Merchants & Marauders: Seas of Glory

[Quas4R]

Hay nuevos capitanes que no los voy a copiar aqui, porque cada uno tiene sus reglas.

FREE TRADE:

Requires Simultaneous Turns.

Added playtime : Variable, rarely used except in team games, but may make a few port actions take longer.
Added complexity : Moderate

Can only be initiated either as a "port activity" when another player is in the same port, or after one player sucessfully scouts the other.  If a player wishes to be found, a simple "visit" action can be used instead (same as visiting a location) and does not require a scouting roll.  At this point the two players are free to exchange anything that could be "plundered", so goods/gold/rumors/glory cards/specialits/special weapons. (But not ships)

If the "Favors 2.0" variant is used, favors can also be traded.

If this happens at sea, an attack can be initiated before or after the trade, so be wary of pirates who say they "just want to trade".

Note : Selling is still the very first port activity.

Slavery expansion : You do NOT gain a free specialist for buying a slaves cargo card with a specialist icon from another player.

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PIRACY 2.0

Added play time : Approx 5 mins.
Added complexity : High
Note : Increases risk and reward for pirate players, and allows for the pirate/bounty hunter hybrid playstyle.

At the beginning of setup, before players choose their captain, place two random naval ships from different nations and one non-traitor NPC pirate on the board.

8 bounty tokens are placed in a bag. When an NPC pirate enters the game, two bounty tokens are drawn from the bag, telling you which nation(s) will pay for their head. If, during the game, the NPC pirate attacks a non-pirate player, a bounty token of that player's nationality is added to it. What this means is you, as a pirate yourself, can collect the bounties using the same rules as when you defeat another player pirate (the amount doesn't change).

Favors cannot be used to redraw cargo cards drawn for a raid.

Becoming a pirate :

An act of piracy is any attack or raid against non-pirates (even if it earns no bounty), and anything that earns you a bounty with 2 exceptions :
1- Changing a port's nationality.
2- Defeating a naval ship (IE if you get attacked because of an ongoing war or because you're Ali Vezaz).

Note : Attacking a naval ship (which also nets you an initial bounty) is considered piracy.

If you commit an act of piracy that earns you a bounty, or if you already had bounties before the act (IE an English bounty from previously making Bridgetown Spanish, and then raiding natives), then you become a pirate.

Note : Captains who start the game with bounties also start as pirates.

Once you are a pirate, there is no distinction between the bounties you have. If you want to be a non-pirate again, you must get rid of ALL your bounties.

 As a pirate, the "pirate treaty" then applies to you and NPC pirates won't hunt nor scout for you as per normal rules. If you break the treaty by attacking another who is part of it (or by attacking a pirate haven), then you gain a "pirate bounty".  These special bounties cannot be collected or pardoned, but they put you on top of the NPC pirates' hunt priority.

A traitor pirate cannot visit a pirate haven.

A traitor pirate cannot claim or complete "The Pirate League" or the "Joined Forces" mission.


A pirate player earning a bounty from all four nations earns a glory point (only once per captain). Under these three conditions :
1- All four bounties are held simultaneously.
2- All four current bounties were earned (that excludes starting bounties and bounties gained from investments/frame/false accusation or Abram Dwight's or Jurgen de Witt's ability)
3- The pirate doesn't die doing whatever earns him the last bounty.


PLUNDER : The smuggler's hold now makes one contraband invisible even to player captains, meaning it cannot be plundered nor even looked at unless the plunderer claims the ship itself.  If the ship is claimed, the hidden contraband MUST be kept.  The ship cannot then be "unclaimed".

NPC TRAITOR PIRATES : Every player captain is on their hunting list, in this order of priority :

1- Player captains with bounties the traitor pirate could collect.
2- Player captains with gold on board.
3- Player captains with cargo on board.
4- Player captains with neither cargo nor gold.

If both NPC pirates are in the same sea-zone and at least one of them is a traitor pirate, they do not scout for players.

Also here's a summary of normal NPC pirates' hunting list taking other variants into account :
1- Traitor pirate player captains.
2- Non-pirate player captains with bounties they could collect.
3- Non-pirate player captains with gold on board.
4- Non-pirate player captains with cargo on board.
5- Non-pirate player captains with neither cargo nor gold.

If using Escort : NPC traitor pirates do not automatically escort their favored captains nor can you use an Escort card to make them join the battle, but if you are that captain and are attacked in the same sea-zone as them, you can retrieve a "visit" or "wait" token to demand escort from them (see Escort).

THE PIRATE FORT (requires Raid a Port and Investment) :

If a non-traitor, non-privateer pirate successfully raids a Naval Fort in a neutral sea-zone, he may roll Influence. If successful, it remains on the board and becomes a Pirate Fort.

A Pirate Fort counts as a Pîrate Haven in every way except :
1- It retains its strength of 6.
2- When you visit a Pirate Fort, you may also move a non-traitor NPC pirate to an adjacent sea-zone.
3- NPC traitor pirates do not scout for players in a sea-zone containing a Pirate Fort.

If a Naval Man-o-War enters the sea-zone of a Pirate Fort or if the sea-zone rejoins one of the four nations, the Pirate Fort is removed from the game.  If this was caused by a pirate player, he becomes a traitor pirate.

Note : When a privateer successfully raids a Naval Fort in a neutral sea-zone, he may make an influence roll to turn it to his nation instead of removing it.


(Extra option) HOSTILE NATIVES :
If you attempt to raid natives and either fail or retreat, put one of your cubes on the location. In addition, if your captain isn't neutral, put a flag of your nation on it. Natives in that specific location can no longer be visited by you or anyone from nations with their flag on it. If your captain dies, retrieve your cube. You can visit it again if your new captain is of a different nationality

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SURRENDER

Added playtime : None
Added complexity : Moderate
Note : Rarely happens, but when it does, generally favors non-pirate players.

If found by another player, you can, before any round of sea or crew battle, offer surender. If it is accepted, you keep your captain and your ship (with its mods) along with anything your attacker couldn't take because he had no room on his ship (he can, however, take your cargo, rumor and glory cards, and leave the excess on your ship). Important : The winner gets a glory point ONLY if he plunders everything he can. If he negotiated for less because he wasn't entirely confident in his victory, no glory. This is also to avoid cheap mutual glory gifts between players. You also cannot get a second glory point from defeating the same captain, and if you yourself surrender to that same captain later in the game, you lose the glory point you got from that. Finally, a player does not collect the bounty for the defeat of a player pirate if he accepted a surrender.

Surrendering to an NPC is also possible, but can only be attempted if :
1- You are not a pirate.
2- (If it's a naval ship) You have no bounty from your attacker's nationality.
3- (If it's an NPC pirate) You have no bounty he could "collect" (IE no bounty he doesn't also have).

You must attempt an influence roll (a favor can be spent to reroll).

If successful, an NPC pirate takes all your gold and cargo, but cargo plundered is limited to remaining cargo space on his ship.  The player who rolled for the pirate decides what is taken.  Contraband that is invisible due to a smuggler's hold is not plundered by an NPC pirate.

If you successfully surrender to a Naval Ship instead (IE because of the war), your cannons are reduced to 0, your chasers, swivel guns, long guns, cannon port and naval ram are destroyed (shuffled back in the bag and new random mods returned to the game) and all your special weapons are confiscated. Naval ships do not plunder.

After surrender, an NPC captain does not scout for you again until you leave the sea-zone (entering port does not count as leaving for this purpose.)

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INVESTMENT

Added playtime : 2-3 mins per captain actually using it (most don't)
Added complexity : High
Note : Significantly reduces the luck factor for certain merchant players, but can backfire unwillingly helping pirate players.

As a port activity, you can pay 10 gold to give the "prosperity" effect to a port. Put one of your cubes near the port.

From now on, as long as prosperity is in effect, goods are 1 gold cheaper to you (minimum 1) and you get 1 gold from the bank for each good purchased by another player.  This does not affect the trade station nor the town.

Every 2 investments in different ports earn you a glory point.  It is possible to invest in the same port a second time, but it does not count towards earning glory.

You may also roll your influence.  If successful, the nationality of the port changes to your own.  This earns you a bounty of the previous nationality.  This bounty alone doesn't make a player into a pirate, meaning naval ships won't hunt you or scout for you without contraband, NPC pirates still will, and should you be at war, naval ships with a corresponding bounty won't accept your surrender.
If an NPC pirate could, in theory, "collect" your bounty, then you are moved to the top of their hunt priority.  As long as you are not a pirate, such bounties do not prevent you from entering ports either.

Note : With the exception of Old Providence, changing the nationality of a sea-zone also changes the nationality in its special text.  IE : The extra cargo card from being Dutch in St-Maarten will now apply to the nationality of the port, and pirates can always enter Port Royal by paying 2 gold or succeeding an influence roll.

Other note : The original game equates bounties and piracy, therefore :
Letters of marque or other missions that require a bounty also require that your captain be an actual pirate. Any mission that requires "no bounty" (without a specific nation) can be claimed by any non-pirate. Gaspar de Rivera can also use his ability as long as he's not a pirate.  If a mission requirement, however says "No Spanish bounty" for example, then the mission still cannot be claimed even if you are not a pirate but have a Spanish bounty.

Note that you do gain the benefits of Old Providence as a non-pirate with a Spanish bounty.

Should you ever become a pirate, however, ALL bounties have to be removed to cancel the piracy status

[Quas4R]

RAID A PORT

Added playtime : Usually none, but can sometimes add a turn to a game by killing a winning player.
Added complexity : High

NOTE : It takes 15+ gold plunder to earn a glory point from a port raid as opposed to the normal 12+.

You cannot raid your home port.

You can now attempt to raid an actual port, using the same rules as a location raid :

6 cargo cards are drawn (like a naval fort).
7 cargo cards instead if the port is "prosperous".
5 cargo cards instead if the port is "poor".

If the port was already affected by poverty, the plunder value of the cards will be ignored, but they can still be kept as cargo.

Sequence :

1- Any player inside the port chooses to defend it or not.

2 (If using location raids 2.0) - Defenders can discard certain special weapons and place them on cards with a hit icon :
- Grape shot makes it a crew hit.
- Chain shot makes it a mast hit.
- Double shot makes it two hits at the written location (four if also doubled by escapes/defending crew.)
- Heated shot makes it two random hits (four if also doubled by escapes/defending crew. Skulls are choice hits)
- Explosive shot makes it a cannon hit.
- Smoke shot will make no hit but will reduce Leadership dice by 1 for the first round of crew combat (by 2 if there are enough defenders to double the hits).

3- Bombardment proceeds as normal.

4- The hits are resolved.  The "crew" of all defenders are added to the "escape" icons for the sake of doubling the hits.

5- The raider(s) choose to retreat or proceed with ground assault.

6 - Crew combat happens between raiders and defenders, one at a time, each side decides who they send up front, if they can't agree, the opponents decide.  Any captain dying in this manner can be plundered later, only after the raid is over.
NOTE : If using the Epic Battles variant.  Crew combat happens between all participants simultaneously.

7- If all the defenders are dead, the raiders roll leadership to cancel crew hits from the remaining cards with escape icons, and the remaining hits each affect one of them at random.

8- Upon success, the raiders plunder the port plus the defenders. If it's a failure, the surviving defenders plunder the dead raiders (as long as their ships aren't sunk of course). If the defenders cannot agree on how to split plunder, they don't plunder at all.

Note : A raider is NOT plundered upon success and a defender is NOT plundered upon failure, no matter who dies (unless they fight each other later on.)

9- If it's a success, the port is now struck with "poverty" (same as the event, no demand).

10- Raiders now have the option of attacking any non-defender players in port with their remaining crew.  Plundering them upon victory. This earns them a bounty if the player isn't a pirate.

If the raiders cannot agree on how to split the plunder, they fight in crew battle and the winner takes everything.

Raiding or defending a port awards at most one single glory point for 15+ plunder value.  Defeating other players in this manner does not award glory, but the plundered coins count towards the needed 15. (Defenders do NOT plunder the port, obviously)

11- Optionally, you can also make an influence check to "liberate" the port, meaning it will have no nationality affiliation anymore, and pirates won't need favors to enter.  This earns you another (yes, a third) bounty from the previous nation.  If you are a privateer, this instead changes it to the nationality of your employer.

Regardless of the outcome, raider ships remain at sea just like a regular location raid, and will require another action to move in port (for balance purposes so you can't have a ridiculous amount of cargo on board when you're done plundering).

Naval forts retain their nationality should the local port become neutral.

Note :
A captain who chose NOT to defend the port cannot plunder any raider he kills after being attacked.  However, killing any player captain in crew combat during any phase of a port raid grants the proper favors to the killer and allows them to collect a reward if possible

[Quas4R]

FAVORS 2.0

Added playtime : None, other than cancelling some of the reduced playtime of regular favors.
Added complexity : High
Note : Adds a significant strategy element to the game. May in theory be more advantageous to Spanish players and less to Dutch players in the first few rounds of a non-team game, but 100+ games with it have shown that the difference is unnoticeable.

Favors are now nation specific and are indicated by bounty tokens instead of cubes.  It is then in theory possible to hold 20 total (5 from each nation)

Acquiring favors :

- As a (last) port activity, you can buy "local" favors for 2 gold each.

- You can also buy favors of your own nationality in any port for the regular 2 gold price.

- In a port matching your own nationality, favors cost only one gold each.

- Completing a mission earns two favors of the corresponding nation instead of just one.

NOTE : Claiming or completing a mission grants favors from the DEFAULT nationality of the zone, regardless of the zone's current nationality.

- If the "Investment" variant is used, changing the nationality of a port earns you two favors from your own nationality.

- If the "Raid a port" variant is used and you are a privateer, changing the nationality of a port to your own (instead of making it neutral) also grants two favors from your nation.

- If the "Raid a port" variant is used, defending a non-neutral port grants 2 corresponding favors.

- If the "Escort" variant is used, defending a naval ship grants a corresponding favor.

- Defeating a ship earns you a favor from each nation that had a bounty on its captain. If there is an ongoing war, you also earn a favor from the opposing nation (including merchant raids).

- During times of war, successfully raiding a location/port also grants a favor from the opposing nation (except natives and pirate havens.)

- Successfully raiding a pirate haven will earn you a favor from the sea-zone's nation.

- If the "Free trade" variant is used, favors can also be traded when two captains meet.

In summary, benefiting a nation in one way or another will allow you to pull some strings later.



Spending favors is now limited to the appropriate nation.  Everything requires a "local" favor with a few exceptions :

- In neutral sea-zones, all favors are considered "local".

- Forcing a naval ship to reroll their scouting roll or peeking at its hidden mod requires a favor corresponding to its captain's nationality. Forcing an NPC pirate to reroll its scouting roll can be done with any favor.

- Pirate havens and Natives are neutral locations, so when visiting them, you may redraw the rumor from a pirate haven with any favor, and you may use any favor to reroll the influence roll for the "Quarantine" or "Cursed Treasure" rumors.

- Storms no longer accept favors.


EXTRA USES :
If using the ship mod market variant, you can spend a local favor to redraw the available ship modification. With simultaneous turns, if two players are doing a port action in the same port, only the player who wins the influence contest can redraw the mod until they choose to buy it or not.

After selling goods in demand and changing the demand token, a local favor can be used to redraw the demand token.

[Quas4R]

SUMLTANEOUS TURNS

Added playtime : Significantly reduces playtime, especially with many players, and even more noticeably reduces downtime between your own actions.
Added complexity : Moderate
Note : Significantly increases the chances of PvP battle (therefore favoring pirates and pirate hunters), and completely changes how players chase/avoid each other. Allows for some unique tricks to avoid battle with NPCs or engage them while they are already damaged.
Requires all players to actually pay attention to the game.

Every round :

- A turn d6 is set to 1.

- Each player puts an action token face down next to the board.  Any player at sea during a storm event, however, skips their first action.

- All action tokens are flipped.  Actions are resolved in this order :

1- Port :  All players do their port action at the same time.  Players who have chosen a different action can help them by providing proceeds/change and confirming pairs of goods, etc.  If two players do a port action in the same port, they both sell before the demand token is replaced.  If there is a conflict about who gets to buy a mod or claim a mission, an influence contest determines who gets it, if the "mod market" optional rule is used, each player can buy one single mod per port action.

2- Scout : All captains with a scouting token declare their target and roll scouting : the actions are resolved from highest successful roll to lowest successful roll (Reroll ties). If the intended scouting target of a player hasn't entered their sea-zone yet, the scouting action is delayed until the target enters the sea-zone, but will be cancelled (and the action wasted) if it does not happen.

3- Visit a location (or a willing captain in the same sea zone).

4- Raid a location.  If two players raid the same location, each individual hit icon affects just one of them chosen at random (the hit is doubled or not depending on that particular ship's maneuverability vs remaining escape icons).  During ground assault, the highest leadership roll is resolved and the target of each individual crew loss is also random. If they succeed, surviving raiders split the booty however they want. (If the location is a prison, only one free specialist is granted, not one per player.) If they cannot come to an agreement, they do crew combat, and whoever survives keeps everything (including anything onboard the other's ship).  No glory is awarded for this action other than the usual 12+ plunder value, including gold on the other ship if there was a disagreement/battle.  A raider killed by the location's defenses is not plundered by other raiders.

Note : If there is a contest between two raiders raiding 2 different locations over who goes first (IE because of a Slaves card on top of the cargo deck), a non-combat Seamanship contest determines who goes first.

5- Move : Anyone can use their free move with the wind at this point.  Then all players with a move token move simultaneously.  A player moving against the wind for the first time this round will skip their next action.  The free move can also be done after the move tokens were used.

Note : If 2+ players with a move token would want to wait for the other to move first, they set their movement die to their chosen moving direction in their hidden zone (or put their port token in the bag to move into port). The dice are then revealed together and the players must follow their die. It is the only scenario where the movement dice are of any use.

6- Wait : Players with "wait" tokens can now retrieve it to cancel their action or choose to add another token face down (in that order).  Again, they are flipped together and resolved in order.  Also, a player with a "wait" token can, at any time, add another token AFTER the proper phase has passed (IE scouting during the move phase to intercept a passing ship).

7- The turn d6 is set to 2, and the process is repeated until all players are out of actions.

Note : If you want to move with the wind and do an earlier action on the first turn (visit, raid, scout), use a wait token.


NPC scouting : Instead of doing it at the beginning of the turn, all NPC ships will scout for players during the scouting phase at the same time as players (the one right after port actions, not when players scout after using wait tokens) unless they already scouted for the same captain this turn, and only once per scouting phase, following hunt priority. They also scout for a hunted player or smuggler every time their sea zone is entered. If two valid targets enter their sea zone at the same time, they scout for the one highest on their hunt priority. Regardless of the situation, an NPC scouts only once per action.

NPC "healing" : NPCs repair and recruit at the end of every action, and do not scout for players when damaged. If somehow they are made to fight again in the same action (IE another player with a wait token scouts for the NPC later in the same action), the NPC retains its damage. Note that you cannot yourself scout for any ship that you have fought with or against this turn (the whole turn, not just the same action) even if it wasn't you who scouted for that ship to initiate the fight.

First turn ceasefire : During the first turn of the game (before the second event card is drawn), players cannot attack other players. This special rule is made so that pirates starting in the first port as merchants don't get an easy first turn kill.

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ESCORT

Requires simultaneous turns.

Added playtime : Usually none without the Epic Battles variant.
Added complexity : Moderate
Note : Without Epic Battles, slightly favors non-pirates, and low scouting anti-pirates.

When a battle is about to take place, after any relevant bounty has been awarded, a different player in the same sea-zone with a "wait" or "visit" token can, with the defender's permission, retrieve his token and be the one to fight the attacker. Alternatively, the "escorted player" can retrieve a visit or wait token instead.  The escort is considered to have engaged the attacker for the sake of earning a bounty or becoming a traitor pirate.

Any NPC can be "escorted" as well. 

If the "Favors 2.0" variant is used, escorting a naval ship grants a favor from the matching nation.

If two ships "move together" (from and to the same sea-zones or out of the same port), and one of them is found by an NPC or player captain before the next action, the other can, with permission, fight in its place.


Demand escort (Requires Favors 2.0):
If you are in the same sea-zone as a naval ship, you can have it protect you from a pirate attack.

Conditions :
1- You are not on their scout/hunt list for any reason.
 (You may dump visible contraband as you demand escort in order to meet this condition.)
2- You have no bounty from that ship's nationality.
3- You have a "visit" or "wait" token ready.

Note : The "Escort" glory card only requires that conditions 1 and 2 are met (but only non-pirates can play it).  It is possible to play it as a non-pirate with bounties, but can only summon a ship that does not match any of your bounties.

When you are found, you can retrieve your token (therefore waste an action) to have the naval ship fight in your place. (The pirate still gets a bounty for attacking you.) If the naval ship is from a different nation than your captain, you must spend a favor from that nation.

Note : If you retrieved your token to cancel your action, you can stll be escorted if you are attacked. If you added a different token (or visited something else), you can no longer demand escort.

Other note : If you were successfully scouted by two or more different players, the naval ship will fight them all one at a time but will NOT repair/recruit between battles. If the naval ship is defeated by the first attacker, the second attacker gets to fight you. The same rule applies if you used an escort card instead of an action.

Final note : An attacker with a "Lookout" specialist is immune to any form of escort (Player or NPC).

Oh and obviously... if you are attacked by a privateer, don't count on their countrymen to come to your aid.


WHEN USING THE BATTLE OVERHAUL VARIANT ONLY :
If a player successfully scouts for another player or an NPC, any other player in the same sea-zone with a visit or wait token ready may retrieve their token to escort the scouter, if he is willing.  The same can be done if the wait token was already retrieved to cancel the action. (also doesn't work if the target has a Lookout specialist)

[Quas4R]

TEAM GATE

* Requires Investment and Raid a port
* Free trade, Simultaneous turns, Escort, Favors 2.0 and Battle Overhaul are recommended.

Added playtime : Variable, but generally a lot.
Added complexity : High
Note : Unlike a regular game, requires all team players to stay in the game until the end.

Works for 2v2, 3v3, 3v3v3, 4v4, 2v2v2 or 2v2v2v2.

Setup :

- "Uprising", "Attack on San Juan", "Earthquake", "Prosperity" and "Poverty" events, the "White Flag" and "New Leadership" rumors, and the "Dutch Privateers" mission are removed from the game.

- The 8 "Letter of Marque" missions are set aside.

- Captain cards are separated by nationality into five decks (one for neutral captains).

- Each team chooses a nationality and each player draws 5 captain cards (can be more but must be equal to all teams). Everyone puts their chosen captain face down on their board and the rest of the cards are shuffled back into their nation deck.

- All nations represented by a team of players should have 4 ports to their name at the beginning of the game. To do this, change the nationality of some ports where no captain starts. The Spanish give 2 ports to the Dutch and the English give one port to the French. The giving team decides which ones. If there is no Spanish and/or English team, the default ports are Cartagena and Trinidad for the Dutch, and Bridgetown for the French.

- Naval forts should be balanced as much as possible (IE not belonging to the same team)
 before ports are given away in this manner, but if a team wants to give their fort away to a rival team who already have one, they can.

-If you use the "It's a hard life" variant from the expansion manual, the two starting naval ships should be from the two nations that do not start with a naval fort.

Gameplay differences :

- Purchase a letter of marque (Requires "Favors 2.0") : As a port activity, a pirate player currently in a port matching his team's nationality can pay 5 corresponding favors to acquire a matching "Letter of marque" mission (if they have no bounties from their own nation of course). The effects are the same, but no glory is awarded for "completing" a letter of marque in a team game, nor does the letter of marque count as a "mission".


- If you die, you draw 5 cards from your nation deck and choose a new captain from your hand.

- Whenever a mission or rumor asks you to draw a captain, you draw from your own nation deck.

- A second investment in the same port (where one of your or your teammate's cube already is) automatically changes the port's nation to your own (if you have one) without needing an influence roll.

- If using the Free Trade variant, crew and ships can be traded between team members (and only between team members).

- If there is a war, it must be between two nations represented by players.

- Teammates cannot attack each other or do any kind of hostile action to each other.

- Glory points are tracked by team instead of by individuals.


Win conditions (in tie-breaker order) :
- 9 ports that are not affected by poverty are allied to your nation.
OR - Your team reaches an average of 10 glory points per player (20 total in a 2v2, 30 in a 3v3, etc).
OR - Your team has the most glory points when the event deck is depleted.


The neutral player :
Want to do a team game but have an odd number of players? One player can play as a neutral captain, using the 5th deck. (also used for redrawing after death and for missions/rumors)



The neutral player wins the game by having 13 glory points at the end of a round when no team meets a victory condition.


10 player variant (requires the slavery expansion): The Ottoman team
If you have 10 players, one team can play as Ali Vezaz and Mehmet Karga. They can win by making 9 ports neutral (regardless of poverty) or by having 20 glory points.

If either Ali or Mehmet dies, the team is broken and each player becomes a separate neutral player, who can win with 13 glory points. The Ottoman glory points are split between the two players. If they had an odd number of glory points, the dead captain receives the smaller half.

[Quas4R]

NEW EVENTS

Added playtime : None
Added complexity : None after the convoluted setup process is done.

How to use the bonus events :

1- The 4 "War and Peace" and one "Clemency" cards are removed.

2- The event deck is separated into 36 "main events" (NPCs and storms, including the 2 NPC traitor pirates) and 11 "secondary events"

3- Shuffle the 14 bonus events (16 with slavery) with the secondary events.

3- Remove from the game cards from the secondary event deck until 18 are left (16 if playing without the NPC traitor pirates).

4- Shuffle main events and the secondary events together to form a 54 cards deck. (50 without the NPC traitor pirates)

[Quas4R]

NEW SHIPS

dded playtime : None
Added complexity : Minor

- The Carrack is a starter ship.  It can be chosen at the beginning of the game, bought for 10 gold and sold for 5 gold.

- The Clipper is a medium ship.  It can be bought for 20 gold and sold for 5 gold (like the Brig).

- The Galleass is a large ship.  It can be bought for 35 gold (30 gold in Curaçao, 25 gold from the Cheap Ships & Repairs rumor) and sold for 10 gold.  It grants a Glory Point when bought.  A captain entering the port of Bridgetown with a Galleass takes a hit to "hull" unless he succeeds in a Seamanship roll.

Note : Despite its ability, the Galleass still fails a raid if its masts are completely destroyed and cannot initiate a raid with any destroyed hit location. (Unless you are carrying 2+ "Slaves" cargo. See Slavery expansion for details)

The Caravel is a special starter ship. It can be chosen at the beginning, bought for 10 gold and sold for 5 gold. In order to keep it on par with the other starter ships, however, 3 things are highly recommended :

1- The weather module, including the storm token.
2- The "maneuver" token from the battle overhaul variant. If not using the variant, at least use the token as an alternative action that does nothing if you win the contest (and can be used on the first round of battle). This is to give a chance to pirates who want to plunder a caravel rather than accidentally sink it with a single cannon shot.
3- Simultaneous turns or, alternatively, a combination of random turn order and off-turn scouting to give a chance to other players to scout for a careless caravel sailing captain.

Note : The Caravel's free move at the end of turn is just that : a free move after all actions of all players have been done (not just your own). It is not an "action" and therefore cannot be used to "pay" for moving against the wind with your last action. Also, the "free move with the wind" from the weather module must be done during the turn, not after your caravel's special free move. Finally, the caravel's free move at end of turn cannot be against the wind or in or out of port

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SURPRISE ATTACK

Added playtime : None
Added complexity : Minor against NPCs, High between players
Note : Almost never happens.

A surprise attack earns you an extra bounty (including pirate bounty if you become a traitor pirate from it) even if it's a failure.


Requirement against an NPC :
1- You are not on your target's scouting list for any reason.
2- You succeed an influence roll.

If the roll fails, the battle happens normally.


Against a player (requires Free Trade) : When two players trade at sea, they must lay down a "Shoot" or "Flee" token face down.  Once they have agreed to trade anything, any player may flip the tokens with these effects :
2 "Flee" : Nothing happens.
1 "Flee", 1 "Shoot" : The "Shoot" player does a surprise attack and may cancel some or all of the trades (before battle).
2 "Shoot" : Battle happens normally.  Any player may cancel some or all trades (before battle).  Both players earn double bounties if applicable.

Note : After the players are done trading, the tokens MUST be flipped and resolved, but if nothing is traded, the tokens are NOT flipped (but a normal attack can still be done by either player).


Effects of a surprise attack :
You inflict a hit on your target with every cannon (long guns cannot be used by either side) and you (and only you) may choose any action on the first round of naval combat.

The "Taking sides" mission now gives all the effects of a surprise attack (including choice of action on the first round and extra bounty).


- No surprise attack can be carried out against the treasure galleon.

- A player captain with a functional "Lookout" specialist is immune to surprise attacks (it becomes a normal attack instead).

- A fog card can be played to cancel the effects of a surprise attack (before hit locations are rolled).  The extra bounty is still earned.

- A captain with a Man-o-War cannot perform a surprise attack.

- Ali Vezaz cannot perform a surprise attack

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BATTLE OVERHAUL

Added playtime : Usually none without Epic Battles.
Added complexity : High



At the beginning of every battle, captains (players and NPCs) put one of their cubes on their own ship card (brown/black cube for naval ship/NPC pirate).  If you board a ship, transfer your cube to their ship card (or NPC event card).  This distinction between "boarder" and "boarded" may become important during battle.


The battle actions are now selected simultaneously with tokens.


When you choose where to take a hit, you cannot choose the last hull (making yourself sink) if there are still other choices.


You may cancel your successful attempt at boarding at any time before crew combat begins. (IE if you took cannon hits to your crew this round of naval combat and don't think it's a good idea anymore, or after using your naval ram if the result isn't what you were hoping for.) Note that swivel guns are used just prior to crew combat and they are not used if boarding is canceled. This also applies to the "Avoid Boarding" card.

You can also choose the "board" action even if you have no crew. Just like shooting with no cannons, it has no effect on its own if you win.



Maneuver : A new naval combat action that can even be chosen on the first round. It grants +2 maneuverability for that round. If you win the contest, place the face up token on your ship. You retain the +2 maneuverability for the next round. If you lose the contest or there is a tie, place the token on your ship face down. Take back your token from your ship at the end of the following round of naval combat.


Double shot :
No longer limited to two skulls.  Every skull becomes two choice hits (to as many different locations as possible, as normal).

Heated shot :

When choosing where to take a hit from fire (before a round of naval combat or when rolling a skull in crew combat), cannons can never be chosen as a hit location.

A ship on fire remains on fire during crew combat, during which a RANDOM hit is taken at the beginning of every round.  If the location is a "skull", crew (and cannons) can never be chosen (even if the final hull is the only other option).  If the boarder's ship sinks, all gold, cargo and special weapons on it are discarded unless a player taking part in the battle has the salvage pulley.  If the boarded ship sinks, the same things are discarded and both captains die. If the location of fire damage is a "4", the hit is taken as normal, then triggers "Gunpowder Hazard" (See below).

At the beginning of the second round of crew combat, the other ship also catches fire and both receive a random hit this round and every subsequent round.

Flintlocks :
Discard before a round of crew combat to increase the maximum number of crew hits you can inflict this round by 1 (IE You have only 1 "Crew" and 3 Leadership. Before rolling your Leadership for crew combat, you discard your flintlocks. This round of combat, if you roll 2+ successes, you inflict 2 crew hits instead of 1). Flintlocks work even if you are retreating from crew combat (see retreat/steal below) and allow you to inflict one single crew hit if you roll a success, regardless of whether you succeed in retreating or not. If you win the contest and kill your opponent's last crew, however, you still retreat and naval combat resumes.

Flintlocks do nothing when doing a location raid.

You cannot use Flintlocks if you have no "crew".


Smoke Shot :
Skulls do no damage, but each skull reduces your opponent's Seamanship or Leadership dice by 1 for the next round of combat (minimum 1 die). IE you and your opponent both have frigates. You are shooting and your opponent has 3 Seamanship, 4 Leadership, and is boarding. When inflicting cannon hits, you roll 2 "Skulls" and discard Smoke Shot. If your opponent succeeded in boarding, he rolls only 2 dice in the first round of crew combat. If he fails to board, he rolls only 1 die in the next round of naval combat.

Explosive Shot :
Each skull you rolled (as location) inflicts a hit to your enemy's "Cannons". Hits to destroyed "Cannons" in a round where you used explosive shots are transfered to "Hull" as normal. "Gunpowder Hazard" is immediately triggered.

Gunpowder Hazard :
Triggered either by fire damage to cannons (a "4", even if cannons are already destroyed and it is transfered to "Hull") or after using Explosive Shot.

Effects : The ship takes one random damage, if a "4" is rolled, the ship takes two random damage plus two more for each "4" that is rolled. Repeat until no "4" is rolled. "Skulls" as location when taking hits from Gunpowder Hazard can never be cannon hits.
(EXAMPLE : After taking one hit from Explosive Shot, a Galleon also takes 1 random damage. A "4" is rolled, so the Galleon takes another hit to cannons and rolls two more dice for damage, a skull and a 4. The Galleon takes one hit to cannons, and cannot choose cannons for the skull, so he chooses cargo, then rerolls two dice again two 4s. The Galleon takes two cannon hits, reducing his cannons to 0 and transferring one hit to hull, and rolls 4 dice this time. 1, 2, 3 and 4. The Galleon takes a hit to cargo, masts, crew and hull, and rolls two dice. Two skulls, so the Galleon chooses to take the hits to cargo. In total, 12 hits were taken, including 1 from the Explosive Shot itself, and 11 from Gunpowder Hazard.)


Naval Ram ship modification :
Once per battle, if you win a Seamanship contest in which you chose to "board", you MAY inflict random damage equal to the current "Hull" value of your ship (after taking cannon hits) and limited by maneuverability. (IE you are boarding with a frigate that has one damage to "hull, you inflict 2 hits. If you are boarding with a carrack and successfully "maneuvered" the previous round, you inflict 3 hits). When rolling for hit locations, skulls  are "Hull" hits instead of being choice hit. Flip your ram down after using it, and flip it back up when the battle ends.

After inflicting ram hits, you may proceed to board as normal, or cancel your boarding.

You cannot ram if you used "Grappling hooks" this round.


Retreat/steal :
Before any round of crew combat (but not the first round), you may attempt to retreat back to your ship if you are the boarder.  This round of crew combat, you do not inflict any crew hits(or one hit max if you discarded flintlocks before rolling), but if you win the leadership contest, you return to your ship and resume naval combat.  Your opponent still inflicts crew hits as normal but your captain doesn't die if successful in retreating.

Stealing is similar, but can only be attempted if :
1- You are boarded (not the boarder).
2- Your opponent's crew can fit on your ship.

The rules are the same, but instead of returning to your ship, you swap ship, gold, cargo and special weapons with your opponent, then resume naval combat.

If you steal an NPC ship, this means your own gold, cargo and special weapons are given to the NPC, and he can use the special weapons for the rest of the battle.  The only way to get your things back is to "plunder" your old ship back at the end of the battle.

If you steal a naval ship, after giving away your old cargo and gold, you immediately "plunder" it (3 cargo cards' worth of gold and randomly lose extra cards for damaged cargo before keeping the rest).
Slavery expansion note : If you plunder slaves mid battle in this manner, you can only attempt to recruit them after the battle is over. If recruiting fails, they may be freed.

If naval combat ends with you or your opponent escaping, having stolen a frigate, galleon, galleass or man-o-war gives you a glory point (once per captain, and only if you did not already get one from buying a large ship, you can then no longer gain a glory point from buying another large ship with the same captain.)

Escaping with a stolen NPC ship ends its captain's career and his card is removed from the game.

Escaping with a stolen naval ship earns you a bounty from that nation.

NPCs do not steal ships

Captain Gran Calico Campo does not transfer ship mods when stealing a ship. (continua)

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EPIC BATTLES (Requires simultaneous turns and Escort) :

Added playtime : 5-10 mins per multiplayer battle (usually none, at most one or two per non-team game)
Added complexity : Legendary
Note : Arguably the most fun variant leading to the most memorable games.


More than 2 ships can now take part in a naval battle.
1- When any Escort situation happens (from the card or variant), the escorted captain takes part in the battle (but may of course choose to flee after the first round).
2- When more than one captain successfully scout for the same target.  Or any situation when simultaneous successful scouting rolls link different battles together.
3- When a rumor or mission would have an NPC fight in your place, you are part of the battle.
4- Any combination of the above.

Note : You can scout for a ship without attacking it. If you are attacked by a different ship with the same action, the ship you scouted is present for the fight. (Yes, this can be used as a loophole as a non-pirate to have a naval ship matching your bounties "escort" you.)


NPC targeting : When an NPC is fighting multiple opponents, he targets the one highest on his hunt priority.  Naval ships in times of war prioritize the enemy naval ship. Bounties for this purpose are counted in gold (5 per flag for sloops, 10 for brig/clipper, 15 for frigate/galleass, 20 for man-o-war).


Each round of combat, every captain involved chooses between shoot/board/flee/maneuver (and a target for shoot/board) or between fight/retreat, then everyone rolls their seamanship or leadership depending on their situation.


MANEUVERABILITY IN MULTIPLAYER BATTLES :
(only applies when there are more than 2 ships involved) To get the +1 dice from maneuverability advantage, your ship's maneuverability must be 2 above the ship you are targetting if (and only if) that ship is not currently engaged in crew combat, AND the maneuverability of all ships targeting you. If nobody is targeting you, and you either have no target or your target is doing crew combat, your ship's maneuverability is compared to zero, meaning you get the extra dice as long as your ship's maneuverability is at least 2.

Example 1 : You shoot with your sloop at a flute, while a frigate is trying to board you. Even though you would have the maneuverability advantage against the flute you do not get the extra dice because you do not have the advantage over the frigate targeting you.

Example 2 : You have a flute and are in a 3 way battle with 2 sloops. You attempt to flee while the two sloops are shooting at each other. Since you have no target and nobody is targeting you, your maneuverability of 2 is compared to zero, you do get your extra dice for fleeing


Shoot (with target) : Your seamanship roll is compared to your target's.  If your target is doing crew combat, you hit with all your cannons if you get at least one skull. Every "pip" hit and hit determined by a special weapon will affect a random ship involved in the crew combat, but choice hits (skulls without a special weapon) affect only the targeted ship. Double shot hits will affect all involved ships, but each of them individually choose where they take the hits (IE four choice hits each for 2 skulls, to as many different hit locations as possible). Hitting a non-hostile naval ship (when you are not on their scouting list) or its crew in this manner earns you a matching bounty.  Hitting a non-hostile NPC pirate makes you a traitor pirate.  Hitting a non-hostile player who did not give you permission to shoot at the crew combat may also earn you a bounty or traitor pirate status if applicable.  If you sink a boarder's ship, crew combat continues.  If you sink the boarded ship, all captains who did not successfully retreat that turn die.

NPCs do not take the risk of hitting a ship/crew towards which they are not hostile, unless it is a player and the player wishes to allow it.

Board (with target) : Your seamanship roll is compared to your target's seamanship roll AND the roll of every ship attempting to board you.  If your target is doing crew combat and nobody is trying to board you, you join their crew combat if you roll at least one skull (put your cube on the ship where crew combat is happening). Cannon hits happen before boarding resolves, therefore if the ship you were about to successfully board is sunk, your boarding is simply canceled.

Swivel guns : If you board an ongoing crew combat and use your swivel guns successfully, it will hit the crew of a random participant, with the same possible consequences as shooting from a distance.  In all other situations, the swivel guns work normally.

Flee/Maneuver (no target) : Your seamanship roll is compared to that of everyone targeting you (separately, not combined.)  You escape if your roll is greater than all of them and none of them has rolled a skull (2 skulls COMBINED if playing as Carine Jans).  If nobody is targeting you, you still need a skull to escape or keep your maneuverability bonus.

Fight : Each success in your leadership roll hits an opponent's crew (random if you have more than one opponent), limited to how many "crew" you have at the beginning of the round.

NOTE : Cannon hits are resolved before crew hits, the number of crew hits you can inflict in crew combat is based on the crew you have left AFTER taking the cannon hits.

Retreat/steal : Succeeds if your leadership roll is greater than all of your opponents' rolls (you still need at least one success).  If there is more than one ship you can steal (more than one ship's crew, separately, can fit on your own), you may choose one of them.

If crew combat ends, one way or another, everyone involved and still alive resumes naval combat.  If you are the only surviving captain of crew combat, or if your own ship was sunk during crew combat you may resume naval combat using any other ship instead. (You abandon your old gold/cargo/special weapons and take that of the new ship if you do that.)

In the unlikely event that not enough ships involved in crew combat are left for the surviving captains, everyone first takes control of their own ship, and a leadership contest determines who has first pick of the remaining ship(s).  A shipless, surviving captain decides on which allied involved ship to leave his cube and may take part in further crew combats for the remainder of a naval battle.  You can prevent this from happening to you by attacking one captain's crew on the ship you want to contest (after the others have left crew combat), earning double bounty if applicable (and the hostility of involved naval ships if attacking a non-pirate, non-Turkish).  A shipless but surviving captain might still get a glory point and an unclaimed ship at the end of the naval battle.  If a player is still shipless at the end, it is the same as having used a "Survivor" glory card.

The naval battle ends when no one left alive (and hasn't escaped) is hostile towards anyone else (scouting lists for NPCs, players decide who they are hostile towards).  Note that if you attacked a neutral non-pirate, non-Turkish captain at the beginning or during this battle, naval ships will still be hostile towards you until the battle is over even if you earned no bounty.


Surrender : It is possible to surrender to several opponents, but each one of them must accept it.  If you do, you wait until the battle is over and if an opposite side wins, you will be plundered.


BATTLE AFTERMATH:

1- Favors (only if using Favors 2.0) :
Players gain a favor from each nation that had a bounty on the captains they defeated plus one favor from the opposing nation in war (max. 1 per nation total).

2-Plunder :
Slavery expansion: Freeing slaves can only be done at the beginning of plunder and it's all or nothing.  If the players and NPC pirates cannot agree on whether to free them or not (NPC pirates refuse only if it means less plunder for them, Naval ships don't care either way), they resume battle.

Only captains without a full crew, not holding slaves, and succeeding in a Leadership roll may recruit slaves.


- NPCs reclaim their original ship and its content, if any.  If you refuse to hand it over, you get the proper bounty (battle might resume).
- Naval ships do not plunder.
- Plundering a non-pirate, non-Turkish captain earns you a bounty from his nation (if not neutral and you haven't already earned a bounty for attacking that captain in the same battle).  Any surviving naval ship immediately resumes battle with the plunderer.
- NPC pirates demand equal share of cargo and gold, rounded down (cargo of course limited to their remaining space).  The player(s) refusing to give away that share become traitor-pirates and the NPC pirates immediately resume battle with those who refuse.
- Players are then free to split plunder however they want, if they can't agree, they are free to attack each other however they want, earning the appropriate bounties/traitor pirate status (both can become traitor pirates if they both refuse to split plunder equally.)
- A surviving but shipless captain may now either claim an empty ship (it is considered plundering and may earn a bounty or traitor pirate status if the ship was non-hostile.) along with any plunder he can negociate with allies, or choose to remain shipless, in which case he can only plunder rumors and glory cards.

3- Glory points :
If there are players on the winning side of the battle, they may earn up to one glory point each, but no more points can be granted than the total number of defeated captains on an OPPOSITE side (surrendered or dead only, escapes don't count).  Players who demanded escort from an NPC do not get a glory point.  If there aren't enough glory points for every player, everyone who made a killing blow takes one, and the rest, if any, are awarded to the others through an influence contest.

4- Collecting bounties.  Only the captain dealing the killing blow may collect a reward (one per killed captain).

Killing blows :
Everyone should keep track of who killed whom.  If a captain is sunk while simultaneously being shot by 2+ captains, the highest seamanship roll among them for that round is considered the killer. (try to remember those or roll hit locations with different dice. The same rule applies if a ship with no crew is boarded by two different captains.)  If a captain is killed in crew combat by two opponents, the highest leadership roll determines the killer.  If a captain is killed in crew combat and sunk in the same round, the sinking takes precedence (because the other killer's dead too). (continua)

[Quas4R]

5- If a player captain is still shipless, he immediately applies the effects of a "Survivor" glory card (out of the game for the rest of the round) but gets to keep his specialists.  If he collected rewards, the starting 10 gold first comes out of the rewards, then his stash, then th