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[8.5] RANKS AND BENEFITS
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Rank is earned by making certain nations happy with you and then visiting their
governors afterwards. You get 1 'happiness' point for every merchant ship you
take that belongs to an enemy of the nation in question, as well as for serving
them in another minor way (catching a criminal, intercepting an enemy governor,
helping them get a special shipment of some sort through). You earn 2 happiness
points if you sack an enemy town, capture one for them (this is cumulative!),
or take an enemy warship. For the purposes of 'taking' an enemy ship, capturing
and destroying both count, and even just engaging a ship and then fleeing or
letting them flee counts as long as you damaged it.

You lose happiness points with a nation if you destroy any of their ships or
sack any of their towns. How bad these losses are, and how many happiness
points are needed to get promoted to each rank depends on the difficulty level.
In general, you'll find all-around promotions much easier to get on the lower
levels, wheras on the higher levels you must pick your battles carefully to
avoid pissing off all four nations at once.

The following is a list of all ranks and the benefits you get with a certain
nation for earning one. Veterans of the old Pirates games will note that the
Ensign rank has been scrapped.

RANK                        BENEFITS
Captain                     % bonus to recruiting in taverns
Major                       % discount on ship repairs
Colonel                     Merchant offers more goods and has more gold
Admiral                     % discount on ship upgrades
Baron                       Boosts recruitment bonus further
Count                       Free ship repairs
Marquis                     Boosts merchant bonuses further
Duke                        Free ship upgrades

Benefits only count in a port belonging to the nation you hold the rank in 
question with. French ports couldn't care less if you're an English Duke. Note
that if you ever piss off a nation enough to make them put any kind of price on
your head, you retain the rank (and the fame points) but you lose the benefits
of your rank. You regain them as soon as you reconcile with them, however.

Rank also is a factor in which governor's daughters are willing to dance with
you (and thus start the romance cycle). Plain daughters will be willing to
dance with Captains and up, attractive daughters with Colonels and up, and
beautiful daughters with Barons and up.