This mod includes the following (in a nutshell):

- A Pirate Empire Civilization
- Three Pirate Leaders with custom AI
- A Pirate Leader Trait with custom scripted behavior
- Three new Naval Promotions with custom scripted behavior (Salvage I, II, III)
- Two unique units: Pirate Ship (with randomly generated names) and Pirate Raider
- A short-cut key to transform the map into a tropical jungle paradise on the first turn of the game.

It is intended to be played with a small-ish ocean heavy map with a number of other civs, to create the feel of colonies in tropical islands.

Here is the text of the README...
(I would write something new, but its 5 in the morning! Post any questions, comments, reports, etc. in this thread. Thank you, and enjoy! -- Michael)

README
-----------------------------------------------------------------

The Pirate Islands Mod should be playable with any map and play style, however, it was designed with a certain style of game in mind. Hence, for the most pirate-like gaming experience, its important to set up the game using certain guidelines. Here is an overview:

1. SELECT A CUSTOM GAME
2. PLAY AS A PIRATE!
3. USE THE APCHIPELAGO MAP (any of the three sub-types work well)
4. PLAY A SMALLER MAP AND CRAM IT WITH A LOT OF CIVILIZATIONS:
TINY: 4-6 civs
SMALL: 5-10 civs
REGULAR: 9-12 civs
LARGE: 12+ civs
4: USE SETTING APPROPRIATE LEADERS. RECOMMENDATIONS:
Pirates: One or Both other Pirates Leaders
European: Elizabeth, Frederick, Isabella, Louis XIV, Napolean
Island Natives: Huayan Capan, Mansa Munsa, Montezuma
New World: Washington
5. START IN THE ANCIENT ERA (resist the urge to skip ahead)
6. DISABLE DIPLOMATIC AND SPACE RACE VICTORIES

************************************************** **********************
7. IMPORTANT! PIRATE YOUR MAP! (SHIFT-P)
When the game starts and you have found a suitably generated
map/starting position, be sure to press SHIFT-P. This will
"pirate" your map, making it a tropical island paradise. This
action is only available on your starting turn, and has varying
effects depending on your map's climate:

TROPICAL: Mostly grasslands and jungles, with a little desert.
TEMPERATE: More desert, but still rich and green.
ARID: Mostly desert, with some jungle and grass. (Limited Food!)
ROCKY: Like temperate but a bit more hilly (+Production, -Food)
COLD: Snowy jungle islands... Sure, why not?

Please note that this takes time. The game will appear to freeze.
Don't touch anything. Just be patient. (Larger maps can take a full
minute or longer. Huge maps... well... grab a soda).

To keep the islands nice and green, jungles are no longer chopped
down when improvements are built. Instead they are build on top
(or inside) the existing jungle. The exception to this rule
is the farm, which clear-cuts normally. In addition, since there
are no forests, lumber mills can be built in jungles instead.

************************************************** ***********************

FINAL NOTES:
The Pirate Leader Trait and the added Naval Unit Promotions have special
effects that are not listed in their pop-up help text. To read more about
these, as well as the unique units, rules, and the Pirate Islands in
general, be sure to check out the Civpeida on the Pirate Leaders
or Pirate Empire.

OTHER THINGS TO TRY:
I didn't test gameplay under these conditions, but they're bound to be fun
to try out. Some ideas for experiements:

- One-City Challange (Lets face it, your a pirate, not a ruler. Hold onto
your pirate port and burn and pillage the rest of the land!)

- Later Starting Era - Classical, Medieval, or even Renaissance (This will
probably help out the AI as much as anything, since they have trouble
prioritizing units and techs for ocean maps).

- Try Epic speeds. Esp. with later starting area, such as Medieval.

- Always War! (You're a pirate. People don't like you. Live with it!)

- Play a Pirate in a normal Civ style game, without the jungle map and
with regular map sizes and civilization numbers.

- MULTIPLAYER: At your own risk! This is untested and I have no idea if
it will work. The PIRATE-YOUR-MAP feature doesn't use any randomness so it
should behave the same on all machines, but all players would probably have
to do it to keep in sync. Other than that, the only thing I can think of
that might cause problems is the random name generation for pirate ships.
Each player will probably generate their own name for any ship that they
or another civ builds. Depending on whether or not names are global or local,
the last one to kick in will stick, or all the names will be different for
each player. Either way, I would hope the game would remain playable.

************************************************** **************************



DISCLAIMER
----------
This is released free and AS-IS, without any warranty what-so-ever (implied
or otherwise). I, nor anyone else, other than yourself!, is responsible
for anything that might happen as a result of installing (or even
downloading) this software. You may distribute this freely, use parts
of it in your own mods, alter it, whatever. Go wild. The only requirement
to do so is to credit me and any other contributers to your work.


CREDITS
-------

Thanks to Sid Meier and the Civilization 4 team for making the game, and
giving us the XML and Python bindings.

Thanks to CivFanatics.com staff, members, and community for the great forums
and modding resources.

Also thanks to Stephen over at www.seventhsanctum.com for the random pirate
ship name generator. It added a very fun feature to the game!

Have fun!

-- Michael

Haarrrr!

This sounds like a real good fun-thing to play. I´ll definitely give it a try :goodjob:

Interesting. Very nice potential.

Can we get some screenshots?

:goodjob:

Can we get some screenshots?

:goodjob:

I need some or I'm not going to download it.

hey, phony! where is the pirate civilization, i don't see it in the selection box! how come you did not make a pirate map in the first place? I don't see anything unique about this game at all. I upload it, and what do i see? normal civilization 4 game, i don't see a pirates civilization, nor it's not in the civilopedia.

I got to tell you this, this so called "mod" need some serious amount of work, and i suggest that this sould be beta cause you did not put almost anything in this mod but traits and infomation. I suggest that you work this mod, place in a pirate civilization with unique features and such, add some unique things that other people did not make.

in other words, add this:
-A Pirate Civilization
-Sanario map of the nations and pirates and so forth.
-Custom Tech tree
-Pirate Music to listen to around the ages
-Unique Units for each civilization
-put that pirate name generation in the game instead of us putting it in

If you add these stuff in, then this is a cool mod then a regular copy of civilization 4!

Flaming - warned.

hey, phony! where is the pirate civilization, i don't see it in the selection box! how come you did not make a pirate map in the first place? I don't see anything unique about this game at all. I upload it, and what do i see? normal civilization 4 game, i don't see a pirates civilization, nor it's not in the civilopedia.

I got to tell you this, this so called "mod" need some serious amount of work, and i suggest that this sould be beta cause you did not put almost anything in this mod but traits and infomation. I suggest that you work this mod, place in a pirate civilization with unique features and such, add some unique things that other people did not make.

in other words, add this:
-A Pirate Civilization
-Sanario map of the nations and pirates and so forth.
-Custom Tech tree
-Pirate Music to listen to around the ages
-Unique Units for each civilization
-put that pirate name generation in the game instead of us putting it in

If you add these stuff in, then this is a cool mod then a regular copy of civilization 4!

Maybe you should do this:

- Stop being a jerk
Flaming - warned
- Learn how to extract a mod to the right folder

To the OP:

This has tons of potential. I would love to see the 'Ransom a City' feature from the Vikings Warlords scenrio added in the future. Seems that would quite fitting.

i extracted the mod and checked . it is in mods folder. when it loads it sayes (on top) pirate island mod BUUTT- there aint no pirates 1. SELECT A CUSTOM GAME ya ok did it 2. PLAY AS A PIRATE! cant find none!! played anyway. :crazyeye: seems the game plays like a fast mod and all i get from shiftP is a map ping:eek:sounds like a great mod . dont know whats wrong

exactly, that what i am saying, plus me adding suggestions. oh, and i'm not trying to be a jerk, and i did place it on the right place, like i always do on every mod that i installed in.

Great mod mihaemon!:goodjob:
I had no problems playing as a pirate civilization... Are you sure you have "Pirate Islands" folder extracted into your "Mods" folder? Make sure the folder under the mod's is assets. The first time I extracted it I accidentally extracted the folder "Civ4Mod_Pirate Islands" and not "Pirate Islands" and my game was just vanilla. A simple mistake and simple to fix.:)

ah... i do hate it when that happens, you someone puts in a rar file that contains the mod, and when you play it it won't show anything, then i found out that the main mod itself is in the mod folder.... bah...

:crazyeye: got it in now thanks:goodjob: gonna play:eek:

surferjmb7:
glad the folder issue got straightened out. I hope its working for you now.

Storander:
thanks for helping with that

darkedone02:
next time, please give due diligence before blasting me and my mod. if you load up a mod and nothing shows, chances are it isn't loading right, and that the author didn't waste your time by uploading an empty file. please show some respect for the hours I put into building something fun for you to play with.

Sisonpyh:
thanks!

TheLopez, Hadrean:
yeah, I can throw up some screen shots. I didn't techinically add anything graphical to the game, but the maps still carry a lot of the pirate vibe when they are all island-y and jungle-ised, and full of black bannered ships. So, I'll see what I can do.

I downloaded and tried the mod out. It has some potential. I like the gameplay, maybe just some tweaks here and there to add some depth to the civs.

:goodjob: hey this is neat .KILL EM ALL!! THANKS

I got an idea that would really add to this mod, but don´t know if you´re able to do it (should certainly be possible via python or sdk stuff).

How about something like extra goody-huts that are treasures? These could be only visable for certain units (scouts, explorers and a new unit: the treasure-hunters). Only the treasure-hunter units should be able to "pop" them and they are supposed to give a huge amount of gold.

I think such a thing would surely add something to the pirate-flavour.

If you´re interested in this stuff, I could easily make a "treasure" for you (the gfx, that is).

Very professional readme. Does this mod require Warlords?

Duke van Frost:
thats a cool idea and should be doable.
I will add it to my list of features to incorporate into the next version.

Aeon221:
thanks. and no, it does not require warlords. In fact, I'm not sure if it will work with warlords (probably not, or at least new civs/features will disappear) since the XML is based of the original game. Timing of release was kind of poor for this considering warlords just came out.

i may be the biggest idiot in the world but i have tried everything but can't seem to play as a pirate...obviously i am doing something wrong but i just don't know what...someone please help.

figured it out finally..thanks.

So, ant new version of this mod coming out or is this it?

I've had fun playing it since I downloaded, but would like to see some unique sea vessels early in the game. Go more Pirate themed with the ships and land units.

May I suggest a change to the Salvage promotions? I think that instead of increasing the rate of healing for a ship (although you might want to keep that under another name, such as "repair"), you could make it the chances of capturing the ship.

Ok, I am completely new to the idea of mods, can someone do a step by step explination of how I play as a pirate please?

I know you have to change the mod value, but where EXACTLY do I find that and what EXACTLY do I change it to?

Thank you for the help.

Mod value? What are you talking about?

All you have to do is open up the unzipped file, copy the file inside of named "Pirate Islands," or something, put it under Mods, under Civilization 4, under Firaxis Games, under Program Files.

Also, this is a very good idea, but it needs some more units, and more elaboration.

All you did was add three more leaders and one more civ and two UUs, which is good, but it has so much potential.

Mod value? What are you talking about?

All you have to do is open up the unzipped file, copy the file inside of named "Pirate Islands," or something, put it under Mods, under Civilization 4, under Firaxis Games, under Program Files.

Also, this is a very good idea, but it needs some more units, and more elaboration.

All you did was add three more leaders and one more civ and two UUs, which is good, but it has so much potential.

NO, the civs it starts with are the normal civs. There is a way to play actually as a pirate civ I think. I want to know how to play as a pirate instead of like Americans.

If the mod is loaded correctly, the pirate leaders are at the bottom of the leaders list when in "Custom Game"

If by Mod Value you mean changing the config.ini file or whatever its called, the file is in the main Civ4 folder. The name startes with "_civ4", I think.

If the mod is loaded correctly, the pirate leaders are at the bottom of the leaders list when in "Custom Game"

If by Mod Value you mean changing the config.ini file or whatever its called, the file is in the main Civ4 folder. The name startes with "_civ4", I think.

When I go to custom game all the normal leaders are there and no pirate names come into play.

So you don't have names like "Zeno" or "Davy"?

Try "Play Now" and there should be a pirate civ among the options.
If not, you did something wrong.

"All you did was add three more leaders and one more civ and two UUs" -- prussia

prussia:
I also added a custom scripting to:
-- transform the terrain tiles into jungle/deserty islands
-- make it so improvments could be built on jungles
-- create the ability to capture ships
-- make loot from destroying vessels based on your enemies' actual trade income
-- generate random pirate ship names
The leaders, civs, and units were the easy part! The scripting is what took the time and trouble!
Dont under estimate the amount of time it took to do all that.

I do agree that it isn't enough stuff! My original plan included a bunch mores ideas, but due to problems with practial application as well as time constrains, I had to trim it down in scale. A lot more could be done and I agree that the Pirate theme has a lot of potential. So, though I could make this mod way cooler with even more custom stuff, I've put as much time into it as I'm able to for the time being. If anyone wants to expand upon it by adding their own ideas, feel free. I'd be interested in seeing what you come up with.

calebt3:
Increasing the chances of capturing was my original idea, actually. I changed it for a couple reasons. 1) I tried to avoid randomness. 2) I found that if the pirates could capture ships too early and too easily, their fleet size multiplied exponentially and the other teams didnt have a chance to keep up. 3) It seems like naval units have a harder time gaining experience than land units, so it isn't very easy to get a ship with lots of promotions. So, whereas I had a bunch of different promotion chains to begin with, I decided to go with a smaller number. So, I combined my various loot and healing promotions into one chain and put capturing at the end of it, to prevent it from being accessible too easily.

I just removed Civ4 and deleted ALL the files. I then reinstalled it and downloaded the mod again. Still no Pirate names in the leaders area. I have no clue what I am doing wrong, but I don't know what else to do.

I went into the zip file, selected all files, extraded them to C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Mods. It made a new folder in there for Pirate Island. I loaded the mod, and it says Pirate Island in the upper right corner of the game when it is loaded... but thats all.

3) It seems like naval units have a harder time gaining experience than land units, so it isn't very easy to get a ship with lots of promotions. So, whereas I had a bunch of different promotion chains to begin with, I decided to go with a smaller number. So, I combined my various loot and healing promotions into one chain and put capturing at the end of it, to prevent it from being accessible too easily.

You can easily change the average number of experience points that A unit gets from either succesfully defending or attacking via xml tags in the "UnitInfos", maybe this could help you.
But as you´re saying that other folks should expand this mod I get the impression that you don´t want to work on this mod any more and I think it´s a pitty, because after you release a mod IMO you should react on public feedback and improve your mod - but OK, it´s up to you!
I think the pirate-theme has a lot of potential in it, so I´m hoping for some other folks to extend this mod and keep on working on this.

I would be more than happy to provide any kind of help that you (somebody who wants to continue this work) would need (simple 3d models without animations, xml, BUTTONS etc.)

Ok, since I am obviously the only turd that cannot play as a pirate, can someone please explain to me what you do to play as one?

I downloaded the mod, opened the zip file, selected all the files and exported them to my Civ 4 mod file where my other mods are located (total realism, fall form heaven II, etc.). When I start the game and load the mod, all I get is on the main menu screen, in the top right corner it says "Civ4PirateIsland mod". When I go to custom game or play now all the normal leaders are there, but no pirates civs. What did I do wrong or what do I still need to do to play as a barbarian or pirate? Thank you.

Ok, since I am obviously the only turd that cannot play as a pirate, can someone please explain to me what you do to play as one?

I downloaded the mod, opened the zip file, selected all the files and exported them to my Civ 4 mod file where my other mods are located (total realism, fall form heaven II, etc.). When I start the game and load the mod, all I get is on the main menu screen, in the top right corner it says "Civ4PirateIsland mod". When I go to custom game or play now all the normal leaders are there, but no pirates civs. What did I do wrong or what do I still need to do to play as a barbarian or pirate? Thank you.

Most probably, its the same problem that was mentioned on page 1. Check your pirate island mod folder, you probably copied the root one (a folder within a folder) and not the actual mod folder... take the actual PI mod folder and move that directly to the mods folder then delete the empty one.

Most probably, its the same problem that was mentioned on page 1. Check your pirate island mod folder, you probably copied the root one (a folder within a folder) and not the actual mod folder... take the actual PI mod folder and move that directly to the mods folder then delete the empty one.


GOT IT!!! Now I have the option for Pirate Empire. The same leaders are in it, but atleast I am playing as a pirate. Thanks Lostkiwi... I shoud have read better.

A very interesting approch to the random pirate ship naming. I am going to include that in a future version of my JRandomNames mod. Nice job. :)

I like this mod. Being able to play as a pirate instead of a leader is a cool idea. I would like to see the mod make the pirate leaders people like:

Anne Bonny
Bartholomew R.
Beniowski, M.
Edward Teach
Henry Morgan
John Rackham
Jean Laffite
Mary Read
Samuel Bellamy
Sir Francis Drake
Stede Bonnet
William Kidd

Most of these people would have pictures on Google, and it would add a bit of realism to the Pirate Mod. What do you think?

Hey, Duke. You inpsired me to write this post:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=182584

Thanks!

You should get with "jenks" and put both your mods together, Pirates and Privateer? HUH?

'!' I feel distincly left out in all this strategyonly ;) I did the leaders and a the initial thought.
I think it'd be a great idea for mihaemonm, Jenks and myself to put our mods together and work on some kind of uber realistic 'Pirates & Privateers' mod, with all the trimmings. Our thread is here if you're interested:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=4308117#post4308117

the same goes for anyone else, the mod is a bit barebones at the mo, and we're having serious CTD issues that Jenks could use a hand with (I can't program to save my life, thats why I'm only flavours and Pirate ideas)
and even if you can't program, we need any graphics you can give us (stolen from other mods or ones you've made yourself) and even if you can't do graphics or program (like me), the mod would be very short without some other buildings, units and techs. So if you've got any ideas, please post them on the thread.

Any news on a Pirate mod update? Or, does anyone know of another mod where you can play as a Pirate/Barbarian?

Please update this mod. I love pirates this mod would do well if improved upon! yarrr pirates!

it's best to add in pirate mythology instead of pirate island... I want to see pirate myths like the lost ships, the treasure of other pirates, the hidden weapon, creatures and so forth. That way it be more interesting then just pirates itself.

Pirate music is also needed, whatever pirates sings.

Yes, lets get this updated. Either Warlords compatible or regular. I loved the idea of playing as a Pirate. Barbarian anyone?

'Yo ho ho ho, its a pirates life for me. Yarr its a pirates life for me' sings. That would be an ideal pirate song!

Can someone who knows how to mod pick this up and make a Warlords compatible version?