You want pirates? You got pirates. It's a pyrates life for me.
I thought I would start off sailing the seven seas spreading havoc far and wide. Hardly a few turns had passed before everyone else's ships seemed to be headed for my little corner of the world with the intention of sniping at my pirate fleet. I lose three ships and decide to consolidate the fleet at Malacca to lick my wounds and build up strength.
This is going to be harder than I thought. It will be very easy to survive until the end of the game of course
; but I won't be the winner
. I am perfectly safe on Malacca Island (just as long as I don't build nine cities on the mainland).
1536 - I found Nicobar on Banana Island. I also drop a unit off on Rock Island (the one north of Banana) to stake out a claim.
1547 - I found Carnuta on Rock Island.
1579 - I found Nancovny north of Pirate Coast. Three of the big boys demand tribute and maps. I pay up. No need to antagonize these guys, right?
1588 - I have adopted a "spider's lair" strategy. My ships hide in my three island cities. When someone sails by, I pop out sink them and pop back in. Unfortunately, everyone else's ships seem to be stronger. Maybe I should concentrate on building more Prowlers?
If I can ever put together an offensive force there are two possibilities to use it: 1. capture Ceylon or 2. attack the Dutch. I sure wish I had cannon.
1599 - I found Merguid near the Irawaddy delta.
Lots has been happening among my neighbors. The Bengals and the Portuguese have taken or destroyed all four EIC cities on the subcontinent and one on the Safavid coast. That's five they've lost. I thought they were stronger than that. Too bad for them; good for me. The Mughals have destroyed the Nepalese (1609). They also knocked down a few Dutch cities in the mountains. Golconda, Vijayanagara, Rajput, and Ahmadnagar, have been at war with each other for a while. Myanmar starts kicking Dutch butt (1603) and captures two cities. Wow, those little orange guys are persisten! I decide to send a couple of raiders north from one of my coastal bastions to destroy every road they can find which is not in someother civ's territory. No sense in making thing easy for them. I notice that the French and the Safavid's have been very, very quiet.
So far I have not seen the p-l-a-g-u-e. Knock wood.
Slow and steady. Slow and steady. The Dutch seem to be losing traction on the slippery slope. I need to have a few settlers in reserve to jump onto their islands in case they are knocked out of the game.
