Solved Comparison of Spanish Main and Golden Age

[Tingyun]

I am starting a new campaign (going to try to do without some exploitive strategies), and I am tying to decide between the Golden Age of Piracy and the Spanish Main eras.

Could I ask for an experienced player's perceptions of these factors?

I reviewed the periods poll, but it didn't seem like many people discussed the Spanish Main there, and instead the discussion seemed to focus on other eras.

1) Is Spain significantly stronger in the Spanish Main era? IE, will a much higher proportion of the trading ships and such be Spanish?

2) Does the Spanish Main have as much fun variety in swords and personal firearms as the Golden Age?

3) What would you say is the main differnce in terms of the kinds of ships available? I expect frigates to be somewhat rarer and galleons more common, but are there any other general differences that ar easily summarized (ie, types of ships wholly missing, or a clear dominance of one type of ship in one era or the other). Any impressions on which set of ships you find more fun and interesting?

4) Any other differences in how politics works or the geopolitical situation (aside from the Golden Age starting with the war of spanish successsion alliances)?

5) Any other differences in frequency of encounters or how alive and active the world is? Or in special stuff available?

Thank you so much for any advice!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

If I recall, Spain still owns a lot of the Caribbean in that period, though not as overwhelmingly so as in Early Explorers.

Ship encounters are similarly balanced to all other periods though.

For ship availability, you can have a look here:
Tutorial - Tool to Create Ships Init Overview | PiratesAhoy!

 

[Tingyun]

Thanks Pieter!

In that case, if ship encounters won't show a Spanish dominance, I think I'll go with the golden age again. Wouldn't feel quite as much a flavorful raiding the Spanish Main experience without most of the merchant prizes being Spanish.

Really appreciate the advice!

 

[Grey Roger]

1) Is Spain significantly stronger in the Spanish Main era? IE, will a much higher proportion of the trading ships and such be Spanish?

2) Does the Spanish Main have as much fun variety in swords and personal firearms as the Golden Age?

3) What would you say is the main differnce in terms of the kinds of ships available? I expect frigates to be somewhat rarer and galleons more common, but are there any other general differences that ar easily summarized (ie, types of ships wholly missing, or a clear dominance of one type of ship in one era or the other). Any impressions on which set of ships you find more fun and interesting?

4) Any other differences in how politics works or the geopolitical situation (aside from the Golden Age starting with the war of spanish successsion alliances)?

5) Any other differences in frequency of encounters or how alive and active the world is? Or in special stuff available?

Thank you so much for any advice!

1: I don't think so. A couple of colonies change hands between various periods, but most towns stay the same in all periods. The exception is "Early Explorers" in which Spain owns almost everything.
2: Have a look through "PROGRAM\Items\initItems.c". There's a reasonable variety in both. The short musket and wheellock pistol don't appear in "Golden Age". A couple of newer weapons such as the horse pistol and musketoon appear in "Golden Age" but not in "Spanish Main".
3: Correct, frigates are almost unheard of in "Spanish Main" - I believe the only one you'll see is the Portuguese fragata latina. "Golden Age" has the Kreyser and Raa class frigates, while some of the ship types from "Spanish Main" are still around, my favourite being the Fast War Galleon.
4: In "Spanish Main", by default everyone hates Spain as it's supposed to be the big superpower, though everyone else is muscling in which is why the colonies are now under the ownership they'll have in almost all periods. About the only difference in colony ownership is that one of the towns on Eleuthera is Spanish Puerto la Cruz in "Spanish Main" and English "Governors Harbor" in "Golden Age". And in "Golden Age", the wars of Spanish succession have finished, France won, so France and Spain are allied; England, Holland and Portugal are allied; and the two power blocs are at war with each other.
5: Probably not much, since the ownership of colonies is about the same, so ship traffic ought to be about the same, even if it is tied to colonies, which I'm not sure it is. Special stuff will be tied to side quests and generally available regardless of period. But you will notice one big difference if you play the "Strange Things Going On in the Archipelago" side quest. Remember that comment about frigates being almost unheard of in "Spanish Main"? So if you play the side quest in the earlier period, the Animists will have something else at the end...

 

[Tingyun]

Thanks for the detailed response Grey Roger! I really appreciate you taking the time to write all that out for me, and it has given me a great deal of useful info!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Encounters don't depend on colonies.
There is stock game code in place to do that, but it doesn't work.
@Levis once had it almost working, but that brought other issues with it.