Here's how to play forever without retiring

[Citronvand]

You probably think there's 2 things stopping you, namely age and crew morale.

Crew Morale - It is possible to keep your crew happy regardless of how long you've been out on a voyage. This is dependant on your total amount of gold. The longer you play, the more gold is required and you will eventually need ~1000 gold per crew member to keep them "unhappy". ~2000 for "content" and ~3000 for "happy". But that's the cap, you never need more than that, once it reaches that number it stops. How long does it take until they demand ~1000 gold? It takes 68 months on Apprentice and -1 month per difficulty level. So 64 months on Swashbuckler.

You do NOT need more gold on harder difficulties. It only changes the grace period. So your cut as a captain doesn't affect this. The ~1000 gold per crew member is if you have a cook. If you don't have one you're going to need more. However it seems like the quartermaster doesn't have any affect on this and seems to be completely useless.

If you divide the plunder you reset all this and you have to start over.


Age - Once you reach a certain age you start getting slower in the mini-games (sword fencing e.t.c.), this gets worse until you reach the age of 42, higher if you have medicine skill and/or herbs. If you have the best herbs and the medicine skill it's age 54.

Anyway, once you reach 42 and you divide the plunder you'll be forced to retire because of your age. But if you never divide the plunder this never happens. You cannot die from old age and your slowness from age caps at 42, assuming you don't have medicine or herbs. So as long as you can keep your crew from going mutinous so you never have to divide the plunder you can play indefinitely. I strongly suggest you get the special items to lessen the effects of your age. Such as balanced swords, fencing shirts e.t.c.

So to recap, you need enough gold (~1000) per crew member and you should never divide the plunder to play indefinitely.

[Sandwiches!!!]

My pirate got a million gold and 400 happy crew. I just invade every Spanish town and turn them all French, then invade every French town and turn them English.

Though for some reason later on I can't invade towns anymore, even ones belong to nation(s) that have a huge bounty on my head. So strange. I think the game locks down a city once you reached full romance, regardless of bounty.

[Ryan Paul Fialcowitz]

Originally posted by Sandwiches!!!:

My pirate got a million gold and 400 happy crew. I just invade every Spanish town and turn them all French, then invade every French town and turn them English.

Though for some reason later on I can't invade towns anymore, even ones belong to nation(s) that have a huge bounty on my head. So strange. I think the game locks down a city once you reached full romance, regardless of bounty.

This was a change in the last patch- you can only convert a city's nationality once. Although you should still be able to sack them.

[Adam]

By the way, the quartermaster isn't completely useless. He doesn't reduce the amount of gold that the crew needs to be happy, but he does reduce the negative effects of an unhappy crew. (Of course, if your crew is never unhappy, then you don't need a quartermaster.)

[CHE]

Thanks for all the knowledge, everyone! :D

[Mishap Marksman]

Having just got back into this game I was wondering if there were any good hints or tips. This has changed everything, many thanks! :)

[Bladekill]

am I able to change the towns infinitely on the cd version?

[chrisben1]

Originally posted by Bladekill:

am I able to change the towns infinitely on the cd version?

Most of the CDs available now are already patched to 1.02 . If you have the first version with only the 1.01 patch then you can sack the towns constantly.

[Bladekill]

actually my version is 1.0.0.0 made in 11/11/2004

[Bladekill]

so im pretty sure thats the first version

[unca.alby]

I was going to post a question about crew happiness, but now I don't have to! THANKS!

[unca.alby]

You know, this is harder than it sounds. I've tried it, and I'm sacking ship after ship after ship, and I still have 108 ingrates whining that we've plundered only 76000 gold!

Aw, come on, fellas! Cut a captain some slack, will you?

[Exemplar]

Originally posted by unca.alby:

You know, this is harder than it sounds. I've tried it, and I'm sacking ship after ship after ship, and I still have 108 ingrates whining that we've plundered only 76000 gold!

Aw, come on, fellas! Cut a captain some slack, will you?

Pirate maps have good yields and "later maps" have massive yields. Rescue family members and get married and visit your wife.

[spinozaoptics]

Originally posted by Adam:

By the way, the quartermaster isn't completely useless. He doesn't reduce the amount of gold that the crew needs to be happy, but he does reduce the negative effects of an unhappy crew. (Of course, if your crew is never unhappy, then you don't need a quartermaster.)

You're thinking of the cook. The quartermaster stores food more effectively so it takes up less space in the hold. http://sidmeierspirates.wikia.com/wiki/Specialist Hooked on Pirates! is a great website to check out too.

[Ranger]

I basically never retire until I want to stop because I have got enough points to finish as a Governor. I always try and retire relatively early so you can retire in good, or at least reasonable health. There are two instruments that help keep the crew happy. It is true once you have enough money the crew will support you forever although I did not know the exact amounts before so this is helpful.