done. btw a Mod can only moderate the Forum and not the Site, but a Updater can do that. ^^

Ah, good to know. Thanks Paco. :)

I realize this was an old post, but here's what I have (including those above):

- Corvette: 16 guns 150 tons (up to 100 crew members).
- Fluyt: 8 guns 300 tons (up to 100 crew members).
- Frigate: 32 guns 350 tons.
- Merchant: 16 guns 500 tons (up to 200 crew members).
- Fourth Rate: 64 guns 600 tons.
- East Indiaman: 40 guns 700 tons.

[EDIT] Updated list.

I've only had the Fluyt and Merchant so far, but I really like the Merchant. I sell all the cannons anyway (leaving more cargo space), as overpowering a boarding party is much easier than winning a cannon fight (even with only 50 sailors and 50 soldiers). And since enemies won't fire on your ship if you have no cannon, it's possible to outmaneuver them most of the time.

Carrying ample supplies, small arms, and repair materials still leaves over 450 tons of cargo space on the Merchant. And since it's often impossible to buy 450 tons of profitable goods in many small ports, I can't imagine wanting a 700 ton hold. O.o

Two short and profitable routes of note:

- Arms from Liverpool to Bordeaux makes about 45% profit, and the return trip with liquor runs around 60%-80% (it varies over time). If you can't get a full load of liquor (there's usually around 400 tons at port), you can finish off with spices or tea for about 25% profit.

- Arms from Boston to Charleston is also around 45% profit, but the return trip with tobacco runs about 180% (there's usually 450 tons or so at port). I made a fortune rather quickly on this one.

A question...
Someone mentioned that copying a folder from the CD allowed more voice sounds to be played. Does anyone know the name of this folder? I think the download already has those extra voices, but the only one that plays is the tavern cheer when you buy a round of drinks.

I really like this little game... :cheers:

I tried taking the original jpegs out the pdf of the manual for you, and saving them inside a word doc... But it came to 32megs. :doh: Sorry.

Yikes! Many thanks for your effort anyway. :thumbs:

I've played it a good bit, so the manual is probably moot at this point, except for things I may not know... and don't know that I don't know... or something like that... O.o

I'd really like to find out the folder name this poster was referring to regarding the voices though. :mhh:

[EDIT] While searching for more info, I just ran across an HST update (to version 1.01) here. :)

Ah well...

Apparently those other voice files are NOT in the current download (nor in others I found online, as they all seem to be diskette installs), so that idea is shot unless someone can provide the files from a CD version. :(

However, the effort wasn't a total loss. The v1.01 update mentioned in the previous post does prevent crashes when beginning a new game (or loading a saved one) at startup.

Perhaps an Updater would consider adding those to the game page, or at least the one for "floppy" installs. Those frequent crashes were a wee bit annoying. :cheers:

[EDIT] I also ran across some alledged "v1.02" updates (both CD and floppy), but a binary file compare found them identical to the v1.01 updates on the Sierra page.

corvette has 150 cargo, 16 cannon. Not very good, but nice if you choose to go as buccanneer for a while

Thanks for posting that info. I've recently learned it can also have up to 100 crew members. :)

I finished the game once (as English), started it again as Spanish and gave up at around 300k in gold because Spain is at war with the other countries waaaay too often. I did save it and may try again later though.

Am playing it again (as English) with a bit different strategy. Bought a Merchant ship as soon as possible (65 sailors, 35 soldiers), then went to North America and did nothing but run the east coast there (only transporting local passengers) until I made around a million in gold.

I messed up somewhere though, because occasionally I get a message something like this:

"The reputation of Mac precedes you. This passenger refuses to talk with you."

Perhaps I inadvertently transported a smuggler? Or did I refuse too many passengers early in the game? No idea. I'm still getting points and promotions (am currently a Merchant), but it's a wee bit annoying to not know what the mistake was. :dunno:

Anyway... after making the million in North America, I went back to Liverpool, bought the large estate and built a Corvette. Got rid of all my soldiers (attacked a couple of pirates to do so), and am currently running 30 sailors, no small arms (well, there's 5 small arms I can't sell for some reason), and no cannon.

The only times I've been caught is when first leaving a port (got surrounded with my sails down), and after having sails damaged in a storm. Fortunately, I save the game often (sometimes on both arriving and leaving a port) so it's not been a real problem.

My sailors get extra meat and water but only adequate rum and fruit (the savings in fruit spoilage alone is a good bit), and both their health and morale stay at the "excellent" level. Also, with such a small crew and supplies I can haul 130 tons of cargo (sometimes more) on the 150 ton Corvette. :D

I've been picking up almost everyone that wants to go anywhere, and making trades at their destination ports when possible. I currently have around 785k gold, own the large estate, and have found the 6 treasures required (it's actually a bit of a letdown to find them too early though).

This little game is probably going down as one of my all-time favorites. Now if it was only multi-player... :cheers:

Now these are great findings! Finally the game can be played!

Have you / has anyone managed to figure out which line determines the speed of the boarding battle screen? At the moment it's the only one that goes ridiculously fast, meaning I can't board, notice the enemies have a lot of crew, disengage, fire some grape and board again. It's really the only thing that's needed to get slowed down to make the game playable to the full.

Not yet, but I try to avoid battles anyway... :D

There's one other area that's also a wee bit fast. The chart (where you plot a course for the helmsman) zips around a bit on my system and often takes a few attempts to get the map centered on a desired location.

You can play around with that file though. One method is to add a digit (1-9) in front of every line for approx 1/4 of the list, then see if it slows down the desired area. If it does, then remove half of the extra digits and try it again, then continue to remove half (or even one or two) until you narrow it down to the right one.

It does get a bit time consuming. But if I find anything else, I'll certainly try to post it here. :)