Game with pirates?

Aaargh mateys!!! Let there be pirates!

@k9seals

Lovely thread, and a great idea!

If your into pirate games, have you ever taken a look at Skull and Bones and Sea of Thieves (I bet you already did)? They are currently still in development but might just be what you are looking for.. :-)

In the meantime, love the suggestions and ideas that everyone has come up with!

@DarkBanishing - that picture...... 😃

@Kalsolsse - well played 😉

Cheers,

And because pirates fantasy setting was mentioned, did anyone looked to Man O'War Corsair: Warhammer Naval Battles?!

It's probably the closest thing that we have to the old Sea Dogs/Pirates of the Caribbean/Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales (put those three together, as those are the best in the series).

Despite its fantasy setting, Man O'War has an undeniable charm. I am not a big fan of the mix between pirates and fantasy, but this game proved me that if it's done properly, the mix can work quite well. The only thing is, the game should still be in early access, as there are plenty of bugs. The good news is that the devs are still patching and adding new features.

@CasperTheLich

"i could actually really go for a good pirate game now... sigh. "

I know, right?

Totally agree with it being non-cartoony and, well you make sense pal.

@Straatford87

Thanks! I had to make that thread when I saw how the competition is making games for youngsters and you make games that can be played by grownups too. 

Skull & Bones. Saw the trailer, the game is action-oriented with an emphasis on fire and explosions. Being behind the wheel looks fun but when I see ships using mortar, flamethrowers and whatnot it just feels odd. What makes a great game is when the player feels a connection with the character. Whether you are aboard the Normandy or ready to storm a rebel base, there is that connection given by the depth of the game. I suppose they target a younger audience who is less interested in these elements and will be perfectly happy with a weak storyline and all the button smashing.

Sea of Thieves. Again, I'm not 12. Please, no pink octopus or anything involving bright colors. Just like movies can include anything from the Little Mermaid to another version I won't mention here, video games should be made for different maturity levels. Business opportunity.

@DarkBanishing

Just what the cat folder was missing. 🐱

@ivrognard

Gamesworkshop... $$$$$$$$$$$ gooooooone. Good times tho :eahigh_file:

Serious question now.

Women on board, the debate. Why not. Heard of Ching Shih. Getting a woman to establish her authority over a bunch of cutthroats would sure make a hell of a story. Something to hang onto for character selection i suppose. Would you discard the idea as pure heresy or would you be open to it?

@k9seals Pure heresy?! WHY?!

The West had their share of women pirates (Grace O'Malley comes to mind, for both categories: pirates and corsairs, plus she can be considered a Pirate Queen, too) and corsairs, though nowhere near that level. Will also point towards Mary Read and Anne Bonny, too, as they are probably the most known western women pirates. 

Will add how many people choose to ignore the number of women that influenced the history in one way or another (as rulers, warriors, shadow rulers, scientits, writters and so on). All that, despite living in times when the mentality was that women belong to the kitchen. I have a great deal of respect for those that are defying the rules imposed by the society, especially when the rules are completely dumb. One of my personal heroes is Joan of Arc. I can't stop admiring someone that united a country under the same banner, basically saving France from utter annihilation.

Only someone that has a poor or incomplete knowledge of history would discard the notion. If you look careful, you will find a rather impressive number of those women: women that choose to live as they pleased, knowing exactly how they will look in the eyes of the society from the time when they lived. 

So short-answer: i would never discard such a notion, as it happened more than once in the history. 

The thing is they were far fewer than men numerically. More of an exception than a rule. Too much trouble. To get women on board I think the crew needs to be something like 95%men (1 in 20). Would you agree with that or see more/fewer?

@k9seals  Probably the proportion would be closer to the historical accuracy, but it's a game, so the proportion can be anything you want🙂

I'd personally like it as a strategy game sort of thing akin to something like Romance of Three Kingdoms or Europa Universalis, a game with a lot of replayability and purely based upon singleplayer experience. You'd choose a single guy you play with and build from the ground up, whether you want to be the strongest pirate on the land or would you like to gather some comrades first to achieve your ambition of pirating. Would you become the king of pirates or would you be the strongest duelist of the crew. Would you rather be the guy who navigates the ship and knows where to raid ? Would you be more into raiding ports or raiding ships ? Perhaps you could even loan your pirate forces as privateer troops for some other empires in war and gain some spoils that way.

Overall you could do anything though. Pirates are such an open idea for creativity. It's kinda like how you can insert rogues or thieves anywhere. Like you could simply make something like a top-view game in which everyone commands a cartoon ship and the controls would be like on a stick shooter (Left stick moves, right stick shoots) , you'd collect powerups from floating chests and your mission is to blow others up for points. Imagine a Bomberman with ships if you will.

In the end, anything works with pirates. Only creativity is the limit. I'd not be surprised if someone made a Popcap style of game based upon giving pirates hair-dos, trimming their brush beards, scrubbing their dirty teeth and clean up their boots. While at it you could serve them some good ol' beverages and offer them entertainment. If you fail to please your pirates they'd wreck your place.

actually, female pirates were a fairly common sight in the caribbean at the time, mainly because that was one of the few places women could actually get equal treatment with their male counterparts.

@CasperTheLich you probably refer to the times when that was the short-lived pirate republic, quickly dismantled by the powers of the era. But, yes, pirates were anarchic and surprisingly for the time they wouldn't care about the color of your skin. Many pirates were recruited from the slave ships and wasn't uncommon to see an african captain or first-mate (asians were in a similar situation). Caribbean had probably one of the most colorful population of the times. While most of the pirate ships would have an anarchic democracy, there were some really brutal. The fabled Code was respected when the captain would choose to do so, but most of the time it wasn't. But for a  short time, the Caribbeans were the only free place in a world where actual freedom was still a distant dream. And that came from the people that were called the scourge of the sea. The irony of it.