Piracy (game), explained in 64 seconds. Programmed by Clive Barrett. Notes:
- Scans of the instructions are here, for both the C64 game and boardgame versions: https://archive.org/details/piracyInstructionsC64GameAndBoardgame
- C64 game instructions say you win by blowing out all the enemy port holes. I tested this, and it does not generate an immediate win against a 2nd player, only killing all pirates will end a 2-player game.
- C64 instructions say that you need to press RUN/STOP + RESTORE to start a game, but only the RESTORE key is necessary (and this is the only way to exit Demo mode).
- You can launch a pirate atop one of your own pirates, killing that pirate. Sometimes the AI will resort to this as a stalling tactic when it doesn't want to do a ropes move.
- I programmed a python AI (minimax with alpha/beta pruning) to defeat the C64 Piracy AI on its highest level. I'll likely show how it works in some upcoming video.