Success in "Tropico 2: Pirate Cove" depends on careful management of the pirate population. As dead men earn no plunder, the King must keep his pirates well equipped for potentially lethal missions. Sea dogs require muskets, cutlasses, cannons, and the skills to use them when they venture forth to plunder the Spanish Main. Pirates equipped with a parrot on their shoulders and a scary black hat are more likely to strike fear into their victims' hearts.

Three Big Changes to "Tropico" Model "Tropico 2" features several major innovations to the original "Tropico" game. The traditional economic model is reversed: the player maintains their wealth not by production of materials, but by plundering merchants on the high seas and bringing the victims back to the island as captive workers. In addition, the pirate characters show a great deal of individual personality, so that the player becomes truly vested in the characters' well-being. The island is also zoned so that richer pirates may sequester themselves in their own booty-filled mansions, which automatically upgrade as their standards of living improve.

"Tropico 2: Pirate Cove" stars Blackbeard and other pirates based loosely on historical figures, organized in a campaign that takes the pirates through 100 years of pirate action. Along with dozens of their fictional counterparts, these legendary fellows are readying their old sea legs for the game's release this fall.