Your choices are then carried out by a group of marines who you have individual control over.
You need to determine whereabouts you are going to send your troops, whether you want to take over the island and install your own governor, or whether you simple want to rob all the houses and burn it to the ground. Whereas the sea battles are generally easy to do, a land battle requires you to take a much broader view. This is where you land at one of over 70 ports, determine via the port screen the size of the population and garrison, and then land at a nearby beach to invade. Equally, the more ships you seize, the higher your fame level becomes and the easier it is to get to around to your way of thinking.Īside from sea-battles, the other form of blood-letting is a land battle.
Doing this raises your infamy level, and makes it harder in the later stages, as fewer people will trust you not to slaughter them when they surrender and so will fight you to the death. You have the chance to slaughter any crew members that surrender to you. However, your actions now have an impact later in the game. The idea is that you gain control, take the ship to the next port, sell off the assets and eventually share the wealth with your crew, before starting again. Which will see the two sets of marines battle it out for control of the ship. Once you believe you have fired enough shots to take out most of their marines, which is shown by a crude indicator when you hover the mouse over the opposition, you can choose to board their ship. The fight is done using cannons and muskets to take out the sails, slowing down the vessel, fire across the face of the ship, killing the marines, or shooting at the hull in an effort to sink the ship. If you meet traders (which you will know from a call of one of your crew: “One ship sir! They look like traders!”, then the chances are that a short fight is all that is needed to relieve them of their cargo. Primarily you’ll sail from port to port, meeting ships en route. Once you have a large set of marines, a few gunners and some decent sailors you can start attacking and destroying other ships that travel the 6 million square miles of the Caribbean available to see in this game. Non-Pirate ports are run by the English, Dutch, French or Spanish, and each will treat you differently as the game progresses, depending on your alliances with some countries, or your actions towards a country’s ships.īut being nice and buying goods isn’t the reason for playing this game. Your main concern for the early stages will be to trade, ensuring that you have enough food, fruit and meat to keep your crew healthy, and enough rum to keep up their bravado.Īfter all, a sick or weak crew will be no good to you when it comes to attacking traders at sea, will it? A trip to the governor is always worthwhile, particularly if you are at a pirate town, as the governor is more likely to give you a treasure map which will speed you on your way to wealth and in turn fame. You may also find that although you can get by with a minimum amount of sailors, having many more makes the ship far easier to handle, and therefore gives you a better chance of doing what you want to do at sea.Įach port gives you the option to buy gunnery or make repairs at a shipwright, buy and sell goods, hire staff, visit the governor, attend to your fleet and a few other options. Before you can sail you have to ensure your crew is sufficiently large to cope with the size of your ship.Īt the start of the game, half a dozen or so sailors are all you need, but as the game progresses you will find that you can get bigger and better ships which need more sailors. You are given a small ship, a small crew consisting of sailors, marines and gunners, and the rest is down to you.
You start off in a port in the Caribbean.
In the 17th Century, the seas of the Caribbean were laden with bounty, and 1640-1655 is the golden age of piracy (the High Sea version, not the dodgy software version!) though you can choose to start the game any time from 1625 through to 1700 depending on how difficult you want it to be.
The more you can do, the more famous you get – or infamous, depending on how you play the game. Your aim? To take control of the High Seas, battle your way through traders, pirate hunters and warships, overthrow governors and take over islands. It’s 1640, you have a ship, 500 pesos, and a few crew members. Well, shiver me timbers, it does me ‘eart good to see a salty ol’ sea-dog like meself.
Cutthroats - The best pirate game available for PC