Someone somewhere has to have a decent set of rules for this game, King Stannis surely you're not playing the rules that come in the packet?

For the most part we do, Bagpuss. We have used Teflon Billy's suggested "coming about" rule whenever a ship is docked. It seems fairly realistic that it takes a whole game-turn to turn the ship around. This does have a tendency to punish those who hunt for treasure compared to those who try to win by blasting the other player's fleet to the bottom of the sea.

As for wholesale rule changes? Not really. I just have so many irons in the fire I haven't had time to sit down and think about house-rules very much. The printed rules aren't perfect, but they are adequate in my opinion.

Now, we have played some of the printed scenarios out there on the net. Some of them are pretty cool. There was a good one with a sinking Spanish Galleon and both sides had to race to it and get the gold before it sunk.

You may want to check out the Savage Worlds RPG "Pirates" game when it is released. That may have more detailed and realistic combat rules. You can also go to boardgamegeek.com and see if any of those turbonerds have cooked anything up.

Glad to see there are others out here who play this game.  I used to have a lot of fun with it when it first came out but recently haven't found anyone to play with.  Got a few names at a local con so I hope I can drum up some players.  

I find the rules aren't bad, if you are just playing a fun game.  They have eliminated the come-about rule I do believe, at least they had in the Barbary Coast expansion.

Could someone please post this "coming about" rule real quick, I'm not familiar with it. I've looked before for any kind of rules about turning in the Pirates game but the only reference to turning I found was the Sloop's special ability to rotate 180deg. Is there restriction on turning a ship that applies to the other hull types?

I think that's the point there arn't any restrictions on turning except for turning 180 degress so players would turn 179. :brood:

Ah...ok, the way we have played up until now is that you have to measure out your turn...you could turn 180 but the turn had to be measured out (like from the bow before turning to measure out your move), basically shorting your move by the length of your ship (in the case of a 180 turn)....whereas the sloop could either flip, then measure out a move, or measure out a full move then flip, to make use of it's special quality.

Our "coming about" rule came from Teflon Billy. It simply said that once you were docked at a home or a wild island, you had to spend one entire movement action just turning your ship around in place. Then the next turn you could start to move your L+S, etc. The problem was that it kind of punishes those who go for treasure and rewards those who play a more offensive "gunship" strategy. It can make your ship a sitting duck while coming about.

I suppose that rule makes sense...it takes time to run out the sheets and get the big tub movin.  :jollyroger:

Quote from: King_StannisOur "coming about" rule came from Teflon Billy. It simply said that once you were docked at a home or a wild island, you had to spend one entire movement action just turning your ship around in place. Then the next turn you could start to move your L+S, etc. The problem was that it kind of punishes those who go for treasure and rewards those who play a more offensive "gunship" strategy. It can make your ship a sitting duck while coming about.

Except I believe you can't be attacked while in your home port under the standard rules. But lets be honest it's a boring game when the treasure hunters can always out run the others, which is what I found more of a problem.

Quote from: BagpussExcept I believe you can't be attacked while in your home port under the standard rules. But lets be honest it's a boring game when the treasure hunters can always out run the others, which is what I found more of a problem.

That's certainly a possibility. But you could always do a blockade around the other person's home island. When they come to bring treasure to their home island, you are waiting Throw down a becalmed and you can nullify their strategy.

Quote from: BagpussSomeone somewhere has to have a decent set of rules for this game, King Stannis surely you're not playing the rules that come in the packet?

I have some homebrew multi-layer rules, which basically standardize all the ships.  I'll dig them up if you want them.

Nothing would stop both sides from having fast ships either. Just like many other games....combined arms forces seem to be the order of the day for a winning strategy. A big tough ship, a small fast ship, and maybe one or two middle-of-the-road ships for back-up if ya have the points.

Quote from: King_StannisOur "coming about" rule came from Teflon Billy. It simply said that once you were docked at a home or a wild island, you had to spend one entire movement action just turning your ship around in place. Then the next turn you could start to move your L+S, etc. The problem was that it kind of punishes those who go for treasure and rewards those who play a more offensive "gunship" strategy. It can make your ship a sitting duck while coming about.

Yup, and that is exactly what it was intended to do as well (whew!)

Basically, we wanted Blockade Tactics to work; and as written in the core rules they don't. We wanted people coming away from their island to, basically, get shot at if there were ships lying in wait.

Now, does it penalize Treasure Hunters? Maybe a bit. But keep in mind that Blockading ships are, essentially, unusable for anything else...and if the Blockader is going to be useful at all it needs to be a pricey ship 9unles syou are using the grossly underpriced Longshanks; easily the best Blackader in the game)

It also makes Captains very valuable (as they can just start blasting during their "Come About" turn), same with Forts.

But the truth of it is...we just really despise the mechanical, Gold-Gathering win. There are legions of FLGS card-goofs out there who want nothing more from the game than to be able to win in one turn with clever use of abusive cards, Dropped Forts and fast ships with explorers followed by Cargo ships.

It's a winning combo. If you are smrt, you play it in tournament.

it's why we avoid tournaments.

We prefer a more exciting game.

Quote from: Teflon BillyYup, and that is exactly what it was intended to do as well (whew!)

Basically, we wanted Blockade Tactics to work; and as written in the core rules they don't. We wanted people coming away from their island to, basically, get shot at if there were ships lying in wait.

Now, does it penalize Treasure Hunters? Maybe a bit. But keep in mind that Blockading ships are, essentially, unusable for anything else...and if the Blockader is going to be useful at all it needs to be a pricey ship 9unles syou are using the grossly underpriced Longshanks; easily the best Blackader in the game)

It also makes Captains very valuable (as they can just start blasting during their "Come About" turn), same with Forts.

But the truth of it is...we just really despise the mechanical, Gold-Gathering win. There are legions of FLGS card-goofs out there who want nothing more from the game than to be able to win in one turn with clever use of abusive cards, Dropped Forts and fast ships with explorers followed by Cargo ships.

It's a winning combo. If you are smrt, you play it in tournament.

it's why we avoid tournaments.

We prefer a more exciting game.

Even with the little that I've played the game, I've seen that tactic, so I think  I agree with your reasoning about the rule, and if I get to play again I will definitely use it

Most of the guys I know around my area who play alot pretty much dispense with the whole loot gathering side of the game, form huge fleets, and then duke it out with each other

Quote from: Teflon BillyYup, and that is exactly what it was intended to do as well (whew!)

Basically, we wanted Blockade Tactics to work; and as written in the core rules they don't. We wanted people coming away from their island to, basically, get shot at if there were ships lying in wait.

Now, does it penalize Treasure Hunters? Maybe a bit. But keep in mind that Blockading ships are, essentially, unusable for anything else...and if the Blockader is going to be useful at all it needs to be a pricey ship 9unles syou are using the grossly underpriced Longshanks; easily the best Blackader in the game)

It also makes Captains very valuable (as they can just start blasting during their "Come About" turn), same with Forts.

But the truth of it is...we just really despise the mechanical, Gold-Gathering win. There are legions of FLGS card-goofs out there who want nothing more from the game than to be able to win in one turn with clever use of abusive cards, Dropped Forts and fast ships with explorers followed by Cargo ships.

It's a winning combo. If you are smrt, you play it in tournament.

it's why we avoid tournaments.

We prefer a more exciting game.

Yeah - I hate the treasure-only dorks. I think I related on the old NTL about Shakes the Clown and his totally munchkinized fleet. It was very gay. The problem is that I play usually against my buddy and he is a balls to the wall attacker...almost every time. He does send out one of his ships for treasure as a token occasionally but he has almost never won on treasure - it's always been by blowing away my fleet.

I just like a nice balance. Get some treasure and try to win that way occasionally, but don't be a retard about it and jam all these idiotic ships into your fleet. There are also times when I want a couple of hard, pipe-hittin' nigga ships and just go at it like Ali and Frazier.

TB, do you guys allow ships to shoot at a ship docked at a wild island?