Port Royale 2/Walkthrough

II. Strategy and Tactics 2.1. Naval Combat 2.1.1. One vs. One 2.1.2. One vs. Many 2.2. Attacking Towns 2.2.1. Overview 2.2.2. Attacking by Sea 2.2.3. Attacking by Land 2.3. Attacking Pirate Hideouts 2.4. Duels 2.5. Buccaneers III. "War and Empire" Walk-through 3.1. Starting 3.2. Preparation 3.3. War IV. Frequently Asked Questions V. Appendices 5.1. Goods Types 5.2. Prices 5.3. Towns 5.3.1. Production 5.3.2. List of Towns 5.3.3. Economic Status 5.3.4. Event Status 5.3.5. Storage Limits 5.4. Businesses and Buildings 5.5. Missions 5.6. Ships 5.7. Bonus Ships 5.8. Player Ranks 5.9. Relationships 5.10. Artifacts 5.11. Hex-editing 5.12. Bugs 5.13. Miscellaneous VI. Glossary VII. Links

Naval Combat
The best ships to use are Military Corvettes and Bonus Ships. The reason is speed: you will often fight several powerful ships with just one ship, so you'll need to stay ahead of them if you want to win. Ships of the Line are sometimes useful because they can hold 200 sailors and are fast going with the  wind. Military Frigates are nearly as fast as Military Corvettes, but they're tougher and better against slow ships. You should stick mostly with Military Corvettes, though.

Your convoys should have 1-5 escort ships. If you're using them to attack military convoys, avoid adding non-escort ships because you will lose those if you lose a battle. An all-Military Corvette convoy works well because it travels as fast as any other convoy on the Caribbean map and can therefore  chase down other convoys. They can also execute hit-and-run attacks because they're fast enough to escape. With some practice, you may be able to destroy military convoys without taking any damage.

One vs. One
- Rocks

If your opponent's ship has a medium or deep draft, you can try to lead them over rocks so that they slow down.

- "Crossing the T"

If your opponent is headed directly toward your ship, and your ship is traveling in a perpendicular direction, your cannons on one side of your ship are in a position to hit your opponent while your opponent's cannons can't do  anything. Take advantage of this situation by firing and turning away. This tactic is useful at the start of battles when you and your opponent approach each other.

- "Fish-tailing" or "Leading"

This is essentially a series of "Crossing the Ts" strung together. If your opponent is following about a ship's length (e.g. a Ship of the Line) behind and traveling in a parallel direction, turn to your ship's right until the  angle between your ships is about 90 degrees. Fire and turn left until your ships are parallel again. Your ship will be positioned a bit to the right of your opponent, or left if you had turned left initially. Now turn left until you see the red crosshairs. You might only need a 45 degree angle for this. Fire and turn right until your ships are parallel again. Repeat as long as you can maintain enough distance to avoid your opponent's fire. If your opponent is as fast as or faster than you, use the wind to your advantage if possible or  use chain balls to slow your opponent down. Since your opponent is following you, you have a greater effective range, so you can be fairly close without  being hit.

- Chasing

If you understand Fish-tailing, this will be simple. If your opponent is fleeing, and your ship is faster, follow it and use Fish-tailing attacks from behind. You may want to use chain balls to slow your opponent down. Avoid pulling up alongside your opponent because it can still fire. If your ship is much faster than your opponent, use Fish-tailing to avoid getting too close.

- Circling

If your opponent is more cautious, as often happens in one vs. one battles, it will not approach your ship closely enough for either the Crossing the T or Fish-tailing to work. Your opponent will usually only approach your ship if it can fire on you, but its maneuvering isn't perfect. Speed is an advantage here. Make sure your opponent is somewhere near you. Turn so that your ship is moving in a direction opposite your opponent's direction, but keep your opponent on  your side. Stay as close as possible without causing your opponent to fire. What happens now is that you and your opponent will start to circle each other. You both want to stay somewhat close to each other, so you will turn toward each other instead of moving away. You both also want to avoid being hit, so you won't turn straight into each other. Continue turning while staying close but not too close. When the angle between your ship's direction and the wind's direction is 90 degrees and decreasing, start turning directly toward your  opponent. As soon as your opponent fires, turn away slightly, but only enough to avoid the cannon balls. Turn toward your opponent again, and move only as close as necessary. Fire at your opponent, then turn away and avoid your opponent's next shots.

- Capturing

If you want to capture your opponent's ship, start by using chain balls to slow it down. Then rake it with grape shot to kill off its sailors. Finally, board it while avoiding its cannon balls. If your opponent is running away by now, boarding should be easy. If it is still following you closely, sail against the wind, then turn around and ram your opponent head-on.

One vs. Many
- Maneuvering

Since your opponent has more ships than you do, it will be less cautious and will send its ships directly at you. Use Fish-tailing/Leading here. Use the wind to your advantage. If you're using a Military Corvette, you usually want to move in the same direction as the wind. If you're fighting Ships of the Line, you should try to move against the wind. You want to do as much damage as possible with each of your ships, so you will want to stay on the map as long  as possible. Move toward the edge of the map but position your ship so it's parallel to the edge. Before you reach the corner, turn so that you are moving parallel to the edge you're now heading toward. Avoid your opponent's fire. If you can't avoid it, you might want to have your ship escape. Sometimes your starting position will place you at a disadvantage with respect to the wind. For example, your ship starts in the West, you're facing Ships of the Line in the East, and the wind is blowing West. You might have to travel with the wind, in which case your opponent's Ships of the Line will be as fast or faster than  your ships. In this situation, use your first ship to draw your opponent to the West, then sail off the edge. Bring in a second ship, which should be somewhere East of your opponent. If your second ship pops up North or South of your opponent, move it toward the East. Now you're both traveling against the wind, so that, at least in this example, you have a speed advantage. Use Fish-tailing/Leading until you sink your opponent or until you run out of room.

- "Group Fish-tailing"

A minor variation on Fish-tailing. If a group of ships are following you, you can alternate between targets. Turn to one side, fire at one ship, then turn toward the other side and fire at any ship that you can hit, which will  probably be a different one. If your opponent's ships are close together, the ones in the middle won't be able to turn. You can approach these fairly closely without being hit.

- "Obstacle Course"

If your opponent is maneuvering cautiously and refuses to approach your ship too closely, or if your opponent is too fast, you can use obstacles. This can happen if your opponent has only one ship left or if you're trying to board a  faster ship. By "obstacles," I mean other, captured ships. They can be either yours or your opponent's. Try to position these captured ships close to each  other by initially capturing your opponent's ships near each other, by letting  your ships become captured near each other, or by pushing them toward each  other. Leave some space, which I'll call the "trap," between the captured ships. Attempt to position yourself on the opposite side of the trap. Move away from your opponent so that it will move into the trap to reach you. Now your opponent will be unable to turn for a few seconds. Move toward the trap and fire at your opponent or board it.

- "Shielding"

Another use of obstacles. Captured ships can block cannon balls, so use these to shield yourself if necessary.

- Hit-and-run

If your opponent's ships are close behind and you're running out of room, you might have to escape. If you only have fast escort ships in your convoy, e.g. 5 Military Corvettes, you can afford to run because you won't lose anything. Once you're out of the battle, launch another attack on the same convoy. Repeat until your target is gone. You should be able to destroy military convoys while taking minimal damage using this method.

Attacking Towns
You can attack towns to annex them or loot them. You'll need a mission to be able to annex it, and there are some town looting missions that yield extra rewards in addition to the normal looting gains. Here's the basic process:


 * Choose a convoy with escort ships. Check the "Attack towns" option under "Attack mode," then have it enter the town you want to attack.
 * Choose whether you want to attack by sea or by land.
 * Either way, you'll have to get past the military convoys defending the harbor.
 * If you're attacking by sea, you'll have to destroy the harbor cannons.
 * If you're attacking by land, you'll have to break through the town gates.
 * You might have to win a duel.
 * If you have an annexation mission, you'll get a choice between "Annex" and "Loot."
 * Choosing "Annex" completes the attack and your mission.
 * If you choose "Loot," you can take the town's goods and weapons. You'll also get a few hundred thousand gold.

After the attack, the town will have a status of "Recovery." It can't be attacked for another 30 days.

Before you can attack the town by either land or sea, you'll have to defeat the military convoys guarding the harbor. You can destroy them the way you normally would, but there's an easier method. Military convoys that are somewhat damaged will stop defending so that they can repair themselves. Send in a convoy with fast escort ships, preferably one with only Military Corvettes or Bonus Ships. Attack and do a bit of damage to them, then run away. If you have to fight more military convoys, repeat the last step. Now that the harbor is open, you can proceed with your attack.

Attacking by Sea
You'll have to destroy 1-10 harbor cannons. These have a stability of 7, so they'll require 2-3 broadsides each. They're usually arranged in two tightly grouped rows jutting out from either side of the beach. You have to destroy every cannon, and if you call off the attack, the remaining ones will be  repaired instantly. The town will also start constructing replacement cannons immediately, but you don't have to worry about those because they'll take weeks  to complete.

- Hit-and-run

You should have a fast and agile ship for this tactic--a Military Corvette, not surprisingly. Different harbors are arranged differently, but assume that the beach and the cannons are in the South and your ships enter from the North. Wait until the wind is blowing roughly east or west. If the wind is blowing east, northeast, or southeast, approach the western row of cannons from the  Northwest. You'll want to move in a direction somewhere between east and southeast. Sail directly toward the outermost cannon. As soon as the cannon fires, turn toward the East. Continue moving east for about a second if you need to get into range. Now turn north. Wait for the red cross-hairs to appear, then fire after about half a second. Avoid the second volley from the cannons. Circle around toward the West and repeat. Use a similar method for the eastern group of cannons. Ideally, you'll be able to destroy every cannon without taking any damage. With some practice, 1-2 Military Corvettes will be enough to take out 10 cannons.

- Brute force

Sometimes you'll find that a town only has a couple of cannons and that the wind is preventing you from using evasive tactics. If you don't want to spend much time on the cannons and don't particularly care about how much damage you  take, you can simply go up to them and fire. Ships of the Line are the best ships to use with this method because they have the highest stability and the  most cannons.

You don't lose anything if you run away from the harbor cannons battle. You only need to send your first ship off the map and wait a few seconds. The entire convoy will escape unharmed.

Attacking by Land
When you attack by land, your sailors land on the beach and become soldiers. If you want as many soldiers as possible, attack using a convoy with 10 Ships of the Line. Each one holds 200, for a total of 2,000 soldiers.

The town will have two sets of gates, each one guarded by approximately half of the town's soldiers. You need to destroy one of them. You don't have to kill any defenders, but your soldiers will usually attack them instead of the gates  if they're close by. Note that you need 1 musket or cutlass for every soldier you plan to send in. Also, if your soldiers are killed, you lose their weapons.

Immediately after your attack, some of the killed defenders will be replaced.

- Brute force

This is the fast but costly method. If you have a lot more soldiers than the town, you don't need good tactics to win. The default split between swordsmen and musketeers, 50/50, works well here. Select all of your soldiers and double-right-click on the nearest gate. Then fast-forward until you win.

- Ambush

A minor tactic that gives you a small advantage. Hide your soldiers in trees close to a gate. Then double-right-click on a gate or on defenders to rush in and attack.

- Hiding in trees

You can hide your musketeers in trees near a gate. They will be able to attack, but they'll take less damaged when they're attacked by defending musketeers.

- Guerilla strategy

You want to use this strategy if you want to avoid losing soldiers and weapons or if you're outnumbered. This strategy won't work if you're too far outnumbered, though. The key point here is that the defenders will try to protect both gates as well as they can. They can see your soldiers if they're about 2-3 building-lengths away from either gate. They will attempt to balance their soldiers between the two gates based on what attackers they see.

Put all but one of your units outside one gate. These will be the "threatening force." Make sure that all of these are close enough to be visible but not close enough to start a fight. Some defenders should start moving toward this gate from the other one. Move your one unit, your "attacking force," toward the other gate, but don't bring it close enough for them to see it. Approach by moving through trees if possible. The best outcome is an undefended gate in front of your attacking force. Select your attacking force and double-right-click on the gate to attack quickly. Some defenders will start moving toward your attacking force. Have it retreat before defenders arrive. The defenders will move back to the other gate. Attack and retreat repeatedly until the gate is destroyed. As long as the town doesn't have too many more soldiers than you do, you should be able to do this without any losses.

If the town has fewer soldiers than you do, you can shift some units from your threatening force to your attacking force. This makes things a little faster. If you have about twice as many soldiers as the town does, you can split your force in half and attack both gates. When the town's soldiers all move toward one gate, have your soldiers retreat from that one, then attack as they move  back toward the other gate, and repeat. The town's soldiers may also get stuck between the two gates as they try to pass each other. In this case, you may not need to retreat at all.

Attacking Pirate Hideouts
Destroying pirate hideouts requires winning duels. Each duel you win makes future duels harder, so I'd recommend against wasting your easy duels on pirates. If you still want to attack hideouts, here's how to do it.

Before you can attack hideouts, you have to find them. Thera are up to 5 hideouts at any one time and about twice as many possible locations. If you wait a while, the hideouts will be revealed automatically. They will appear as black dots on the mini-map. You can find a list of pirates in Chronicle -> List of known pirates.

Locations:
 * West of New Orleans
 * Between Vera Cruz and Villa Hermosa
 * Slightly northeast of Grand Bahama
 * Slightly Southeast of Port of Spain
 * Slightly south of Havana
 * Southeast of Roatan
 * Between Guadeloupe and Martinique
 * others

Attacking pirate hideouts is almost the same as attacking a town by sea. To attack a hideout, select a convoy with escort ships and right-click on a hideout. You don't need to check "Attack towns" since you aren't going to dock in the hideout.

If there are any defending pirate convoys, you will have to defeat those. You can't see what types of ships are in them until you start a battle, but you can left-click on a hideout to see how many of them there are. If there are multiple defending convoys, you will have to defeat each one in turn. You don't need to sink any of them--forcing them to retreat is enough.

Unlike military convoys in towns, pirate convoys in hideouts are always repairing and always defending. You can't put them out of commission by doing a small amount of damage and running away.

Pirate convoys can also immediately and fully replace their sailors between battles.

After you get through the defending convoys, you have to deal with harbor cannons. Hideouts have up to 10 cannons. You can see how many they have by left-clicking on them.

Harbor cannons in hideouts are usually arranged in patterns resembling triangles or semi-circles. They are more spread out than they are in towns, so they should be easier to deal with. If you retreat from this part of the attack, any cannons that were damaged but not destroyed will be instantly and  fully repaired.

If you retreat from the attack on the cannons, you won't lose any ships (unless some have already sunk). You don't need to command each ship to retreat, either. Just have your current ship do so and wait a few seconds. Your convoy will appear outside the hideout.

When you're done with the cannons, you will have to win a duel. This duel is the same as any other duel. See the 'Duels' section for more information.

If you lose the duel, your convoy will retreat. The hideout will have 1 cannon and will attempt to construct more.

If you win the duel, the hideout is destroyed. Your relationship with all nations will improve and you will loot some money from the hideout. The amount of money you receive depends on the strength of the pirate. A 10-cannon hideout that's been around for a while might yield a few million gold. A new hideout that has 1 cannon might yield 200K gold.

After some time, another pirate and another hideout will appear somewhere in the Caribbean, but you'll have a few months of peace before that.

If the pirate had any convoys when you destroyed the hideout, you will receive a message informing you that some ships escaped and may set up a new hideout. This doesn't mean much because new hideouts will appear anyway. The only difference is that the pirate will have the same name.

Duels
If you're attacking a colonial town, you will usually need to win a duel. If you're attacking a governor or viceroy town or a pirate hideout, you will always have to win a duel. You will also need to defeat a buccaneer in a duel if you want to take him hostage.

Your attacks are more likely to succeed if they are varied. You can throw in extra attacks if you attack again just before your captain goes back to into a standing stance. Try to keep up a string of these so that your opponent doesn't have a chance to respond.

Every time you win a duel, your future duels become harder.

Buccaneers
Basics:


 * Each nation has at most 1 buccaneer at any one time.
 * A buccaneer can spawn when a nation enters a war. A normal military convoy is converted into a buccaneer convoy.
 * Buccaneers have home towns.
 * Buccaneers stay in their home towns between attacks.
 * If a buccaneer has just been created his convoy will be in his home town, and an enemy governor will inform you of the buccaneer's home town.
 * If a buccaneer is no longer in his home town when you talk to an enemy governor, the governor will only tell you that the buccaneer exists.
 * Buccaneers randomly choose towns to attack, but usually concentrate on one enemy nation.

Buccaneers' attacks: - Buccaneers launch attacks approximately every 1-4 weeks. - Types of attacks: - "Stocks destroyed" The buccaneer destroys traders' goods. - "Town's goods stocks destroyed" The buccaneer destroys goods in the town's docks. - "Settlers poached" The buccaneer removes settlers. - "Goods bought up" The buccaneer buys goods from the town's docks. - "Traders intimidated" AI traders are less likely to trade with the town for at least 4 weeks. - "Workers on strike" All workers stop working for 2 weeks. - "Food supplies contaminated" Stocks of food goods (wheat, fruit, corn, meat) in the town's docks are reduced to 0. The town gets a "famine" status. - "Crops destroyed" Food-related businesses produce nothing for approximately 2 weeks. - Harbor cannons can help defend against buccaneers. Finding/capturing:


 * A buccaneer's convoy has the same types of ships and weapons as military convoys.
 * A buccaneer's convoy has the name "Buccaneer (name)."
 * Buccaneers' convoys count as military convoys as far as capturing towns and such is concerned.
 * A buccaneer is on one of the (normally) five escort ships in a convoy.
 * The buccaneer is always on the largest ship in the convoy. For example, if the convoy has 2 War Galleons and 3 Frigates, the buccaneer will be on one of the War Galleons. If you don't know which one is the largest, click on  the convoy in sea view and look at its ships. The largest ship will be the  left-most one. If you're already in a battle but haven't started it, look  at your opponent's line of ships. The largest ship will be in the middle.
 * When the buccaneer's ship is boarded, a duel will start as long as the buccaneer is still alive.
 * If the player wins the duel, the buccaneer and the ship are captured.
 * If the player loses the duel, the buccaneer's convoy captures the player's ship.
 * After the duel, the battle continues normally.
 * If the player loses the battle after capturing the buccaneer, the buccaneer escapes.
 * The buccaneer can be killed by cannon balls during battles. If this happens, the buccaneer can no longer be taken hostage.
 * If the buccaneer is killed or taken hostage, his convoy becomes a normal military convoy.

Ransom:
 * Governors of the buccaneer's nation will offer ransom of about 200K-400K.
 * If a buccaneer is released for ransom, he will later be assigned to a new convoy and resume attacking.
 * It is possible to have multiple buccaneer hostages from each nation.

Starting
This walk-through is about combat rather than commerce. You will create some auto-trading convoys, but that's about all the business you'll do. If you want a guide about setting up trade routes, I'm afraid you'll have to look  elsewhere. Your ultimate goal here is to acquire all 16 player towns. That takes a while, so let's get started.

Start a new game in free-play mode. Select a player feature. "Accuracy" is probably the best. Charisma is also useful. Select "Gold" for your starting assets. You'll start with only a Pinnace instead of a Brig, but you'll need better ships for combat anyway. Your choice of starting town is not too important. A town closer to the center is a bit better, but in the long run this doesn't matter.

Start by doing some manual trading. Select your Pinnace and right-click on the sea map to move. Right-click on towns to sail to them. Once your ship has docked, you can right-click on the town (while your ship is selected) to open  the trade window. Generally, you should buy goods that have prices at or below their "plateau" price and sell goods for significantly more than their plateau  price. You can learn by experience--or you can consult the 'Goods' section in the Appendix. Try to sell goods that are marked in red because doing so will improve your trade record. By having your captain sail around and trade, you're improving his navigation and trade skills. Captains need at least 4 total skill points to command auto-trading convoys, so by trading manually you're also  training your captain for auto-trading.

If your Pinnace's health (or "state," which is the red bar) drops below 85%, you should repair it.

Continue trading until your captain has 4 total skill points and you have around 100K gold. There are many more tricks and strategies for manual trading, but you won't need them since you're nearly done with it. Go to Turk Islands and buy a Trading Flute-Ship. If you can't find one there, try Grand Bahama. If that doesn't have one either, do some more trading, then try buying one again. Once you have a Trading Flute-Ship, go to the inn and hire a captain. Put the new captain on the Trading Flute-Ship. Select your Pinnace and right-click on your new Trading Flute-Ship convoy. Select "Transfer of Weapons" in the convoy pane. Swap the captains.

Now you'll set up an auto-trading convoy. Select your Trading Flute-Ship convoy and click on "Trade Route." Check "Maintenance active." Click on "Sea chart," which will let you enter your trade route by clicking on towns. You'll want your route to include a few governor or viceroy towns and several colonial  towns. A good route might be Grand Bahama, Eleuthera, Andross, Charles Towne, Turk Islands, Tortuga, Gibara, Havana, Florida Keys. Close the sea chart and click on "Edit" in the convoy pane. Select each town in the list that doesn't have a hammer next to it and check the box next to the hammer. This tells the convoy that it can automatically repair in those towns. Close this window and go back to the convoy pane. Finally, check "Trade route active." The convoy will soon set off and start making money.

Select your Pinnace convoy. Sail to various towns and look for missions in the inns. You can also visit your home town at any time, even if you don't have a convoy in the harbor. Talk to the governor to get missions from him, too. Complete missions to receive money and to train your captain. Refer to the 'Missions' section if you need help with those. If you can't figure out which mission entry in this guide covers the one you're doing, open your log and  click on "Missions." Under "Current missions," it will show your mission's name. Match that with the names in the 'Missions' section.

If you need a faster way of making money, you try gambling at inns. You can't always win, but you can always reload your saved game.

If your Pinnace's captain has 4 or more total skill points, make another auto-trading convoy.

If one of your auto-trading convoys is attacked by pirates, you'll lose some money. You can hunt down some pirate convoys or move your trade routes farther away from pirate hideouts if you want, but you'll be fine if you ignore the  attacks. Don't destroy pirate hideouts because you will need to win a duel. Every time you win a duel, future duels become harder, and you will usually need to win duels when annexing or looting towns. More pirates will appear regardless of how many you destroy. Save your easy duels for things that matter.

Make more money and create another auto-trading convoy if you can. You can also add ships to existing convoys. To do this, select a convoy while in town view. Then right-click on the water. If there are any idle ships in the harbor, you'll be able to put them into your convoy. Your auto-trading convoys will work better with 2 or maybe three Trading Flute-Ships.

Continue making money until you have about 300K. Go to St. Augustine and buy a Military Corvette. If St. Augustine doesn't have one, try buying one in Biloxi. If that doesn't have one either, do some more missions and try buying one later. Once you have a Military Corvette, add it to your convoy and remove your Pinnace. Sell your Pinnace.

Buy 32 cannons for your Military Corvette convoy. Add 120 sailors and buy a few hundred of each type of cannon ball. Buy 120 or more cutlasses also. In the convoy pane, click on "Ships list." Click on the upper-right corner of your Military Corvette's portrait. A cannon symbol will appear. This makes it an escort ship, which means it can fight.

Before you start attacking other convoys, you'll need to know how combat works.

Types of convoys

Trading: Trading convoys have symbols with a peach background. They travel between towns buying and selling goods. They will usually have a few escort ships and a few non-escort ships. Trading convoys are easy to defeat.

Transport: Transport convoys have symbols with a gray background that distinguish them from normal trading convoys. They travel between governor/viceroy towns and Europe. They typically carry colonial goods, import goods, and settlers. They have several escort and non-escort ships and are well-armed.

Military: Military convoys have brightly colored symbols that correspond to national flags. These usually have 5 well-armed escort ships. They travel around their home nation's waters as well as enemy nations' waters. These will attack your convoys if you are hostile.

Pirate: Pirate convoys usually have black symbols. Their ships may resemble those of a trading convoy or a military convoy. These may attack your convoys.

Expeditionary: Expeditionary convoys resemble trading convoys.

To start a battle, select a convoy that has at least 1 escort ship. Then right-click on another convoy while in sea view.

If there are several convoys near each other, right-click on a convoy symbol and hold. This will display a list of convoy symbols and names. Move your cursor over the one you want and release the button to attack it.

Military, Pirates vs. Your Auto-trading Convoys

When a military convoy or a pirate convoy attacks one of your auto-trading convoy, you will only be notified when the battle is over. A short message will appear in the box in the lower left and a more detailed message will be added  to "Messages" under "Log." If your auto-trading convoy had any escort ships, the game will roughly estimate the damage done to either side. Your escort ships can be captured or sunk during one of these battles. If your convoy loses the battle, you may lose some escort ships, goods, and cannons. Your non-escort ships will not be captured or sunk.

Military, Pirates vs. Your Normal Convoys

For all battles that don't involve your auto-trading convoys, you will see a pop-up message when the battle starts. When a military or pirate convoy attacks one of your normal (i.e. non-auto-trading) convoys, you will see an "Evade"  option. If your convoy has escort ships, you will also have a "Fight" option.

If your convoy attacks another convoy, you will see a "Fight" option and a "Cancel" option.

If you choose to fight, a manual battle ensues. In a manual battle, you can only control one of your escort ships at a time, but you have to fight all of your opponent's escort ships. Your escort ships are shown in the top row and can be sent in at any time.

To send in a ship, click on its portrait. It will appear a screen or two away from your opponent's ships. You will gain control of this ship and lose control of other ships. The ship that you previously controlled will attempt to escape by sailing off the edge of the map and will fire at enemy ships if it has a  chance.

There are three types of cannon balls: heavy cannonballs, chain balls, and grape shot. Heavy cannonballs mainly damage the ship's hull and cannons, but it can also kill a few sailors. Chain balls mainly damage the ship's sails, but it can also do a little damage its hull and kill a few sailors. Grape shot mainly kills sailors, but it can also do a little damage to its hull and sails.

See the 'Strategy and Tactics' section if you're having trouble winning manual battles.

The convoy that has 0 active ships left on the battle map loses the battle.

If your opponent had no escort ships to begin with, you will automatically win.

The winner of the battle can take captured ships, escort ships that were not sent in, non-escort ships, and goods and weapons on any of the above ships. Since each convoy can only have 10 ships, the winner may not be able to take every ship. If you choose not to take some ships, you will later receive a choice between sinking them or releasing them back to their original convoy. If you choose not to take some goods or weapons, they will remain on the released  ships. If you don't release any ships, the goods and weapons that were not transferred to your convoy disappear. Oh, and you can also use this time to give your enemy some of your goods, weapons, or ships if you want to.

Escort ships that escaped, along with their goods and weapons, cannot be taken.

After a battle, every ship's sails are instantly and completely repaired. Also, if your opponent's escort ships end up with 0 cannons and boarding crew after a battle, they will be designated non-escort ships.

If you choose to evade instead, you will receive a random battle outcome that is usually much worse than the outcome of a manual battle. Evading supposedly simulates a battle in which your ships automatically attempt to escape, but if  so, the game must also have simulated the captain's gaining access to the rum,  staggering around drunkenly, and walking off a plank to achieve the level of  incompetence that it does... In other words, you should never evade if you can  fight.

Your Convoys vs. Trading and Transport Convoys

When you attack a trading or transport convoy (they will never attack you), you can start a manual battle. The battle is essentially the same as a battle with a military convoy, except that you will not receive the option of sinking  captured or non-escort ships. If you don't take them, they go back to their convoy.

Your Convoys vs. Pirates Convoys in Hideouts

This is essentially the same as a battle against a pirate convoy on the Caribbean, except that pirate convoys in hideouts can instantly and fully replenish their sailors between battles.

There's one more thing you have to know about combat. When you capture, sink, or loot a convoy, your relationship with its nation is harmed. If you don't have a Letter of Marque, your relationship with every nation, including your  own, is harmed. To obtain a Letter of Marque against a certain nation, buy it from a governor who's at war with the target nation. With a Letter of Marque from nation A against nation B, you can attack nation B's ships with fewer  consequences. Nation B will still dislike you, but nation A will like you more, and the other two nations will ignore your attacks against nation B. The Letter  of Marque remains for the duration of that war.

If there are nations at war, buy a Letter of Marque. Once you start attacking, your relationship with the target nation will drop to hostile before long, so be sure to deactivate your auto-trading convoys. An easy way to do this is to go to Log -> Trade Routes. Click on the convoy's portrait in this window, click on "Trade Routes" in the convoy pane below, and uncheck "Trade route active." Repeat until your Log -> Trade Routes window is empty. Give your convoys some time to sail safely into towns.

Using your Military Corvette convoy, attack trading convoys from the nation you chose to target. Capture and loot ships. Keep useful ships and sell the rest.

Make some money this way. When you want to stop, perhaps because your Letter of Marque expired, you can talk to the governor of your target nation and pay him to upgrade your relationship to neutral. Then reactivate your auto-trading convoys. To do this, click on the "Convoys list" button (the ship) at the top, sort by capacity (the barrel button), and look for convoys with capacities of  250, 500, 750, etc. Since Trading Flute-Ships have a capacity of 250, these  will be your deactivated auto-trading convoys. Go through the list and reactivate them.

Preparation
Continue making money through missions, war, auto-trading, or gambling. Train more captains, create more auto-trading convoys, and improve your trading records. Be sure to do the "Treasure hunt" and "Find teacher" missions to improve your captains' skills. Change your auto-trading convoys' routes when the towns they visit already have 100% trade records.

Buy permits, and create warehouses in governor and viceroy towns so that you can access them without sending ships there.

To buy a permit, go into a town in which you have a trade record of 100%. Click on the Master Builder building, click on the last button, and buy a permit. The permit lets you build in that town, among other things.

To build a warehouse, place 30 wood and 30 bricks on a convoy and send it into a town in which you have a permit. Click on the Master Builder building and click on the warehouse icon. Once you have a warehouse, you gain the ability to build other types of buildings in that town. To build any other buildings, you will have to unload wood and bricks into your warehouse. Send in a convoy with wood and bricks, then, with your convoy selected, click on the docks in town  view (or right-click on the town in sea view). Click on "Warehouse - Convoy transfer." If your warehouse doesn't have enough materials to build something, the game will automatically buy them from the town as long as they're  available. It does this regardless of the price, so try to avoid doing that.

If you're having trouble finding wood and bricks, go to your home town and configure your warehouse to auto-buy wood and bricks. Click on your warehouse, and click on the "+>" symbol. Click on the wood and bricks icons. Set the price of both to 97. Set "Max." of both to 400 if you don't store anything else in your warehouse. Avoid storing more than the maximum that your warehouse can hold because you will have to pay more to do that. If you have one warehouse, the maximum will be 800 barrels. Your warehouse will now accumulate wood and bricks without any further effort on your part, but this process may be slow.

You can set up this auto-buying scheme in several towns so that you won't have to search for building materials. To check how many barrels of wood and bricks a warehouse has, deselect your convoy if you have one selected, go into sea  view, and right-click on a town. To retrieve the materials, send a convoy into the town, right-click on the town (or left-click on the docks in sea view),  click on "Warehouse - Convoy transfer," and load them onto your convoy.

Charles Towne and Eleuthera are good places to buy large quantities of bricks at this stage of the game.

Now you'll want a source of money that doesn't require effort and doesn't falter when you're at war. There are two good options: loans and residences.

If you have a lot of gold, the treasurer of each town will offer to borrow money from you and repay you quite a bit more in several months. You need a permit and a relationship of "neutral" or "friendly" with the town's nation in  order to grant a loan. You can only have one outstanding loan in each town. To see your outstanding loans, navigate to Log -> Balance and loans -> Loans. When a loan is repaid, you will be notified through a message in the box on the  lower left. If you want more money, you'll have to grant another loan manually.

Residences require even less effort, but they don't pay off as quickly. You can buy or build residences in towns where you have a warehouse.

Buying is faster and easier, but it tends to cost a lot. The more residences you own in a town, the more it will cost to buy more. The first one might cost 20K gold. If you have 80 out of 81 residences, the last one might cost 300K gold. Your relationship has a large effect on residence prices, so try to improve your relationship before buying them. The above applies to all businesses, by the way.

Building is cheaper, but your residences won't be populated immediately. Even if the town is growing, it will take some time for people to move into your residences because you have the AI local trader to compete with.

It's a good idea to use a combination of buying and building to monopolize housing in as many towns as you can. It's a slow process, but it's steady.

Since residences are businesses, you do have to worry about them when you're at war. If your relationship with a nation remains hostile for too long--three months, for example--that nation may confiscate some of your residences. You'll want to pay a governor to reset your relationship to neutral once in a while.

You'll need to get married before you can obtain a Bonus Ship. It isn't important which governor's daughter you choose. You need a permit in her town and a "friendly" relationship with her nation, so the easiest and most obvious  choice is your home town's governor's daughter.

Talk to whomever you chose three times. She disappears for about 10 days after each visit, so this will take a month. Save the game after three visits. On the fourth visit, you can choose to marry her. Once you're engaged, deliver the specified amount of wheat, fruit, meat, rum, and wine to the market in her  town, and soon you'll be married. If you can't gather the goods in time, reload your saved game and collect the goods before talking to the governor's  daughter. See the 'Wedding banquet' mission in the 'Missions' section for more information.

Collect 20 artifacts. They will appear as chests with question marks in the water. They will always be near land, but they won't always be in frequently visited areas. You can't do this all at once, so continue making money and building up your fleet. There is a map (http://zifserver.zif.uni-bielefeld.de/jens/PR2/Florian/pr2karte_neu2.jpg) that  shows the location of nearly all of them. They won't all exist at the same time, so you might have to check each location several times. See the 'Artifacts' section for more information.

Once you have 20, talk to your wife. She'll tell you where you can find a Bonus Ship. The Bonus Ship has a minimum speed of 6 knots, making it especially effective when going against the wind.

Continue making money, granting loans, buying residences, completing missions, training captains, creating auto-trading convoys, and creating combat convoys. Your combat convoys should have 2-5 Military Corvettes. You can have 10 ships in a convoy but only 5 escort ships. One of them should also have a Bonus Ship. You should also have several captains with 5 battle and 5 navigation skill points.

You should have about 10 combat convoys, 20 auto-trading convoys, and a few tens of millions in assets. You should also be able to at least break even on your balance sheet without the help of auto-trading or missions.

Capture 10 Ships of the Line. English military convoys are the best sources of those. Remember to buy Letters of Marque and to deactivate auto-trading convoys when you do any significant fighting. Create a convoy with the 10 Ships of the Line. Fill it with cannons and sailors. It should have 500 cannons and 2000 sailors. Add 2000-4000 cutlasses and muskets to the convoy. Designate 5 of them escort ships.

Create 1 or 2 more of those 10-Ships-of-the-Line convoys if you have the money and the patience.

Capture or buy several large ships. Use these to create 5-10 convoys have 5 escort ships and 150 or more cannons each. These will be "gift convoys." Don't bother finding good captains or filling these convoys with sailors. You will use these to boost the fleets of nations that you choose to annex towns for.

War
This is where you will start annexing towns. You might want to annex 128 to receive all 16 player towns, or you might want to annex just a few. Getting all 16 will take dozens of hours, though, so don't expect this to be easy.

At this point, England has 14 towns, France has 9, Holland has 7, and Spain has 30. I would recommend annexing until each nation has 15 towns, with a breakdown of 1 viceroy town, 2 governor towns, and 12 colonial towns each.

You will capture Spanish towns for England, France, and Holland. The order doesn't matter, but remember that you can't annex towns after a war ends. Try to avoid wasted effort by joining only those wars that have started recently. You can fast-forward (by holding down the space bar) until you receive the message that some nation is going to war with Spain.

Assuming that you're following my method of allowing each nation 15 towns, here's what you should annex: For France: Corpus Christi Tampico Vera Cruz Villa Hermosa Campeche Sisal

For Holland: Havana Nombre de Dios Cancun Evangelista Cayman Trinidad Santiago Gibara Belize

For England: Turk Islands When a war starts, buy a Letter of Marque from any nation that is at war with Spain and that you want to annex towns for. If you have lots of money, buy Letters of Marque from every nation that is at war with Spain. This helps you improve your relationship with those nations, which will be useful later.

As always, deactivate your auto-trading convoys. Move your combat convoys into Spanish waters. Place them near Spanish towns, but not too close--about 1/4 of a day's sailing is a good distance. Place your carrier convoy--the one with 10 Ships of the Line and 2,000 troops--in the harbor of the next town you want to  annex. If you have multiple carrier convoys, place each one in a different target town's harbor. Place your gift convoys (the ones with 150+ cannons) in the viceroy towns of the nations that you want to annex towns for.

Once your trading convoys are safe and your combat and carrier convoys are in place, you will start your war. Attack Spain's (or whatever nation you've chosen to target) military convoys. Sink every ship, or capture a few if you really want to. Don't capture too often because the captured ships will likely slow down your Military Corvette convoys and because it takes longer to capture  ships. Try not to move your combat convoys around too much.

When you attack a military convoy in the sea, you don't have to do everything in one battle. If things are not going well, you can have all of your escort ships escape. If your opponent's ships are running away, you can let them go. Since you have Military Corvettes, your convoy will be able to chase down the target military convoy and start another battle.

If you can't seem to find any Spanish military convoys, destroy Spain's trading convoys until your relationship with Spain is hostile. Spain's military convoys will now come to you.

If you still can't seem to find any military convoys, it's probably because they're docked in some towns. If they're repairing, you'll just have to wait for them to finish. If they're not repairing, you can attack the town by sea with one of your Military Corvette convoys and they will attempt to defend it. Destroy the defending convoys, and escape when you get to the battle with the harbor cannons. You won't lose anything if you run away from the harbor cannons battle.

You have to do this carefully. If you don't sink every ship, the military convoy survives and the remaining ships will probably start repairing, which means you won't be able to destroy that one for a while. If you can't sink every ship in one battle, just wait for the convoy to leave the harbor.

Since the nations are at war with each other, they will attack each other, too. If you find a Spanish military convoy that was heavily damaged by other military convoys, go in for the easy kill.

Damaged military convoys will repair as soon as possible but they won't buy replacement ships immediately. If you find a military convoy that's not currently repairing in a harbor, you may be able to attack the town and destroy  that convoy easily. Watch out for other military convoys in that harbor because you might have to fight those first.

Continue destroying Spain's military convoys until its fleet is "weak." You can find each nation's fleet strength under Chronicle -> Nations. If you're having trouble sinking them, look at the 'Naval Combat' section of this guide.

If a nation has 15 towns:
 * Strong is 17 or more convoys.
 * Normal is 12-16 convoys.
 * Weak is 0-11 convoys.

If a nation has 15 towns, it will normally have no more than 18 military convoys.

Once Spain's (or your target nation's) fleet is weak, go to the viceroys of the nations that you want to annex towns for. Talk to each one to receive an annexation mission from each one. Each mission lets you annex one town.

If your relationship is not good enough and you can't talk to the viceroy, you can do some missions for governors or sink some enemy convoys to improve it.

Nations must have strong fleets before they can give annexation missions, so they may instead inform you that their fleets are too weak to defend any new towns. Give them your gift convoys, which will be turned into military convoys, to strengthen them. You can only give each nation one gift convoy every 15 days. If a nation you're supporting has a weak fleet, it may take months to boost its fleet, so you might not want to bother with that.

Move your troop carrier convoys into your 1-3 target towns if they're not there already.

Decide which town you want to attack if you're targeting more than one, then look at its harbor. If there are military convoys that are not repairing in that harbor (i.e. if there are defenders), attack the town by sea with a  Military Corvette convoy to destroy it or at least force it to repair. Repeat for any other defenders in that town.

If the town has fewer than 2,000 troops, you should invade by land using your carrier convoy. If it has more, you should invade by sea using your Military Corvette convoys or your carrier convoys. See the 'Attacking Towns' section for more information on how to succeed.

After you destroy the town's harbor cannons or its gates, you may face a duel. If you're attacking a governor or viceroy town, you will always need to win a duel. If you're attacking a colonial town, you will usually need to win a duel. Since duels only become harder, you can save the game before you attack a colonial town and reload if you get a duel.

When your attack succeeds, you will receive a choice between annexing and looting. Choose 'Annex,' and the town will now align itself with the nation that gave you the annexation mission. If you have more than one incomplete annexation mission, the town will be aligned with the nation that gave you the  first of those missions.

If you look at Chronicle -> Nations, you might see that your target nation is no longer weak. Since it lost a town, it has fewer to defend, so it is relatively stronger. Nations also receive several reinforcement convoys after every two or so annexations. You can't receive an annexation mission when your target nation is not weak, but if you have already received a bunch of  missions, you can annex again without weakening the nation's fleet. This can save a lot of time.

Annex a few more towns. You should be able to annex 2-6, depending on how many nations are at war with your target nation. If you can't do this, then you need to improve your tactics or create more combat and carrier convoys.

Don't spend more than 2 months on each war if you can help it. One reason for this is that your target nation may confiscate some of your businesses. If you want to spend a lot of time attacking one nation, you should improve your  relationship to neutral once in a while so that they don't confiscate your  businesses. You can do this quickly by talking to a governor from the target nation and paying 760K. If that nation doesn't have governor towns, talk to the viceroy.

Another reason is that the war may end suddenly. If you destroy three military convoys and have one more to go before the fleet becomes weak, and the relevant nations declare peace, then you've wasted your time destroying three military  convoys.

When you have annexed two or more towns for a nation, talk to its viceroy. He will let you choose a player town and give you 25% of its land. Repeat for other viceroys to receive more towns. You will receive 25% of a player town for every two towns annexed.

When you want to end your war, talk to a governor from your target town's nation. He will charge you 760K to improve your relationship to neutral (if your rank is "Master of the Seas"). If your target nation doesn't have governor towns anymore, talk to the viceroy.

This is a checklist of things you should do when you stop attacking:
 * Talk to a governor or viceroy to improve your relationship to neutral.
 * Place your war ships in friendly towns.
 * Repair your war ships, buy more ammunition, and replace sailors and cannons.
 * Buy more ships if you lost any.
 * Reactivate your auto-trading convoys. Use the same method you used when you deactivated them.
 * Create more gift convoys if necessary.

If an enemy military convoy has "locked on" to one of your convoys while you were hostile, it will carry out the attack, even if your relationship is neutral now. Choose the fight option, but have all of your ships escape.

During this period of peace, you will have a chance to look at your new player town or towns. Player towns are not aligned with any nation, so they will fly your flag (i.e. logo) instead.

Your town is initially empty except for a wall, a palace, a master builder, docks, and some trees. It's similar to a colonial town. You can build businesses and buildings that a colonial town has, but you don't need a permit  or a warehouse.

Your Palace: Your palace lets you rename your town and recruit troops for 1K each. Your palace is also a warehouse with almost unlimited space, and you can perform normal warehouse functions here. You don't have to pay a penalty if you store too much stuff in your town.

Master Builder: Similar to a master builder in colonial towns. You can't sell or buy a permit and you can't build a warehouse. You can also build town buildings in your town.

(Small) Shipyard: This is the same as a shipyard in a colonial town, but you have to build it yourself. You can repair and rename convoys, but you can't buy or sell ships. Repairs are free.

Harbor Cannons: These are the same as harbor cannons in other towns. They defend against buccaneers and pirates. You can have up to 10 of them.

Trees and Squares: These are decorative.

Docks: These work the way docks in other towns do. If you sell goods to the town, the town owns them.

Town Information and Market Stalls: These are the same buildings you've used before.

Inn: This is the same as inns in other towns, but you have to build it yourself. You must build an inn if you want your population to increase beyond 500.

Church: This is the same as churches in other towns, but you have to build it yourself. You must build an inn if you want your population to increase beyond 2,000.

Hospital, School: These are the same buildings you've used before.

Businesses: Your town can produce 2 essential goods, 2 finished goods, and 1 colonial good. Businesses are the same as they are in other towns, and you still have to pay 50 gold per building per day. You can't sell them, however.

You can't destroy town buildings such as shipyards and inns.

You can develop your town to make more money or you can use it as a storage depot.

Other nations' convoys won't be able to dock in your town until it has a population of 1,000. This means that you can "store" goods in the town's docks as well as your warehouse if you keep your population at about 0. The normal town events do affect your town, so plagues of rats will still destroy food in  your warehouses and natives will still loot the town's import goods. Otherwise, you can store goods permanently without having to pay for extra space.

If you want to make more money, you can simply build a bunch of residences and essential goods businesses and have your warehouse automatically sell them. Even at low prices, you will still make money. AI traders will supply your town for you, so you can just let it run. There are obviously better trade-related uses for player towns, such as hub-and-spoke systems, but those aren't covered  in this walk-through.

If you decide to develop your town, it can easily attain a population of 15K as long as you recruit soldiers and use an efficient buildings layout. I've found that over 19K is possible.

When you're bored of playing around with your new town, you can start annexing again. I would recommend keeping each nation at around 15 towns each. Annex colonial towns to gain more player towns. Don't annex viceroy or governor towns unless you want to 1) transfer them to another nation permanently or 2) acquire  more Bonus Ships. Those towns are usually more heavily defended and will always require duels.

Each wife lets you acquire one Bonus Ship. Since polygamy is generally frowned upon, you need to get rid of your current wife before marrying another one. The best way to do this is to annex her town. After this is done, you can marry any other governor's daughter. Marry one and talk to her several times to receive another Bonus Ship. Repeat as many times as you want. See the 'Ships' and 'Bonus Ships' sections for more information.

Join more wars when you have the opportunities. Annex more towns. Since there are only 60 national towns, and you goal is to annex 128 of them, you will need to re-annex some towns several times. You will probably become bored and stop playing before you achieve this, however.

Continue gaining player towns. Each nation will give you 4, for a total of 16. That's one reason, albeit a minor one, for keeping each nation to 15 towns--you will eventually control more than any of them.

Frequently Asked Questions
Q: When does the game end? A: The game does not end. It's an open-ended game and you can play forever.

Q: Where do settlers come from? A: Most settlers are brought in from Europe in transport convoys. Large towns can produce a few settlers. There's also a mission ("Rescue settlers") in which you can rescue a few of them.

Q: Why can't I talk to the viceroy? A: You need to have a rank of at least Boatswain and a relationship of "friendly" in order to talk to a viceroy.

Q: Will I lose anything if I go to war with my home nation? A: If you go to war with any nation, you can lose a few things. If your relationship is "hostile" for several months, a fraction of your businesses in a town may be confiscated. You will also be unable to trade with the hostile towns. See the 'Relationships' section in the Appendix for more information.

Q: I get messages about something happening in the Bermuda area. What's this about? A: When someone at an inn warns you about an event in the Bermuda, an "Unknown Pirate" convoy appears at the island east of St. Augustine. The convoy is similar to a military convoy. It will attack your convoy. I don't know else what it does, though.

Q: Is there a limit to how much gold you can have? A: The maximum amount of gold is 2,000,000,000.

Q: What do you get from looting the Spanish treasure fleet? A: If you capture the Spanish treasure fleet, you can loot up to a few hundred thousand gold. The amount depends on how many towns the fleet has visited so far, since it sails around collecting gold from Spanish towns.

Q: What's an artifact? A: It's one of 20 items that you need to collect in order to obtain a Bonus Ship. See the 'Bonus Ships' section in the Appendix for more information.

Q: How do I get a Bonus Ship? A: Collect all 20 artifacts and talk to your wife. See the 'Bonus Ships' section in the Appendix for more information.

Q: What does a permit do? A: A permit lets you do the following things in a town: - Build - Grant a loan - Receive missions from the governor - Buy Letters of Marque from the governor - Marry the governor's daughter

Q: Are hired pirates worth using? A: No.

Q: What do feasts do? A: Feasts help improve a town's economic status more quickly.

Q: Why do my soldiers disappear? A: If you have too many soldiers, some of them will leave. Keep your soldiers to 20% or less of your town's population to avoid losing them.

Q: Is a full ship slower than an empty ship? A: No.

Q: Is it possible to eliminate a nation? A: No. Each nation will always have at least its viceroy town.

Q: What happens when you annex a viceroy town? A: A governor town from that nation is converted into a viceroy town to replace it. The annexed town becomes a governor town. If a nation doesn't have any governor towns, you can't annex its viceroy town.

Q: How many pirate hideouts are there? A: There can be as many as 5 on the map at any one time.

Q: Can I divorce my wife? A: Yes. If you annex her town for another nation, she'll leave. If her town is the only governor town of her nation, you can also annex the viceroy town to force her out.

Q: How are the difficulty levels different? A: Difficulty levels affect the prices of goods, the amount of damage you inflict in battles, and the amount of trading you need to do to improve your trading record.

Q: What happens when I sell goods to a player town? A: The same thing that happens when you sell goods to any other town. The town receives them, and you don't.

Goods Types
Essential goods: Wheat Fruit Wood Bricks

Raw materials: Corn Sugar Cotton Hemp

Finished goods: Meat Garments Rope Rum

Colonial goods: Coffee Cocoa Dyes Tobacco

Import goods: Spices Wine Tools

Prices
Goods in town docks have a lower limit for prices, an upper limit, and a plateau in the middle. The middle plateau is generally a good ceiling for buying and floor for selling. Your relationship with a town's nation affects prices. Goods that are produced by the town tend to have lower prices for the same quantity. Player towns' prices are the same as those of friendly national towns. The following prices assume that your relationship is "friendly."

Essential goods: Selling prices (to the town): Lower limit: 64 Middle plateau: 88 Upper limit: approx. 187-192 Buying prices (from the town): Lower limit: 72 Middle plateau: 96 Upper limit: 208

Raw materials: Selling prices (to the town): Lower limit: 80 Middle plateau: 110 Upper limit: approx. 233-239 Buying prices (from the town): Lower limit: 90 Middle plateau: 120 Upper limit: 260

Finished goods: Selling prices (to the town): Lower limit: 240 Middle plateau: 330 Upper limit: approx. 700-719 Buying prices (from the town): Lower limit: 270 Middle plateau: 360 Upper limit: 780

Colonial goods: Selling prices (to the town): Lower limit: 120 Middle plateau: 165 Upper limit: approx. 350-359 Buying prices (from the town): Lower limit: 135 Middle plateau: 180 Upper limit: 390

Import goods - Wine and Spices: Selling prices (to the town): Lower limit: 400 Middle plateau: 550 Upper limit: approx. 1,167-1,196 Buying prices (from the town): Lower limit: 450 Middle plateau: 600 Upper limit: 1,300

Import goods - Tools: Selling prices (to the town): Lower limit: 400 Middle plateau: none Upper limit: approx. 1,167-1,196 Buying prices (from the town): Lower limit: 450 Middle plateau: none Upper limit: 1,300

Settlers: Selling price (to the town): 100

Weapons: Cannons: Selling prices (to the town): Lower limit: 480 Upper limit: approx. 956-959 Buying prices (from the town): Lower limit: 800 Upper limit: 1600 Heavy cannonballs: Selling prices (to the town): Lower limit: 2 (2.89 if selling 100) Upper limit: approx. 3-5 Buying prices (from the town): Lower limit: 4 Upper limit: 8 Chain balls: Selling prices (to the town): Lower limit: 4 (4.09 if selling 100) Upper limit: approx. 4-7 Buying prices (from the town): Lower limit: 6 Upper limit: 12 Grape shot: Selling prices (to the town): Lower limit: 3 (3.49 if selling 100) Upper limit: approx. 3-6 Buying prices (from the town): Lower limit: 5 Upper limit: 10 Cutlasses: Selling prices (to the town): Lower limit: 24 (24.49 if selling 100) Upper limit: approx. 24-48 Buying prices (from the town): Lower limit: 40 Upper limit: 80 Muskets: Selling prices (to the town): Lower limit: 120 (120.49 if selling 100) Upper limit: approx. 120-240 Buying prices (from the town): Lower limit: 200 Upper limit: 400

Production

 * Governor, Viceroy: 3 essential goods, 2 finished goods (and 3 import goods)
 * Colonial: 2 essential goods, 2 raw materials, 1 colonial good
 * Player: 2 essential goods, 2 finished goods, 1 colonial good

List of Towns
Towns in the same regions and production groups produce similar goods.

The following data reflect conditions initially found in free-play mode. They may change over the course of a gaming session. Andross: nation: Holland type: colonial goods: wheat, wood, cotton, hemp, dyes region: 1 production group: 3

Antigua: nation: England type: colonial goods: wood, bricks, corn, hemp, cocoa region: 2 production group: 5

Barbados: nation: England type: colonial goods: fruit, wheat, corn, hemp, cocoa region: 2 production group: 5

Barcelona: nation: type: player goods: wood, bricks, meat, garments, cocoa region: 3 production group: 7

Belize: nation: Spain type: governor goods: wheat, bricks, wood, rum, rope region: 0 production group: 1

Biloxi: nation: France type: viceroy goods: fruit, bricks, wood, meat, rum region: 0 production group: 0

Campeche: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: wood, wheat, hemp, sugar, coffee region: 0 production group: 1

Cancun: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: wheat, wood, hemp, sugar, coffee region: 0 production group: 1

Caracas: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: wheat, bricks, corn, hemp, coffee region: 3 production group: 7

Carlos: nation: type: player goods: fruit, wood, garments, rum, coffee region: 0 production group: 0

Cartagena: nation: Spain type: governor goods: wheat, fruit, wood, rum, garments region: 3 production group: 6

Cat Island: nation: Holland type: colonial goods: wood, wheat, corn, sugar, dyes region: 1 production group: 2

Cayman: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: wood, fruit, cotton, sugar, cocoa region: 3 production group: 6

Charleston (Charlesfort): nation: France type: colonial goods: wood, wheat, corn, sugar, dyes region: 1 production group: 2

Charles Towne: nation: Holland type: colonial goods: fruit, bricks, corn, sugar, dyes region: 1 production group: 2

Coro: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: wood, wheat, cotton, sugar, coffee region: 3 production group: 6

Corpus Christi: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: wood, wheat, corn, cotton, dyes region: 0 production group: 0

Curacao: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: fruit, bricks, corn, hemp, coffee region: 3 production group: 7

Eleuthera: nation: Holland type: colonial goods: fruit, bricks, corn, sugar, dyes region: 1 production group: 2

Evangelista: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: wood, fruit, hemp, cotton, tobacco region: 1 production group: 3

Florida Keys: nation: France type: colonial goods: wood, wheat, corn, cotton, dyes region: 0 production group: 0

Fort Caroline: nation: France type: colonial goods: wheat, bricks, corn, sugar, tobacco region: 1 production group: 2

Georgetown: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: wood, wheat, corn, hemp, cocoa region: 3 production group: 7

Gibara: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: wood, wheat, hemp, cotton, tobacco region: 1 production group: 3

Gibraltar: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: fruit, wheat, cotton, sugar, coffee region: 3 production group: 6

Grand Bahama: nation: Holland type: viceroy goods: wheat, fruit, wood, rope, garments region: 1 production group: 2

Grenada: nation: England type: colonial goods: wood, bricks, corn, hemp, cocoa region: 2 production group: 5

Guadeloupe: nation: England type: viceroy goods: wheat, fruit, bricks, meat, garments region: 2 production group: 5

Havana: nation: Spain type: governor goods: wheat, bricks, wood, rum, garments region: 1 production group: 3

Isabella: nation: England type: colonial goods: wood, bricks, cotton, sugar, tobacco region: 2 production group: 4

Los Morillas: nation: given by France type: player goods: fruit, bricks, rum, meat, tobacco region: 2 production group: 4

Magdelaine: nation: given by Spain type: player goods: wheat, wood, rope, garments, coffee region: 0 production group: 0

Manzanillo: nation: given by Holland type: player goods: wheat, fruit, meat, rum, tobacco region: 1 production group: 3

Maracaibo: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: fruit, bricks, cotton, sugar, coffee region: 3 production group: 6

Margarita: nation: Spain type: governor goods: wheat, fruit, bricks, rope, garments region: 3 production group: 7

Martinique: nation: England type: colonial goods: fruit, wheat, corn, hemp, cocoa region: 2 production group: 5

Nassau: nation: Holland type: colonial goods: wood, fruit, corn, sugar, dyes region: 1 production group: 2

New Orleans: nation: France type: colonial goods: fruit, wheat, corn, cotton, dyes region: 0 production group: 0

Nombre de Dios: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: fruit, bricks, hemp, cotton, tobacco region: 1 production group: 3

Otchaqua: nation: type: player goods: fruit, wheat, meat, rope, dyes region: 1 production group: 2

Pensacola: nation: France type: colonial goods: wood, fruit, corn, cotton, dyes region: 0 production group: 0

Petit Trou: nation: given by England type: player goods: wood, fruit, garments, rope, tobacco region: 2 production group: 4

Port-au-Prince: nation: England type: colonial goods: fruit, bricks, cotton, sugar, tobacco region: 2 production group: 4

Port of Spain: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: wood, bricks, corn, hemp, cocoa region: 3 production group: 7

Port Royale: nation: Spain type: viceroy goods: wheat, bricks, wood, meat, rope region: 3 production group: 6

Port St. Joe: nation: France type: colonial goods: fruit, wheat, corn, cotton, dyes region: 0 production group: 0

Providence: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: fruit, bricks, cotton, sugar, cocoa region: 3 production group: 6

Puerto Bello: nation: given by England type: player goods: fruit, bricks, garments, meat, cocoa region: 3 production group: 6

Puerto Cabello: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: wood, bricks, corn, hemp, coffee region: 3 production group: 7

Puerto Cabezas: nation: given by Holland type: player goods: bricks, wood, rope, rum, cocoa region: 3 production group: 6

Puerto Santo: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: fruit, wheat, corn, hemp, cocoa region: 3 production group: 7

Rio Grande: nation: type: player goods: wood, wheat, meat, garments, coffee region: 0 production group: 0

Rio Hacha: nation: type: player goods: wheat, bricks, rum, meat, cocoa region: 3 production group: 6

Roatan: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: fruit, bricks, hemp, sugar, dyes region: 0 production group: 1

San Juan: nation: England type: governor goods: fruit, bricks, wood, meat, rum region: 2 production group: 4

Santa Clara: nation: given by Spain type: player goods: bricks, wheat, rope, meat, tobacco region: 1 production group: 3

Santa Marta: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: wood, bricks, cotton, sugar, cocoa region: 3 production group: 6

San Thoma: nation: type: colonial goods: wheat, fruit, rum, rope, dyes region: 0 production group: 1

Santiago: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: fruit, bricks, hemp, cotton, tobacco region: 1 production group: 3

Santo Domingo: nation: England type: colonial goods: fruit, wheat, cotton, sugar, tobacco region: 2 production group: 4

Savannah: nation: type: player goods: bricks, wood, garments, rope, dyes region: 1 production group: 2

Sisal: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: wood, fruit, hemp, sugar, coffee region: 0 production group: 1

St. Augustine: nation: France type: governor goods: fruit, bricks, wood, meat, rope region: 1 production group: 2

St. Lucia: nation: England type: colonial goods: wood, fruit, corn, hemp, cocoa region: 2 production group: 5

St. Kitts: nation: England type: colonial goods: wheat, bricks, corn, hemp, cocoa region: 2 production group: 5

St. Martin: nation: England type: colonial goods: wood, bricks, cotton, sugar, tobacco region: 2 production group: 4

St. Thome: nation: England type: colonial goods: wood, fruit, cotton, sugar, tobacco region: 2 production group: 4

Tampa: nation: France type: colonial goods: wood, wheat, corn, cotton, coffee region: 0 production group: 0

Tampico: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: wood, bricks, hemp, sugar, coffee region: 0 production group: 1

Tortuga: nation: England type: colonial goods: wheat, bricks, cotton, sugar, tobacco region: 2 production group: 4

Trinidad: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: wheat, bricks, hemp, cotton, tobacco region: 1 production group: 3

Turk Islands: nation: Holland type: governor goods: wheat, fruit, wood, rum, rope region: 2 production group: 4

Valladolid: nation: type: player goods: wood, wheat, rope, rum, dyes region: 0 production group: 1

Vera Cruz: nation: Spain type: player goods: wheat, fruit, bricks, meat, garments region: 0 production group: 1

Villa Hermosa: nation: Spain type: colonial goods: fruit, bricks, hemp, sugar, coffee region: 0 production group: 1

Villa Rica: nation: given by France type: player goods: bricks, fruit, rum, garments, coffee region: 0 production group: 1

Economic status
These are indicators of how well a town is doing overall.

Poverty: - 1% of population converted into settlers per day - no new workers

Recession: - 0.5% of population converted into settlers per day - no new workers

Stagnation: - no new workers

Recovery: - no new workers - only occurs when the town is attacked

Boom: - new workers possible

Flourishing: - 5% lower wages - only available when population > 2,000

Wealth: - 10% lower wages - only available when population > 4,000

Riches: - 15% lower wages - only available when population > 6,000

Event status
Gold discovered: - improves economic status - residents consume twice as many imported goods - lasts 1 month

Plague of rats: - residents consume twice as much wheat, fruit, corn, and meat - lasts 1 month

Plague: - residents slowly die off - degrades economic status - AI traders are less likely to visit the town - residents consume twice as many garments - lasts 1 month

Food supplies contaminated: - same effect as famine - caused by a buccaneer

Famine: - the prices of wheat, fruit, corn, and meat increase

Storm: - occurs during and after a storm - production on crop farms is halved

Attack by a military convoy: - degrades economic status--may immediately decrease to recovery, and may change later - goods looted

Attack by pirates: - degrades economic status--may immediately decrease to recovery, and may change later - finished goods looted

Attack by natives: - degrades economic status--may immediately decrease to recovery, and may change later - imported goods looted and citizens removed

Treasure fleet: - the Spanish treasure fleet has docked in the town

Sabotage: - the town was attacked by a buccaneer

Storage Limits
In the town's docks: Goods: 32,750 of each type Settlers: 32,750 Cannons: 32,767 Ammunition: 3,276 of each type Muskets: 32,750 Cutlasses: 32,750

In a warehouse or player town palace: Goods: 32,750 of each type Cannons: 32,767 Ammunition: 3,276 of each type Muskets: 32,750 Cutlasses: 32,750

Ammunition limits are really 32,767 cannon balls. You can only buy 10 at a time, so it displays 3,276 or 3,275. For example, if you really have 32,759, you won't be able to buy 10 more, so the apparent maximum is 3,275 in that  case.

The ammunition, musket, and cutlass limits also apply to convoys.

Businesses and Buildings
Businesses:

Description: Inputs: workers and goods required per building per day Outputs: goods produced per building per day Building time: in days Building costs: materials and gold Affected by storms: whether production is halved when a storm passes by  Clustering: whether buildings of the same type can be placed adjacent to each other to form contiguous groups of up to 4 buildings (i.e. if they  can't cluster, then they must have some empty space between them)

Wheat Farm: Inputs: 30 workers Outputs: 2.5 wheat Building time: 15 days Building costs: 30 wood, 30 bricks, 10K gold Affected by storms: yes Clustering: yes

Fruit Farm: Inputs: 30 workers Outputs: 2.5 fruit Building time: 15 days Building costs: 30 wood, 30 bricks, 10K gold Affected by storms: yes Clustering: yes

Sawmill: Inputs: 30 workers Outputs: 2.5 wood Building time: 15 days Building costs: 30 wood, 30 bricks, 10K gold Affected by storms: no  Clustering: no

Brickworks: Inputs: 30 workers Outputs: 2.5 bricks Building time: 15 days Building costs: 30 wood, 30 bricks, 10K gold Affected by storms: no  Clustering: no

Corn Farm: Inputs: 30 workers Outputs: 2 corn Building time: 15 days Building costs: 30 wood, 30 bricks, 10K gold Affected by storms: yes Clustering: yes

Sugar Cane Farm: Inputs: 30 workers Outputs: 2 sugar Building time: 15 days Building costs: 30 wood, 30 bricks, 10K gold Affected by storms: yes Clustering: yes

Cotton Farm: Inputs: 30 workers Outputs: 2 cotton Building time: 15 days Building costs: 30 wood, 30 bricks, 10K gold Affected by storms: yes Clustering: yes

Hemp Plantation: Inputs: 30 workers Outputs: 2 hemp Building time: 15 days Building costs: 30 wood, 30 bricks, 10K gold Affected by storms: yes Clustering: yes

Cattle Farm: Inputs: 30 workers, 1 corn Outputs: 1 meat Building time: 30 days Building costs: 60 wood, 60 bricks, 20K gold Affected by storms: no  Clustering: no

Weaving Mill: Inputs: 30 workers, 1 cotton Outputs: 1 garment Building time: 30 days Building costs: 60 wood, 60 bricks, 20K gold Affected by storms: no  Clustering: no

Ropery: Inputs: 30 workers, 1 hemp Outputs: 1 rope Building time: 30 days Building costs: 60 wood, 60 bricks, 20K gold Affected by storms: no  Clustering: no

Rum Distillery: Inputs: 30 workers, 1 sugar Outputs: 1 rum Building time: 30 days Building costs: 60 wood, 60 bricks, 20K gold Affected by storms: no  Clustering: no

Coffee Plantation: Inputs: 30 workers, 0.2 tools Outputs: 2 coffee Building time: 15 days Building costs: 30 wood, 30 bricks, 10K gold Affected by storms: yes Clustering: yes

Cocoa Plantation: Inputs: 30 workers, 0.2 tools Outputs: 2 cocoa Building time: 15 days Building costs: 30 wood, 30 bricks, 10K gold Affected by storms: yes Clustering: yes

Dye Plantation: Inputs: 30 workers, 0.2 tools Outputs: 2 dyes Building time: 15 days Building costs: 30 wood, 30 bricks, 10K gold Affected by storms: yes Clustering: yes

Tobacco Plantation: Inputs: 30 workers, 0.2 tools Outputs: 2 tobacco Building time: 15 days Building costs: 30 wood, 30 bricks, 10K gold Affected by storms: yes Clustering: yes

Residence: Building time: 0 Building costs: 30 wood, 30 bricks, 5K gold Description: These are also businesses. Each residence houses 120 people, 30 of which are workers.

Other buildings:

Church: Building time: 60 days Building costs: 120 wood, 120 bricks, 40K gold Description: Lets you donate money to improve your trading record and bless a convoy to improve its crew's morale. Can't be destroyed.

Docks: Description: Allows you to buy and sell goods and transfer goods between your warehouse and convoys.

Harbor Cannon: Building time: 30 days Building costs: 60 wood, 60 bricks, 20K gold Description: Defends against buccaneers, pirates, and players. Can't be destroyed.

Hospital: Building time: 30 days Building costs: 60 wood, 60 bricks, 20K gold Description: Helps improve the status of the town and reduce the risk of plague. Can't be destroyed.

Inn: Building time: 30 days Building costs: 60 wood, 60 bricks, 20K gold Description: Allows you to hire captains and pirates, gamble, receive missions, and talk to people. Can't be destroyed.

Large Shipyard: Description: Found in governor and viceroy towns. Allows you to rename and repair convoys, buy ships, and sell ships.

Market Stalls: Description: Allows you to throw feasts, receive goods for missions, and deliver goods for missions.

Master Builder: Description: Allows you to build and buy or sell permits. You can't buy or sell permits in player towns or your home town.

Palace: Description: Found in viceroy, governor, and player towns. Allows you to recruit soldiers for 1K each. In viceroy and governor towns, you can donate toward acquiring cannons for the town and grant or receive loans. In viceroy towns you can talk to the viceroy. In governor towns, you can talk to the governor and his daughter.

Schools: Building time: 30 days Building costs: 60 wood, 60 bricks, 20K gold Description: Helps improve the status of the town. Can't be destroyed.

Small Shipyard: Building time: 30 days Building costs: 60 wood, 60 bricks, 20K gold Description: Found in colonial and player towns. Allows you to rename or repair convoys. Repairs are free in player towns.

Square: Building time: 0 Building costs: 30 bricks, 1K gold Description: Decorative.

Town Council: Description: Found in colonial towns. Allows you to grant or receive loans and to donate toward acquiring cannons and soldiers for the town.

Town Information: Description: Shows you information about the town when you click on it. Same as clicking on a town's name in sea view.

Trees: Building time: 0 Building costs: 1K gold Description: Decorative.

Warehouse: Building time: 15 days Building costs: 30 wood, 30 bricks, 10K gold Description: Stores up to 800 barrels of goods and cannons. Can store more, but for a price. Lets you configure auto-trading actions.

Missions
A few notes before you read about the missions: - The availability and rewards of most missions depend on your rank. They are also affected by factors such as war, goods shortages, and your decisions. - The difficulty ratings are relative. For example, I don't feel that annexing towns is hard, but I rated the mission "hard" because I do think that it's one of the hardest missions. - When I say "a person in an inn," I mean someone with a random but real-sounding name, not someone called "a person."

Name: "Goods available" Summary: Buying goods. Difficulty: Easy Starting: Talk to a person in an inn. Description: A person in an inn offers to sell you some goods. Agree and meet the person at the market to receive the goods. Variants: - 400 rum at 300 each. - 400 garments at 300 each. - 400 rope at 300 each. - 400 meat at 300 each. - 400 sugar at 100 each. Rewards: Some goods.

Name: "Find the package" Summary: Retrieving an item in the sea. Difficulty: Easy Starting: Talk to a person in an inn. Description: A person lost a package or chest in the sea somewhere and needs you to find it. Search for it near the mentioned town. It will appear as a chest with a question mark. Pick it up and return it to the person. You are given 17-18 days to complete this mission. Variants: - The location of the package varies. Rewards: 5K gold.

Name: "Secret documents" Summary: Retrieving items in the sea. Difficulty: Easy Starting: Talk to a governor. Description: The governor asks you to retrieve several documents that were dropped by a transport convoy heading toward Europe. Collect chests until you receive a message saying that you've found all of them. Go back to the governor's town and talk to him. You are given 30 days to complete this mission. Variants: - The locations of the documents vary. Rewards: A Barque.

Name: "Drunkards" Summary: Recapturing a stolen ship. Difficulty: Easy Starting: Talk to a person in an inn. Description: Some drunkards have taken the person's ship. Find a bottle near the town. Continue in the same direction and find more bottles. These will lead you to the stolen ship. The ship is a barque with 20 cannons and 0 sailors, and its nation is the same as the person's town's nation. Capture it, bring it back to the town, and place it in the harbor. Note that capturing this ship does not harm your relationship with any nation. Talk to the person, who will tell you that your reward, some barrels of goods, is waiting for you at the  market in your home town. You are given 23-28 days to complete this mission. Pick-up your reward within 30 days. Variants: - The locations of the bottles and the ship vary. - Various goods as rewards: - 20 rum and 20 fruit - 40 meat and 40 fruit Rewards: Some goods.

Name: "Traveler" Summary: Transporting a traveler. Difficulty: Easy Starting: Talk to a traveler in an inn. Description: A traveler wants to reach a certain town. Place him on one of your ships and sail to that town. You are given 20 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various towns are named. Rewards: 5K-25K gold.

Name: n/a Summary: Treasure map. Difficulty: Easy Starting: Find a map piece floating in a bottle in the water or buy one from a seaman in an inn. Description: As soon as you acquire at least one piece of a map, a chest will appear somewhere in the Caribbean, although you won't necessarily see it immediately. When you approach the chest, it will be displayed as a normal chest. You don't need more than one map piece to complete this mission. You can buy additional map pieces from seamen in inns for 500 to 25K gold each  or find them in bottles in the sea. If you complete a map, another piece will start a new mission and form the basis of a new map. There is no time limit for this mission, and there is no limit to the number of completed maps you can have. Variants: - Many maps and treasure locations exist. Rewards: Up to 174K gold.

Name: "Castaway" Summary: Rescuing a stranded person. Difficulty: Easy Starting: Pick up a stranded person in the sea. Description: At some point, one of your ships may come across a stranded sailor depicted by a raft with people on it. Pick up the person and sail to wherever the person wants to go. You are given approximately 20 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various stranded people in various locations belonging to various nations are named. - The destination varies: - The castaway's home town - Any town belonging to the castaway's nation Rewards: 29K-53K gold.

Name: "Rescue settlers" Summary: Rescuing sailors. Difficulty: Easy Starting: Talk to a governor. Description: A governor asks you to search for and rescue some shipwrecked settlers. Find them and pick them up. You are given 15 days to complete this mission. Variants: - The location of the settlers varies. Rewards: Up to 12.5K gold, 35 settlers, and a boost to your relationship.

Name: "Demand for goods" Summary: Selling goods to a trader. Difficulty: Easy Starting: Talk to a trader in an inn. Description: Deliver some goods to a person in the market. You are given 30 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various towns are named. - Various goods and prices are possible: - 60 essential goods for 160 each. - 40-300 raw materials for 200 each. - 150-300 colonial goods for 300 each. - 150-300 finished goods for 600 each. Rewards: Profit from selling goods.

Name: "Goods transport" Summary: Transporting goods. Difficulty: Easy Starting: Talk to a trader in an inn. Description: Pay a trader some money as a surety. Receive some essential goods. Deliver the goods to the specified destination. Receive more money. If you fail to deliver the goods on time, you can keep them but you won't be paid the  promised amount or repaid your surety. You are given 25 days to complete this mission. Variants: - The goods may be wheat, fruit, wood, or bricks. - The quantity of goods may be 550-1,000 barrels. - The surety, or security deposit, is 88 gold per barrel, rounded down to the next lowest thousand. - The payment is 120 gold per barrel, rounded down to the next lowest thousand. Rewards: Profit from selling goods.

Name: "Delivery of raw materials" Summary: Selling raw materials to a town. Difficulty: Easy Starting: Talk to a governor. Description: The governor will tell you that one of his towns has a shortage of a certain good. Deliver some goods to a person in the market of the specified town. You are given 25 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various towns are named. The towns always belong to the governor's nation. - Various goods and prices are possible: - 30-100 sugar for 200 each. Rewards: Profit from selling goods and a boost to your relationship.

Name: "Delivery of colonial goods" Summary: Selling colonial goods to a town. Difficulty: Easy Starting: Talk to a governor. Description: The governor will tell you that one of his towns has a shortage of a certain good. Deliver some goods to a person in the market of the specified town. You are given 25 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various towns are named. The towns always belong to the governor's nation. - Various goods and prices are possible: - 200 tobacco for 375 each. - 200 dyes for 375 each. Rewards: Profit from selling goods and a boost to your relationship.

Name: "Delivery of tools" Summary: Selling tools to a town. Difficulty: Easy Starting: Talk to a governor. Description: The governor will tell you that one of his towns has a shortage of tools. Deliver some tools to a person in the market of the specified town. You are given 25 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various towns are named. The towns always belong to the governor's nation. - Various quantities are possible: - e.g. 100 tools for 1,000 each. Rewards: Profit from selling tools and a boost to your relationship.

Name: "Wedding banquet" Summary: Wedding preparation. Difficulty: Easy Starting: Talk to a governor's daughter. Description: Visit the governor's daughter that you want to marry. If you've swept her off her feet (i.e. you've said "hi" 3 times), she'll propose marriage. Talk to the governor, who will accept. Deliver some wheat, fruit, meat, rum, and wine to a person in the market of your fiancee's town. The wedding takes place soon after you've done this. If you fail to deliver these goods, the governor's daughter will never talk to you again. You are given 20 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various governors' daughters can be chosen. - Various amounts of goods are required: 24-124 barrels of each good. Rewards: A wife.

Name: "Build school" Summary: Building a school. Difficulty: Easy Starting: Talk to a governor. Description: A governor wants you to build a school in one of his nation's towns. The mission is completed as soon as construction starts. You are given 40 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various towns are named. Rewards: 120K gold and a boost to your relationship.

Name: Summary: Building a hospital. Difficulty: Easy Starting: Talk to a governor. Description: A governor wants you to build a hospital in one of his nation's towns. The mission is completed as soon as construction starts. You are given 40 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various towns are named. Rewards:

Name: "Treasure hunt" Summary: Treasure riddle. Difficulty: Medium Starting: Talk to a person in an inn. Description: A person in an inn will give you one clue regarding the location of a treasure chest. The chest appears as a chest with a question mark and will always be near a coastline. After some amount of time, if you do not find the chest, another person in an inn will give you a second clue. After some more time, a third person will give you a third clue. There are three types of clues: - The location of the chest relative to some town ("X"). - The town's region (e.g. north, middle). - A cryptic riddle. The clues are given in a random order. A star will appear above an inn containing these people when you are in town view. You are given 30 days after receiving the third clue to complete this mission. Variants: - Various rewards exist: - 2 points toward the captain's skills. Randomly chosen, may be spread across 2 skills. You can only receive this if your captain's skills add up to 13 or less. - As many barrels of rum as you can carry (up to 2,500 barrels) - 40K-510K gold - As many cannons as you can carry (up to 500) - A morale boost for the convoy (up to 100%) - Many sets of clues exist: - 1.      Clue: This must be a position in the north. Clue: The position is located close to X.     Clue: A lonely town lies in the west of the headland. Location: Near Tampa or Grand Bahama. - 2.      Clue: This must be a position in the middle of the Caribbean. Clue: X is a town that has streets paved with gold. Its majestic harbor is a sight to behold. Clue: The place is located somewhere up to 1 day's journey from X.     Location: Near Port-au-Prince. - 3.      Clue: This must be a southerly location. Clue: The place is located not far from X, at most 1 day's journey away. Clue: White strand beside the jungle, a little river known to none. Here you lie well hidden, in a bay seen only by the sun. Location: Near Santa Marta. - 4.      Clue: This place is located somewhere in the west. Clue: The position lies in an area 1 day's journey from X.     Clue: Once long ago did other people here live, with their great temples praise to the gods did they give. Above it lies X, up in a corner. You'll sail to the southeast in vain, I should warn you. Location: Near Sisal. - 5.      Clue: The place lies in the middle of the Caribbean. Clue: The place lies not far from X, at most 1 day's journey. Clue: Once long ago did other people here live, with their great temples praise to gods did they give. Above it lies X, up in a corner. You'll sail to the southwest in vain, I should warn you. Location: Near Cancun. - 6.      Clue: Not far from the town, at the bottom of a cliff, lie the battered remains of an old wrecked ship. Clue: The place lies somewhere in the area, 1 day's journey from X.     Clue: The place lies in the southeast Caribbean. Location: Near Caracas. - 7.      Clue: This place is located not far from X, at most 1 day's journey away. Clue: The place lies in the southeast Caribbean. Clue: Spain set up a harbor here once. You will find wood and bricks, but wheat there is none. Location: Near Port of Spain. - 8.      Clue: The position is located 3 to 4 days' journey to the east of X.      Clue: The place must lie in the far northeast. Clue: Holy August is now northward bound, very soon in the town is where he'll be found. Location: Near St. Augustine, next to the island to the East. - 9.      Clue: The place lies somewhere in the northwest. Clue: The place is located somewhere to the south of X, not far from the coast. Clue: The town that you seek is a desolate place, far flung from all the world, as though forsaken, or in disgrace. Location: Near Corpus Christi. - 10.      Clue: This must be a southerly location. Clue: The place is located not far from X, at most 1 day's journey away. Clue: Here lies the town, overlooking the sound. It guards the bay, for with ships it abounds. Location: Near Maracaibo. - 11.      Clue: The place lies somewhere close to X, up to 1 day's journey away. Clue: The place lies somewhere in the east. Clue: X lies on the island, it's really quite small. But look to the southeast, there's none larger at all. Location: Near San Juan. - 12.      Clue: The place lies in the middle of the Caribbean. Clue: The position lies up to 1 day's journey to the south of X.     Clue: An island far off, small and remote. There is nowhere else for X to denote. Location: Near Cayman, to the southeast. - 13.      Clue: The place lies in the middle of the Caribbean. Clue: The position is located at most 1 day's journey from X.     Clue: A bay holds two islands, one large and one small. The town on the larger, under X must it fall. Location: Near Roatan. - 14.      Clue: The place lies to the south of X.      Clue: In a large bay lie some towns, there are three. X refers to the most southern of these. Clue: The place is located somewhere in the west. Location: Near Roatan. - 15.      Clue: The place lies in the middle of the Caribbean. Clue: The place is located in the region around X and Trinidad. Clue: The distance from X to Nombre is not far, you have plenty of rum and can enjoy a cigar. Location: Near Havana. - 16.      Clue: The position is located not far from X.      Clue: On its sands, the sea is home to towns for which no one cares. But one of these in particular has always produced fine wares. Clue: The place lies somewhere in the east. Location: Near Martinique. - 17.      Clue: The place lies in the Southern Caribbean. Clue: An island lies here, as though in a cradle. A peninsula from the north curls around at an angle. Clue: The place lies somewhere close to X, at most 1 day's journey away. Location: Near Providence. - 18. (Colin  provided this and the following two sets of clues) Clue: This must be a position in the north. Clue: The place lies not far off the coast of X.     Clue: Not the most northerly town can it be, but further north only one other will you see. Location: Near Fort Caroline. - 19.      Clue: The place lies in the Southern Caribbean. Clue: An island lies here, as though in a cradle. A peninsula curls around at a angle. Clue: The place is located to the west of X.     Location: Near Providence. - 20.      Clue: This must be a position in the north. Clue: Four towns sit on the bay together. Sail to the east, in the third you must tether. Clue: The position lies off the coast of X.     Location: Near Port St. Joe. Rewards: Various.

Name: "Find teacher" Summary: Finding a master of battle, navigation, or trade. Difficulty: Medium Starting: Talk to a person in an inn. Description: A person in an inn will give you a vague description of the location of an intermediary who knows the location of a master of navigation, trade, or battle--in exchange for some gold. The description will indicate a group of towns where you should search. Note that this description is sometimes slightly wrong. Find the intermediary in an inn in one of the appropriate towns. A star will appear above the tavern in the town display. The intermediary will not be in the town at all times. You are given approximately 100 days to complete this part of the mission. Once you find this person, he will tell you to retrieve an item near some town. Pick up the item in a convoy and send the convoy to the intermediary's town. Talk to the intermediary. You are given 30 days to complete this part of the mission. The intermediary gives you a vague description of the location of the master. Now, you will need to load a convoy with 50 units of a specified good. Place the captain that you want to improve on this convoy. Find the master, who will appear as a chest with a question mark in sea view. Have the convoy move onto the chest to receive up to 5 points in one skill. Variants: - The person will charge you 10K-50K gold for the location of the intermediary. - The intermediaries are located in various towns in various groups of towns. - Various clues for the location of the intermediary: - Clue: A town in the north between Biloxi and Grand Bahama. Possible towns: Biloxi, Grand Bahama, Fort Caroline, Charleston, others. - Clue: A town in the south between Providence and Curacao. Possible towns: Cartagena, others. - Clue: A town to the southeast. Possible towns: Varies depending on where you first talked to the person. - Clue: A town in the Eastern Caribbean. Possible towns: San Juan, St. Martin, others. - Clue: A town between Andross, Charles Towne, Santo Domingo, and Port Royale. Possible towns: Andross, Charles Towne, Santo Domingo, Port Royale, Isabella, others. - The master will have various locations. - The master will require 50 rum, food, or wine. Food can be wheat, fruit, corn, or meat. - The master will improve your captain's battle, navigation, or trade skill. Rewards: Up to 5 skill points in any one predetermined skill of any one captain.

Name: "Trader pursuit" Summary: Looting trading ships. Difficulty: Medium Starting: Talk to a governor. Description: A governor will ask you to loot some goods from the trading ships of an enemy nation. Loot them without sinking or capturing them. Transport convoys do not count. Attacking trading ships will harm your relationship with one or more nations, as always. You do not have to loot all of the goods in one battle. You are allowed to board trading ships as long as you don't capture them at the end of your battles. Tip: Trading ships tend to run away when their sails are cut, so you can use chain balls to win battles without doing  much damage. Another tip: If you have trouble finding convoys with the specified goods, you can load the goods onto your own convoy, defeat a  trading convoy, and transfer the specified goods from your convoy to the  trading convoy. Then attack the same convoy and loot the same goods. You are given 30 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various goods are named: - 135 wheat - 113 sugar - 126 garments - 97 hemp - Various nations are named. Rewards: Up to 390K gold and a boost to your relationship.

Name: "Competitors" Summary: Revenge on a trader. Difficulty: Medium Starting: Talk to an annoyed trader in an inn. Description: An annoyed trader wants you to destroy another trader from his nation. He gives you that trader's name and home town. Note that the trader is a normal AI trader and that destroying the convoy will hurt your relationship with  that trader's nation. Once you complete the mission, you can pick up your reward in the market of the annoyed trader's town. You are given 30 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various traders from various towns are specified. - Various quantities of goods as rewards: - up to 300 barrels of each type - Various types of goods as rewards: - an import good, a finished good, 2 essential goods Rewards: Large quantities of four goods. For example, 300 tools, bricks, garments, and fruit.

Name: "Ship hunt" Summary: Sinking or capturing trading ships. Difficulty: Medium Starting: Talk to a governor. Description: A governor will ask you to sink or capture a number of trading ships from an enemy nation. Note that capturing or sinking trading ships will harm your relationship with one or more nations. You are given 30 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various nations are named. - Various numbers of ships are named. E.g., 4, 5, or 6. Rewards: Up to 520K gold and a boost to your relationship.

Name: "Bounty hunter" Summary: Destroying a bounty hunter. Difficulty: Medium Starting: Talk to a person in an inn. Description: Destroy a bounty hunter near the specified town. The convoy has 2-5 ships. Note that this will not harm your relationship with any nation. You are given 20 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various towns are named. Rewards: 52.5K-180K gold.

Name: "The missing wife" Summary: Rescuing your wife. Difficulty: Medium Starting: Talk to the governor (your wife's father). Description: Your wife has disappeared. The governor will tell you to look for clues near some town. Search the vicinity and find a bottle that contains a map. Look at the map and navigate to that spot. Destroy the convoy that attacks you by sinking or capturing it. Rescue your wife by going to the symbol of people on a raft. Destroying the convoy will not affect your relationship, even if it flies the governor's nation's flag. There is no time limit on this mission. Variants: - The attacking convoy varies: - An "Unknown Pirate" in a Pirate Barque or Frigate - "Casanova" - in a Ship of the Line if your wife is English - in a Carrack if your wife is Dutch - in a War Galleon if your wife is Spanish - in a Caravel if your wife is French - An "Adventurer" in a Barque or other, similar ship - Different reasons are given for why your wife disappeared. - In the case of the "Unknown Pirate," the pirate wanted to lure you into a fight. - In the case of "Casanova," he kidnapped her because he mistakenly thought she wanted to elope. - In the case of the "Adventurer," your wife apparently was bored and wanted to have some fun. Rewards: Your wife and a boost to your relationship with her nation.

Name: "Smuggle" Summary: Smuggling goods. Difficulty: Medium Starting: Talk to a smuggler in an inn. Description: A smuggler wants you to deliver some goods to a given town. The destination town's nation and the nation in which you find the smuggler are at war, so you will have to smuggle them. Acquire the specified goods. If there are defending military convoys in the town when you attempt to enter, and your  convoy is carrying the smuggled good, your convoy will be attacked. If there are multiple military convoys defending the town, your convoy may be  attacked multiple times. If you lose a battle, approximately half of every good on board will be removed, and your convoy will be turned back. Dock in the town when there are no defending military convoys or, alternatively,  defeat the military convoys. Tip: You can use other convoys to attack the defenders. A somewhat damaged military convoy will attempt to repair itself and will not defend. Once you are in the town, talk to a person in the market to sell the goods and complete the mission. It is not known whether goods in warehouses can be used. Note that auto-trading convoys may also be attacked. Note that you can sell as many barrels of the specified good as you want, and that you do not need to deliver all of it at once. The mission will not end until the specified date. You are given 30 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various towns are named: - Biloxi - Guadeloupe - Various goods and prices are named: - cocoa at 220 each - tobacco at 220 each - dyes at 220 each Rewards: Some profit.

Name: "Personal protection" Summary: Transporting a hunted traveler. Difficulty: Medium Starting: Talk to a person in an inn. Description: A traveler needs to reach a governor or viceroy town, but vengeful pirates are waiting in the waters around it. Place the trader on a convoy and dock safely at the specified town. This can be achieved through destroying the pirate convoy or slipping past it (Military Corvettes are fast enough for  this). Note that the pirate convoy will attempt to attack the convoy holding the fugitive (and only that convoy). If the fugitive's convoy is attacked and you lose the battle, you will fail this mission. It is possible to attack the pirate convoy with other convoys. Military convoys will not attack the pirate convoy. Once the mission is completed, the pirate convoy disappears. You are given 15 days to finish this mission. Variants: - Different pirates, some of which have hideouts, are named. - Various governor and viceroy towns are named. - The pirate convoy contains 2-8 ships. Rewards: 67.5K-390K gold.

Name: "Buy imported goods" Summary: Looting transport ships. Difficulty: Hard Starting: Talk to a governor. Description: A governor will ask you to loot 300 spices, wine, and tools from the transport ships of an enemy nation. Loot them without sinking or capturing them. Trading convoys do not count. Attacking transport ships will harm your relationship with one or more nations, as always. You do not have to loot all of the goods in one battle. You are allowed to board transport ships as long as you don't capture them at the end of your battles. Tip: If you have trouble finding convoys with the specified goods, you can load the goods  onto your own convoy, defeat a transport convoy, and transfer the specified  goods from your convoy to the transport convoy. Then attack the same convoy and loot the same goods. Deliver the goods to the market in the governor's town. Talk to the governor to receive your reward. You are given 40 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various nations are named. Rewards: 2 Trading Flute-Ships and a boost to your relationship.

Name: "Sink treasure fleet" Summary: Destroying the treasure fleet. Difficulty: Hard Starting: Talk to a governor of a nation that is at war with Spain. Description: A governor will ask you to destroy the Spanish treasure fleet before it reaches Europe. He will tell you where the fleet last docked and where it will dock next. He will also give you a Letter of Marque against Spain if you do not already have one. The fleet consists of 5 fully-armed War Galleons. On sea view, it has the same symbol as a trading convoy. Attack the fleet and sink or capture its ships. If you capture any ships, you will loot some money from them. Note that destroying the fleet will degrade your relationship with Spain. You are given a few weeks to complete this mission. Variants: - The treasure fleet's current and future docking locations vary. - The amount of time you have depends on where the treasure fleet is and where it will sail next. Rewards: Up to 650K gold and a boost to your relationship.

Name: "Protect route" Summary: Escorting a convoy. Difficulty: Hard Starting: Talk to a governor. Description: A governor will ask you to protect a transport convoy as it sails toward Europe. The transport convoy has a predetermined route. When you accept the mission, the game may or may not create a special military convoy somewhere  along the transport convoy's route. Wait several days for the transport convoy to leave its harbor, then follow it. Destroy the stationary military convoy if you find it. Note that doing so will harm your relationship. If the transport convoy sails into the special military convoy, you will fail  the mission. No other convoys will attack the transport convoy. The mission is completed as soon as the transport convoy sails off the edge of the  Caribbean map. Talk to the governor for your reward. Variants: - The transport convoy's route varies. - The transport convoy may or may not be attacked. - The reward varies: - a War Galleon Rewards: A ship and a boost to your relationship.

Name: "Damage town" Summary: Damaging a town. Difficulty: Hard Starting: Talk to a governor. Description: A governor will ask you to reduce an enemy town's status to recession. Tip: Looting the town can reduce its status significantly. The mission ends once the town drops to recession. Talk to the governor, who will place an experienced captain in the inn of his town. You are given 40 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various towns are named. Rewards: A 5/5/5 captain and a boost to your relationship.

Name: "Assemble military convoy" Summary: Capturing military ships. Difficulty: Hard Starting: Talk to a governor. Description: A governor will ask you to capture 2 ships from an enemy nation's military convoys. He will give you a Letter of Marque if you do not already have one. Capture the ships and place them in the harbor of the governor's town. Using ships that you already own doesn't seem to work. Note that attacking military convoys will harm your relationship with their nation. Talk to the governor to receive a map displaying the location of some goods. You are given 70 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various types of ships are named: - War Galleons - Ships of the Line - Carracks - Caravels Rewards: 480 spices, wine, and tools, and a boost to your relationship.

Name: "Support town" Summary: Supporting a town. Difficulty: Hard Starting: Talk to a governor. Description: One of the towns of the governor's nation isn't doing well. You are asked to provide whatever the town needs in order to prosper. Tip: Feasts can help improve a town's status more quickly. Variants: - Various towns are named. - Various requirements: - The status of the town must be improved to "flourishing" and businesses must have all of the workers they require. You are given 25 days to accomplish this. - The status of the town cannot fall below "boom" for 20 days. Rewards: Up to 390K gold and a boost to your relationship.

Name: "Change of national allegiance" Summary: Stealing a town. Difficulty: Hard Starting: Talk to a governor. Description: A governor will ask you to support another nation's town so that it will decide to join his nation. You will need to ensure that its status is at least "flourishing" and that it has at least 2,000 inhabitants. Tip: Feasts can help improve a town's status more quickly. If you succeed, the town will become part of the governor's nation. You are immediately given a building permit, a warehouse, and some businesses in that town. Note that you receive the building permit regardless of whether it breaches the limit imposed by  your rank. You are given 50 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various towns are named. - Various businesses are given as rewards: - 3 sugar cane farms (Fort Caroline) - 3 cocoa plantations (Martinique) Rewards: A building permit, a warehouse and some businesses in the town, in addition to a boost to your relationship.

Name: "Ship pursuit" Summary: Sinking military convoys. Difficulty: Hard Starting: Talk to a governor. Description: A governor will ask you to sink 3 military convoys from an enemy nation. You are given 40 days to complete this mission. Variants: - Various nations are named. Rewards: Up to 520K gold and a boost to your relationship.

Name: "Abduction by the enemy" Summary: Looting a town. Difficulty: Hard Starting: Talk to a governor. Description: A governor will want you to loot a town to rescue a kidnapped poodle, wife, or younger daughter. The governor will give you a Letter of Marque. Attack the town and loot goods if you want them. A message will pop up asking whether you want to proceed with the rescue or abandon your target. Your decision affects your rewards, but you will finish the mission in either  case. See the 'Variants' section for details on your rewards. You are given 20 days to complete this mission. Variants: - You will rescue a poodle, the governor's wife, or the governor's younger daughter. - The targeted town varies. - Various rewards: - Rescuing a poodle: - If you complete the rescue: - You can talk to the governor to receive a map showing the location of one of the following: - 300 rum - 300 tools - Your relationship with the governor's nation improves. - Your relationship with the attacked town's nation is harmed. - If you abandon the target: - You receive a map showing the location of a chest: - Up to 650K gold - Your relationship with the governor's nation is harmed. - Your relationship with the attacked town's nation may improve. - Rescuing the governor's wife or younger daughter: - If you complete the rescue: - You can talk to the governor to receive a map showing the location of a chest: - Up to 650K gold - Your relationship with the governor's nation improves. - Your relationship with the attacked town's nation is harmed. - If you abandon the target: - You receive a map showing the location of one of the following: - 300 rum - 300 tools - Your relationship with the governor's nation is harmed. - Your relationship with the attacked town's nation may improve. Rewards: Some goods or money and a boost to your relationship.

Name: "Annexation" Summary: Annexation. Difficulty: Hard Starting: Talk to a viceroy when the viceroy's nation has a strong fleet and one of the viceroy's enemies has a weak fleet. Description: The viceroy will ask you to capture a town belonging to an enemy nation with a weak fleet. Attack an appropriate town belonging to that nation by land or sea. If the enemy nation has no governor towns, then you must attack a colonial town. Otherwise, you can choose any town. Choose 'Annex' when prompted in order to complete the mission. Talk to the viceroy for your reward. You may receive a piece of a player town. Each nation gives out a maximum of 4 player towns. Note that you may have to destroy military convoys that are guarding the harbor. Note also that attacking a colonial town will sometimes require a duel, and that attacking a governor or viceroy  town will always require a duel. There is a time limit on this mission. Variants: - If the viceroy's nation is at war with multiple nations that have weak fleets, the viceroy will select one of them. - Your reward depends on how many towns you've annexed in the past. Rewards: 25% of a new or existing player town for every two towns annexed for the viceroy's nation and a boost to your relationship.

Ships
Description: Nation: which nations prefer to use them, or "pirates only" Capacity: for goods and cannons, in barrels Agility: affects turning speed Min. speed: against the wind during battle Max. speed: with the wind during battle and when traveling on the Caribbean map Draft: affects whether rocks and sand slow the ship down Cannons: number of total cannons Stability: affects how well ships resist damage during battle Maintenance cost: gold per day Crew: number of sailors that can board other ships Price: price for buying from governor and viceroy towns' large shipyards, in gold coins, assuming your relationship is neutral selling prices are about 1/4 of the purchase price and depend on the ship's condition and your relationship Purchasable: whether the ship can be bought in shipyards

Pinnace: Nation: all Capacity: 60 Agility: 100% Min. speed: 6 Max. speed: 10 Draft: shallow Masts: 2 Cannons: 8 Stability: 5 Maintenance cost: 20 Crew: 30 Price: 10K Purchasable: yes

Sloop: Nation: all Capacity: 60 Agility: 100% Min. speed: 6 Max. speed: 11 Draft: shallow Masts: 1 Cannons: 14 Stability: 5 Maintenance cost: 30 Crew: 40 Price: 19K Purchasable: yes

Brig: Nation: all Capacity: 80 Agility: 95% Min. speed: 5 Max. speed: 11 Draft: shallow Masts: 2 Cannons: 16 Stability: 8 Maintenance cost: 50 Crew: 50 Price: 27K Purchasable: yes

Barque: Nation: all Capacity: 80 Agility: 90% Min. speed: 5 Max. speed: 12 Draft: shallow Masts: 3 Cannons: 20 Stability: 8 Maintenance cost: 60 Crew: 60 Price: 36K Purchasable: yes

Pirate Barque: Nation: pirates only Capacity: 80 Agility: 90% Min. speed: 5 Max. speed: 13 Draft: shallow Masts: 3 Cannons: 24 Stability: 8 Maintenance cost: 60 Crew: 80 Price: 36K Purchasable: no

Flute: Nation: all Capacity: 200 Agility: 80% Min. speed: 4 Max. speed: 10 Draft: medium Masts: 3 Cannons: 16 Stability: 12 Maintenance cost: 40 Crew: 80 Price: 40K Purchasable: yes

Trading Flute-Ship: Nation: Holland Capacity: 250 Agility: 70% Min. speed: 5 Max. speed: 10 Draft: medium Masts: 3 Cannons: 8 Stability: 18 Maintenance cost: 40 Crew: 100 Price: 50K Purchasable: yes (Holland only)

Corvette: Nation: all Capacity: 140 Agility: 80% Min. speed: 5 Max. speed: 12 Draft: shallow Masts: 3 Cannons: 22 Stability: 14 Maintenance cost: 100 Crew: 80 Price: 60K Purchasable: yes

Frigate: Nation: all Capacity: 160 Agility: 80% Min. speed: 3 Max. speed: 11 Draft: medium Masts: 3 Cannons: 26 Stability: 15 Maintenance cost: 100 Crew: 100 Price: 70K Purchasable: yes

Military Corvette: Nation: France Capacity: 120 Agility: 85% Min. speed: 5 Max. speed: 14 Draft: shallow Masts: 3 Cannons: 32 Stability: 16 Maintenance cost: 150 Crew: 120 Price: 100K Purchasable: yes (France only)

Military Frigate: Nation: England Capacity: 140 Agility: 85% Min. speed: 5 Max. speed: 13 Draft: medium Masts: 3 Cannons: 40 Stability: 16 Maintenance cost: 150 Crew: 120 Price: 120K Purchasable: yes (England only)

Galleon: Nation: Spain Capacity: 180 Agility: 75% Min. speed: 4 Max. speed: 10 Draft: deep Masts: 3 Cannons: 36 Stability: 18 Maintenance cost: 100 Crew: 120 Price: 120K Purchasable: yes (Spain only)

Carrack: Nation: Holland Capacity: 140 Agility: 75% Min. speed: 4 Max. speed: 12 Draft: deep Masts: 4 Cannons: 40 Stability: 20 Maintenance cost: 200 Crew: 140 Price: 140K Purchasable: no

Caravel: Nation: France Capacity: 160 Agility: 75% Min. speed: 5 Max. speed: 12 Draft: deep Masts: 3 Cannons: 40 Stability: 22 Maintenance cost: 200 Crew: 160 Price: 160K Purchasable: no

War Galleon: Nation: Spain Capacity: 160 Agility: 60% Min. speed: 4 Max. speed: 13 Draft: deep Masts: 3 Cannons: 46 Stability: 24 Maintenance cost: 200 Crew: 180 Price: 180K Purchasable: no

Ship of the Line: Nation: England Capacity: 170 Agility: 50% Min. speed: 3 Max. speed: 14 Draft: deep Masts: 3 Cannons: 50 Stability: 26 Maintenance cost: 300 Crew: 200 Price: 200K Purchasable: no

Bonus Ship: Nation: none Capacity: 200 Agility: 85% Min. speed: 6 Max. speed: 13 Draft: medium Masts: 2 Cannons: 40 Stability: 24 Maintenance cost: 200 Crew: 120 Price: 200K Purchasable: no

Harbor Cannon: Nation: all Capacity: 2 Agility: 1% Min. speed: 1 Max. speed: 1 Draft: "255" Masts: 0 Cannons: 1 Stability: 7 Maintenance cost: 1 Crew: 1 Price: 0 Purchasable: no

Bonus Ships
Getting a Bonus Ship: - Get married. - Collect all 20 artifacts. - Talk to your wife, perhaps several times, until she tells you where the Bonus Ship is. - The Bonus Ship appears as a chest with a question mark east of Turk Islands. - Retrieve the Bonus Ship.

Bonus ship description:


 * Special find                        |
 * You have found a very special ship!            |
 * (picture)                          |
 * Steam-powered sailing ship                  |
 * Never in your life have you seen such a ship! It seems to be |
 * powered not only by the sails on its twin masts, but also by |
 * a curious mechanism that uses steam to power two paddle   |
 * wheels. Apparently, this allows the ship to keep moving even |
 * if there isn't a breath of wind.              |
 * You are delighted to add the ship to your convoy.     |
 * a curious mechanism that uses steam to power two paddle   |
 * wheels. Apparently, this allows the ship to keep moving even |
 * if there isn't a breath of wind.              |
 * You are delighted to add the ship to your convoy.     |
 * You are delighted to add the ship to your convoy.     |

Getting additional Bonus Ships: - Capture your wife's town for another nation. You will no longer be married. You can also capture a viceroy town of the same nation, which may force your wife out. - Marry another woman. - Talk to her until she tells you where the Bonus Ship is. - Retrieve the Bonus Ship.

Player Ranks
Description: Rank: a number indicating how high a rank is  Required assets: the value of your cash, ships, etc. that you need to reach this rank Abilities: new abilities gained when you reach this rank Note that the limit on the number of permits you can own is really a limit on the number of permits that you can buy. The "Change of national allegiance" mission rewards you with a building permit (among other things) regardless of  the limit imposed by your rank.

Ship's Boy Rank: 0 Required assets: n/a Abilities: - You can control 1 captain.

Ordinary Sailor Rank: 1 Required assets: 100K Abilities: - You can control 2 captains. - You can own 1 permit.

Sailor Rank: 2 Required assets: 150K Abilities: - Your relationships with nations will now decrease to "neutral" or below if you do not maintain them. - You can now receive missions from governors. - You can control 3 captains. - You can own 2 permits.

Seaman Rank: 3 Required assets: 250K Abilities: - You can control 4 captains. - You can own 2 permits.

Boatswain Rank: 4 Required assets: 400K Abilities: - You can now talk to viceroys. - You can now buy Letters of Marque. - You can control 6 captains. - You can own 3 permits.

Helmsman Rank: 5 Required assets: 800K Abilities: - You can control 8 captains. - You can own 4 permits.

Lieutenant Rank: 6 Required assets: 1.5M Abilities: - You can control 10 captains. - You can own 5 permits. - You can now talk to governors' daughters.

Navigator Rank: 7 Required assets: 2.5M Abilities: - You can control 10 captains. - You can own 6 permits.

Commander Rank: 8 Required assets: 4M Abilities: - You can control 10 captains. - You can own 8 permits.

Captain Rank: 9 Required assets: 6M Abilities: - You can control 100 captains. - You can own 10 permits.

Commodore Rank: 10 Required assets: 9M Abilities: - You can control 100 captains. - You can own any number of permits.

Rear Admiral Rank: 11 Required assets: 13M Abilities: - You can control 100 captains. - You can own any number of permits.

Vice-Admiral Rank: 12 Required assets: 20M Abilities: - You can control 100 captains. - You can own any number of permits.

Admiral Rank: 13 Required assets: 30M Abilities: - You can control 100 captains. - You can own any number of permits.

Grand Admiral Rank: 14 Required assets: 40M Abilities: - You can control 100 captains. - You can own any number of permits. - Letters of Marque cost 250K.

Fleet Admiral Rank: 15 Required assets: 50M Abilities: - You can control 100 captains. - You can own any number of permits. - Letters of Marque cost 270K.

Master of the Seas: Rank: 16 Required assets: 60M Abilities: - You can control 100 captains. - You can own any number of permits. - Letters of Marque cost 270K. - Raising your relationship from hostile to neutral costs 760K. - Raising your relationship from unpopular to neutral costs 385K.

Relationships
Relationships between the player and each nation. The game calls this "reputation," but it also uses "reputation" to refer to something else, so I call it a "relationship" in this guide.

Hostile: - The nation's military convoys will actively attack your convoys. - You cannot trade with the nation's towns--in goods, weapons, or ships. - You cannot access the docks (of that nation's towns). - You cannot receive or grant new loans. - You cannot donate toward acquiring cannons or soldiers. - You cannot receive missions from governors. - You cannot buy Letters of Marque. - You lose previously issued Letters of Marque. - You cannot receive money for destroying pirates. - You cannot talk to the viceroy. - Your convoys cannot add or remove ships in the harbor. - You can upgrade your relationship to "neutral" by paying a governor. - The nation may confiscate your buildings if you remain hostile too long. - You can buy businesses, but at a higher price. - You continue receiving rent money. - You keep, and will be repaid, your loans. - You can talk to your wife. - You can rename ships. - You can access your warehouse. - You can receive ransom for captured buccaneers. - You can access the inn. - You can build. - You can access the church. - You can access the market stalls. - You can dock in the town. - You can repair individual ships. - You can repair convoys that were already in the harbor when you became hostile. Unpopular: - You cannot receive missions from the governor. - You cannot buy Letters of Marque. - You cannot receive or grant new loans. - You cannot donate toward acquiring cannons or soldiers. - You cannot talk to the viceroy. - You can upgrade your relationship to "neutral" by paying a governor. - The nation's towns charge you more for goods, weapons, ships, and businesses. Neutral: - You cannot talk to the viceroy. - You nation's towns charge you normal prices for goods, weapons, ships, and businesses. Friendly: - You can talk to the viceroy. - The nation's towns charge you less for goods, weapons, ships, and businesses.

Actions that improve your relationship with a nation: - Selling goods that are scarce to towns (goods in red) - Owning residences - Destroying pirate convoys and hideouts - Destroying or looting enemy convoys when you have a Letter of Marque - Completing governors' missions - Annexing other nations' towns

Actions that harm your relationship with a nation: - Buying goods that are scarce from towns (goods in red) - Capturing, sinking, or looting that nation's ships - Capturing, sinking, or looting other nations' ships without relevant Letters of Marque - Failing to complete governors' missions that you accepted - Attacking that nation's towns

Artifacts
There are 20 artifacts in all:

1.   Name: A magnifying glass Description: A large piece of rounded glass is mounted on the end of a golden rod. If you hold it over a map, the finest lines are clearly visible even in poor light. Location: Near the island a few days east of St. Augustine.

2.   Name: A navigation table Description: This small table is made of solid brass and is constructed in such a way that its surface always remains horizontal regardless of the pitch of the ship. The outer metal ring is engraved with markings that seem to indicate directions. However, you cannot identify the region in which the table was once used. Location: Slightly northeast of Guadeloupe, on the same island.

3.   Name: A pair of gold compasses Description: The pair of compasses sits beautifully in your hand and is very easy to use. It seems to be made entirely of gold and is decorated with an intricate pattern. Location: Between Trinidad and Santiago.

4.   Name: A wind gauge Description: This instrument consists of rotating vanes and a dial that displays the rotational speed of the vanes. By holding the vanes in the wind, you can read the direction and speed of the wind. The instrument is meticulously crafted and marked with an unknown symbol. Location: Between Andross and Trinidad.

5.   Name: An accurate sextant Description: This sextant gives an accurate bearing even in heavy seas. Parts of the sextant are mounted on springs, which helps to reduce any strong vibrations. Location: Southwest of Providence. 6.   Name: A special map Description: This chart looks very different to the ordinary sea charts that are available. It is very detailed and has been drafted using several colors. However, you cannot identify which area is shown on the chart. Location: North of Turk Islands, on the same island.

7.   Name: A foghorn Description: This horn is not sounded with your mouth, but by using a device that resembles a pump. If you press it down hard, the horn sounds louder than you would have believed possible. Location: Slightly north of Martinique.

8.   Name: A signal lantern Description: This lamp is similar to a normal lantern. However, lots of mirrors are arranged around the burning wick so that the light shines in one direction only. By using a device resembling a fan over the aperture, you can switch the light emitted on and off very quickly. Location: Southwest of Cartagena.

9.   Name: A slide rule Description: A ruler that can slide back and forth is set into another ruler. A sliding bracket made of transparent material is attached to this. You could use this device to carry out simple calculations very quickly. Location: West of Santo Domingo.

10.   Name: A musical box Description: When you turn a handle, a large horn emits the dulcet tones of a woman singing. Just the thing for sailors at sea for weeks on end. Location: Southwest of Providence.

11.   Name: A pocket watch Description: This is an ordinary gold watch, but it is smaller than any you have ever seen. On a disc behind the face, you also notice a moon that seems to be slowly rotating. There are also some engravings on the back of the watch. Location: West of Roatan.

12.   Name: A storm lighter Description: This device is like an oil lamp with its own flint. If you turn the small wheel, sparks fly onto a wick and can ignite a flame even in a strong wind. Location: Between New Orleans and Corpus Christi.

13.   Name: A golden anchor Description: This anchor is more decorative than practical. At best, it could be used to anchor a towing boat. It is very heavy for its size and is covered with intricate decorations and unknown lettering. Location: South of Providence.

14.   Name: A wondrous compass Description: The needle of this compass moves very freely and settles into position very quickly. You have never seen such an accurate compass. The compass is wrought like a piece of jewelry and the underside is adorned  with various engravings. Location: Southwest of Margarita.

15.   Name: A book of the stars Description: This folio contains a multitude of beautiful star charts. A large table specifies precisely when and where each individual star rises and falls. Location: West of New Orleans.

16.   Name: A mysterious rope Description: Although this rope must have been exposed to seawater for some time, it looks as if it had just been made. It feels wonderfully smooth and ties very strong knots. Location: North of Tampa.

17.   Name: A brass time measure Description: This strange device looks like an arrow. The vanes on it cause it to rotate as soon as you hold it in the water. A little dial counts each revolution, thus enabling you to calculate the ship's speed very  accurately. Location: Between Corpus Christi and Tampico.

18.   Name: A star dial Description: A round disk, finely engraved, into which various smaller round disks are set. You could use it to see which part of the starry sky is currently visible, depending on the date and time. Markings on the disk show that this instrument was once used to determine a ship's position in a  particular region. Location: Slightly east of St. Martin.

19.   Name: A portable lighter Description: A small box contains an ornate device that can be used to light a fire very easily. This box is covered in mysterious engravings. Location: Southeast of Port of Spain.

20.   Name: A special spy glass Description: This instrument is a double spy-glass that allows you to see into the distance with both eyes simultaneously. You can slide colored glass over the lens to protect your eyes. A mysterious engraving is discernable on the side. Location: Slightly north of Evangelista.

Hex-editing
This section is for advanced users. If you don't know what this is, just ignore it.

pr2_arcs.cpr:

Ships section: []: name of ship in German PINASSE = Pinnace SCHALUP = Sloop BRIGG = Brig BARKE = Barque PIBARKE = Pirate Barque FLEUTE = Flute HFLEUTE = Trading Flute-Ship KORVETT = Corvette FREGATT = Frigate MILKORV = Military Corvette MILFREG = Military Frigate GALEONE = Galleon KARACKE = Carrack KARAVEL = Caravel KRIEGSG = War Galleon LINIENS = Ship of the Line BONUSSF = Bonus Ship KANONEN = Harbor Cannon Agil: % agility Crew: crew Heal: stability, heal = stability * 5 Fass: capacity, fass = capacity/2 Tief: depth, 0 = shallow, 1 = medium, 2 = deep, 255 for harbor cannons Vmin: minimum speed Vmax: maximum speed GSpT: maintenance cost in gold per day Guns: number of cannons Wert: price, wert = price/1000

Towns section: field description: []: name of town without spaces or punctuation Charlesfort = Charleston TFKurs: ?, range 0-59, unique, only for non-player towns, probably a unique identifier for some towns Nation: starting nation in free-play mode Holland = Holland Spanien = Spain Frankreich = France England = England Spezial = player town Gruppe: ?, range 0-3, only used for player towns, unrelated to granting nation Gouverneur: 1 if this is a governor town, field suppressed otherwise Vizekoenig: 1 if this is a viceroy town, field suppressed otherwise R: region M: production group (possible R, M pairs: (0, 0), (0, 1), (1, 2), (1, 3), (2, 4), (2, 5), (3, 6),  (3, 7)) (R, M are related to the goods produced) Ware1-Ware6: goods produced in the town Weizen = wheat Fruchte = fruit Holz = wood Lehmziegel = bricks Mais = corn Zucker = sugar Baumwolle = cotton Hanf = hemp Fleisch = meat Kleidung = garments Seile = rope Rum = rum Kaffee = coffee Kakao = cocoa Farbstoffe = dyes Tabak = tobacco SeaSide: direction of port entrance 0 = north 1 = northeast 2 = east 3 = southeast 4 = south 5 = southwest 6 = west 7 = northwest ShipSide: ?, 1 or 7, sometimes suppressed

Bugs

 * 1) During the "Personal protection" mission, if the convoy you're using to transport the traveler is attacked by a normal pirate convoy, the pirate convoy guarding your destination will not attack your convoy.
 * 2) If you have a convoy in a town belonging to nation X, and your relationship with nation X becomes hostile, you can still repair that convoy.
 * 3) If you have a convoy in a hostile nation's town, and that convoy has a blue circle indicating that it can't access the town's normal functions, and your relationship with that nation improves, your convoy will not be able to access  the town's functions until it leaves and re-enters the harbor.
 * 4) Your convoys can sometimes have negative cannon balls.
 * 5) If you have a lot of assets (more than 2.1 billion or so), the "Successes" window will display a negative number for assets.
 * 6) If you have a lot of assets, the assets graph will not display correctly.
 * 7) When your wife warns you that a certain pirate is dangerously powerful, she never uses a correct name.
 * 8) Governors sometimes offer the "Sink treasure fleet" mission and fail to give you the mission when you click "accept."
 * 9) Traders in inns sometimes fail to tell you what type of good they are selling or buying. The rest of the text is there, but 1 or 2 of the words are missing.
 * 10) There's a Dutch expeditionary convoy in the harbor of San Juan, my home town in one of my games. It's been there for about 10 years.

Miscellaneous
A collection of miscellaneous facts that haven't been organized yet.

- Each ship in a military convoy or a pirate convoy typically has 100-200 of each type of cannon ball. - Pirate convoys in hideouts can repair and defend simultaneously. - The quantities of imports of wine, spices, and tools depend on the size of the governor or viceroy town. - The quantity of imported settlers depends on the size of the governor or viceroy town. - The production of weapons depends on the size of the town. - The maximum amount of weaponry stored in the docks depends on the size of the town. If a town has any amount other than the maximum, it will slowly move toward the maximum. - Governor and viceroy towns produce more weapons and can store more weapons in their docks holding population constant. - Colonial and player towns cannot produce cannons. - You can select which town you get. After you control 100% of that town and capture two more towns for that nation, you can choose another town. - Maintenance costs for buildings: 50 gold per building per day. - Maximum number of a type of cannon ball on a convoy, in a warehouse, or in a town's docks: 3,276. - Maximum number of cutlasses on a convoy, in a warehouse, or in a town's docks: 32,767. - Maximum number of muskets on a convoy, in a warehouse, or in a town's docks: 32,767. - Maximum number of cannons on a convoy, in a warehouse, or in a town's docks: 32,767. - Goods and settlers weigh 1 barrel each. - Crew members, cannon balls, muskets, and cutlasses weigh 0. - If you buy more permits, improving your trading record becomes harder. - You need a permit to grant a loan and a trading record of 100% (or a permit) to receive a loan. - Most player-created buildings can be removed. Schools, hospitals can't be removed. - If a nation has no governor towns, you can pay the viceroy to improve your relationship. At Master of the Seas rank, going from hostile to friendly costs 3,010K.

Starting assets: "Gold": 50K gold, 1 Pinnace "Normal": 40K gold, 1 Sloop "Ship": 30K gold, 1 Brig

Player features:

Selected when you start a scenario or free-play mode.

- Trading experience: You receive a discount of 5% on the goods that you manually buy.

- Accuracy: Your cannons do 5% more damage in battle if you fight manually.

- Charisma: Successful battles improve your relationships 5% more quickly.

- Swordsmanship: You deal 5% more damage in duels.

Reputation:

Depends on missions completed, ships and convoys sunk, convoys looted, towns looted and annexed, pirate hideouts removed, and possibly other items in the "Successes" window.

1: Unknown 2: Inexperienced 3: Harmless 4: Brave 5: Courageous 6: ... ?: Unbelievable

Glossary
Agility: This affects how quickly your ship turns.

Artifact: One of 20 items that, once you've found them all, will let you obtain a Bonus Ship.

Bonus ship: A hybrid steam/sail ship. You need to collect 20 artifacts and talk to your wife to obtain a Bonus Ship.

Buccaneer: A special military convoy that will attack towns and carry out acts of sabotage. Buccaneers are only used during wars, and each nation can only have one active buccaneer at any time.

Cannon: A ship's weapon. Weighs 3 barrels.

Chain ball: A type of cannonball that mainly damages sails.

Crew: The sailors on your ship that take part in boarding battles and land-based attacks on towns.

Cutlass: A type of weapon used by your sailors. Used in boarding battles and town attacks.

Draft: How far a ship extends below the water. A ship with a deeper draft will be hampered by rocks and beaches during battles.

Escort ship: A ship that is part of a convoy and is designated for combat. Escort ships have a cannon symbol at the upper-right of their portraits. Non-escort ships cannot fight.

Farm: A type of business/building that can be clustered together. You can have up to four farm businesses in each group, built without any spaces between them. These businesses are also affected by storms. They include wheat farms, fruit farms, corn farms, sugar cane farms, cotton farms, hemp plantations,  coffee plantations, cocoa plantations, dye plantations, and tobacco  plantations.

Food: Wheat, fruit, corn, or meat.

Governor town: A town that has a governor and his daughter. You can receive missions, buy Letters of Marque, and carry out other tasks by talking to a governor.

Grape shot: A type of cannonball that mainly kills sailors.

Harbor cannon: A cannon that defends a town. If you invade a town by sea, you must destroy all of its harbor cannons.

Heavy cannonball: A type of cannonball that mainly damages ships.

Import goods: Wine, spices, and tools. Also called luxury goods. These goods are imported from Europe by transport convoys.

Logo: An image used as your flag. Used by your convoys and your player towns.

Luxury goods: See 'import goods.'

Market: The "market stall" buildings in towns. These allow you to organize festivals, sell goods during missions, and buy goods during missions.

Military convoy: A national convoy that will attack pirates, hostile player convoys, and enemy nations' ships. These convoys have more conspicuous symbols in sea view. Military convoys can also defend towns.

Mission: A task given by a governor, viceroy, or someone in an inn. You receive rewards for completing them.

Musket: A type of weapon used by your sailors. Used when attacking towns.

Permit: A building permit that allows you to build in a non-player town. You can buy or sell a permit for each non-player town. The number of permits you can own depends on your rank.

Player town: A town controlled by the player. You receive player towns from viceroys in return for annexing enemy towns.

Rank: Your status, which is based on your wealth (i.e. the total value of your assets). Having a higher rank allows you to do more, such as owning more permits and controlling more captains.

Relationship: The relationship between the player and a nation. The game calls this "reputation."

Reputation: The game sometimes uses reputation to mean "relationship," but in this guide I use it to mean your reputation as displayed in the "Successes" window.

Sea view: The display that shows the Caribbean map along with towns and convoys.

Settler: A person who can live and work in a town. Each settler is really 4 people: 1 worker and 3 other family members. Each settler can increase a town's population by 4.

Soldier: A resident that defends a town. Soldiers do not have families. You do not need settlers to recruit soldiers.

Stability: The ability of a ship to resist damage. Ships with greater stability can be hit by more cannon balls before sinking.

Town status: The economic conditions of the town. Affects wages and whether people move in or out of the town.

Town view: The display that shows a town along with the convoys in its harbor. Left-click on a town in sea view to switch to town view.

Trading convoy: An AI convoy that carries out trading tasks within the Caribbean.

Trading record: A measurement of how much you have helped a town through trading and donations. You must have a trading record of 100% in a town before you can buy a permit there.

Transport convoy: An AI convoy that imports import goods from Europe and exports colonial goods to Europe.

Viceroy town: A town that has a viceroy. You must talk to a viceroy to annex towns or receive player towns. Each nation has 1 viceroy town.