All Time Records – Staggering Stats from Pirates CSG

Pirates CSG Records

This post is dedicated to preserving Pirates CSG game history and bringing all time records into the spotlight.  This post was last edited in December 2023, so records set after that date may take some time to appear here.  Most of the battle reports for the games mentioned can be found in the Huge Game Legacy Thread, and I also tried to link to them for at least the first time each game is mentioned.

 

“Biggest” Records

Largest games of all time

1. VASSAL Campaign Game 4: 11,721 points in play, 465 ships

WAR IS UPON US! New records | Unreal Combos | CG4 turn of July 2023

 

2. Command the Oceans: 9,078 total points in play, 509 ships

Sea of Allost, Command the Oceans 2017

Only one of the three oceans used for the game!

3. Century of Economy 2021: 8,524 total points, 432 ships

4. Century of Economy (CoEC) 2020: 6,981 total points, 386 ships

5. Century of Economy (CoEC) 2019: 5,651 total points, 291 ships

6. VASSAL Campaign Game 1: 3,516 total points in play (at 198 ships; 208 ships soon afterwards)

VASSAL Campaign Game 1, biggest virtual Pirates game

7. Economy Edition: 2,846 points in play (at 163 ships; 181 ships later on)

Economy Edition 2015 Pirates CSG game

Largest fleets of all time

1. Pirate fleet of VASSAL Campaign Game 4: 5,797 points (240 ships)

 Another Pirate megalaunch from their military port

2. Spanish fleet of CoEC 2020: 3,209 points (163 ships)

3. American fleet of CoEC 2021: 2,913 points (150 points)

4. Pirate fleet of CoEC 2020: 2,675 points (158 ships)

5. American fleet at the end of VASSAL Campaign Game 3: 2,414 points (127 ships)

Huge American fleet at the end of CG3

6. Pirate fleet in Command the Oceans: 2,347 points (131 ships)

 

Honorable mentions

From Command the Oceans: Pirates at 105 ships, 1,840 points; French at 101 ships, 1,804 points; Americans at 96 ships, 1,660 points; various others from that game surpassed 1,000 points as well.

Pirate fleet in EE (2015): 104 ships, ~1,800 points

Spanish fleet in CG1: 111 ships, 1,631 points

American fleet in CoEC 2019: 77 ships, 1,591 points

Largest non-campaign games of all time

-Three 500 point games between 5 fleets for a grand total of 2,520 total points in each of the three games. (2011-2012)

Largest single-turn launchings

1211 gold – Pirates in CG4 (41 ships launched)

Honorable mention: 628 gold (English battle fleet from CG1)

Largest oceans: 2015 Century of Empires game at ~160 square feet (Xerecs), 2011 cumulative game at ~72 square feet.  Using a pixel-to-feet converter, the ocean size of CG4 could be about 163 square feet! (I believe 3000 pixels per ocean tile in the VASSAL module; the ocean is 6×4 tiles, so 18000×12000 pixels, which comes out to 15.625 feet x 10.42 feet)

 

Unofficial/Assumed Records

These are more debatable, but many are likely true records.

Longest campaign game by turn count: Command the Oceans? (~112 total rounds)

Longest campaign game by calendar months: CG2 for a finished game (10 months); CG4, The Caribbean Game, and The Hourly Campaign are all technically “ongoing” but have no end (or in some cases, continuation) in sight.

Most ships ever used in a non-campaign game: 165? (second 2500 point game)

Largest deathmatch ever?  Defence of St. Helens scenario game from 2012 (2,520 total points at start)

Most ships ever sunk in a single day’s action: 74 (Command the Oceans, December 9th 2017)

Most ships ever sunk in one turn by a single ship: ~10, Santisima Trinidad of CoEC 2019)

Most cannons ever seen on a ship: 20, Santisima Trinidad of CoEC 2019 (honorable mention: HMS Dreadnought with 16 during CG1)

Most cancellers ever seen in a fleet: 9 from American fleet in CG3

Most players ever seen in a campaign game? (impossible to know for sure): 6 in CG3

Most players ever seen in a virtual/VASSAL campaign game: 6 in CG3

Most 10 masters used in a game by a fleet: 7 for the English in CG2

Most native canoes used in a game by a fleet: 35 (7 Spanish sets of canoes in CG1)

Fastest Battle Report (BR) turnaround: ~1 minute for the PotC anniversary game(I was writing the report at Miniature Trading as we were playing the game, and submitted it right after the game ended)

Links to All Things Pirates CSG

This is the “list of links” – a post that has a TON of information all in one place.

Game Pieces and Master Spreadsheet variations
Pirates CSG Master Spreadsheet (shared Google Sheet)  (.xlsx file download)
Buy/Sell/Trade Master Spreadsheet (File>Download to make your own copy)
Other database resources: Tilorfire27’s online databasePSMListjetmoto-1996‘s Full Catalog (+ PDF link)

Rules
Start Here Rules
Complete Game Rules
Master Keyword List
The Pirate Code (FAQ)
Reference Diagrams

Useful Information
Wikipedia Page (credit to Holofernes and others for creating and updating!)
eBay history spreadsheet (links at the top are affiliate links)
Pirates – Complete Assembly Diagrams (Comprehensive list of build guides, created by E. Kasnick of the Facebook  group)
How to Build the Ships – PDF document (with official diagrams, created by C. Neill of the Facebook group)
PSMList.com (database and more)

Surveys
Pirates CSG Survey (results)
Pirates CSG video survey (results)
Podcast survey (results)
Preferences Survey (results)
These two require more knowledge of the game; take them only once you have a decent amount of experience playing.
Rules Survey (results)
Ability Costs Survey (results)

Places to Buy
The links to eBay and Amazon are affiliate links. These links are NOT endorsements in terms of quality of the vendor or in terms of pricing. Some of these may be out of date. This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
eBay
RainTyger Games (recommended)
Hill’s Wholesale Gaming
TrollandToad
House Atreides
Phase 1 Comics and Games
ChaosOrc
Paladins Game Castle
ddgamezone
BV Traders
All In One Collectibles
Noble Knight
kelz0r.dk
Toywiz
Potomac Distribution
mtgandmore.de
Amazon
Dave and Adam’s Card World
CCGCastle (untrustworthy – there have been multiple confirmed reports of them selling resealed packs)

If you want custom game pieces and other cool Pirates CSG models, check out Vulkan’s Etsy shop. (affiliate link)

Saved from Miniature Trading
Google Drive folder of MT database pictures in folders (.zip version)
Google Drive folder of all MT database pictures (all sizes)
Google Drive folder with full page screen captures of all Pirates database pages
Google Drive folder with saved MT Forum pages/threads/etc.
Folder with Fleets
Folder with Miniature Reviews
Miscellaneous Folder
Folder with original Command the Oceans thread
Folder with a few Battle Reports
Imgur folder of MT Forum pictures
Imgur folder of MT database set pictures
Imgur folder of Rankings threads
Imgur folder of messages shared in Death of MT thread
Imgur folder of Other Fleets

Other Great Places to find Pirates CSG
Not mentioned elsewhere in this post
Facebook group
Buy/Sell/Trade Facebook group
Discord
Board Game Geek
Pojo forums
https://www.pojo.com/pirates/
Cadet-Captain Mike’s fansite
Captain Vendari’s fansite
YouTube channels: A7XfanBen and Xerecs
My Instagram: @piratescsg
Tumblr
Archive.org
Canon Wiki
Sites visible on the Internet Archive: Miniature Trading, Corsairs of Douglas County

Custom Sets
Customs Database (this contains many of the sets listed below)
A7XfanBen: Pirates of the Age of Sail and Pirates of the Epic Seas
Xerecs: Return of Davy Jones  |  Fiends of the Blood Islands  |  Pirates of Spherus Magna
El Cazador: Pirates of the Cursed Seas: The Great Sea  |  Pirates of the Cursed Seas: Rise of the Moon Sorcerer
Pirates of the Cursed Seas – The Vengeance of the Cadet Captain
Riz customs on Facebook
Riz customs on photobucket
Pirates of the Tolling Depths (alanqsmithee)
Pirates: Treachery on the High Seas (vladsimpaler)
Pirates: The Golden Age (vladsimpaler)
Pirates of the Kraken Sea (mr_awesome)
http://custompirate.proboards.com/

Miscellaneous
All Time Records from gameplay over the years
Command the Oceans original MT pages (missing one page since it was too big to capture)
Total Recosting (my attempt to fix point costs)

Trading Pirates CSG – A Great Way to Expand Your Collection!

Trading Pirates CSG – A Great Way to Expand Your Collection!

Trading Pirates CSG

I acquired these pretty ships via trade!

One of my favorite ways to expand my collection is by trading Pirates CSG with other community members.  Often when you open fresh packs, you eventually end up with some duplicates (dupes) of various ships, crew, and other game pieces.  Unless you want to sell them or give them away, trading is a great option that can net you some brand new Pirates CSG plunder in return!  How great is that!

Many Options Available

As of this post in late 2019, there are plenty of options available for trading Pirates CSG.  I just released a Buy/Sell/Trade version of the Master Spreadsheet.  It includes all of the game pieces and is ready for you to use.  Just hit File>Download to make a copy for tracking your personal collection!  Once you have your copy, you can edit it however you wish so the data appears the way you want it.  In my opinion, an even better option can be to have your own shared Google Sheet (just like the one above) that you provide a link to.  That way, people can simply click a link to get your full updated collection ready for trading, rather than having to download a .xlsx file/etc that needs constant re-uploading to be up to date.

What about finding people to actually trade with?  I recommend the Buy/Sell/Trade Facebook Group and The non-eBay Sales & Trades thread.  There you will be able to find many of the current community’s active traders.

There are other options as well!  BoardGameGeek has a trading section for each game.  The Pirates section at Pojo has a sub forum for trading.

My Personal Trading Experience

The main reason I recommend trading so highly is because I have been very successful with it.  Trading Pirates CSG has allowed me to grow my collection on a budget.  It allows you to connect with various other “pirates” in the community of fans.  When I first joined the Pirates CSG community in June 2011, I joined the (at the time) “Big Three” of Miniature Trading, Pojo, and BoardGameGeek.  Most of my trades were through MT, though I did one at Pojo as well.

Just to give you an idea of the scope of potential trading operations, here is my record of trading at MT.  122 total trades, 73 references from fellow traders, and many dozens of ships and crew acquired, nearly all from duplicate stuff I had that other people wanted.  Incredible!

I hope that you can have a great experience with trading Pirates CSG.  Feel free to leave a comment below with your own experiences – if people share some great trading stories, it might get other people to post their haves and wants as well, furthering the community driven game that we love!