Civilization 6 (Switch) Beginners Guide 14 Pirates DLC

Arr har me hearties, Pirates have been added to Civilization 6 in the latest update to the game. Let’s walk the plank and see what new gameplay it brings to our favourite game!

The Pirates scenario places you, the player, at the helm of one of four factions of ruthless pirates on the hunt for treasure. You cannot build cities, instead you are controlling a fleet of naval units. But your not alone on the high seas. You’re in conflict with up to three other factions in addition to the naval might of Spanish, English, French and the Dutch, and you’re all on the hunt for treasure.

The four pirate fractions are The Dread Pirates, The Swashbucklers, The Hoarders and The Privateers. On the Nintendo Switch version of the game you will find the Pirates scenario in the Multiplayer section of the menu. You can play the game with friends or in single player mode against the AI. You will start the game with a single Brigantine which is your flagship.

At first glance you may be wondering where the DLC for the Pirates has landed in your game, as it’s not obvious at first. To find and play the Pirates scenario in Civilization VI you can follow these steps to set up the scenario to your liking.

Click on multiplayer and then local. You are brought to this screen above, press the plus button to go to the settings screen.

Once there using the right shoulder button flick across to Game Options.

On the game options screen if you highlight the Ruleset and flick it until you find Pirates. You can click on the appropriate No Duplicate sections depending on how you want your game set up.

Then use the Left shoulder button and go to Map options, here you can change the size of the map, have a turn timer or change the turn mode.

A bit more on those:
Turn Timer
Dynamic Turn Timer:  Your turn must be completed in a set time.
No Turn Timer: No timer in the game. (My favourite, as I dislike timers!)

Turn Mode
Dynamic Turns: Player at peace take their turns at the same time. Players at war take their turns sequentially.
Map: Chose between Caribbean Map and a random Pirate Islands map.

Once you have completed those steps and set your game up as you want you press the plus button to start the game.

Set Sail as a Pirate!

The way to win the game is by surviving until the 60 turns are over. At which point you must have the highest total score to win the game. There are four types of score points for pirates and they are:

Fighting: Engaging in battle with other ships. Sinking or capturing another ship.

Treasure: Pillaging treasure ship. Plundering treasure chests.

Burying treasure chest: Plundering a building, district, improvement and plundering a Trade-route. You can plunder a building, district or improvement by sending a crew party ashore. 

Infamy: Finding and revealing hexes as the fraction Swashbucklers. Defeating an infamous pirate on the map. Clearing a Buccaneer Fort.

The Pirates

Let’s have a look in more detail at the pirate fractions, and what their active and passive ability are.

The Dread Pirates:

Active Ability: Walk the Plank, this means you can Instantly defeat a badly damaged enemy ship to grant +5 Combat Strength and +3 movement to all units for a total of 5 turns.

Passive Ability: Fightin’ is What We Do Best. This ability grants additional  gold whenever a unit engages in combat.

The Hoarder  Pirates:

Active Ability: Chain Shot. You can use the chain chat action to temporarily immobilize an enemy ship. Once used it takes 5 turns to recharge

Passive Ability: Mine! Mine! Mine!  The unit maintenance cost is reduced by 3.   And you receive +10 Treasure Points for burying treasure on land. The Hoarder receives a 3% interest on their gold reserves per turn.

The Swashbuckler Pirates:

Active Ability: Tack Into the Wind. This ability give you a large temporary movement boost. It takes 6 turns to recharge once used.

Passive Ability: Sailing the Open Seas. This ability grants Infamy for revealing more hexes of the map.

The Privateer Pirates:

Active Ability: Bring Her Home This ability let’s you take control of a badly damaged enemy ship in exchange for Gold and Infamy. It takes 5 turns to recharge.

Passive Ability: Letters of Marque. All ports owned by your patron civilization are permanently revealed to you.  You gain an  extra 100 Gold from pillaging a Trade route.

Find Relics in Treasure

Relics:

Relics are powerful items that can be picked up by pirate ships and used to enhance their abilities. Up to three can be equipped at a time, in a similar way to how the government policy cards are equipped in the main game. In all there are 14 Relics.

Black Spot Branding Iron: +10 Combat strength when fighting Buccaneer or infamous pirates.

With the iron, you can mark your enemies on the high seas with a curse that will follow them across the seas. It can never be washed off, so long as the curse lasts.

Blackbeard’s Short Fuse:  This Relic allow naval units to deal -2 Movement to enemy ships for the next turn.

Bonny Brace of Pistols: Using this Relic gives you +1 additional attack for all units. All units can move after attacking.

Captain William Kidd’s Journal: Using this Relic will give you a 50% chance of finding an additional treasure map when visiting a tavern.

Crates of Rum: This Relic adds +10 Gold per turn.

Cursed Lucky Pieces of Eight:  This Relic adds +3 Gold per unit maintenance and raises the chances of Mutiny. 3% interest in Gold reserves every turn.

Dowsing Rod: This Relic allows every ship to sense the closest treasure chest within 20 hexes.

English Pointer Figurehead:  This Relic allows every ship to sense the closets unseen ship within 20 hexes.

Jack Rackham’s Jolly Rogers:  You gain 50 additional Go,d when pillaging a Trade Ship if this Relic is equipped and it also makes the flags in your ships look more tattered.

Krakannons:   You gain + 1 range for Sloops and Brigantines. +5 combat strength for naval units.

L’Olonnais’ Cutlery: You gain gold based on combat strength of defeated units.

North Sea Wind Fishing Floats: You gain +2 Movement for Naval ships.

Screaming Skull Fireshot: +3 combat Strength for Naval ships.

Four Nations

Unplayable Civilizations in Pirates 

England, Netherlands, Spain and France are all present on the map while you are playing. They all have control of various cities throughout the map. You can dock at these cities and visit the Tavern to recruit more crew for your ship.

Theses four nations often dispatch trade ships from their ports. Trade ships can be hunted down and pillaged and they increase your score.

Infamous Pirates

Infamous pirates also make an appearance on the map. You will find infamous pirates in the areas on the map that are circled in red and black. Infamous pirates are a lot stronger than any normal ship on the seas. Defeating infamous pirates will earn you infamy points.

Treasure Fleet

Every few turns the map will show a long line of yellow highlighted hexes. If you sail along the yellow lines eventually you will come across a Treasure Fleet. But be prepared for a battle as Treasure Fleets are flanked by Guard Ships that are powerful military ships as they are guarding the stacks of gold in the Treasure Fleet.