Sid Meier's Pirates! Download PC

The era of play is one of the choices given to a player at game-start. Different eras provide a different challenge, as political and economic power shifts between the four fledgling European empires. Choosing 1560 (the earliest choice) as the starting year places the player in the Caribbean almost devoid of influence but that of Spain, while 1680 (the latest choice) provides a mature Caribbean with many non-Spanish colonies and an overall higher degree of activity in the region. The other choices include 1600, 1620, 1640, and 1660, with the progressive effect of reducing Spanish dominance in favor of the other nations, while increasing seafaring traffic. Ship designs are also era-dependent, with some types of ships appearing more frequently in certain eras and less in others, and certain ship types being used near-exclusively by certain nations.

The game tests a wide range of skills: hand-eye coordination during the fencing sections, tactical ability during the land and sea combat phases, and strategic thinking, for everything from choosing a wife to deciding when to divide up the plunder. Moreover, each game is likely to take a different course, as most events in the game are random, including the economic and political systems, and early in the game, these can greatly affect future strategic options. In the course of the game a player may try to tack in a frigate in order to run down a smaller and faster pinnace, but must be fortunate enough to have the weather gage.

One of the most innovative features of Pirates! is the introduction of a dynamic playing field. In Pirates! many of the most important factors which affect player decisions are randomized at the beginning of the game and continue to shift during gameplay. This not only creates a new experience each time the game is played, but also requires the player to remain flexible, and be ready to exploit possibilities when they occur. Changes happen whenever time passes and they are unrelated to player actions. In fact, in this game in the series, random events do not have any graphical representation, and the player can do nothing to prevent them.

The most important random factor in the game lies in the diplomatic relations between the four nations laying claim to the Caribbean. Relations may differ greatly from game to game, and can shift in an instant, creating and removing opportunities, possibly even for long periods of time. The player generally benefits from periods of war between two or more countries, because any aggression towards a country's ships or cities, which occurs often if not specifically avoided, will gain recognition with its enemies, prompting them to bestow the player with land, titles, and other benefits. During peacetime, the player can only benefit from the capture of pirates on the high seas, which is seen as favorable by all nations, but is a rare occurrence.

Cities are also dynamic, with statistics like wealth and population fluctuating constantly. The player can access any city's statistics. Knowing the statistics of a city helps the player plan ahead, especially with regards to trading or any desire to raid or conquer cities.

The original versions of Pirates! sported both disk and manual copy protections. Users were asked the time at which various treasure ships were arriving at the port. If the time was wrong, the game would continue, but at a much higher difficulty level that would frustrate most people.

Reception

Pirates! was a groundbreaking game in its era. Its puzzles appealed more to female gamers than previous products from MicroProse, a company known for military simulations like F-15 Strike Eagle. Although other open-ended games had already been released, the style of player-directed gameplay in Pirates! led it to be the spiritual predecessor of countless others since, both by Sid Meier himself (Civilization, Railroad Tycoon) and many others.

Compute!'s Gazette in 1987 praised the detailed gameplay with arcade and strategic aspects, stating that "the designers of Pirates! set themselves a variety of ambitious goals and succeeded on every count". The magazine concluded that the game "is a real treasure". The game was reviewed in 1988 in Dragon #132 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 5 out of 5 stars. Pirates! won many awards at the time of its release, including Computer Gaming World's "Action Game of the Year" for 1988, and two Origins Awards: "Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1987" and "Best Screen Graphics in a Home Computer Game of 1987". Computer Gaming World gave Pirates! five stars out of five in a 1990 survey of historical strategy and war games, and four stars in a 1993 survey of pre 20th-century strategy games, calling it "a genre breakthrough, this is a fascinating simulation of the Age of Piracy". The Australian Commodore and Amiga Review noted excellent manual, educational and historical aspects. Orson Scott Card wrote in Compute! in 1989 that Pirates' use of an unusually strict copy protection was understandable because "the game is so good that even people who drive 55 mph might consider stealing it". He stated that Pirates! seemed misleadingly easy, with players discovering non-obvious nuances to the gameplay.

In 1993, Computer Gaming World described Pirates! Gold as adding "three disks of graphical gold" to "a great game engine". The magazine stated that the game "has much to offer a new player and comes with the highest of recommendations", but warned those familiar with the original that "it was "not a significantly revised game with fresh game play".

In 1989, Computer Gaming World named Pirates! to its Hall of Fame for games readers rated highly over time, with a score of 9.71 out of 12, and Compute! gave it the Compute! Choice Award for Historical Game. In 1990 Pirates! received the tenth-highest number of votes in a survey of Computer Gaming World readers' "All-Time Favorites". In 1996, the magazine ranked it as the 18th best video game of all time, noting that the Amiga version was by far the best by then. In 2004, readers of Retro Gamer voted Pirates! the 84th top retro game, with the staff noting that "people still play the original version, even though Sid Meier himself produced later versions." In 2005, IGN rated it as the sixth greatest video game of all time. In 2011, Polish web portal Wirtualna Polska ranked it as the fifth most addictive classic game "that stole our childhood". In 2006, abandonware website Abandonia's Sebatianos reviewed Pirates! with "I was impressed by the superior graphics and sounds." In 1994, PC Gamer US named Pirates! Gold the 39th best computer game ever. The editors wrote, "We're recommending the new version of this old classic, because it looks so darn good and it'll be easier for most of you to get your hands on. But the award really goes out to the gameplay that made the original Pirates! great".

According to Microprose, Pirates! Gold sold in excess of 450,000 copies by September 1997.