We've been busy working on Pirate Code over the last year. After we released Rise of the Kraken we decided to hit the most important issues and feature requests for Pirate Code and bring another free update to the game. At long last it's ready for you to enjoy! Here's a look at what's new.

The Most Requested Feature: Choosing Ship Upgrades

We've added four new items to the games in the form of playing cards. Each card allows you to do something different with the ship upgrades that you couldn't do before. You can find these cards in battle or in various shops throughout the game.

• Joker's Folly - Undo a ship upgrade and get your key back!
  
• Queen's Choice - Choose the upgrade you get from a small treasure chest!
  
• King's Decree - Choose the upgrade you get from a large treasure chest!
  
• Ace of Keys - Instantly gain a level and get an upgrade key!
  

We hope these new items encourage you to experiment with ship upgrades without the fear of ruining a good ship. These cards will be easier to get later in the game and should allow you to craft that perfect killing machine for the final battles. And for those of you still stuck in the first chapter, well, a lucky card drop might be just what you need.

AI Improvements, Again

If you've followed this game for long, you know that we make regular improvements to the AI. For this update we fixed an important memory leak in the AI that was causing long load times after battles later in the game. In addition, we further improved the AI removing any possible redundant calculations. For example, the most extreme case is with a Cargo Fin in using a level 3 Torpedo Boost. Previously this would require the AI to check 5124 tiles. Now it only checks 2562 tile. This is still slow but it's much faster. In most cases the AI will only wait about a second before attacking.

Botany Improvements and Pagodas

When using the Botany Balloon to gather plants, there are now icons displayed on the tiles to show you what you can get. This makes the whole experience much more enjoyable! We've also added some oriental themed building and props to the land. And we improved the look of the ship on the world map!

The Full List

• Added four card items that allow the player to better control ship upgrades.
  
• Improved the AI so that it is faster, especially for torpedo attacks.
  
• Added a portrait for Commander Franklin and several other characters, including a generic pirate and crew member.
  
• We now detect if you're using a touch screen and hide the mouse cursor automatically.
  
• The graphics for the Fire Shield have been upgraded.
  
• Improved the botany experience by adding icons to tiles so that you can see what items you'll get before moving to a tile. No more blindly chopping at the jungle!
  
• The world map camera now zooms out while you're moving, making it easier to avoid enemy ships.
  
• The ships on the world map have been upgrade with new graphics!
  
• The circles surrounding ships on the world map now fade out until they are close to your ship.
  
• Pagodas and other oriental themed props and buildings have been added to the Zen Empire islands.
  
• When a ship is targeting the anchor command and you click another ship, it will now auto-anchor the ship. Even we forget to anchor a ship sometimes! Well no more!
  
• There's now an option to single-click usable actions (instead of one click to arm and a second to use). This is off by default.
  
• There is now a visible way to skip dialogs making it more obvious that they can be skipped.
  
• Added the Argonian Theme music to a handful of Argonian islands. This music was written long ago and appears in the sound track, but hasn't been in the game until now.
  
• We painted a new marketing image for Pirate Code! It doesn't actually appear in the game, but still worth mentioning.
  
• Fixed a bug where turning off the sound effects would not end looping sound effects.
  
• Fixed a bug where the balloon would not count as a ship for auto ending the turn or tabbing between ships in battle.
  
• Fixed a bug exiting a botany challenge and going to the title screen would leave the starting botany makers on the screen.
  
• Fixed a bug where if Rise of the Kraken is purchased and you play the tutorial, Swanson would go to the wrong tab in the Mission Log.
  
• Fixed a bug where a surprise kraken attack could cause a ship to become unresponsive.
  
• Fixed a bug where ships would appear to reach level 11. Unfortunately there is no level 11.
  
• Fixed a bug where there was no way to hire Chinor Maan as a crew member.
  

Enjoy the update!