While most fans will know Sid Meier for his excellentCivilizationseries, he has also made a variety ofother games including Sci-Fi epicsand the best pirate simulator ever made.Sid Meier’s Piratesis a game that provides the full buccaneering experience from thrilling naval combat to tracking down buried treasures on tropical islands.
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The game’s protagonist journeys to the Caribbean islands and resorts to piracy in his quest to find the kidnapped members of his family. Initially released in 2004, some players may be turned off by limited graphics and simple mechanics. That said, there are numerous mods available for customizing the game’s graphics and adding new features to give a fresh experience for newcomers and veteran buccaneers alike.
Updated on November 4th, 2021, by Jeff Drake:Sid Meier’s Pirates has been around for a long time. It first started way back in the days when computers and consoles proudly displayed how many bits they could process at a time. This current version was first released in 2004 (as mentioned above), and eventually received ports to consoles. Let’s be honest though, the PC is the preferred method of playing this game. The reason is simple, and this is true for most PC games that also see a release for consoles - mods. These mods breathe new life into a game and give it quite a bit more replayability. Most of the best mods for Sid Meier’s Pirates were detailed in the original article; this update will add a few more mods thatdeserve a mention.
15Color-Coded Indicator For Crew Morale
In the base game, crew morale is indicated by a smiley face next to the compass. The face will change to show the current morale of your crew. If they are happy the smiley face is a normal smiley face. If the crew is unhappy the smiley face changes to a frowny face; there are numerous stages of morale between the two as well.
This indicator has a habit of being a little vague and easy to overlook. By adding a color component to the morale indicator it makes it a lot easier to avoid a mutiny.
14New Protagonist Skins
Perhaps the biggest complaint most players have about this game is the lack of customization available for the protagonist. It gives the game a kind of generic feel to it - screenshots of the game all look like they were taken from the same playthrough.
There are several mods that let you change the protagonist’s appearance. One of the more popular new skins makes the protagonist’s clothes black; giving him a Dread Pirate Roberts look.
13New Dutch Cities And Corrected Names
ThisSid Meier’s Piratesmod fixes some of the details on the game map that are not historically accurate. Curacao is moved to its actual location. St. Eustatius has replaced St. Barthelemy, and some new cities have been added. These new cities are; Aruba, St. Croix, and Bonaire.
The map has been made a little larger to accommodate new locations; like New Netherland and Paramaribo. This mod also adds a few cities for other nationalities as well. For example, England now has Anguilla.
12Realistic Cannonball Speed
The cannonballs inSid Meier’s Pirateshave a floaty feel to them. This may make aiming and actually hitting your target a little more challenging, but it is far from realistic. These slow-motion cannon shots also artificially lengthen fights; which can cause players to avoid fights.
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This is a great mod for those wanting a little more realism in the game. With this mod installed, cannonballs fly through the air at a more realistic speed. Try this mod out if you’ve grown tired of the repetition of the ship-to-ship fights - it helps.
11Ironman Mod
No, this doesn’t add Ironman to the game; though that would be interesting to see. This mod adds an Ironman mode to the game. What this means is that you cannot save the game unless you are quitting the game session. Additionally, you can only load a game from the main menu.
This alleviates the biggest problem many have found while playing - this game is way too easy. Seriously, this game is so easy that it doesn’t present much of a challenge after you’ve built up your fleet and character. Even if you choose to increase the game’s difficulty when prompted, it’s still too easy.
10A Website Full Of Game Files And Mods
Being an old game,Sid Meier’s Pirateshas its own forum that, while sadly no longer updated, can still be visited for tips, tricks, and guides on how to play the game.The Hooked on Pirates websiteis a great place to look for mods and game files.
The mods on this site don’t come with pictures, but they are relatively easy to install and remove as the player chooses. There are a variety of reskins and graphical fixes available as well as mods for giving the protagonist new outfits. If they want players can even customize their character’s facial hair to resemble the terrifying Blackbeard or even thewitty Captain Jack Sparrow.
9Pirates HD Is A Simple But Effective Graphical Update
While theHooked on Pirateswebsite has all the tools one could need to fully customize their game, some players may want to simply polish the graphics without going into so much detail. Thankfully there is a straightforward mod available for improving the game’s dated aesthetics.
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ThePirates HDmodis perfect for seeing the Caribbean in all its tropical beauty. This overhaul incorporates numerous other mods but players won’t need to install anything else to get it working. Unlike some of the other graphical remasters, the HD version is easy to install although it lacks the ability to alter specific skins and textures found in other mods.
8A Menacing Flag For Merciless Captains
ThroughoutSid Meiers Piratesplayers will encounter numerous locations and people from the golden age of piracy. As well the main villain of the story, there are also famous pirates to find and defeat, including Jack Rackam and Blackbeard (who was also featured in Assassin’s Creed 4). Unfortunately, no matter which of these dastardly buccaneers you face they all fly the same skull and crossbones emblem from their ship’s mast.
Thankfully with mods players can adopt almost any flag they want but the Jolie Rouge, known in England as the Jolly Roger, is by far one of the most striking and unique. This bright crimson flag warned an enemy ship that pirates intended to take no prisoners which made it one of the more terrifying symbols to spot while out at sea. Players can fly their very own Jolie Rouge by downloadingthis mod.
7Play The Game Without A Numpad
Pirateswas initially designed to be played on a PC, buta version was also released for the Wii, where players could use the Wiimote for fencing. While the game can be played with a mouse, this is often clunky and the easiest way to respond quickly in any situation is to use the Numpad.
This control system is used for everything from ship battles to dancing, making for simple gameplay that can be simultaneously very challenging as the player is given less time to respond. Since many modern laptops don’t have a Numpad, some players will find it essential to downloadthis mod, which rebinds the controls to the main keyboard.
6Repainted Ships With A More Varied Crew
As players plunder their way to fame and fortune they will find numerous different ships to capture and swap out for their starting sloop. Each ship added to a player’s armada will require a crew to sail it, so it makes sense to either sink ships that aren’t needed or hire new crew as frequently as possible from ports.
If players want to customize the appearance of their flagship, theRepainted HD ships modgives all the vessels in the game a fresh paint job. Not only does this mod make all the Galleons and Merchantmen encountered in the game more unique and varied, but it also adds a new skin for the protagonist and different sprites for the crewmates.
