive Guide to Land Battles
Yhabby

-------------------------------------

Small Timesaving Strategies
https://www.speedrun.com/sid_meiers_pirates_2004/guides/2errw

by Yhabby


This is an ongoing collection of strategies for saving small amounts of time in your runs. Once you're getting close to record times, learning these techniques may be enough to get you that world record!

If there are any tips that I missed, let me know and I'll add them!


General

Faster Loading Times: I find that the loading times for cutscenes are significantly longer when they are loading for the first time in a play session. Before starting your runs, do a practice run where you try to trigger as many cutscenes as you can. They will load faster on subsequent runs.

Skipping Cutscenes/Animations: Nearly every cutscene and most NPC interaction animations can be skipped by left-clicking anywhere on the screen. The only cutscenes that should NOT be skipped are the marriage and Montalban victory cutscenes when running the Beautiful Wife and any% categories. Here's some of the animations/cutscenes that can be skipped this way: - Intro bartender/captain animations - Sailing to the new world cutscene - All governor/daughter interaction animations - All tavern interaction animations - Pre- and post-swordfight cutscenes - Finding lost relative/lost city/buried treasure cutscene - Jailed/marooned cutscene - Marriage cutscene (Categories other than Beautiful Wife)

Faster Timeskipping: After dividing the plunder or being marooned or jailed, multiple dates will be shown to indicate the passage of time. These can appear faster by left-clicking instead for waiting for them to appear.


Special Items

The items listed below are the only ones worth picking up to save time.

Balanced Swords: Increases your attacking speed. Speeds up every swordfight by a bit, and on higher difficulties, this will allow you to attack without blocking first on most fights.

Pistols: Gives you a free attack at the start of every swordfight. Speeds up every swordfight by 1-2 seconds.

Armor: Gives you a chance you automatically block a thrust attack. Can save time if you miss the parry, and allows you to attack more aggressively.

Fencing Shirts: Increases your defending speed. Not as important as the swords and pistols, but it can save you some significant time if you would have missed the block otherwise.

Jewelry: Given to the governor's daughter for a reward and to progress the marriage storyline. Essential for 126 Fame and Beautiful Wife categories, but useless otherwise.

Medicine: Reduces the speed at which your age hurts your swordfighting/dancing skills. Very helpful for 126 Fame and other long runs, but useless otherwise.

Musical Instruments: Reduces the speed at which your crew's morale decreases. These give you a few more months to earn enough gold to keep your crew permanently happy, but are useless on the shorter run categories.

Rutters: These will show the location of small settlements in areas that you haven't been to. Helpful in the 126 Fame category when trying to find buried treasure, lost cities, or relatives, but useless otherwise.


Swordfighting

Adventurer Aggression: On higher difficulties, it is basically required to block before attacking, due to how fast the enemies can block and attack. On adventurer difficulty, however, you can usually get away with attacking right after you see the enemy start their attack.

Final Thrust: There are instances where both a thrust or a chop/slash will be enough to win the swordfight. In normal circumstances, using the thrust attack will be slightly faster than using a chop/slash. However, it may not be the case depending on what attack the enemy is doing and what the enemy's lightning-quick move is.

Lightning-Quick Moves: Every notorious pirate, evil Spaniard, or wanted criminal you fight will have one attacking or defending move that they can do much faster than normal. Strangely, your character will copy that ability, allowing you to also perform that move incredibly fast. You can occasionally discover this by talking to the tavern's barmaid, but more often than not you will discover it while fighting them. If they have a lightning-quick block, avoid using the corresponding attack. If they have a lightning quick chop or slash, use only that attack for the fight. Even on harder difficulties, you may not need to block and can go straight for the quick attack, unless they do the same.

Counterattacks: Occasionally when performing the correct block, your character will instead do a fancy dodge, followed by a counterattack. Unfortunately, this counterattack only does 1 damage (the same as a thrust), so it often ends up prolonging the swordfight. I'm not sure what causes these counterattacks to occur, but they are seemingly random. The only way I know of to avoid these is to attack first instead of blocking. On higher difficulties with no items, you are basically required to block, so it will be impossible to completely avoid triggering these counterattacks.


Sailing

Points of Sailing: Every ship class has an optimal sailing orientation relative to the wind direction. This information can be found in the Pirate-O-Pedia. Try to orient your ship in this optimal direction as much as you can (without sailing in the wrong direction).

Reeled/Full Sails: You can choose to sail with either full sails or reeled sails. You should always be sailing with full sails, unless you are using a large galleon or frigate and are trying to sail or turn into the wind. In most playthroughs, you will want a pinnace-class ship, which should always be at full sails.

Stormchasing: Sailing near the edge of storm clouds can give you a big speed boost for a short time. However, sailing too close will damage your ship.

Social Distancing: Sailing near ships will slow you down as they shout out their name and destination. If you notice a ship in the distance, try to avoid getting close to maintain your speed.

Sailing Eastward: The wind will almost always be blowing westward, making eastward sailing difficult. On longer runs, try to minimize the amount of east-west sailing, and make the most out of each westward trip.

[corsair91]

Sid Meier's Pirates!(2004)

Guide - Beautiful Wife
https://www.speedrun.com/sid_meiers_pirates_2004/guides/r3kgs

by Yhabby


With a short run time and significantly less RNG involved, the Beautiful Wife category is a great start for new runners, if you can manage the dancing minigame.


Steps to Marriage
0. Character Choices: Adventurer, Wit and Charm, 1640, Spain
1 Reach Colonel rank
2 Dance 1
3 Ruby ring
4 Defeat fiancé
5 Dance 2
6 Fight Mendoza
7 Marriage


Character Choices

Adventurer difficulty. This is currently the lowest accepted difficulty (speedruns), and lower difficulty levels make swordfighting and sailing easier.

Wit and Charm. This allows you to dance with beautiful daughters at a lower rank, and helps you with the dancing minigame. This will save quite a bit of time grinding out promotion levels.

1640 Spain: This gives us the Mail Runner as our starting ship. It is the strongest ship of the fastest class of ship in the game, and we don't need the extra crew space that bigger ships offer. 1600 Spain, 1620 Spain, and 1640 France starts us with a pinnace, which is slightly weaker but just as fast.


Colonel Rank

Your starting city and the surrounding settlements will play a big part in determining the best strategy for reaching colonel rank fast. If you are surrounded by only Spanish cities, you can focus on pirate or indian ships. If you have other nations nearby, you should ask the bartenders and try to find one that has a beautiful daughter before attacking ships from a specific nation. In addition, you want to find a city with a beautiful daughter that is close to another Spanish city (or multiple). This will help save time later on.

Once you've found your future wife, you can focus on grinding promotion levels for that nation. The fastest way to do so is by taking out notorious pirates or helping with transport missions. If none are nearby, you'll need to capture ~10 regular enemy ships for colonel rank. Look for indian villages and pirates havens, as they typically spawn multiple ships after you agree to help them.

While you are capturing ships and earning promotions, be sure to talk to the mysterious stranger every chance you can until he offers to sell you a ruby ring. If you're low on gold, keep a few of your captured ships to sell instead of sinking them.


Dancing

Once you reach colonel rank, you will be asked for a dance. This minigame involves watching your partner's hand movements and reacting with the correct dance move. If you miss too many moves, the daughter will ditch you on the dance floor and you will not progress the marriage questline.

The best way to succeed in this minigame is to memorize which hand movement corresponds to which button. I would also recommend pressing the numpad keys on your keyboard instead of clicking the on-screen buttons. Practice makes perfect! If you're still having trouble identifying the hand movements, check out the existing runs for this category.


Ruby Ring

After the first dance, your future wife will express her desire for a "flashing" ruby ring. These can only be purchased from the mysterious traveler in the back of the tavern. If you haven't got one already, be sure to have ~2000 gold, and then keep leaving and entering the city until you can buy one.


Jealous Fiancé

At your next meeting with the beautiful daughter after giving her the ring, she will mention that her jealous fiancé has challenged you to a duel. Leave and re-enter the city, and then offer to "deal with him quickly". The duel is a fairly easy and straightforward swordfight at this difficulty level. On swashbuckler difficulty, this guy can be even tougher than Montalban, depending on how old you are.

After defeating him, you are asked for another dance. The same tips and tricks for the first dance apply here. After completing the dance, leave the city and quick-save right before entering it again.


Colonel Mendoza

Upon returning to the governor, he will inform you that his daughter has been kidnapped by the evil Colonel Mendoza. He will spawn in a random Spanish city, akin to Baron Raymondo and Marquis Montalban. If he did not spawn near you, quick-load and talk to the governor again until he does.

Once he's nearby, simply engage him in battle, crash into him to start a swordfight, and defeat him to rescue your soon-to-be wife. Sail back to the city and return her to the governor.


Marriage

Return to the city one last time. Ask for the daughter's hand in marriage and watch the cutscene. Timer stops when the city menu appears after the cutscene. If you accidentally skipped the cutscene, don't worry! I will add the appropriate amount of time to the final time.

Good luck!

[corsair91]

Comprehensive Guide to Land Battles
https://www.speedrun.com/sid_meiers_pirates_2004/guides/rnpek

by Yhabby


INTRODUCTION

Whether you wish to vanquish the evil Marquis de la Montalban, cleanse the Caribbean of the cancerous Spanish, or become the most notorious pirate of all time, you will need to capture a city or two. This guide will outline the various factors, strategies, and benefits involved with land battles.


INITIATING A LAND BATTLE

Land battles can be initiated in any of these scenarios;
1. The player walks into a city.
2. The player sails into a city whose faction has a bounty on their head.
3. Entering Montalban's hideout.

Land battles cannot be initiated with towns, pirate havens, indian villages, and jesuit missions.
Additionally, you cannot engage in a land battle with a city that has significantly more soldiers than you have pirates.
Finally, if the city has less than 100 soldiers, you will instead engage the captain of the guard in a swordfight instead of the land battle.


ENEMY STRENGTH

The strength of the enemy is entirely based on the number of soldiers that the city has. The exact number is shown when initiating a land battle, and is unique to every city. The size of the gun battery in front of the city can also give a rough estimate as follows;

No battery: 40-100 soldiers
Single battery: 120-200 soldiers
Double battery: 200-350(?) soldiers
Triple battery: 350(?)-600(?) soldiers
Quadruple battery: 600+(?) soldiers

This value can be modified in a number of ways;
1. Lowered by pillaging the city
2. Lowered by having pirates raid the city
3. Raised by having a "Transporting Troops" or "Transporting Immigrants"(?) ship enter the city


BASICS

Land battles are a turn-based strategy event which shares many gameplay features with the Sid Meier's Civilization series of games.
The player controls several units with different strengths and weaknesses, with the goal of taking out all of the enemy AI's units, or reaching the city gates with any of your units.
Once you initiate a land battle, you are brought to a new screen displaying the uninhabited land that surrounds the city.
You are given three starting locations for your units. Usually, there is one on the left, centre, and right side of the field.


TILES

Each land battle field is composed of X randomly selected tiles. The order of these tiles is different every battle, but there will always be a path to the city's gates.

There are three types of tiles; normal, rocky, and forest.

- Normal tiles have no special attributes.
- Rocky tiles cannot be moved to by any friendly or enemy unit.
- Forest tiles have a number of unique attributes depending on the unit that is attacking or standing in the tile, and these will be outlined in the UNITS section.


CONTROLS

Land battles involve three menus which can be accessed by holding down SHIFT, holding down CTRL, or holding down neither.

- The default menu allows you to move the selected unit to an adjacent tile, or attack from long range if the unit can see an enemy and has muskets as a weapon.

- The SHIFT menu allows you to select the next unit (this can also be done by left-clicking the desired unit), skipping the selected unit's turn. zooming in on the field, toggling a grid overlay on the field, centring the camera on the selected unit, changing a musket unit's target if more than one is availalbe, and retreat from the battle.

- The CTRL menu allows you to change the direction that the selected unit is facing. (see the TACTICS section for more details)


ENDING A LAND BATTLE

A land battle can be ended in one of four ways;

1. All enemy units are defeated (win)
2. One of your units reaches the city gates tile (win)
3. All of your units are defeated (loss)
4. The "retreat" button is pressed (loss)


GAMEPLAY

Once you have initiated the land battle and have chosen your start location, the battle is played similarly to a turn-based strategy game.

Each side will take turns moving their units and attacking each other, with the player going first, until one of the end conditions is met.

Each unit has a certain amount of health represented by the number of people in the unit and the condition of the flag flying above it.

Once the unit's health gets too low, it will be defeated and leave the field.

Each friendly unit can move up to two tiles in normal terrain, or one tile in forest terrain.
No friendly or enemy units can move onto rocky terrain tiles.
Each unit has up to two attack styles; melee and ranged.
Melee units can only attack by walking into a tile that is occupied by an enemy unit.
Ranged units can use melee attacks and have the option of attacking from long range.
Melee attacks will always end in either one of the sides defeating the other, or both sides defeating each other at the same time.
Ranged attacks remove a percentage of the target's total health, and the unit will retreat if their total health drops too low.
Ranged attacks can only be executed on targets that are close enough (~4 tiles) to the ranged unit.
Ranged units are not able to shoot through multiple forest tiles.


ATTACK/DEFENCE POWER

The winner of a melee attack is determined by a number of variables;

- Attack power (1-8 ):
This is the attacking unit's base power. Unique to every type of unit, never changes.

- Defence power (1-5):
This is the defending unit's base power. Unique to every type of unit, never changes.

- Morale (0-3):
If Unit A was attacked and damaged previously, Unit B gets a bonus equal to the number of times Unit A was attacked. 0 if both units were attacked the same number of times.

- Height (0-2):
The height difference of the tiles that both units are on. Whoever has the high ground gets a bonus depending on how high it is relative to the other unit's location. 0 if both units are on the same height.

- Cover (x1/2):
If the unit is standing on a forest tile and is hit by a ranged attack, the attack does half the normal damage. - Forest (x1/3): If the Cavalry unit is fighting on a forest tile, its power is a third of the normal amount.

- Flank attack (x2):
If the defending unit is facing away from the attacking unit when it is attacked, the attacking unit's power is doubled.

- Ambush (x2):
If the attacking unit moves into an occupied tile, but could not see the enemy unit there, the enemy's defence power is doubled.


UNIT TYPES

There are three different units available to the player, and five different units available to the enemy. The quantity of pirates/soldiers determines the types and quantities of units that are involved in the land battle. Each unit has an attack power, defence power, fighting stylve, and special attributes. These eight units are;

Officers Attack:
5 Defence: 5 Style: Melee Special Attributes: None. Notes: Friendly only. Maximum of 1.

Pirates Attack:
4 Defence: 3 Style: Melee Special Attributes: None. Notes: Friendly only. You will have approximately the same amount of these as buccaneers.

Buccaneers Attack:
1 Defence: 1 Style: Ranged Special Attributes: None. Notes: Friendly only. You will have approximately the same amount of these as pirates.

Infantry Attack:
4 Defence: 2 Style: Ranged Special Attributes: None Notes: Enemy only.

Guards Attack:
4 Defence: 3 Style: Ranged Special Attributes: None Notes: Enemy only.

Cavalry Attack:
8 Defence: 4 Style: Melee Special Attributes: +1 movement in normal terrain, x1/3 power in forest terrain Notes: Enemy only. Only used when the enemy has 100+ more soldiers than you.

Scouts Attack:
4 Defence: 3 Style: Melee Special Attributes: No movement penalty in forest terrain. Notes: Enemy only.

Archers Attack:
2 Defence: 2 Style: Ranged Special Attributes: No movement penalty in forest terrain. Notes: Enemy only.


REWARDS

If you are successful in defeating all enemy units or reaching the city's gates, you will be rewarded with a large sum of gold!
The amount of gold plundered depends on the current wealth of the city. This is shown on the world map by the number of coins beside a city's name, the city's prefix (Wealthy, Prosperous, Poor), the condition of the city's flag on the overworld, and the music that plays when visiting the city.

This value can be modified in a number of ways;

1. Lowered by pillaging the city
2. Lowered by having pirates raid the city.
3. Raised by having indians raid the city.
4. Raised by having a "Transporting Sugarcane", "Transporting New Governor", or "Military Payroll" ship enter the city.

Apart from gold, you will also receive favour from any faction that was at war with the city's faction, and lose favour with those at peace with it.
If you ransack a city while having ~30-40% more crew than their soldier count, you have the option to change that city's faction.
Changing the faction to one that was at war with the old faction is a great way to get promoted quickly.

OTHER NOTES - Marquis de la Montalban will only use scouts and archers to defend his hideout.


STRATEGIES

Taking on the larger cities with a 200-300 pirate disadvantage is possible with the right tactics and a bit of luck. Here are some of the tactics I've used to help with this endeavor;

Retreat and retry if the terrain is bad or if you are losing
(hopefully you quick-saved beforehand).
This is faster than waiting to get killed off by the enemy.

Flank as much as possible!
If you have significantly more power than the enemy, you will not lose any health and will be able to attack again.

Try to use pirates and buccaneers as tanks over the officers, as they are weaker and more numerous.

Be sure to stand in forest tiles as much as possible.
This allows your units to endure significantly more ranged attacks. Also, when the enemy has cavalry, it will lose against your pirates and officers.

Don't forget about the city gates!
Often, it is faster to move there instead of hunting down the two or three enemy units that are trying to flank you. The city will still lose the same amount of soldiers and gold. This is also the best way to win when you have a unit disadvantage. move most of your units to one side, and send a pirate + buccaneer around the other side.

Avoid attacking Pirate raiders and Indian war canoes, as they will reduce the soldier count of a city and make it easier to capture.

Attack any "Invasion Force", "Transporting troops", and "Transporting immigrants" ships.
These will increase the number of soldiers in their destination city.

[corsair91]

https://www.speedrun.com/sid_meiers_pirates_2004/forums


Beginner
https://www.speedrun.com/sid_meiers_pirates_2004/forums/yctos

interested in running this game, tips and tricks


basic strategy for the route
by Yhabby


"- Choose adventurer difficulty, skill at navigation,

1640 start, then choose the Spanish captain.

- Adventurer is the lowest accepted difficulty, and will save you time with easier swordfights.

- Skill at navigation makes sailing faster and easier, which is what most of your time in any% will be spent doing.

- 1640 with the Spanish start gives you the mail runner as a starting ship. This is one of the fastest ships in the game, and has more crew capacity than the pinnace.

Sail into the Spanish city and recruit crew from the tavern,
then leave

Sail to the nearest Jesuit mission.
These will spawn randomly around the Caribbean but they are fairly common.
Quicksave (shift + S) right before sailing into it.


Talk to the abbot.
He will tell you the starting location of Baron Raymondo.
If it is not very close by, leave and quickload (shift + L)

Sail to and battle Raymondo, saving right before you attack him.
Don't bother using cannons on his ship, just sail into it as fast as possible.

Beat Raymondo in a swordfight, he will give you a map piece.
If you cannot figure out where the location of your sister is from this single map piece, load and re-do the fight.
If you can, keep his ship and its cargo and go to your sister.

Rescue your sister, saving right before you reach the cabin.
She will tell you the starting location of Marquis Montalban.
If he is not very close by, load and re-do the encounter.

Repeat the same process that you used for encountering and battling Montalban. If you cannot find his hideout with the given map piece, re-do the fight.

Now, you want to get between 150-250 crew before going to Montalban's hideout.
The issue is that Spain will hate you now and won't let you enter.
French, English, and Dutch cities are typically too far away to visit,
so your best bet is pirate havens. You can also try to get some crew between the Raymondo and Montalban fights.

Go to Montalban's hideout and defeat his Indian army.
usually it is faster to kill off all the units,
but it may be faster to rush the gate, depending on the map layout.

Finally, battle Montalban for the last time.

Defeat him, watch the cutscene, and you're done!"

[corsair91]

Wii Version In-Game Customisation

https://sidmeierspirates.fandom.com/wiki/Sid_Meier%27s_Pirates!_(Wii_Version)


Customisation

While the original game allowed players to change the emblems and flags of their fleet the Wii release allowed for far more customisation of each ship:

Hull Type: Fir, Oak, Mahogony or Rosewood.

Purfle Pattern (The ship's edges) : None, Aboriginal, Classic, Light Armoured, Firm, Hard, Iron, Pin or Wood.

Cannon Slots (Portholes): Normal, Indus Shield, Immortal Armada, Aboriginal, Coarse, Encrust, Ironbound or Rosewood.

Figurehead: None, Poseidon, Mermaid, ?

Anchor: Normal, Firm, Steel, Tartly, Gold Firm, Gold, Gold Tartly,

Flag: Pirate Normal, Indian, Spanish, English, French, Dutch, Pirate Blackbeard, Pirate William Kidd, Pirate Stede Bonnet, ?

Top Observer (Crow's Nest): None, Normal, Double Deck, Cask, Oak, ?

Sail Colour: White, Beige, Black, Maple, Blue, Grey or Red.

Sail Emblem: Normal, Indian, Spanish, English, French, Dutch, Sword and Shield, Rose or Golden Trident.