Western fleets are sailing the treasure-rich waters of the South China Seas and a new faction, the Jade Rebellion, has arisen to thwart the advances of imperialist navies. The Jade Rebellion employs two new types of ships ? massive six-masted junks and the sturdy and resilient Korean ?Turtle? ship. This new faction also introduces some new characters into player fleets; the inscrutable Ms. Cheng, the head of the pirate confederation and widow of the famous pirate warlord Cheng Yi. The Jade Rebellion also features her closest ally, the pirate Chang Pao; together, they?ve defeated every expedition sent out to destroy the Jade Rebellion.

Beginning today, SOE Denver is giving away a special promotional ship in anticipation of the release of the South China Seas expansion. For every ten (10) Pirates CSG Online digital game packs purchased by a player, they will receive the Baochuan, a massive 10-masted Chinese treasure ship ? the largest of all the junks. Its size allows players to fit a larger complement of crew members aboard and capitalize on even more crew abilities, such as extra actions and additional moves. The Baochuan holds more cargo than any other ship; with 10 masts, it features four more cannons than the next largest ship, making it a formidable opponent in battle.

South China Seas will also introduce new game-changing events that can twist the outcome of your battles -- duel with your opponents, discover that your looted treasure is fake and summon rolling fog banks. As with all expansions for the Pirates CSG Online, Pirates of the South China Seas can be played as a standalone game, or combined with ships from other expansions. Single game packs contain everything a player needs to plunder the high seas for treasure.