Tropico 2: Pirate Cove

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Tropico 2: Pirate's Cove

Developer(s)	PopTop Software
Publisher(s)	Gathering of Developers, Feral (Windows)
Designer(s)	Phil Steinmeyer
Release date(s)	2003
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen (T)
Platform(s)	Windows, Mac OS X
Media	2 CD-ROMs
System requirements	P200 MHz CPU, 64 MB RAM, 850 MB HD
Input	Keyboard and mouse

Tropico 2: Pirate Cove is the 2003 sequel to the hit computer game Tropico. Tropico 2 was developed by Frog City Software and published by Gathering of Developers for Windows and Mac OS X PCs.

Though much of it is based off the original Tropico, the game play is very different. You run a pirate island, and as the Pirate King, you must keep the pirates happy, and yet steal as much booty as possible. Workers, called captives, are taken on raids or from shipwrecks off your island. They are the lifeblood of your economy, and all construction and production is done by their hands. They can take on whatever job is available, including farmer, cigar manufacturer, shipwright, or can even be promoted to a pirate.

To keep captives happy you need to instill order on the island. The problem is that pirates like anarchy, the exact opposite of order. You also need to keep the captives afraid, so they live in fear of you, and will not run away or escape the island. Pirate ships may be built at docks, and are used to plunder other islands or board enemy ships to steal gold with which you can build a greater pirate base. There are also several challenging scenarios in which you try to survive in harsh environments, from angry pirates to escaping captives.

On the whole, the game is more streamlined than the original Tropico. There are much less building areas you need to worry about and the importance of the political factions is marginalized to the point of rendering them meaningless. The "reverse economy" of the pirates also requires less production. Theoretically, at least, you don't need to build anything except a shipyard and a dock to make money. You can steal almost every other necessary commodity. Finally, the game offers less choices for development. In Tropico, your economy could be focused on industry, tourism, military despotism, commodities, or a combination of all four. In Pirate Cove, you are limited to just one developmental path, and end up building more or less the same buildings in more or less the same order, every time. That said, Pirate Cove does not have the emphasis on spreadsheets and statistics that its predecessor did, which may appeal to more casual players.