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Attachment #21604

FAQ
made by Raymond A. Colerick

Avast there! Prepare to set assail for Pirate's Gold. Ye have chosen
a perilous living. Adventure, blood, treachery, and death lie afore ye.
But so too do glory and treasure beyond the dreams of avarice--if ye be
brave enough to take them! Pirate's Gold is a game of swashbuckling on
the Caribbean Sea in the 16th and 17th centuries. You are a piratee
captain, seeking to make your fortune in the world's most dangerous
profession. You start out in command of a tiny ship crewed by a small
but loyal group of sea-dogs; your goal is to retire rich, powerful, and
famous. You may end up respected and happy; or you may end your days in
a dark, damp dungeon or sleeping forever in Davy Jones' locker! Good
luck to ye Mate an' may your days be filled wi' adventure and glory in
Pirate's Gold.

I. Basics

Main Menu (this comes after you push the start button from the starting
screen).

You have numerous selections:

Start a New Career
Continue a Saved Game
Command a famous expedition


1. Starting a New Career will have you in a duel with a failing
captain.

As you travel along you will have the chance to ally yourself with one
of the popular countries at that place in time (it may be ENGLAND,
SPAIN, the DUTCH, FRANCE, ECT). NOTE: You do have the personal
opportunity not to associate yourself with any particular country, but
it does help to have allies (especially since they have reward systems
and DAUGHTERS they want to have married, AGR.!)


The Controller:

Start- pauses the game.

A button- this is the menu selector in the game. It also serves as the
attack button.
B button- this is the secondary selector in the game.
C button-this pauses the game and sends you to the Captain's cabin.

Directional Pad-
This controls your movement. It also changes the highlighted selection
on the menus. NOTE: When sailing if you press the B button it will rise
the sails and lower the them as well. This depends mostly if there are
clouds around to give you some wind for movement. Hold B for a
temporary turbo.

Fencing or sword fighting:

This occurs: in the beginning of the game, when you board an enemy's
ship or town, and when you track a villain down.

Early Tactics:

First remember that a is the slash (attack), b button is for
parring(dodging or blocking), and the c button+the direction opposite of
your enemy is the retreat.

When the fighting begins be sure to block first to prevent him hitting
you right off the beginning of the duel. Or, if you are fast enough,
then strike first and aim for the mid-portion of his body--- the
direction of your enemy (which could be either left or right) and a
button. NOTE: It is a matter of opinion whether turbo controllers are
appropriate for dueling. Some people use them, some do not.

One-to-One combo

Press the direction of your enemy and up (so it would be up-right
diagonal button on your directional pad) the press that same direction
(left or right) and the A button. So the end motion would be striking
the head and then the main body. As you are attacking this way you will
be pushing him toward a corner and eventually a surrender. But beware
he will try to counter you and push you into a corner and a surrender.
NOTE: a minor cheat would be to just save a game before you go to a
battle that is coming. Once it is saved you can always go back to it.
This applies to all fighting- both on ship and on shore.


Getting into the Towns:

There are two ways: either by land or by sea. Just simply sail your
ship onto the land to exit out of the ship. Or if the town is close to
sea, just sail directly to it.

Towns:

At the port towns you can repair your ships for a price (just head to
the right side of the screen and the craftsman will be waiting for you.)
You can also sell off cannons to get some cash (a good last chance when
you are low!) Aside from that you can sell one of the ships you acquire
(make certain it is a badly damaged one, it may not sell for much, but
in the end you earn what you can out of it). NOTE: Before selling ships
off be sure to plunder all you can out of it.

Inland Towns-

These have no ports and must be walked to, obviously. They, like, the
port towns have a bank, tavern, mansion for the governor, and Shop.

Go to the Bank to cash in any booty for the crew, retire, advance to a harder level (for the most part just run the game as usual Easy through
the whole thing, then medium difficulty and then Harder). NOTE: As far
as the crew is concerned they will eventually get paid. Yet, you can
keep going and when get angry just take them into battle and let the
hardcore sea dogs meet their doom (But this tactic should only be done
when your are far out in the sea and run into a fair amount of ship
traffic turn the tide!>) Or a much complicated task can be done in the towns.
When the crew becomes angry or unhappy some of them will jump ship. They
will mostly do this around the towns, so you can try to carry on with
your business and let them leave on their own when you get to town.
NOTE: When you do this, it is hard to say how many will leave at a
given time (it could be 10 or it could be up to 50.) Just try to keep
the crew happy with good battles (if you lose by retreat then you will
lose some of their respect, this obviously affects their attitude.)
When you go to the Shop you can buy/sell goods. Use the same principles
about cannon selling here as well. The tavern offers bits of
information you might be able to use, sometimes even a pirate will offer
to sell you a treasure map (buy it only if you can already afford to pay
off the crew). Other than that sailors there will offer to join you on
a regular basis (the number varies). At the Mansion the governor you
sign allegiance to (of which you can merely go to a neighboring country
land to get the same results) will be ready to assign you certain tasks
to do. These could be tracking an infamous pirate down, secret mission,
or destroying another country. Follow his instructions to receive a
good promotion later on.

Ship battles:

When you begin the game you will have a small ship (possibly a barque,
sloop, or pinnace). These type of ships are very maneuverable. Though
the pinnace is the weakest of the group and is not recommendable because
it can be sunk after a couple of cannon shots!! Other ships include
galleons (three types, fast, war, and regular), frigates, merchantman,
and cargo fleet. These are very good ships (on a defensive scale), yet
they lack the skill that can be applied to the smaller ones. The
smaller ships are more recommendable. When attacking ships be sure to
sail your ship in a 180 degree motion (literally circling the enemy).
Then keep away from the sides that fire the cannons (that would be the
starboard and port sides)

EX. *-----*
+
|-------these center sections on both sides fire cannonballs.
The corners do not, therefore; sail perpendicular around the ship.


EX. *-----* - you
*
|
|
| -them
*
If you sail parallel next to the enemy ship he will be able to shoot
you.
Ex. *-----*
*
*-----*

Also, if you are injured ship, sail a small area away and fire from a
distance so you can get your revenge, AGR.! Practice this distance
shooting, it helps when you foe has more cannons and men, because he can
reload more faster and stronger than you can.
THE END OF THE BATTLE?!

This will be when either you or the enemy ship surrenders, sinks, or the
sunsets and then both of you will be able to fight in the darkness.

When you have damaged your foe enough (which will be when he has less
than a hundred men and 20 cannons) ram him and board ship for one-on-one
combat. Note: the more men you have, you have more fighting strength
against his men. Use the fencing tactics mentioned previously to make
it a good fight.

Traveling across the oceans and seas:

For a start, make sure you have plenty of food (BUY ABOUT AS MUCH AS
YOUR SHIP CAN HOLD, or less if you want more gold). Then when you
recruit men--be sure to have at least 100 men abroad your ship. For the
most part they will be pleased until they do not see any action, gold,
or the chance to get their share of the gold. But in the meantime
keeping spanning the globe attacking enemy countries, searching for
treasure, infamous pirates, and lost relatives.

Historical Campaigns:

John Hawkins and the Battle of San Juan De UllA (1569)

Your Forces: One galleon, one merchantmen, four pinnaces, and 308 men.

Political Situation: You have a formidable squadron, but your flagship
is slow and it is difficult to control. You must decide on peaceful
trade or warlike raids. Peaceful trade means you can use smaller
Spanish ports to restock your supplies, but you will not make much
money. Warlike raids offer greater profit, but you will be hard-pressed
to find a friendly town where you can recruit men and sell booty.

Historical Chronicle: John Hawkins was an English merchant-privateer,
who made a number of trips to the Caribbean.

In '57 Hawkins was surprised and attacked at anchor in Vera Cruz by a
large Spanish force of galleons. He eventually made his way back to
England on the pinnace Minion with only 15 survivors.

Francis Drake and The Silver Train Ambush (1573)

Your Forces: One merchantman, one pinnace, and 73 men

Political Situation: Spain is at war with England.

Your Prospects: Only a man with foolhardy bravery like Drake would dare
attack the mighty Spanish Empire--at its peak of power--with just 73 men
on two small ships. A more cautious man would adopt a trading strategy,
building his wealth and crew before turning to piracy.

Historical Chronicle: Drake made many daring attacks against the Spanish
in the 1570s. During his colorful career, he sacked Nombre de Dias,
captured the Silver Train, and numerous Spanish ships, and
circumnavigated the globe. The grateful English government made him an
Admiral of the Fleet.

Piet Heyn and the Treasure Fleet

Your Forces: Four fast galleons, two sloops and 700 men.

Political Situation: Holland is at war with Spain and is allied with
England. France and England are at war with Spain.

Your Prospects: You command a powerful if cumbersome squadron. The
Treasure Fleet is an excellent goal; it's late in the season: you'd
better start hunting the Fleet off Havana or in the Florida Channel.
Otherwise you might want to pick on some medium or large Spanish towns.

Historical Chronicle: In 1628, the Dutch captain Piet Heyn sailed for
the West Indies with a powerful war fleet. After a terrible battle, he
captured the Treasure Fleet off the coast of Cuba. He took 46 tons of
silver, bankrupting the Spanish government.

L'Ollonais and the Sack of Maracaibo (1666)

Your Forces: One sloop, five pinnaces, and 400 men.

Political Situation: France is at war with England and Spain, and
allied to Holland. England and Holland are at war.

Your Prospects: Your force is strong in men, but weak in ships.
Therefore, like L'Ollonais, your best prospects lie in attacking towns,
not in sea battles.


Historical Chronicle: A French pirate, L'Ollonais gained a reputation
as one of the most ferocious and inhuman scoundrels who ever lived.
During his career, L'Ollonais sacked Maracaibo and Gibraltar, tortured
many and murdering many Spanish and Indians in the process. He was
clubbed to death during a raid on an Indian village.

Henry Morgan, The King's Pirate (1671)

Your Forces: One frigate, two merchantmen, one barque, two sloops, one
pinnace, and 600 men.

Political Situation: England and France are at War with Spain.

Your Prospects: You have a formidable force for land or sea fighting.
Your immediate difficulties are procuring enough food to keep your men
fed and enough plunder to keep up their morale.

Historical Chronicle: Henry Morgan was the most successful pirate in
the business. He sacked Puerto Principe, Gran Granada, Puerto Bello,
Maracaibo, Gibraltar and Panama. Unlike most pirates Morgan was smart
enough to quit while he was ahead. He retired to Jamaica where he died
of too much drink at the age of 53.

Baron De Pointis and the Last Expedition (1697)

Your forces: Five Frigates, one sloop, and 1200 men

Political Situation: France is at war with England and Spain.

Your Prospects: Your force is the most powerful ever seen on the
Spanish Main. You are free to select the target of your choice and
strike. The real question is how much treasure can you carry off? This
expedition is a pleasant romp.

Historical Chronicle: In 1697, France was at war with Spain. De
Pointis gathered a huge force of French soldiers and Caribbean
buccaneers and privateers and attacked the wealthy town of Cartagena.
Victorious, de Pointis sailed back to France with 20 million livres of
treasure in his holds.
This was the last great pirate expedition in the Caribbean.

HISTORICAL TIME PERIODS
THE SILVER EMPIRE---1560-1600

The Spanish Empire reaches its peak in this era, built on mountains of
silver bullion from New Spain (Mexico) and Peru. The other powers,
England, and France are constantly at war with Spain. Holland is a
Spanish province in revolt (and has no towns in the Carribean in this
time period).

Spain owns all of the towns in the Carribean, but one; the only
non-Spanish town is struggling French colony of St. Augustine in
Florida. A few additional French and English privateering bases exist
at the Florida Keys and Bahamas, appearing and disappearing with the
seasons.

MERCHANTS AND SMUGGLERS

Spain begins her slide into decay. France and England have become
powerful naval forces, and Holland has wrested its freedom from Spain.
A long period, of peace breaks out in the Carribean, making privateering
difficult, but trade easier. (Tobacco is now an important good).
The Spanish colonies are still rich and powerful, but England and
France have growing colonies of their own in the Indies. Holland as
trade throughout the Carribean, mostly basing their expeditions from the
town of Trinidad.

THE NEW COLONISTS (1620-1640)

Europe is ablaze with a series of bloody civil and political wars,
driving many refugees to the dubious safety of the NEW WORLD. The
Carribean colonies have grown tremendously, and French and English towns
begin to rival the older Spanish colonies. The Dutch have one colony
now, Curacao, right in the middle of the Spanish Main.
The Great Powers are more or less constantly at war with one another.
Trade is good, but perilous, and there are plenty of opportunities for
privateering among the warring nations.

Attachment #22331

FAQ made by M.

TIPS, HINTS, and SUGGESTIONS

NOTE:
These hints were based on my game play in the time period known as the
Buccanear Heroes. Most tips should apply to other periods, but I haven't
tried them yet. These are just my own personal observations, so there may
be better ways of doing things. The best that I was able to do in one game
was to get nine promotions by my host country (to Duke), 370000 personal
gold pieces, 1400 acres of land, rescuing four relatives, finding four
ancient treasures and two small ones, and retiring as an Advisor to the King.
Here's some tips that I'll pass on to you:


A. STARTING AN EXPEDITION:
1. Save your game.
2. Go to the Tavern- get info from the Bartender and the Traveller (if
present). Buy map from Map Seller if present (if the map is useless, ie.-
no coastline, you can restart from the saved postion and try again. If
you already have a good map piece don't buy another... it's not a new
map, just another piece of the one you already have. Hire all the Sailors
(if the number offered will fit on your ship). You want to start with as
large a crew as you can. It helps to end an expedition in a major port,
as big cities have more men in the tavern for the following expedition.
3. Go to the Governor- find out who your current allies and enemies are. You
may receive payment for a hostage (I usually take any offer over 900 gold
pieces). You may also hear news of where to find 'The Evil One'. (Write
down that info.) If you are offered an expedition, decline. (Wait until
later in the expedition when you have accomplished some goals and have
some free time.)
4. Look at your logbook's party status and at your globe, and plan on which
direction to take after leaving the harbor. When ready, leave town.

B. DURING AN EXPEDITION:
1. In the beginning, use your large number of men to go sack the biggest
prospering/wealthy enemy town that your men can handle. Unless you are
very good, avoid towns with 3 or 4 forts. Try to accumulate more men and
some cargo ships while going to the town, so that you will have room for
all of the plundered goods. If given the choice, install a governor of
your nationality.
2. When you've sacked 1-3 towns and your number of men is significantly
reduced, do your personal journeys, such as accepting a mission or
hunting for the Evil One or relatives. Accumulate as many ships as you
can and still maintain decent combat ability (as judged by the number of
cannon you can fire). If you get more than eight ships, keep the most
expensive. If you have only one ship, it should be a frigate. If only
two ships, a frigate and a merchantman/galleon. Only three ships: the
same as two, plus a small quick ship (sloop or barque).
3. Save finding the major ancient treasures for later in the voyage, when
your crew is growing unhappy. When meeting ships at sea, investigate all
sightings, and attack all pirates and non-allied ships. Avoid frigates
if you are severely unmanned. Take on a few new crew members occasionally
to offset combat losses, except near the end of a voyage when it will
make your crew unhappy. Enter ports to save your game occasionally (sneak
in if you have to).

C. ENDING AN EXPEDITION:
1. When ready to divy, try to do so in a major port of your own nationality.
You can also get into sea battles prior to entering the divy port, and
purposely take a few hits so that you can whittle your crew down to the
minimum number, so that the shares will be larger.
2. Save the game when you enter the divy city. Go see the govenor. Sell
EVERYTHING at the merchant. At the shipwright sell all ships but your
flagship, and most of your cannon. Get news and info at the tavern. Divy
at the bank as the last thing you do.

D. SHIP COMBAT:
1. I never had any problem with this. I just kept my ship either directly
ahead of or directly behind my opponent, putting shots into him as I
tacked back and forth. In this way I could hit him without being shot at.
You may take a shot or two when you are initially getting into position,
but after that, no problem. It doesn't matter how much more powerful your
opponent is, as long as there is no hand-to-hand combat. I preferred a
frigate for all battles at the easier skill levels, and a 18-gun barque
for fighting small ships at the harder skill levels. I wish the game was
more realistic in this section, as it was absurd how quickly the ships
pivoted in place at slow speeds, and when they accelerated or decelerated
drastically depending on a change in the wind. Oh well.

E. SWORD COMBAT:
1. I never got good at this. I just selected Skill at Fencing when creating
the character, and always pressed the attack, not wasting time on defense.
In this way I always won my swordfights, except when I was old and in poor
health and tried to take on an army much bigger than my own.

F. ATTACKING A TOWN BY SEA:
1. Don't waste time trading shots with the fort, just rush in as quick as
you can, landing right at the fort (not nearby). Tack back and forth if
the wind is not favorable. If you take too long to land, most of the gold
will be hidden when you arrive. Some forts are almost impossible to take
due to harbor layout and wind conditions. It might be worth your while to
make a list of such harbors so that you don't waste your time attacking
them in the future. It seemed to me that you are only attacking with one
ship, and so no matter how many men you have, you are only attacking with
the men on the ship you use (I once had over 500 men and attacked a port
with 400 men, but when I landed I only had the 220 men that could fit on
the frigate I attacked with.) Also, keep an eye on your crew strength, as
it drastically goes down when you take hits from the forts.

G. ACCEPTING SPECIAL MISSIONS:
1. These special missions include: capturing a certain pirate who is hunting
in a designated area, capturing a town to free a governor's relative, and
delivering a letter/parcel somewhere. Pirate hunting is easy (I always
considered it a sure bet), but may take you out of your way. Freeing a
relative depends on the amount of soldiers and forts in that town, and
is generally not recommended unless the town is defenseless or one that
you wanted to plunder anyway. Besides, it only seems to give you favor
with that governor, unlike pirate-hunting that pleases the king as well.
Delivering a letter should be easy, but due to a bug in my version I was
never able to find the person that I supposed to meet, and so I always
avoid this mission. You can avoid the loss of prestige from failed
missions by saving your game just prior to visiting the governor, and
restoring the game if you are given a mission you don't like. Note: in
the original version of 'Pirates! Gold' that I had, there were some bugs
in these special missions. Once I had installed the upgrade patch,
however, all but the letter delivery bug went away.

H. PROMOTIONS:
1. Various accomplishments that make a sponsor country happy can result in
promotions, new titles, prestige, and/or land. Accomplishments that win
you favor include: completing certain governor's missions successfully,
and plundering lots of enemy ships and towns (especially if you can
convert the town's nationality to your sponsor's home). In order, the
ranks and titles that I have seen are: Ensign, Captain, Major, Colonel,
Admiral, Baron, Count, Marquis, and Duke. There may be more, but you
would have to do incredibly well to go past Duke.

I. KEEPING CREW HAPPY:
1. Generally, the more men you have, the unhappier they will be. (This is
because there individual shares of the booty is smaller with many men.)
If your men are unhappy for too long, they will mutiny. The longer you
have been at sea, the more gold you must have to keep the same number of
men happy. So, as the expedition drags on, you must continue to gain gold
or lose men, or both. The key ratio is 'voyage time vs. # of men vs. gold
amount'. Your crew is always happy at the beginning of an expedition, so
hire as many men as you can carry at the expedition's start, and use your
'army' to sack a number of cities in the expedition's early phases. If you
want to lose some men (to keep the others happy), you can take some hits
during sacks and sea battles.

J. MAPS, TREASURES, RELATIVES:
1. Ordinary pirate treasure maps come in four pieces, and refer to a buried
treasure of 5-13 thousand gold pieces. Usually one piece is all you need
(if it has a coastline), so don't buy any extra maps until you find the
treasure (as they will only be pieces of the same map, until that treasure
is found). All maps are the exact same scale as the sailing screen, so if
you are off the coastline in the general area, you can flip back and forth
between the two screens while you compare coastal features. (I always make
a hand-drawn copy of the map to the exact scale as the screen so that I
can refer to it while I stay on the sailing screen, using the PAUSE key
as required.) If you look close at the map you will notice squares of dark
and light color for the ground. These squares match similar dark and light
land features on the sailing/marching screen. This can come in handy when
trying to locate the exact spot for digging.
2. There are four lost relatives in the game (sister, father, niece, uncle).
Each one has a treasure map piece, and if you find that ancient treasure
(Incan, Aztec, Olmec, Mayan) before you find the next relative, the next
relative will lead you to a different treasure (otherwise you will just
wind up with another section of the same map that you already have). If
you get a map piece with no coastline, you might consider restoring your
game to the last saved position (another reason to save frequently), and
trying again, as the choice of which piece you receive seems random.
Each of the ancient treasures is worth about 100,000 gold pieces.

K. WOMEN:
1. If you win the favors of a woman, she will tell you info whenever you
visit her subsequently. Early in your career, just 'Make Conversation'
with the women you meet, until you at least make Captain or Major and
have some wealth, which will make you a decent suitor. Propose only to a
govenor's relative, preferably in a large centrally located port of your
own nationality (for example, Port Royale if you are British during the
1660-1680 time period).

L. MISCELLANEOUS:
1. Lower your sails when sailing through waters with a lot of shoals.

M. Good Luck!