[Taro]

I bought this game after browsing this site (which I may humbly add is fantastic btw). I used to play the original pirates ages ago and always liked the smaller maps the most (the really early eras with few cities). I enjoy the current version, but I find it can get repetitive sometimes, so I decided to spruce things up and try my hand at re-creating the Silver Empire era of 1560. I used Phalzyr's excellent trainer to change the nationality of every city to Spanish as well as nearly every settlement; Indian villages, religious missions and pirate havens were not changed. The only non-Spanish city is St.Augustine which was originally French - just like in the original game. I did leave one measly French settlement near Florida Keys; perhaps this town may evole to become that city. I eliminated all traces of the English and Dutch empires, included their settlements to ensure that no English/Dutch ships spawned.

To add further challenge I set up some rules for myself:

No 1600 era ships can be used such as the sloop, frigate or fluyt. I love the Royal Sloop, but it has no place in this campaign. If you want speed get a pinnace-class ship, for heavy-duty firepower, get a fast/war/flag galleon.

Captured cities can only have Spanish or French governors; there is no English or Dutch presence in the Caribbean yet.

I will try to change the ships for the named pirates to reflect this era, but spawned un-named pirates will usually sail sloops or brigs which can be sold but not used.

I accept that my max score/fame can only be 110 (no English/Dutch ranks for me)...


Hopefully this will be a fun challenge and create a very different game world.

P.S. Could someone tell me if brigs existed in the 1500s?

Glad to meet fellow Pirates fans!

[CaptainPatch]

Just won't be the same without the Silver Train! ;)


Brigs date back to the 1600s. I'm unsure as to whether that was early, middle, or late 1600s. They are an upgrade from the brigantine, the brig having two square-rigged masts while the brigantine only has the forward mast square-rigged. Brigs became most popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. The phrase "send him to the brig" derives from the US Navy's practice of using brigs as prison ships.

If you opt for the brigantine, keep in mind that it derives from the galleass, a vessel powered by both sails and oars. It was popular with Mediterranean pirates, and called "brigantino" by the Italians, from whence the name comes. When the brigantine appears in the Caribbean, it's without the oars, as you have to have a MUCH bigger crew to man the oars, which in turn meant that the ship usually stayed real close to its base of operations, which allows the ship to NOT have to carry a LOT of food cargo. (More room for booty.)

[Taro]

Great! Thank you for clarifying that; I'm trying to make it as historically accurate as possible. I normally use sloops, but with the only fast-ship option being a pinnace-class vessel, it really changes the gameplay.