Pirates! Gold

Overview

Pirates! Gold is a 1993 remaster/remake of Sid Meier's Pirates!, which had players assuming the role of either a pirate, pirate hunter, or privateer as they made their fortunes across the Caribbean. The game has multiple modes of play and multiple decision branches for players to pursue, based on their preferred playstyle.

It was first released on Mac systems before being ported to the Sega Genesis (as a North American exclusive), MS-DOS PCs, and the Amiga CD32. Much later in 2014, the game was bundled with the original Pirates! and released on GOG as Pirates! Gold Plus via Nightdive Studios.

Gameplay

The standard gameplay is Career mode in which the player tries to gain fortune, rank, lands, reputation and a wife by sailing around the Caribbean sea. The player rises to the top by trading, assaulting towns and ships, and taking on offers made by governors. The player can choose Expedition mode, in which the player chooses to command a famous expedition. An expedition is a much shorter game mode.

Nationalities

The game contains four nations and the player can choose which one to belong to.

• English
• French
• Dutch
• Spanish

The choice determines where the player will start, which ships he/she will have, the size of the ships crew, initial wealth and reputation. The choice will not require the player to support that nation during the game.

Historical time period

The player can choose which historical time period he/she want to start their career in. The time periods differ from each other in how favarable pirating is, which nation is strongest, and the nations navel fleet sizes. The "The Buccaneer Heroes" period is the most advantageous for piracy.

• The Silver Empire (1560)
• Merchants and Smugglers (1600)
• The New Colonists (1620)
• War for Profit (1640)
• The Buccaneer Heroes (1660)
• Pirates' Sunset (1680)

Famous expeditions

• Battle of San Juan de Ulua (John Hawkins, 1569)
• The Silver Train Ambush (Francis Drake, 1573)
• The Treasure Fleet (Piet Heym, 1628)
• The Sack of Maracaibo (L'Ollonais, 1666)
• The King's Pirate (Henry Morgan, 1671)
• The Last Expedition (Baron de Pointis, 1697)