So you want to be a pirate?  Not sure where to start?  Not to worry, we've put together this little guide to help you get started building your own successful pirate isle.

First things first.  You can't build anything without lumber, so immediately place a timber camp to supply your sawmill with wood.  Look for a place with dense tree growth that is close to your sawmill to minimize the time haulers spend delivering wood.  Keep an eye on the timber camp and if it has cut down all nearby trees, knock it down and build a new one.

Next you'll need a construction tent because, well, you can't build much without it.

Your next order of business is getting a ship ready for use.  If you don't already have a boatyard and dock, build one of each now.  Don't start with a shipyard as it will be a while before you will be building large ships.  Now it's time to build a sea rations factory because you won't be able to send a ship to sea without rations.  Place it halfway between your corn fields and your dock.

As soon as you have a ship ready and stocked with rations, start sending it out to raid settlements and bring in captives.  If there is no settlement in your zone, send your ship out to explore neighboring zones until you find one.  There's nothing worse than having an island full of idle structures because you don't have the captives to work them.

While waiting for your ship to be readied, and during its first missions, you will need to start your weapons economy.  Build a road out to your nearest iron deposit and then place an iron mine there.  Be sure to place it next to the best deposits instead of on top of them because the ground under your mine can not be worked.  If your mine is far from town then you are going to have problems with the captives that work there.  Place a watch tower near the mine and skeletons along the road leading to it to keep your captives in line.  You should also build an extra bunkhouse on the edge of your town by the road leading to the mine so that captives won't have to walk too far to rest.  Add a chuck tent near it.

Build a blast furnace not too far from the mine, but so that it sits between the mine and the docks.  Now add a blacksmith not too far from the furnace, and again between it and your docks.  Wait on the gunsmith and canon foundry for now - you'll need skilled captives to build them, you don't need them to cruise, and you'll capture a few canon on your raids anyway.

If you don't already have a boatyard or shipyard, it is critical that you send your ship out to capture a skilled shipwright.  If you don't have one and lose your ship while cruising, you're sunk!  Once you have a full load of cutlasses on board, you can send your ship out on a cruise to pick up some booty.  However, your ship's top priority is to keep you supplied with captives.  Make sure that you have extra captives in the stockade available to man the new structures that you build.  Also, you'll want to ransom off wealthy captives pretty soon after bringing them to your island.  Leaving them on your island longer leads to bigger ransoms, but for now you don't have the high level entertainment they'll need to stay happy.

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