Game: Sid Meier's Pirates!: The Boardgame

Thread: Re: a Christmas gift never delivered...

darlok — 2008-01-08T22:11:37+00:00

Thanks for sharing, that's an instant classic of BGG tales, that only bgger's can trully appreciate.

Thread: Re: a Christmas gift never delivered...

Grudunza — 2008-01-07T15:02:11+00:00

Oh, man... You've got to give her some major points for trying, though.

I wouldn't say that it may never exist, though... According to some things Glenn Drover has said, he's definitely been working on it, but AoE III has taken precedence and there are other significant (we hope) pirate games coming out this year (Age of Piracy and Blackbeard), so he's putting his Pirates! off for a while until the waters aren't so pirate-infested.

Thread: a Christmas gift never delivered...

fastfingers — 2008-01-07T02:21:48+00:00

I have a funny story to share.

My wife, cleverly, checked my wish list here on BGG to see what she should order me for Christmas 2007. That's a pretty good idea. And she found, on the Internet, one of the games I've wanted for a long time. But here's the funny part.

I'd forgotten that I added "Sid Meier's Pirates!: The Boardgame" to my wish list way back when it was first announced. And here's the interesting part. She found an on-line vendor that allowed her to pre-order it.

So when gift time rolls around I get the games she successfully obtained for me, and surprised me. And she announced that there's one on "back order" that would be arriving soon. I asked which one and started laughing when she told me.

I had to share the news that the game does not exist and may never. She canceled the pre-order.

'Course I suggested comparably priced substitutes.

Thread: Re: What's the Frequency, Glenn?

Skadar — 2007-12-15T19:53:55+00:00

The game already exists. It's called Plunder.

Seriously though, people who play Plunder often say "this is just like Pirates, the computer game." And I totally agree.

Thread: What's the Frequency, Glenn?

rett_brone — 2007-12-15T19:28:08+00:00

Oops, to much REM...

How's Pirates coming, Glenn? We've not heard a word from you since AoEIII, and was just hoping for a bit of news (positive or negative) on the progress. I hope everything is going well for you, too.

Thank you.

Thread: Re: Pirates! Dead?

Aging One — 2007-06-28T03:13:47+00:00

Pirates! is still listed on the Eagles website as a future project and there is a 'current' forum topic for the game there:

http://eaglegames.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=6923

Both the Geek and Boardgame News lists Tropical Games as the publisher for this game although there is no definitive, current information on the subject:

http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/C50/

Tropical Games, of course, just published AoE III so that may give them the necessary capital to pursue this game.

Thread: Re: Pirates! Dead?

Kabong — 2007-06-28T02:30:00+00:00

So it's been a while since I've heard anything about this game. Is it sleeping with the fishes? Should I just give up hope?

Thread: Re: Is that a mast I see on the horizon?

Surya — 2007-06-13T10:08:09+00:00

http://www.tropical-games.com/

Thread: Re: Sid Meier's Pirates! against Age of Picary (Merchants and M.

marqzen — 2007-04-23T07:56:06+00:00

Hi Martin...

As far as I can tell, Age of Piracy and SM Pirates! will be quite different. Which will scratch your itch for a pirate game is up to your tastes in games I guess.

Glenns pirate game will be great I'm sure (judging by his fantastic AoE3), but it is likely to be more "Euro" than what I wanted to see in a pirates game. Age of Piracy designed more in the vein of the late Eagle Games and FFG's. In fact when Eagle announced SM Pirates I had just begun designing AoP, and almost gave up since I figured Eagle and I would be heading the same direction.

What's quite interesting is, that although so many pirate games are coming out within the next year, they are all very different in feel, components, and complexity - they all target different audiences which is quite amazing!

Thread: Re: The Computer Game is great!

bagio99 — 2007-04-13T21:33:50+00:00

There is an official patch to the game that accelerates the land battles and makes dancing easier.

Thread: Re: Website?

gugi — 2007-04-08T13:23:41+00:00

www.tropical-games.com
But no site for pirates yet.

Thread: Re: Sid Meier's Pirates! against Age of Picary (Merchants an

Torquato — 2007-03-30T22:39:08+00:00

He mentioned some mechanics (look ub his profile for the actuall post). The rules for Age of Piracy can be found on the bloodline games page.

But anyway. How may Pirates games do we need? I'm looking forward to the release of SM's Priates! since the frist anouncement, but now I think Age of Piracy will more likely meet my expectaions.

Thread: Re: Sid Meier's Pirates! against Age of Picary (Merchants and M.

baba44713 — 2007-03-30T13:24:53+00:00

Torquato wrote:
Glen Drover has posted so details on the upcoming Sid Meier's Pirates! Sounds like a nice and not to complex game.

Where did you find these "details"?

The only thing I've found is Drover talking about the game but saying pretty much nothing, except that this is a Pirates! boardgame, end that they are trying to immitate the Eurogame style. This aren't exactly "details"...

Thread: Sid Meier's Pirates! against Age of Picary (Merchants and M.

Torquato — 2007-03-30T12:26:10+00:00

Glen Drover has posted so details on the upcoming Sid Meier's Pirates! Sounds like a nice and not to complex game. On the other hand Age of Piracy is sceduled for Essen'07.

Havind read the rules of Age of Piracy I come to the conclusion, that this game is very much like the computer game and has very clever mechanics to cover a lot of details.

Which one will be the "resl" Pirates The Boardgame???

Interesting fact: SM's Pirates! and Age of Piracy are both published by Pro Ludo in Europe. It's uncommen that a publisher takes two games, that very much alike.

Thread: Website?

pvblilivs — 2007-03-27T01:13:34+00:00

Is there a website for the game? Or even for Tropical Games? I could not find either in a web search....

Thread: Re: Is that a mast I see on the horizon?

gnoccarello — 2007-02-22T09:54:52+00:00

Hi Glenn, there is a website for your brand new company (Tropical Games LLC)?

Thanx

Thread: Re: Is that a mast I see on the horizon?

C.H.A.D. — 2007-01-30T00:14:18+00:00

Budley wrote:
The resulting game becomes a 6-8 hour marathon of the players pretending to be pirates

That would be so cool...

Thread: Re: Is that a mast I see on the horizon?

Budley — 2007-01-29T23:55:09+00:00

The board will certainly not be small! (probably 24" x 30") ...but not as large as Railroad Tycoon.

There will certainly be plastic minis and great artwork as well as an exciting game!

Thread: Re: Is that a mast I see on the horizon?

futurescaper — 2007-01-29T16:44:31+00:00

Budley wrote:
Hi mikko,

Throughout the last couple of years, I have struggled with designing Pirates! The Pirate genre cries out for a game that allows the players to do all the Pirate-y things that are in the classic computer game. However, attempting to design a boardgame that micromanages so many aspects (like crew happiness, fleet management, ship-to-ship combat, swordfighting, capturing cities, etc. can lead down a path that will result in a game that is more of a Pirate activity than a well-balanced competitive game. The resulting game becomes a 6-8 hour marathon of the players pretending to be pirates more than a well-balanced, hotly contested, competitive adventure.

The result of my Odyssey of game design with Pirates! is that I have discovered that the better path is "less is more". Therefore, while Pirates! will have tons of Pirate theme, it will not include micromanaging things like supplies, fleets of ships, or crews.

Yarrrr!

Yes, but how big is your board?

As a long time fan of the computer game, and a fan of the large scale Eagle games like Railroad Tycoon and Conquest of the Empire, I am certainly looking forward to this new boardgame (and Age of Empires III).

I'm just wondering, Glenn, what we should expect as far as components go. Will we have a large epic sized board and lots of plastic figures? It sounds like this release will be more more restrained both in the design department and the chrome department.

Thread: Re: Is that a mast I see on the horizon?

Budley — 2007-01-29T16:06:52+00:00

Hi mikko,

Throughout the last couple of years, I have struggled with designing Pirates! The Pirate genre cries out for a game that allows the players to do all the Pirate-y things that are in the classic computer game. However, attempting to design a boardgame that micromanages so many aspects (like crew happiness, fleet management, ship-to-ship combat, swordfighting, capturing cities, etc. can lead down a path that will result in a game that is more of a Pirate activity than a well-balanced competitive game. The resulting game becomes a 6-8 hour marathon of the players pretending to be pirates more than a well-balanced, hotly contested, competitive adventure.

The result of my Odyssey of game design with Pirates! is that I have discovered that the better path is "less is more". Therefore, while Pirates! will have tons of Pirate theme, it will not include micromanaging things like supplies, fleets of ships, or crews.

Yarrrr!

Thread: Re: Is that a mast I see on the horizon?

Airstar — 2007-01-27T09:50:26+00:00

Hello!

I just registered to get to ask these few questions about this game I have long awaited

Is Pirates going to have fleet management? Can you buy or capture more ships to your fleet and then have to make sure they are equipped and repaired when needed? Also is there going to be the balancing "angry crew" aspect, where more and more men needed for these ships require more victories, food, gold etc to keep them happy?

Thread: Re: Is that a mast I see on the horizon?

Budley — 2007-01-27T05:28:35+00:00

Tropical Games LLC, my new design company. Pro Ludo will be the European publisher.

Thread: Re: Is that a mast I see on the horizon?

Frimp13 — 2007-01-27T04:29:43+00:00

Great news! What company would be behind the release?

Thread: Re: Is that a mast I see on the horizon?

AbeLincoln — 2007-01-26T22:30:24+00:00

and suddenly storm breaks! that's what i get for listening to scuttlebutt .

all this 'roll and move' stuff was just an elaborate ploy to get more information

this is sounding very cool. good luck, i hope it all comes together!

ps. dancing with the guv'ner's daughter would be cool. i learn all my best dancefloor moves from games.

i think i'll go fire up the PC game again...

Thread: Re: Is that a mast I see on the horizon?

Budley — 2007-01-26T22:17:52+00:00

JonnyG wrote:
Sounds interesting Glenn, what about the Governers Daughter, can't have a Sid Meier Pirates! game with out her.

There WILL be a marry the governor's daughter "mission", of course! ...just no dancing!

Thread: Re: Is that a mast I see on the horizon?

HamsterOfFury — 2007-01-26T20:33:50+00:00

Meh I was only kidding. I'm sure it'll be great (it better be!)

Thread: Re: Is that a mast I see on the horizon?

JonnyG — 2007-01-26T20:20:39+00:00

Sounds interesting Glenn, what about the Governers Daughter, can't have a Sid Meier Pirates! game with out her.

Thread: Re: Is that a mast I see on the horizon?

Budley — 2007-01-26T20:11:09+00:00

HamsterOfFury wrote:
Roll and move apparantly.

Actually not.

There are no dice in Pirates!

It is a pure "Euro" in design. It has perfect information and no luck. The players decide which action they will take each turn from those available (the players compete with each other for the actions...some have multiple availability per turn, some do not). Players will get four actions per turn and then the action areas are replenished. The player furthest along the navigation track is first for turn order. The actions are:

1) Navigate (move your ship X spaces along the navigation track, dictated by the best available token...sail out to sea or into port, depending on what action you wish to perform next, or in an attempt to improve your turn order).

2) Piracy (take a ship and gain gold or goods that must be auctioned at port...costs crewmen)

3) Raid or Capture a Town (Raiding gains gold, Capturing changes ownership to your Nation, which is rewarded at the end of the game for the top 2 players...cost lots of crew)

4) Recruit Crewmen in the Tavern (take the best available token to get the most men)

5) Tavern Gossip (Buried Treasure locations or Gives the player more skill cards for the Swashbuckling and Spanish Treasure Fleet subgames)

6) Visit the Governor's Mansion (Missions rewarded by VP's or gold, also letters of Marque that give VP bonuses for capturing ships and towns of a certain nation).

7) Goods Auction (Goods captured on ships have to be sold off at auction to get the gold. Those who buy, put the goods in their nation's storehouse for VP's...more of a particular good = more VP's)

The game ends one turn after the first ship completes the cruise around the Caribbean.

Vp's for:
Gold (scoring 4X throughout the game)
Goods purchased at auction (more points for larger sets)(End of Game)
Letters of Marque and other Governor Missions (capture ships and Towns)
Most Towns in the Caribbean (End of Game)
Swashbuckling (Vp's for successfully playing swashbuckling cards along the track
Plundering the Spanish Treasure Fleet

Thread: Re: Is that a mast I see on the horizon?

AbeLincoln — 2007-01-26T00:32:41+00:00

HamsterOfFury wrote:
Roll and move apparantly.

ouch. you've landed a good shot right to my rudder and taken out my steering. but we're not sunk yet (though it's not looking good).

stupid pirates and their crappy games. as they say "never trust a pirate"

Thread: Re: Is that a mast I see on the horizon?

HamsterOfFury — 2007-01-26T00:10:13+00:00

Roll and move apparantly.

Thread: Is that a mast I see on the horizon?

AbeLincoln — 2007-01-26T00:00:54+00:00

Glenn Drover just posted this:

Sid Meier's Pirates! is also ....FINALLY .... in playtest, and is looking like great fun. Should be available in late '07.

in this thread:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1299019#1299019

could it really be? i hope those playtesters put their back's into it! huzzah!

Thread: Re: Pirates! Dead?

holywolfman — 2006-10-09T22:02:37+00:00

Hey Glenn.....

Wasn't SDR working on finishing this one?

About AOE III, is that being finished?

Thread: Re: Pirates! Dead?

TysonDude — 2006-09-22T02:57:54+00:00

Budley wrote:
Since Eagle is no more and I have so far been unable to organize a publisher, Pirates is currently a big question mark. Those who pre-ordered the game should contact the webstore (now owned and run by Keith Blume) for a credit.

Thanks for the details. I hope that it will be picked up by someone!

Thread: Re: Pirates! Dead?

Budley — 2006-09-22T02:48:01+00:00

Since Eagle is no more and I have so far been unable to organize a publisher, Pirates is currently a big question mark. Those who pre-ordered the game should contact the webstore (now owned and run by Keith Blume) for a credit.

Thread: Pirates! Dead?

TysonDude — 2006-09-22T02:30:27+00:00

Looks like Eagle Game's site has dropped Pirates! from their home page. Appears that at least one person has gotten a message regarding the cancellation of their pre-order.

Could it be that Pirates! has been axed?

Thread: Re: That August release date is not looking so good...

martybjsg — 2006-08-02T22:26:54+00:00

I will also add a link to the SDR Games site as they are the ones who designed the game in the first place:

http://www.sdrgames.com/Default.aspx?tabid=24

I too am optimistic, like the makers of it. I hope this game sees the light of day.

Thread: Re: That August release date is not looking so good...

Delgaddo — 2006-08-02T22:08:40+00:00

Here's the 411 at their website regarding the auction and the future of Pirates.

http://eaglegames.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=6655

Thread: Re: That August release date is not looking so good...

fizzix — 2006-07-25T13:34:38+00:00

Based on the other thread discussing the potential demise of Eagle games I think it would be more interesting to debate when this game will be pulled from the database.

Thread: Re: That August release date is not looking so good...

BagpipeDan — 2006-07-25T03:06:35+00:00

Sure it is.

August 3006.

It's been their timeline from the beginning. Everyone should stop bashing Eagle Games, they're right on schedule.

Thread: That August release date is not looking so good...

chuckimus — 2006-07-25T02:01:35+00:00

duh...

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/118970

Thread: Re: The Computer Game is great!

sorpigal — 2006-05-22T15:40:25+00:00

As for the land battles. God I hate them.

I enjoyed it more than you seemed to, but I do agree about the stupid land battles. A nice idea written really (really) badly.

Here's my strategy for the annoying "capture the baron four times" quest. The Baron is Spanish and will prefer to reappear in a SPanish town if possible. So... capture all of the Spanish towns and turn them into other nationalities. Make them English until you've maxed out your English rank, then (say) French, and so on until done. Then you can wait outside the one remaining Spanish town and keep picking off the Baron until you have the maps you need. Rinse, repeat.

But the part that I hate is walking around (and getting lost) on land.

Thread: Re: Release date

kanon14 — 2006-05-22T08:34:32+00:00

Aug 06 at GenCon...

Image

pezpimp — 2006-05-02T20:39:07+00:00

Poster at Baycon 2006

Thread: Re: Release date

tomski — 2006-02-15T14:49:09+00:00

Latest on the Eagle Games site is now saying August 2006 to show at GenCon.... guess we shall wait and see

Thread: Re: Release date

Belisarius88 — 2006-01-09T16:01:10+00:00

Har! I'm very dissapointed by the long delay in this title. While I am willing to wait for a good game, this is ridiculous. I'w going to assume this design is vaporware and purchase another pirate game.

Thread: Re: Eagle's game c'est des trous de balles !

barkmann — 2005-12-01T05:09:21+00:00

Try Railroad Tycoon. You'll see that eagle games can make great games also.

I'm expecting a lot of these two games.: Pirates and Blitzkrieg and bombers... I'm sure they won't miss these two games.

Cheers

and happy gaming

Louis-David

Thread: Re: Release date

Jasonofindy — 2005-09-20T21:18:45+00:00

They've given answers to this several times before. Like with Sid Meier's Civ, and Age of Mythology, the Pirate's name was licensed before a game was created. However, unlike when these games were designed, Glenn Drover now spends a much larger part of his time running the business side of Eagle because the company has grown. They've branched into publishing other's designs. Glenn has repeatedly stated in interviews that between the increased burden on the business side, and his time developing adaptations of rulesets for Conquest of the Empire (Both from the old CoTe and Struggle of Empires) and for Railroad Tycoon (from Age of Steam),(both high-profile and no doubt profitable properties) he has not had the time necessary to develop the Pirates! game. Additionally, it also appears from interviews that development for the game Pirates! has gone in a number of directions over the years as Glenn & Co. become more experienced in the game market.

It basically appears now that although they own the license and plan to eventually use it, they have yet to implement a suitable game that they are happy enough with to actually ship. This happens often when companies buy licenses to put on a product they have yet to design. At least they didn't just smack the licensed title on the first half-baked pirate game they came up with. I hope they continue the trend they appear to be starting with Railroad Tycoon. (Combining a high profile license, a version of a proven design, and their manufacturing prowess)

Thread: Re: Release date

galeninjapan — 2005-09-20T18:54:36+00:00

shotokanguy wrote:
Fear not, mateys, there has been progress. For example, some scurvy dog deleted the "coming out in 2004" poster from the BGG database, and on the Eagle Games website, the poster now reads "live the life" where the release date had been previously posted (living the life is a euphemism for "waiting forever"). So you see, someone at Eagle Games is working hard on this game...

It's good to know eagle games is hard at work...

Changing a banner.

I am a huge Eagle games fan, but this crap has really left a sour taste in my mouth. Its 2 years overdue, and in that time eagle games has published puzzle games, drinkings games and even a poker game!! These games dont even seem like eagle games to me. Enough with the BS release this or at least give us some definate answers!

Thread: Re: Release date

shotokanguy — 2005-09-19T18:28:47+00:00

Fear not, mateys, there has been progress. For example, some scurvy dog deleted the "coming out in 2004" poster from the BGG database, and on the Eagle Games website, the poster now reads "live the life" where the release date had been previously posted (living the life is a euphemism for "waiting forever"). So you see, someone at Eagle Games is working hard on this game...

Thread: Re: The Computer Game is great!

Kit Silverfox — 2005-08-29T00:19:01+00:00

Unfortunatly, I didn't like the computer game nearly as much as I thought I would. I hadn't played the original Pirates! game, and thats probably where my fault lies, but I thought this game to be far too simple for my liking. I found myself bored with it in under 3 hours of gameplay on the next to hardest difficulty setting. When I pick up one of Sid Meier's games, I expect things to be...well, complicated and in depth, and I was sorely disapointed with the complete lack of depth. However, the format of the video game DOES lend itself nicely to a board game based around it. It might be something to look into once it comes out.

~Kit

Thread: Re: The Computer Game is great!

Stealth7 — 2005-08-19T13:28:39+00:00

While there is no winning or losing, merely accumulating wealth, land, and titles, you can follow multiple paths to that end.

War - Once you select a side,use your pirate ship as an extension of the army, and slowly but surely invade town after town until the map belongs to your chosen nation. Sinking their ships en masse and taking their towns will guarantee a bit o warfare.

Piracy - Standard piracy tact, sinking ships and gaining loot. Argh!

Wooing - In one game I did have a lot of fun seeing the number of women I could hold at matrimonies door at one time.

Rescuing relatives - My max is about 5 in a single game, but I think it keeps on generating the Baron and another relative indefinetely.

Land and title - Just by impressing the govenors you get additional titles and land grants, and that is a function of your total score.

Retirement - You health deterioriates over time, so its jusat accumulating max gold before your guy must retire due to health.

-Stealth

Image

Shadoph — 2005-05-09T17:35:29+00:00

Even More Artwork

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Shadoph — 2005-05-09T17:35:29+00:00

More Artwork

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Shadoph — 2005-05-09T17:35:28+00:00

Artwork