~Pirates

Collection of tips obtained via the Internet.


I've just succeeded in advancing Catalina Erantzo, the female Spanish
pirate, to the rank of duke (duchess?) in *less than two game years*.
This really astonished me, because in my previous two games, with 
Joao Franco and Pietro Conti, it took me 12 years (for Joao) and 8 
years (for Pietro) to achieve that exalted rank.

Anyway, I've determined that the key to quick advancement for 
Catalina is to be ruthlessly aggressive with going after merchant 
traffic in the Med right away, and also to defect to another power 
early on (I suggest Italy). The "gossip" feature on your menu, where 
you contact other fleets that you're within hailing range of, is 
extremely useful in determining which are good targets to attack.  
If the opposing commodore says that he's heading for somewhere to 
make an investment, that's a merchant fleet. I recommend you leave 
convoyed squadrons alone.  Be very careful of galleys, because those 
are usually pirate fleets - OTOH, if you have been tasked by your 
ruler with searching out and destroying a pirate squadron so that 
you can advance in rank, then definitely *do* seek out the galley 
icons. 

Make sure your ships are in good repair, well-manned and powerfully 
armed.  In the later stages of this most recent game, I usually had 
each ship at least 3/4 manned, with cannons or demicannons, and a 
full store of cannonballs.  It is *very* important that you assign 
at least as many men to combat as you have guns on each ship, 
especially if you are going up against a combat fleet. 

Once you're in the battle screen, you will see your fleet deployed 
for battle.  I generally have gotten good results by going with the 
default orders for the rest of my squadron, but YMMV: experiment 
with other orders (but, of course, you will have saved the game 
before the battle!) Merchant fleets, not generally being well-armed, 
will tend to break and run for the map edges, though one or two 
ships will often stay for a few turns to fight a delaying action 
against your squadron.  The ship you really want is the "0" ship, 
the enemy flagship, which will generally move to take you on.  

If you are using the default orders the system gives to your 
squadron, most of the rest of your squadron (this will depend on the 
bravery and loyalty of your captains) will advance with you to take 
on the enemy flagship.  I recommend that you get to cannon range and 
then open up, and keep pounding as long as you can keep the enemy 
ship in range.  Often, this will be enough to kill all the crew and 
force the enemy commodore to surrender.  You can also close with the 
enemy flagship and run a boarding action (which is where assigning 
your men to combat really comes in handy, because if you assign a 
sufficient number of men or a surplus, your losses in each round of 
man-to-man will be lower than the enemy's). 

Sometimes, though, you will want to fight the enemy commodore by 
challenging him to a duel.  Make sure you have a good sword and 
armor beforehand, and make sure you equip your character with them 
ahead of time! I have had Catalina in half-plate and a broad sword 
for most of this latest game.  When it comes time for the duel, the 
enemy commodore will almost always be wearing half-plate and 
carrying a scimitar.  If you're using the broad sword, strike 
relentlessly on every attack turn.  When you're on defense, use 
"dodge" or "block" to lessen or avoid damage from the opponent.  If 
you're lucky (and your opponent is sufficiently bad at 
swordsmanship), you can defeat him within 5 rounds or less.  A sword 
duel is also a risky, but handy, way to get yourself out of a tight 
spot when you're up against an enemy battle fleet or a stronger 
pirate fleet and you're getting pounded. 

Once you've won the battle or duel, you get the loot.  It's very 
helpful to have at least one extra mate along (meaning a mate that's 
not commanding a ship), because you can capture as many ships as you 
have extra mates - and you can often build up your fleet more 
quickly that way than you could if you were buying used ships or 
ordering new ships.  Try to pick big, fast, well-armed ships for 
your prizes; I favor Galleons, Naos and Xebecs where I can find 
them.  Also try to find ships that are undamaged or lightly damaged.  
After you've taken prize ships, if any, you get to the cargo, which 
you should divide among your ships according to need for food, 
water, lumber or shot.  Don't forget the merchandise which merchant 
fleets almost always carry - try to leave enough room in one of your 
ships so that you can load that cargo as well, so that you can sell 
it at the next port.  You'll always get a goodly number of gold 
pieces and almost always a piece of treasure, as well. 

Remember that every time you do a successful attack on an enemy 
fleet (except a pirate fleet), you will raise the owning nation's 
enmity toward you.  The higher the hostility rating (marked by red 
negative numbers in the "Friendship" section of the "Hero Info" 
screen), the more likely it is that you will be accosted and hit 
with a heavy fine whenever you land at any of that nation's ports.  
As Catalina is already on Spain's shit list (with a perfect -100 
rating in Friendship), Spanish fleets are an obvious target.  You 
will, of coourse, do your best to avoid attacking the ships of 
whichever nation you end up defecting to.  The general rule is to 
spread your raids around and to try not to pick on any one nation 
too much.  One other thing you should remember is that, once you get 
your combat and navigation ratings high enough, opposing captains 
will try to surrender to you.  I don't recommend you accept their 
surrenders because, for some reason, if you just swoop down on a 
defenseless fleet and seize it, the owning nation will become much 
more hostile to you than it would if you fought and defeated the 
fleet in open combat and gave the enemy fleet a fair chance.  
(Hmmm....maybe that's not so incomprehensible after all! :) )  Also, 
I've observed that the loot from battles tends to be richer than the 
prizes from a fleet that just throws up its collective hands. 

Well, that's what I've learned from playing a pirate in New 
Horizons.  Keep those cannon bores clean and those cutlasses 
polished! 


Joe Admire (jadmire@netcom.com)