This is one of our earliest maps and a tough one to master. The towns are divided into three groups. Three gold towns are situated in a cove in the lower left-hand corner, three more in a cove in the lower right-hand corner. The remaining two towns, one with two wood and one with two rum, are situated in the middle of the map. The two pirate lairs start out equal distance from the wood and rum towns and each near a pod of gold towns.

Strategy 1 - Quick Snatch

One of the most obvious strategies is to try to grab both the wood and the rum towns. If you manage to pull this off you'll be sitting pretty with a constant influx of these valuable ship-upgrade resources. You'll also have a strong base of operations right in the middle of the map. The downside is that you won't have a gold town, but there are so many on the map that they're not hard to pick up, and there's also gold to be "borrowed" from the natives.

The downside to this strategy is that it's so obvious and so powerful it's almost guaranteed your opponent will be doing the exact same thing. More often than not you end up splitting the wood and rum towns between you, an unpleasant stalemate that can be difficult to break.

Strategy 2 - Big Money

If you want to pull a fast one on your opponent, and you have brass balls, try this out. You'll note that controlling six towns is required to win, and there just happen to be six gold-producing towns. Let your opponent have the wood and the rum town and sneak a victory without the ship upgrades. Be sure to pretend like you care about the other two towns though, and be careful! Once your opponent is on to your scheme this is a hard strategy to pull off.

Strategy 3 - Four Plus Two

When both teams go for the center towns they usually end up splitting them up and each controlling just one. The center towns aren't required, however, as all of the resources on the map are available via native villages. So, rather than trying to pull off a Quick Snatch and then having to adjust your strategy, try to plan from the beginning to hold just one of the center towns.

To pull this off you'll want to also try to secure the group of three gold towns near your base, in addition to one of the center towns. Make sure that your teammate is gathering random resources, and then sit back and see what your opponent is doing. If he or she is focusing on trying to take your center town then work on picking up two additional gold towns for the win. If he or she is focusing on trying to take gold towns put pressure on the other center town. Keep your opponent guessing what it is you want and do everything possible to both hold your four towns and to stop your opponent from reinforcing towns and establishing a strong base. This is a solid, though not glamorous strategy, so be patient and collect those random resources.