For those who played Sea Dogs, you will find this very familiar. There have been some nice improvements since then though. The landscape has been fleshed out, you can now travel across land with your officers. Islands now have more than one place you can land, handy in case you need to sneak into a town for some reason. There are now options for quickly traveling to the important places in town.

As long as you have enough officers, you can have up to 4 ships in your fleet. Travel across the map is now in real time with other nearby ships visible, so you can actively seek out battles or flee from pirates. Your crew is now visible and active on the deck of the ship adding another level of realism on top of the improved water effects. It is also possible to get into battles in the middle of extreme weather, such as fog and water spouts. The cannons added to the front of the ships will change strategies a bit too. There have certainly been enough improvements to make any pirate happy.