Sid Meier's Pirates!

[MythicalMino]

It took me a long time to get this game. I have always looked at it in the store....read reviews....but I just could never bring myself to spend the money.

A friend of mine bought it a few months ago...so I asked him if I could borrow it, and check it out. It only took me 20 minutes to realize that I wanted my own copy of the game!!

I then went out last night, and bought it.

Really, there is just something about this game that I cannot put my finger on....The game is so addictive!! I start playing it, thinking I will only play for maybe an hour at the most....then 3 hours later, several ships sacked, sunk or sold....I am forcing myself to back away from the computer...only to find myself once again at the desk playing a pirate.

The game has CHARM. All the pieces work and fit together to make one polished and nicely done package. The sword fights, the sea battles, the dances (although, I still have a difficult time with this)....they all "fit".

Just a fun game...and it is a game that even my wife is interested in playing!!

Chris

[Alan Dunkin]

There's always stuff to do, and even when you don't have something specific, there's still stuff to do on top of that. A lot of it ends up with you trying to kill someone else. And it looks nice generally.

Really a fairly decent game with only a few real problems.

--- Alan

[Kalle]

How could you not have played Tom Chick's Chick Award winner?

I love it too, replayed it two weeks ago. Only thing I don't like is how repetitive the Baron/Marquis quests become.

[MythicalMino]

I agree....I just keep getting wrapped up in trying to track down treasure ships, military payroll ships, and pirates that left me stranded on a desert island for months!!

[Enduro_Man]

I know what you mean. I hadn't played it for quite a while, but installed it last month for a quick fix. It ended up sucking my game hours for an entire week. I've gone cold turkey yet again, but I'm sure I'll be back at it some time next year.

Just you wait. Give it a few more days and you'll be looking forward to the dancing. And pumping your fist like a dork with every fluorish you pull off.

[MythicalMino]

one thing i cannot seem to figure out is....how do you try to invade and take over towns? When I try to, I only sail into them....and even into nations that I have attacked constantly? I want the French to rule the Carribean!!

Anyone wanna tell me what it takes to be able to do a land battle for a city?

[Alan Dunkin]

You make landfall, then move your avatar & pirate group to town.

--- Alan

[Kalle]

Depends on difficulty level how much you have to do to get disliked. To get a city to hate you enough to get the attack dialogue you need to prey on shipping from the nation in general. Preying on ships from a city makes that particular city like you less than your overall faction rating too.

[MythicalMino]

hey, thanks!!!

I was actually going to try that the next time I loaded it up....

Thanks again

Chris

[Enduro_Man]

You've got two options for starting a land battle. If the town is sufficiently hostile towards you and fires its cannons as you approach, then you can start the battle immediately. If not, you can land at a beach nearby, then march your crew to the town.

EDIT: Boy, I'm slow.

[roguefrog]

Most of the games was great, and it got pretty brutal at the highest difficulty. I hated the sneak out of town mini-game though.

[tromik]

Is the Xbox version any good? I'm sure I could find it cheap, and I don't know how well the PC version would run on my machine.

[Tom Chick]

Aww, rats, I frickin' knew there was a game I should have installed before I left home! I've got a long-ass 11-hour plane ride coming up and Pirates would have been totally awesome on the laptop.

Still, Civ IV is nothing to sneeze at when it comes to passing time.

-Tom

[Enduro_Man]

Tom: Depending on what airline you're taking and what inflight entertainment they provide, you just might find yourself being engrossed by seatback Hangman, or old episodes of Mythbusters.

roguefrog: I really used to hate the sneaking game, until I discovered how to run, climb walls, and knock out guards just three weeks ago. (I used to read every manual; what happened?) Now I hate the sneaking game a bit less.

[Tom Chick]

Jeeze, Enduro, way to make the sneaking game well-nigh impossible.

As for the inflight entertainment, I didn't even bother. It was a 13-hour flight out here and I'm happy to say -- with the help of my Asus laptop, a copy of Soren Johnson's Sid Meier's Civilization IV, and the power outlet under my seat -- I didn't once resort to watching the inflight entertainment.

-Tom, wondering if it would be unethical to Bitorrent a copy of a game he already owns, but left at home...

[Enduro_Man]

It's surprisingly doable even up to the Rogue level, but it's not something you particularly want to do.

Now, tell me, "Where in the World is Tom Chick?" (San Diego?)

[Kalle]

I never sneak, cause it's slow, randomised and annoying. Besides that, the only thing I can't do at the highest difficulty (Swashbuckler?) is fight the damn bastard of a Marquis. A problem I solved creatively by killing every last one of his crew members before fighting him. Sadly, that wasn't doable in the last fight with him, and as I was 40 years old when I finally got to his stronghold I didn't even stand a chance.

[Tom Chick]

Enduro Man, there's no call to be playing at Rogue level. You're not playing Pirates until you're playing at the hardest difficulty level. Everything else is just part of the tutorial.

-Tom

P.S. I'm in Korea.

[JD]

Pirates! - both, the original and its remake - always meant to me: 2-3 days of addiction. Followed by a huge amount of boredom because you've done and seen everything, got the biggest ship and the quests end up being FedEx tasks, resulting in the game vanishing from my HD for 1-2 years until I got it out again for 2-3 days. And so on.

-Julian

[Enduro_Man]

Julian: My experience is pretty much identical to yours, except I usually leave mine on the hard drive. Y'know, just in case. Unfortunately, I still have not yet seen -let alone captured- the fabled Ship of the Line. Maybe it's because I'm not a real Swashbuckler, dangit. Can I help it if I want my men to have an even share of the wealth?

Tom: I got confused when you said you had a long flight ahead of you, then -minutes later- said you'd just completed an even longer trip. So I assumed you'd flown to Seoul via Bahrain to rack up the miles. Good luck in the Starcraft tournament!

[Charlatan]

I had a great time when I finally played it last year. After a good run, though, I had to stop because I got caught on the West coast of Florida, in a small bay. There's a town about halfway up the coast in a cove - the town faces southeast. I sailed into it, but when I leave the town I'm dumped out facing southeast - and I run aground. If I turn the ship around, before he hits the open sea, he enters town. So I go through this cycle of entering town - leaving town- getting stuck on land - slowly turning - almost breaking free - entering town.

I did that for about 15 minutes before I gave up

Before that, though, I really loved the game. I don't know why it took me so long to actually play it.

Tom's in Korea? New preview on the next 326 Asian MMORPGS that are coming to market in 2007?

[zx81-Amd64]

The origonal game has remained on my floppy/harddrive for the last 19 years. I haven't plucked up the courage to try the new version yet - i just dont want to risk spoiling one of my favourite game plays.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/sid-meiers-pirates

[Sam Jones]

Is the Xbox version any good? I'm sure I could find it cheap, and I don't know how well the PC version would run on my machine.

Xbox differences:

1) Long (loooong) load times. Wanna check your ship's hold? load time. Wanna check your journal? Load time. Almost everything you do involves loading.
2) Dance game is easier
3) No land exploration - you hit the coastline and if you're close enough to the treasure, you find it
3) New stealth game to sneak around hostile towns
5) More structured "story" that provides a sort of campaign to follow (it's still a case of hunt the pirates, find your family)

If I had a choice, I would pick the PC version, no contest.

[Elton]

Yeah, I've only got the Xbox version, but after hearing all the gushing about the PC version I find it kind of disappointing. The load time between screens really saps the excitement.

[wildpokerman]

roguefrog: I really used to hate the sneaking game, until I discovered how to run, climb walls, and knock out guards just three weeks ago. (I used to read every manual; what happened?) Now I hate the sneaking game a bit less.


Wow you can really do this stuff? Looks like I know where 2 days of my vacation next week are going.

[Enduro_Man]

Add "hiding in hay bales" to that list and you'll wonder why you ever put up with that pussy Sam Fisher.

[JeffL]

Sid Meier is a gaming genius. He simply knows how to design a game that is so much more than the feature list. You look at the game, think, eh, sounds cool but doesn't blow me a way, install it, and then you find yourself addicted.

SimGolf was another one. I reinstalled that one not long ago, just for something to play on the plane on the way to Taiwan, and was totally hooked again.

[Jake Plane]

Anyone else wish there was a 360 version of this game? I enjoyed it on the PC but the simplified controls beg for a console port.

[Troy S Goodfellow]

Anyone else wish there was a 360 version of this game? I enjoyed it on the PC but the simplified controls beg for a console port.

There is an Xbox version. It works on the 360. (http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2006/8/29/5142)

Troy

[Jake Plane]

Right but the Xbox version looks pretty bad by comparison.

[Jab]

There's a psp version coming , no idea how it's going to look. Sim golf then Pirates! are my favorite Firaxis games.

[Marcus]

There is a psp version coming out soon as well.

Wait what!?

[Rob_Merritt]

I might have to dig out my psp for that.

[Qenan]

I've owned both versions and couldn't get into either. At least I "loaned" the PC version to a relative who liked it.

[txa1265]

Just to follow up - Pirates! for the PSP is out now and should be in stores today.

But it gets better - check this CAG thread (http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125449) saying that EG / GS has it at $19.99!

[Alan Dunkin]

Been playing the PC version back again for a bit for fun, trying to extend the life of my guy as much as possible. For whatever reason I used to not use the keypad for dancing and fights, actually using the mouse to do everything previously. I don't know why... oh wait, maybe I do, it had something to do with the way the Logitech diNovo media keypad thingee worked. Anyway, now that I'm using the regular keypad on a different keyboard, the game's been a bit more enjoyable.

I've been stretching out the lifespan of my guy because I'd never seen Montalban's quest before and holy crap that was a shock. I don't want to spoil it but it's easy to say I was outnumbered.

--- Alan

[pyrhic]

The 'original' version i played on my ST, what 20 years ago(wow), would still be in my personal top 5 games of all time. Try as hard as I could, the new one just couldnt hold my attention that long...I chalk that up to the dancing minigame...

[OrfBC]

I never understood the hate for the dancing minigame. It's really no better or worse than any of the other minigames, it's just one that wasn't in the original. Is that why people hate it so much? It's basically just a variation of the fencing minigame.

[Tom Chick]

Dude, it's dancing. You and me are secure enough in our heterosexuality that we can prance about in puffy pirate shirts, either in a game or the real world, as I do every Tuesday night and sometimes on Saturdays. That might not be the case for other people.

-Tom

[Jab]

I didn't mind the dancing games, maybe because once I switched to using the num pad the game got alot easier. The turn based troop fighting was pretty fun, one of my favorite things to do was bombard the hell out cities I didn't like and then take them over.

[txa1265]

Dude, it's dancing. You and me are secure enough in our heterosexuality that we can prance about in puffy pirate shirts, either in a game or the real world, as I do every Tuesday night and sometimes on Saturdays. That might not be the case for other people.

Of course the great thing about portable games is that now you can prance about in real life while also doing it in the game ...

[Alan Au]

I never understood the hate for the dancing minigame. It's really no better or worse than any of the other minigames, it's just one that wasn't in the original. Is that why people hate it so much? It's basically just a variation of the fencing minigame.
Actually, dancing is easier than the fencing minigame once you learn the patterns (on the PC version):

4 - 6 - 4 - 6 -
6 - 4 - 6 - 4 -

1 - 1 - 1 - 1 -
3 - 3 - 3 - 3 -

- 8 1 1 - 8 1 1
8 2 1 1 2 8 3 3

4 3 4 3 4 3 4 3
6 1 6 1 6 1 6 1

2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1
2 3 8 3 2 3 8 3
- Alan

[Alan Dunkin]

The fencing game is more interactive. Dancing is just a set of patterns as Alan shows above, but actually memorizing them I think is a bit on the lame side.

Actually the mini-game I don't like is the sneaking-in-town one (which coincides with the escape-from-jail one).. for some reason it just doesn't appeal to me. Plus I don't get much practice at it and you really don't have to do it at all to get really far in the game (unlike dancing).

--- Alan

[Supertanker]

The fencing game is more interactive. Dancing is just a set of patterns as Alan shows above, but actually memorizing them I think is a bit on the lame side.

Isn't memorizing the patterns how these dances actually worked? People weren't out their just shakin' their lacey moneymakers.

[OrfBC]

I *hate* the sneaking around town one. Fortunately, it's easy to avoid it entirely. My favorite one is ground combat, too.

How do you bombard towns? I didn't know that was an option.

[spiffy]

I think you just hit the space bar (or whatever the fire cannons button is) within a close distance on the travel map of a hostile fort.

[Jab]

How do you bombard towns? I didn't know that was an option.

You can only bombard towns that have a fort it seems regardless of the size of the town. As you keep firing the flag will get more tattered showing the damage. This also reduces the military force I think. You can't completely destroy the fort but you can reduce it to just one cannon firing.

[Alan Dunkin]

Wow I never knew that either. Heh.

--- Alan

[Alan Dunkin]

Well I took Montalban's town, though I was still a bit outnumbered, I had the advantage of terrain this time and effectively split his army up between some rocks, then sat back defensively, on a hill, in jungle. The AI isn't really great about tactical dispositions. I attempted to play a bit more, found the Aunt (so 3 out of 4 lost relatives) but I was starting to get hammered - lost my pirate brig after a massive broadside against a treasure galleon (ouch), then got imprisoned and couldn't do much with my leftover. I was ass slow in fights and for some reason my keypad wouldn't work and using the mouse was like a bad memory. It was the late 1680s so I retired - first game I've retired in a long time. Finished up with 103, which is decent.

Next up I think will be Dutch in 1600 or whatever the earliest time is.. that's gotta be tough.

--- Alan

[Lizard_King]

You can only bombard towns that have a fort it seems regardless of the size of the town. As you keep firing the flag will get more tattered showing the damage. This also reduces the military force I think. You can't completely destroy the fort but you can reduce it to just one cannon firing.

Man, I really wish I had known that three playthroughs ago. I need to read the manual for this thing, as that was one feature from the original that I felt was really missing. It's really good, but as a prolific city conqueror I wish there more options for your ground troops and that my forces weren't so limited in options when the enemy's clearly don't have that problem.

I've adopted terrorizing Spain as the centerpiece of my career throughout, and that has gone well. I expect I'll have to switch at some point, though, as they really are running out of convenient cities to sack and I already have rank maxed with all of the other groups.


Next up I think will be Dutch in 1600 or whatever the earliest time is.. that's gotta be tough.
Wait, there's still the time period thing? That's what I get for jumping right into the career. I guess the only thing I'm really missing now is the will to pay for one of those universal 360 controller programs so that I can easily adapt that controller to this game.

[zengonzo]

Man, there was so much about the recent version I found unappealing. Mostly the interface stuff that I found really clunky .. But I loved the original so much I am compelled to try it again.

[Mysterio]

I guess the only thing I'm really missing now is the will to pay for one of those universal 360 controller programs so that I can easily adapt that controller to this game.

You mean something like Pinnacle Game Profiler (http://www.pinnaclegameprofiler.com/)? I've never used it. Anyone know if it's any good for 20 bucks?

[rezaf]

Too bad, I'd hoped the thread necromancy had some compelling reason.
Anyway, I didn't mind the UI, but I thought the very few pirates were annoying.
Much, much, much better than Sid's reimagening of Railroad Tycoon, though - at least in my book.
_____
rezaf

[Lizard_King]

Man, there was so much about the recent version I found unappealing. Mostly the interface stuff that I found really clunky .. But I loved the original so much I am compelled to try it again.

Did you play it on PC or xbox? It's not a good UI, by any means, and I can't think of the last time I've had to do primary controls with my left hand on numeric keypad so that I could use the mouse with my right to scan for other targets (not an ambi-mouser). But without using the manual I still figured out how to get through it relatively efficiently. I still don't know how to quicksave or quickload, for instance, but it's only a trivial problem.


You mean something like Pinnacle Game Profiler? I've never used it. Anyone know if it's any good for 20 bucks?
That's exactly what I meant, yes. At 10$ I would have definitely picked it up to round out the fact that I had to buy yet another xbox controller in order to get a wireless adapter for my computer.

[zengonzo]

Did you play it on PC or xbox? It's not a good UI, by any means, and I can't think of the last time I've had to do primary controls with my left hand on numeric keypad so that I could use the mouse with my right to scan for other targets (not an ambi-mouser). But without using the manual I still figured out how to get through it relatively efficiently. I still don't know how to quicksave or quickload, for instance, but it's only a trivial problem.

I'd played it off of GameTap.

It's been a little time, but I recall the menus being soft and .. not crisp. That there were cutscenes and pauses mixed through that, while brief, cut in little bits into the time to where I'd get a little annoyed. Overall, that feeling when you realize something wasn't designed for a PC.

The UI is one of my big Buts - where even with a game which I'd loved I can have an excrutiatingly difficult time going back to once I've become accustomed to cleaner interfaces.

[Lizard_King]

Yeah, I can see that. After years of gaming only on the console, I'm just easily swayed when I have instantaneous load times so I can overlook clumsiness.

[zengonzo]

I'm going to give it another shot, for my love of the original .. But I sure wish a mod were available.

[gordonrumble]

I tried this game on my laptop a long time ago, and the mouse kept on disappearing. Was there ever a fix for this?

[Lizard_King]

I tried this game on my laptop a long time ago, and the mouse kept on disappearing. Was there ever a fix for this?

I don't know. If you were playing 1.0, perhaps as it's on 1.02 or something. I haven't had any problems with that.

[salwon]

Honestly, I never even used the mouse. The numpad controls work much better for everything.

Great game, I'm going to fire it up tonight.

[DoomMunky]

So I just bought this and am about 4 hours in. I've upgraded to Journeyman, am getting somewhat proficient at swordfighting and ship combat (having lots of men REALLY helps!), but still suck at the dancing stuff, too.

The whole game really feels like Space Rangers 2, with a 'you know, whatever!' approach to storyline and progression. You really make it up as you go. I like that you can do all sorts of stuff like trade, but don't have to.

One question: I don't see the use of the extra cannon you loot from other ships, and wonder why you don't sell them from the Merchant screen when you click Sell All. What's with the extra cannon?

[Squee]

One question: I don't see the use of the extra cannon you loot from other ships, and wonder why you don't sell them from the Merchant screen when you click Sell All. What's with the extra cannon?
When you take damage during a fight, you can lose some. Any extras you choose to loot are kept as spares. You definitely don't need to loot as many as you find though.

[Eric T Cheng]

You can sell the extras to free up cargo hold space. However, cannons won't get you much gold though.

[Strato]

The dancing is fairly easy once you get into the rhythm behind it. It'll take a few tries, but follow the beat of the music and the patterns of the dance (like forward, reverse, forward, reverse, or forward, reverse, turn, turn) and you'll win the beautiful governor's daughter in no time. Getting the dancing shoes helps immensly too. In fact, I think the upgraded dancing shoes (forget what they are called) make dancing very forgiving.

[Eric T Cheng]

Sid Meier's Pirates! is the grandfather of sandbox games. This is why it has a dear place in my heart.

My only complaint about the latest version of the game is the use of Sim-speak instead of the actual European languages (English, Spanish, French, and Dutch).

[Eric T Cheng]

The dancing is fairly easy once you get into the rhythm behind it. It'll take a few tries, but follow the beat of the music and the patterns of the dance (like forward, reverse, forward, reverse, or forward, reverse, turn, turn) and you'll win the beautiful governor's daughter in no time. Getting the dancing shoes helps immensly too. In fact, I think the upgraded dancing shoes (forget what they are called) make dancing very forgiving.

I could never get the special dance moves (the twirl part) down unless I luck out.

[krise madsen]

By chance, I found a dancing method that works rather well: The trick is to not hit the key when the indicator lights up, but to skip a beat.

[Island Dog]

One of the best games, but I can't stand the dancing parts.

[salwon]

The best thing about this game is that you can completely ignore any aspect you don't like.

[zengonzo]

Unless it's the interface ..

[Lizard_King]

By chance, I found a dancing method that works rather well: The trick is to not hit the key when the indicator lights up, but to skip a beat.

There are only a few dance patterns, and it's much easier to predict them based on your partner's "tells" than any indicators. It's actually easier without sound, which is a blessing in every sense. If you just start holding the correct direction as soon as she does it and move through it directly to the next direction...what, why do I know this shit? Damned videogame ocd.

The biggest problem I had with the game is that the 360 controller wasn't automatically compatible. I would have liked to use it for everything other than the field combat.

[Murbella]

The dancing parts were so annoying annoying and frequent that i eventually used a trainer (pc) to auto dance for me so i didn't have to put up with it.

[Chris Nahr]

The dancing was wonderful and totally simple and the best part of the entire game. I wish the obnoxious town sneaking sequences had been so obvious and easy.

[Eric T Cheng]

The dancing was wonderful and totally simple and the best part of the entire game. I wish the obnoxious town sneaking sequences had been so obvious and easy.

Agreed. The dancing part is very easy, just following your partner's hand gestures. DDR!

The problem with sneaking into town was there was a lack of any indication which direction to head to.

[Jasper Phillips]

The secret to sneaking into town was to bring an army.

[Eric T Cheng]

The secret to sneaking into town was to bring an army.

I found a great way to increase morale after being out at sea too long was to cull the number of pirates in your fleet by attacking a town/city with a large garrison. More booty for the survivors!

[ydejin]

The dancing was wonderful and totally simple and the best part of the entire game. I wish the obnoxious town sneaking sequences had been so obvious and easy.

I liked the Dancing as well. As Eric says, very DDR like.

[Eric T Cheng]

Does anyone know how to get the spin "bonus" moves during the dancing mini-game for the PC version? (I never bothered with looking at the manual)

[Jasper Phillips]

If you nail the beat just right you get a flourish of some sort. Game difficulty, items, hero skill, etc. affect how big this window is.

I vaguely recall that you similarily got a bonus for timing your swashbuckling defense just right.

[Strato]

I vaguely recall that you similarily got a bonus for timing your swashbuckling defense just right.

Yeah, I think you are right. It's like you do a backflip followed up by a quick jab to push the captain back one space. I could only ever get it with the very fast swashbuckling encounters, when you have a very narrow window to respond to the attack of the captain, such as the later duels against the arch nemesis, whatever his name was.

[Chris Nahr]

I found swashbuckling much harder than dancing because there wasn't any predictable rhythm, so you had to watch your opponent like a hawk to fire off the appropriate defense moves. If they ever redo Pirates again I want individual difficulty settings for the various subgames...

[Enidigm]

I can't do dancing at all on Adventurer difficulty. My reflexes just aren't good enough. The forward/backward moves throw me every time. OTOH, i've more or less figured out Swashbuckling.

[zengonzo]

I'd like the subgames to be more consistently based around a consistent action engine, instead of all the various minigame stuffs.

.. Is anyone working on a proper new Sea Dogs?

Hrm, anyone ever play Age of Pirates 2?

http://www.ageofpiratesthegame.com/popup_en.html

[Chris Nahr]

I can't do dancing at all on Adventurer difficulty. My reflexes just aren't good enough. The forward/backward moves throw me every time. OTOH, i've more or less figured out Swashbuckling.

You got it backwards -- swashbuckling is based on reflexes, but dancing isn't. It's based on rhythm and some memorization of the various tunes, like all music games. So your reflexes are actually pretty good but your rhythm sucks. :)

[Murph]

I tried to get this running on Ubuntu last night, but no luck. I'll have to install it on my laptop soon, 'cause I'm kinda cravin' it.

I should stop reading threads about games I'm not already playing, it just makes me want to reinstall EVERYTHING.

[Jasper Phillips]

I found swashbuckling much harder than dancing because there wasn't any predictable rhythm, so you had to watch your opponent like a hawk to fire off the appropriate defense moves. If they ever redo Pirates again I want individual difficulty settings for the various subgames...
Did you try sticking your elbow out to the right, and putting a finger on each of the three defenses? I found doing that made defense much easier.

There is an individual difficulty of sorts, in the initial skill you choose, and the equipment you buy. Not exactly what you're looking for, but it can help.

[Jasper Phillips]

I just installed this again for kicks, and the widescreen is borked. There are no wide screen choices, and rather than putting black bars on the side, it stretches everything horizontally. :-/

Anyone know of a way around this? Well, aside from digging up a 4:3 monitor...

[salwon]

Did you try sticking your elbow out to the right, and putting a finger on each of the three defenses? I found doing that made defense much easier.

Wait, there's another way to play? Dear God, why?

[Eric T Cheng]

I just installed this again for kicks, and the widescreen is borked. There are no wide screen choices, and rather than putting black bars on the side, it stretches everything horizontally. :-/

Anyone know of a way around this? Well, aside from digging up a 4:3 monitor...

You can edit the config.ini file (http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/index.php/Sid_Meier%27s_Pirates%21_%282004%29#Widescreen_Sup port) to change to a widescreen resolution but it'll stretch the graphics and pooched the UI.

[Jasper Phillips]

Yeah, I'd seen that; probably should have mentioned it. I was hoping someone knew a better trick. :-(

Hmmm, maybe if there were a way to get my monitor/card to just display it unstretched...

[Edit] Meh. The Nvidia control panel doesn't seem to allow this, although I've had laptops where it happened automatically.

[Chris Nahr]

I don't understand. Your NVidia control panel and possibly your monitor should definitely allow you to keep the aspect ratio of non-widescreen resolutions.

[Eric T Cheng]

All this talk about Sid Meier's Pirates! had me want to play the game. Luckily I brought the game disc with me on my business trip. But stupid me forgot to install it before I left for Spain and left the manual that has the CD key back in Vancouver.

Durr!

[Jasper Phillips]

I don't understand. Your NVidia control panel and possibly your monitor should definitely allow you to keep the aspect ratio of non-widescreen resolutions.
I don't understand either... I just got the machine though, so I may well be missing something, and I'm to busy with other stuff to pursue it very far just now.

[Mysterio]

I don't understand. Your NVidia control panel and possibly your monitor should definitely allow you to keep the aspect ratio of non-widescreen resolutions.


I don't understand either... I just got the machine though, so I may well be missing something, and I'm to busy with other stuff to pursue it very far just now.

My NVidia control panel is locked in at "Use my display's built-in scaling," since my PC's using the display's HDMI input (my 360 is using the display's VGA input).

[Chris Nahr]

So that's some kind of HDTV then?

[Mysterio]

So that's some kind of HDTV then?

No, it's an HP w2207h monitor. The "h" indicates this model has an HDMI input, since they also sold a w2207 model.

[Chris Nahr]

That's very bizarre. Nvidia drivers have some problems with HDTVs as rei (I think) wrote in the tech forum but from what you say it seems these problems affect all HDMI connections. Sorry, no idea how to fix this. :(

[Mysterio]

That's very bizarre. Nvidia drivers have some problems with HDTVs as rei (I think) wrote in the tech forum but from what you say it seems these problems affect all HDMI connections. Sorry, no idea how to fix this. :(

Honestly, though, HP's scaling is very good, so I'm ok with this option being locked. But I'd prefer to have the option unlocked.

[DoomMunky]

Every time I dive into this game I come up like 3 hours later, gasping for air.

My only beef right now is that I can't wipe out little settlements. I wish I could kick the Spanish off the top of South America.

[Djscman]

I saw that Target was selling this in their bargain section for ten bucks so I finally picked it up. Great game! I've played quite a bit of Mount & Blade before and now I see where those Turks got so many of their gameplay ideas. Moving around the overworld, recruiting at towns with various degrees of friendliness, jumping into a different engine for battles, pledging allegiance to different factions, etc. etc.

As your character ages on the higher levels, is there any way to nurse him out of poor health? I saw that there are herbs that extend his life span, but I don't think that gets him back to his swashbuckling best.

There's an awful lot of detail in the little Caribbean towns and the four nations are pretty balanced (plus this wasn't in the original game) but I wish I could sail my ship to Europe for trading and politicking directly, pirate off the Barbary coast, or even round the tip of South America to do some raiding on the Pacific side like Sir Francis Drake.

[DoomMunky]

Wow, I just played for 2 hours straight and am totally burnt out. The Adventurer difficulty killed it for me. Suddenly I'm getting whupped in sword fights and have no money. Dammit.

I think I'm missing a strategic layer or something. It's a fun little sandbox, but other than chasing around a pirate dude who has info on my family or earning money, it's a really small sandbox.

[Omniscia]

In years past, and especially with the NES version, I enjoyed getting out the atlas and navigating without the benefit of the in-game map. It forced me to eye the coast and get to know the contours of the region, to figure out where I was. I've forgotten most of it now, but I could name most of the islands in the Caribbean just by looking at their outline.

[slikster]

So, I bought this on Impulse for 10 bucks and have been playing it all night. I can't dance or swordfight, awesome! It is also really aggrivating to try heading east against the trade winds. I've been playing on the medium difficulty, but I think I'll have to bump that down a notch.

[Therlun]

You know about beating? (That's the English term, right?)
The original Pirates had it and IIRC SM Pirates does too.
Some ships even reach their top speed when you sail them with a slight angle against the wind this way.

[rezaf]

You know about beating? (That's the English term, right?)
The original Pirates had it and IIRC SM Pirates does too.
Some ships even reach their top speed when you sail them with a slight angle against the wind this way.

Still I remember it was incredibly annoying in the original pirates to get out of the western parts of the caribbean (aka the central american coast) and to a lesser degree the same was true in SMP.

In the original Pirates I tended to avoid trips to central america like the plague for that very reason.
_____
rezaf

[Mysterio]

You know about beating? (That's the English term, right?)

I believe you mean tacking:


to change the direction of (a sailing ship) when sailing close-hauled by turning the bow to the wind and shifting the sails so as to fall off on the other side at about the same angle as before

[Therlun]

I believe you mean tacking:

I blame Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing#Beating_or_.22working.22
:P

[salwon]

The medium difficulty (the one in the very center) is pretty forgiving, you might be on one of the harder ones. There's definitely a shift towards Realism(TM) as you bump it up. Sailing east, swordfighting, naval battles, etc shouldn't be any trouble on the lower levels.