Town Life

Depending on which nationality you choose at the beginning, you'll end up in a specific town of that background. If you chose English, the town you begin in is Port Royale; if French, Tortuga; Dutch, Curacao; and Spanish in Port Bello.

No matter where the starting place is, all towns have the same six options of action.

Each town also displays the nationality of the government, economy, and soldiers/citizens inhabiting. (This info would be where the jumbled mess is at the right corner of the screen. Damn ye dirty roms!)

Spanish towns, like Port Bello, despise pirates and won't trade with them! We pirates have feelings too, ya know?

Back to nationalities, the way events and people will respond to you in towns is dependent on your own background and personal allegiance towards certain countries.

The biggest factor in this nation privilege is when visiting the local Governor. *More on that in its separate section.* Skipping right over the Governor..

The tavern is a very crucial part of the game... this is where we get drunk! YEA MATE!

Actually taverns are much more helpful than just providing some spirits. This is the place to sign up new crew, find out information, buy treasure maps, and check out the latest news happenings in the wide Caribbean. The most apparent of the four being a place where you can meet other sailors to join your crew.

Most, if not all, times you visit a bar you'll get this offer from the local seamen. Make sure that their nationality is compatible with the majority of your other men! And if you already think there are enough members in your pirating crew, don't be afraid to turn them down.

At random, there may appear a shady drinker with a peg-leg that offers information... for a certain golden price, of course.

These bits of rumor are actually exclusive news that cannot be found on the public bulletin board or hailed by ships. It's usually concerning the locations of Treasure Fleets or Silver Trains.

What are those?

Well, let's just say, if you quickly sail off to the town that one is docked at and attack; you're certainly in for a boat load of gold. Literally!

At even a more random interval, these pirates hold parts of special treasure maps that could lead to some very large pickings. Just as the men selling information, you gotta pay for the investment though!

Visiting taverns is also a good time to catch up on current events. Examples of news and meanings behind them are as follows:

-the start of a town's gold mines signify that attacking results in more money...

-...if Indians invade or an area has Malaria, both can be good diversions to have an easier time attacking a town...

-...and war tells you which nations are friendly and those that are not.

The next choice of action available in towns is trading with the local merchant. When you're starting out, it may be a good idea to get a few items for those long sea journeys. However, once into the game, you should be self-sufficient on plundering other boats' items instead of buying them on your own.

So what use is a merchant for an active pirateer? I'll tell ya! Their type is the only that can fix broken ships. That's right, making your ships sea-worthy and mending its wounds from battles is the job of the merchant. And if you are commandeering one too many ships, you have the option of selling extras to merchants, too.

Dividing up the plunder lets you sort out the money given to the crew and gives you the option of retiring or starting a new expedition. *More information about this in the All Washed Up entry.

*Please go to Information entry for explanation of "Check information".

Leave town lets you do just that, sail back to the deep sea...