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[6] MINIGAMES
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Much of the gameplay in Sid Meier's Pirates consists of playing its various
minigames. The premise and controls for each are in the manual, but of course,
it does not go into too much detail about how to play them. But that's what
you're reading this guide for, no? Each paragraph in this section highlights
a different minigame, giving an overview and a set of tactics to improve your
results at them.


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[6.1] NAVAL BATTLES
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OVERVIEW
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A naval battle is always initiated by you. When one or more ships are in range
of your flagship, press 5 and you will be given a list of ships you can
attack. The size of the crew and the number of guns on the enemy ship will be
mentioned and you can compare to what you have on your flagship, or switch
flagships if necessary. Note that you can't see the guns/crew on a ship if it's
a special type, like a Treasure Ship or a named villain like Raymondo. Those
ships tend to have close to the maximum for their ship type, though.

If you choose to attack a ship, you will be thrust into naval battle mode. The
positions of your ships relative to each other is the same as it was on the
world map.

A naval battle is usually against one ship at a time, with two exceptions:

- If the ship has a dedicated escort sailing along with it, you'll fight both
ships at once;
- If another ship was actively chasing you at the time (normally a pirate
hunter but it can be any hostile warship), it will join in. This can happen
even if it wasn't strictly in combat range when you initiated the battle; in
that case it'll need a while to catch up, but it will.

In a naval battle, you and your opponent(s) will be able to exchange fire, run
away from the other by creating enough distance, or start a boarding (and a
sword fight) by sailing into the other.

Controls during a naval battle are as follows:

4, 6: turn your ship left and right, respectively. Turning rate is dependent
on the type of ship, whether or not you are turning into the wind (which is a
lot slower), and any damage/lack of crew. A ship with Copper Plating gets a
slight bonus to its turning ability.

8: raise sails. By default, sails on a ship are raised. This allows the ship to
sail faster than with reefed sails, but the sails are also vulnerable to combat
damage.

2: lower sails. This reduces the ship's top speed, but allows for slightly
tighter turning circles, and provides a lot of protection against sail damage
from enemy cannons.

1: switch to grape shot. This ammo type has a short range, but is effective
in taking enemy crew out of the fight while doing little damage to the enemy
ship. Great for preparing for boarding while leaving your prize intact. You
can only switch to this if you ship has the Grape Shot upgrade.

3: switch to round shot. This is the default ammo type; it has the longest
range and does damage mostly to enemy hull and cannons. It also damages crew
and sails, but not as much as the ammo types specialized to do so. Remember
that enough hull damage will sink a ship, which is rarely your intention - its
treasures will sink along with it. Use round shot carefully, especially against
small targets.

7: switch to chain shot. This ammo type has a shorter range than round shot
(but longer than grape shot), and is meant specifically to destroy sails with.
It does little damage to a ship otherwise. Excellent for reducing an enemy's
speed, either to be able to catch up with or outrun them. It will rarely do
any significant hull damage, but be aware that totally destroying the rigging
on ships you intend to capture and keep will really reduce your fleet's overall
speed. You can only switch to this ammo if your ship has the Chain Shot
upgrade.

9: change camera views between the overhead view and a "chase camera" of sorts
which zooms in on your ship and uses an angle that lets you see the position of
the enemy relative to your own ship. Which camera mode you should use is
largely a matter of personal preference. I usually just stick with overhead.

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AI BEHAVIOR
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Depending on level and the relative strengths and weaknesses of your ships,
the AI may behave in several different ways:

- If the enemy has more cannons, it will try to weaken your ship as much as it
can before boarding you. When in range it will use chain shot to slow you down
and grape shot to thin out your crew, assuming it has these upgrades. The AI
will frequently mix round shot and chain shot in a single volley.

- If the enemy is at a disadvantage with cannons but has a crew comparable to
or bigger than yours, it will attempt to ram and board you as fast as possible.

- If the enemy is grossly outmatched, it will attempt to run away from you,
possibly firing a few broadsides at you to slow you down first (most notably
chain shot).

- If the enemy is too weak to beat you and too slow to escape - usually this
happens after you've hit them a few times - they'll strike the colours and
surrender their ship without a fight. They may still try to sail away from you,
but they will no longer fire and as soon as you come close or board them, it's
over.

There are a couple of exceptions to the behavior above:

- Merchant ships are more likely to surrender than warships. For instance, if
a Sloop contains a new governor, its crew will likely fight until the end even
if you outmatch them. Pirates, too, hate to surrender.
- Named pirates are very unlikely to surrender, but they can.
- Villains (Raymondo, Montalban and Mendoza) never surrender. If you pummel
their ship enough it will seem like they do - you get the victory screen and
everything - but immediately after the usual ship battle scene starts anyway.
Note that you also can't sink these guys - their hull damage will not go beyond
99%.

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TACTICS
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When fighting a naval battle, you need to strike a balance between defeating
your enemy and not damaging your prize too much. It may be very tempting to
just pummel them with round shot, especially if you outmatch your opponent. But
if you intend to capture the enemy ship, this approach leaves you with a very
damaged prize that will slow you down a lot and cost a lot to repair when you
finally limp it to the nearest port. Even if you don't intend to hang on to a
ship, you run a significant risk of sinking it if you hit it too hard, and all
its cargo and gold will sink along with it.

On the lower difficulty levels, many players prefer not to shoot at the enemy
during a naval battle at all. They just head straight for them for a quick ram
and settle the deal with a sword fight. This is a sound approach for enemies
that have far less crew than you (and not enough guns to tear you apart before
you reach them). On Apprentice and to an extent on Journeyman, this also works
against enemies that are stronger than you, as you'll be able to make up the
difference with good fencing. On the higher levels, however, this approach is
suicidal against a powerful opponent. Their guns are more accurate and do more
damage, they are better able to run circles around you and hold off your
boarding as much as possible, and when you do manage to board them, you'll find
them tough opponents in fencing. The size of your crew against theirs is a
major factor in how difficult the swordfighting will be (see paragraph 6.2),
and you *need* to do your naval battles correctly to cut them down to size
first.

As a rule of thumb, on Adventurer level and above, try not to board an enemy
ship until their crew isn't much bigger than yours. Preferably smaller, but
just about the same is good enough if you can handle a sword. Here's a few
ways to get there:

- Pick the right ship for the job. Different players have different
preferences, but the choice is mostly between Sloop, Brig and Frigate types.
Sloops are fast and small, and perfect for running circles around an enemy.
Frigates have a lot of firepower and can stand more punishment, as well as
carry more men so that you can usually go straight for a ram and don't have to
weaken your enemies first. Brigs strike a good balance between the two. In each
class, you're best off with the largest ship within it (Royal Sloop, Brig of
War, Ship of the Line), but every type is servicable. Avoid using other types
of ships for battle; only the combat galleon types (Fast/War/Flag Galleon) are
somewhat suitable, and they are too slow and cumbersomem to engage anything
small.

- Use round shot at long range to knock out enemy cannons and do damage to all
other parts of the ship. Be careful not to overdo it, especially against a
small ship. A Large Frigate or Ship of the Line can sink a Barque-sized or
smaller ship with ONE broadside if it's a particularly good shot.

- At medium range, use chain shot to destroy the enemy's rigging. This will
slow them down and make them much easier to catch. If you destroy an enemy's
riggine entirely (you'll heard their ship groan and ground to a halt if you
do), most enemies will surrender even if they still have a good supply of
cannons and active crew. Of course, if you intend to keep the ship, you
probably don't want to leave it entirely without sails.

- At short range, grape shot works wonders in reducing enemy crew while
leaving the ship almost untouched. This is *the* way to prepare for an
imminent boarding; be careful not to actually touch the ship before you are
ready to board it. They *will* try to board you before you can hit them with
grape shot too often.

- The speed with which your cannons load is directly dependent on the size of
your crew, their morale (happy crews load faster) and the presence of a Gunner
specialist on your ship. Range of your shots is increased by the Fine Shot
Powder upgrade. Accuracy is increased by the Bronze Cannon upgrade and by
picking the Gunnery skill for yourself.

- While it's easier to hit the enemy along the sides of his ships, a shot
that "grazes" over a ship front to aft or aft to front does more damage. Keep
this in mind for yourself as well: heading straight for your enemy through
their broadsides is not usually a good idea. You can get away with it on low
levels but you'll get slaughtered on Swashbuckler.

- If you have a lot of cannons, you can fire a "mixed shot" by switching to
a different type of ammo just after firing. Your fire will come out in two
bursts, and the second will be of the type you switched to. I haven't found
much practical use for it, but the option is there. One player suggested using
this when you are using a Ship of the Line or another heavily armed ship
against a small target: start with round fire, then switch to grape shot to
make half of your cannonballs fall short. Helps to keep you from accidentally
sinking your target.

- To dodge enemy fire at long range, sail in whichever direction is fastest
due to the wind; even if that's straight away from your enemy. The shot is
aimed at the position you were in when it was fired, so if you're no longer
there when it lands, you're safe. At short range, keep maneuvering to stay
away from the enemy's sides. If you're a smaller ship, you'll be able to keep
out of its sights and pummel it with your own broadsides.

In terms of sailing, there's a few things to be aware of:

- You are, of course, much faster running before the wind than going against
it. You are also more maneuverable, which is new since Pirates and Pirates
Gold. Turning into the wind is slow and cumbersome and sometimes you might not
even manage it at all; you just get blown back. Turn *away* from the wind
whenever you can.

- If you need to catch an enemy that is upwind, zig zag against the wind, don't
sail straight. Note that smaller ships are better at sailing against the wind
than larger ones. In other words, to outrun a smaller vessel, try to be upwind;
to outrun a larger one, try to be downwind. "Outrunning" in this case can be
read either as trying to catch up or trying to flee.

- You can pick out your starting position relative to the enemy on the world
map. When you initiate a battle, your positions will be the same as they were
on the map. Use this to your advantage; for instance if you want to be upwind
from your enemy, maneuver to the east of his ship before you start combat. If
you're attacking an escorted ship, you might want to move in behind it so you
can grab it before the escort can turn around to engage you. Works very well if
it's something slow like a War Galleon.

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OUTCOME
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A naval battle can end in the following ways:

1. Retreat: the distance between the ships becomes so great that they lose
sight of each other. How big this distance is depends on the time of day: it's
easier to lose each other at night. If this occurs, the battle ends and the
enemy ship disappears off the map; it has either gotten away or been shaken
off, depending on your perspective. If you've damaged the enemy ship at all,
you are said to have "engaged" it, which appears in your log and earns you a
happiness point with the enemies of the ship's nation. Otherwise you gain
nothing.

2. Boarding: if you ram the enemy ship or they ram you, and the enemy is not
so low on morale that they'll surrender, a sword fight ensues (see paragraph
6.2) that'll decide the outcome.

3. Sunk: if either ship takes on 100% hull damage - which basically only
happens with round shot - that ship will sink. If it's the enemy, the battle
is concluded, and you gain no plunder. You do gain one or two happiness points
with the enemies of the ship's nation, depending on if it's a merchant or a
warship you sunk. Your benefactors don't care if you sink or capture your
enemies; but you are likely interested in loot, so sinking enemies is rarely
your objective.

If you're the unlucky sod to be sunk, you are transferred to another ship. You
lose whatever cargo/crew you can't carry anymore on the remainder of your
ships, and you lose a portion of your gold depending on how many other ships
you have. If you don't have other ships anymore, you are marooned and will
spend some time on a deserted island waiting to be rescued. Your loot, of
course, is gone.

4. Surrender: an enemy ship may surrender to you if you sail close to it and
they know they can neither win nor escape. Sometimes, you actually have to
board them before they make this decision. Either way, the ship is yours
without a fight; the swordfighting sequence is skipped.

In a fight that involves escort ships as well, things work slightly
differently:

- If the escorted ship gets out of range, the battle ends in 'retreat' even
if you are still engaged with the escort ship. The ships do not disappear from
the world map, but they do appear some distance away from you and you'll need
to catch up if you want to fight them again.

- If the escorted ship is sunk or boarded, or it surrenders, the battle ends,
and (after the sword fight if applicable) you are returned to the world map.
The escort ship now becomes an independent warship which may decide to chase
you or flee to the nearest port. You can then engage it separately if you wish.

- The battle continues if the escort ship is sunk or if you board it (after the
sword fight). Escort ships never surrender. Victories against escort ships are
not noted on your record and do not get you any happiness points, unless you
engage them separately after taking the escorted ship.

For the most part, avoiding the escort ship is the best thing to do. You can
always engage it afterwards if you like, and that way you *do* get credit for
it. Escort ships aren't always easy to avoid, though, especially since they
think nothing of sailing straight *through* the ship they're escorting to get
to you.