Welcome to "Pirates and Traders. You will find help buttons throughout the game. If you wonder about anything on a page, click on the help button.
The view that you just left is the map view, which shows the region of the Caribbean sea. The map is divided into sea areas. Each area may contain one or more game items.
At the top of the view you will find information about yourself; the name of your pirate, how much gold you have in your holds, and the current date in the game. At the bottom of the view, you will find the action panel and the info bar. The info bar usually contains information about the last area you have touched.
You can scroll the map by touching it and flicking it with your finger.
Your Ship is denoted by the white ship
icon on the map.
You can select a province by touching it on the screen.
If the area you have currently selected is one you can move to, the area will be marked
with a red X.
A Rumor that has come to your notice is denoted on
the map by a white question mark. Touching the area will bring up the name of the
area and a brief description of the rumor in the info bar.
A Port is marked on the map with the flag of the
Empire that currently controls it. Next to the flag, you will find two numbers;
these denote the wealth of the port (rated from 1 to 5) and the size of the garrison
in the port (in hundreds of troops).
The map view allows you to carry out the following four actions.
To move to a new area, simply touch an area adjacent to the one in which your ship is currently located. If you can move to the location, a bright red X will appear in the area. Then press the Move button. Your ship will then move to the new area.
Moving from one area to another takes between 6 to 12 days of travel time, depending on your ships sail rating. A ship with a sail rating of 1 will take 12 days. For each point of sail above that, there is a 25% chance that travel time will be reduced; each 4 points of sail, a ship speeds up travel time by 1 day; e.g., a ship with a sail rating of 5 will take 11 days, a ship with a sail rating of 3 will have a 50% chance of travelling in 11 days, while a ship with a sail rating of 25 (the maximum) will take 6 days.
Note that you may have random encounters with other ships occurring when you sail around the map. Be careful when sailing through waters controlled by enemy nations or infested by (other) pirates.
If you're looking for prey (or trouble), press the Search button. This will have your ship search for prey in your current location. Locating ships requires Cunning and luck. Once located, good Sailing skills and a fast ship are required in order to bring your prey to battle.
Searching an area takes between 3 to 7 days of time. A pirate with high Cunning will be able to search more effectively and will on average spend less time than one with low Cunning.
If you need to rest and refit, or just to sell of the goods you have accumulated, press the Port button (the button with the anchor on the top bar) to enter a port.
Note that you may encounter other ships when you try to enter a port. In particular you should watch out for patrol ships that will demand to inspect your ship for contraband goods.
Pressing the Status button (the pirate flag)will allow you to check the status of your ship and other information about your pirate. This is also the view where you assign new skill points to your pirate.
If you are not playing in "True Pirate" mode, you must manually save your game from time to time (the game will not do this for you). To save the game, press your phone's MENU button and select the appropriate option.
Are you wondering what to do? Pirates and Traders is a fairly open-ended game, so the choice is really up to you. You can sail from port to port, trading goods and earning money. Or you can embark on the (risky) life as a pirate.
If you would like to be a trader, you should enter port soon (use the anchor button). Check the market for goods that are cheap and buy as many as you can afford. Then find a port with expensive goods (check the help section in the Merchant view for tips on where goods can be bought and sold at the best price) and sail there. Watch out for pirates and others who might have hostile intentions.
If you want to be a pirate, first check whom your country is at war with. Sail to a region of one of these nations (usually Spain), and start searching for ships until you find a trader to attack and plunder. Return to the nearest friendly port, sell the goods you've taken, repair any damage you've got, recruit some more crew, and set sail again.
Earn promotions,