Pirate101

What would a pirate game be without ships? Each player can become a captain of their own ship and command a crew. According to KingsIsle, players will be able to upgrade ships, earn new ships, display their own personal flags, customize cannons, anchors, sails and fight enemies whilst aboard the ship.

Which brings up the new combat system. Combat will be map and turn based. Battles will begin with a planning stage where the player chooses what his minions and pirates will do. Before executing the move, the player can review combat information and character location.

Also, some units can use special abilities. Some of these powers have beneficial effects on friendly targets, and other Powers have negative effects on hostile targets. If your selected unit has powers, they will show up at the bottom of the screen. You can review them by moving your mouse over them, at which point an informational pop-up will appear. A beneficial power shows a green selector over allies the Power can reach (if it’s ranged) and a red target selector for enemies the power can affect. 




The power may also be able to affect an area, rather than a single unit – in that case you see green or red colored squares that move around as you move your cursor. Click on a target to use it. Something else to consider: Some Powers are auto-casting. They don’t rely on you to tell them where to be used. 

Ways to Win: 

To change up the game a little bit, there will different objectives in combat.

Defeat All Enemies
Use Objects
Protect an Ally
Survive for X Rounds
Defeat the King
Complete in X Rounds

If you win combat, your enemies may drop treasure for loot. Run around the area and press “X” to open each of the treasure chests. If you want to see more treasure, consider grouping with another player. Bigger combats will have more enemies to fight and you’ll earn treasure faster. Just as in wizard.

Now, what happens if you lose? When defeated in combat, the player will be returned to the last respawn point visited. No auto saves in pirate101– but just like in wizard101, your player will remain in the battle until ALL live players are dead.

Now for the bad news. Movement in Pirate101 is closer to Peter Pan than Pirates of the Caribbean. The ships move across the sky, not through the water, which isn’t bad at all, the problem is that the ships are not free movement, each one in locked to a “Skyway.” So the player is restricted to a predefined path. According to KI, there will be enemies, ships and creatures, that troll the Skyways. 


Quote: “One way to avoid enemies and travel quickly through the Skyway is to hop into a Windlane with your ship! Each Windlane winds a different path through the Skyway, and automatically steers your Ship in the direction that it's traveling. Ships traveling in Windlanes can't be attacked by enemy ships and dangerous wildlife!”


And last but not least, Ki has included Whirlpools (called Storm Gates) for players to hop from world to world. Like the World Doors in wizard101.