Sid MEirs - Pirates

Plot Summary

New games start with a short back story: An evil Spanish nobleman, the Marquis de la Montalban, enslaves the hero's family because the family is unable to pay their debt to him when the fleet of ships under their control is lost at sea. The hero, at this time a boy, manages to evade capture. Ten years later, the boy, now an adult, enters a bar, where he is given a list of options to define his name, difficulty level, special skill, and preferred era. After selecting these, the player must choose which nation to initially sail with: the English, Dutch, Spanish, or French. In every case the voyage on this ship is harsh and the captain treats the hero and his fellow crew like slaves until he incites a mutiny by his ill treatment. The crew sets the captain adrift and selects the hero as their new captain. After this, the ship is the hero's and he is deposited a short distance from a major city of the ship's nationality.

From this point on, the hero's future is entirely in the player's hands in an open-ended campaign in which the hero gains fame and notoriety before retiring. The story itself evolves in whatever manner the player chooses, and optimally ends with the player gaining enough fame points by completing various achievements to retire into a wealthy position in the Caribbean community.

The main storyline continues as the player repeatedly encounters the Baron Raymondo and Marquis de la Montalban. As the player defeats each, he finds a portion of a map leading either to a family member or the Marquis hideout in the Caribbean. After finding each family member, the Baron begins providing portions of new maps until all are found. After finding the remaining family member, the Baron no longer appears and is no longer mentioned in gossip. After discovering Montalban's hideout, the player attacks it in a similar fashion to sacking a town, with the Marquis leading a large band of pirates and natives. After successfully defeating the enemy army, the player encounters the Marquis and the two duel. If successful in the duel, the Marquis surrenders, swears servitude to the player, provides every specialist in the game (assuming they are not all already found), and gives the player a large sum of gold. Finding family members or defeating the Marquis also provide significant fame boosts.