Port Royale

List Price: $12.99 Discount Price: $34.00

Features:

• The adventure takes place between the 16th & 17th centuries, in the real-world location of Port Royale. Your goal is to become the governor of this port town -- how you achieve that is up to you.
• Undertake missions of behalf of various seafaring nations -- work for Spain, Holland, England, and France as you capture or sink treasure-laden convoys throughout the Gulf Of Mexico
• Accept contracts to hunt down rival ships, and earn rank that you can use politically
• The higher your ranks, the more ships you can command -- see if you can reach the highest rank, then command 100 ships in the greatest naval battles ever seen!

Accessories:
PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

FULL of adventure and it has Churchs! [Posted on 2005-02-03]
The cool thing although something I did not focus on using much in the game was the Church's, which aid in different ways.

You know if you like to think and love strategy games at a nice price, then this is a groovy game....

It is challenging but enjoyable, you can be the Pirates, Buccaneers or just a Merchant making bucks!

GO for building things as soon as you can and build your fleet with the same ships till you are ready to afford the bigger ones. DON't forget to max the Convoy with people and put enough cannons & cannon balls on board to take on the Pirates (depending on your political leanings).Dont max the convoy out with ships as you can capture and sell ones that you win.

I enjoyed this. Plus you really get a feel of that period in time.

GS

Great Game, but lots of bugs [Posted on 2005-02-15]
The creativity of this game is amazing. The trading, the sea battles, from the easy to hard, depending on your choice, makes for a very fun game. It can be hard to understand, however it does come with an online manual and map if you really get stuck. But, once you have it figured out, your on your way to many hours of fun. That is....until it crashes. Thats not so bad, simply because you can save often, and it does have an auto save option, (which im not so sure isnt what causes the crashes), however it crashes in German, meaning, if you speak and read only English, you have no idea what just happened, all you know is you were about to attack a pirate and bammo, you hear a sound, then nada. If you manage to get back out to your desktop, you will find two error messages waiting for you. One in German, the other spouting something about null containers. When I first purchased the game, I went to the Ascaron forums only to find my problem was not an isolated problem. Many Many MANY (get the picture?) others experienced the same thing. After a month or so, something funny happened. ALL of the complaints about this issue, had dissapeared when they suddenly decided to clean?? their forums. They made one patch, claiming to fix the known bugs, but it failed to even touch this particular bug. Then, nothing, everything was all about Port Royale 2, totally sweeping the problems with one under the rug. Their support never contacted me back after requesting help twice. So..would I reccomend? Yes. But, expect the inevitable crashes, and dont expect technical support.

Another RSTS favorite of mine [Posted on 2006-12-18]
This is another favorite RSTS(Real Slow Time Strategy) game of mine. What I mean is setting the game time on the slowest possible setting and micro-managing. This is how I like to play a lot of games and the makers of Port Royale understand there are a lot of players like me. The only reason I don't give this 5 stars is because there is a Port Royale 2 that is better.

Its a game about Commerce [Posted on 2007-01-08]
To be honest, I had a hard time getting into this game. It seems to deal only with the Commercial Aspects of the Carribean during the 1700's. It might have more to it, but I got bored.

difficult and complex, but great [Posted on 2007-01-22]
As the title indicates, this game is complex and can be difficult. It is also, if those traits are interesting to you, incredibly addicting. This could be a bad thing :-)

I love Sid Meier's games: the Civilization series, Alpha Centauri, etc. Civ 2 and AC are my favorites due to the detail and control available. I mention these due to the traits of those games being similar to this one. The context, however, is starkly different. A little more background: I just bought this game a few days ago after a hankering for Avalon Hill's Blackbeard, which is a great board game. I went online to do some "research" on Pirate games, and read a few reviews of Port Royale, its sequel, and Pirates! by the aforemention Meier. What I read led me to Port Royale, and I found a copy and bought it. I've played games for years, and enjoy them, everything from RTS to FPS, and running the gamut from graphically boring to exquisite (Neverwinter Nights, for example).

To the game: The aspects that appeal most to me in any game are: a sense of adventure, open-ended potential, and a vibrant game world with a decent AI. I'd say that Port Royale has all of these in abundance. There are many paths to success... one can choose to be a lawless pirate and attack ships and sack towns, one can choose to create a booming trade business via shipping, one can build businesses in a number of towns to facilitate that, one can choose to build reputation with a nation and rise to the level of a governor, or one can choose to do all or a combination of any of these things. Replay value, in my opinion, is very high.

The sense of adventure is created partly by the large environment, and discovering new towns. It is helped if you ignore the map that comes with the game, which actually depicts every town's location, which can come in handy when you decide to take on missions at the behest of the various Governors. The rapidly shifting economy is also a repeated source of randomness and adventure, as commodities shift in value drastically through supply and demand.

The open-ended nature of the game is driven by the aforementioned various paths one can take, and the fact that you can choose to ignore missions until such a time as it becomes convenient. Missions are time-sensitive and difficult in many cases. Ships take damage in sea battles, and need be repaired and armed against future attacks, even if you are taking the path of the merchant, so it may be prudent to wait before taking on a mission.

The complexity comes mostly in learning the trade system and managing businesses. I thought I'd be bored with the trade aspect and choose to be a pirate or a buccaneer, but I actually find the trading system to be a blast. My first few runs saw my ships destroyed, and my businesses going into the red.

Life on the seas is managed by the control of one or more convoys, which are always represented graphically by one ship. You can grow your convoy in two ways (that I've discovered): one: by capturing ships on the seas, or two: by purchasing ships and adding them to your convoy. You can operate multiple convoys if you so choose, simply by buying or removing a captured ship from your existing convoy, and then hiring a captain. Controlling multiple convoys adds another level of complexity, but can be a lot of fun, and is a great way to build one's fortune.

The game offers automated trade controls as well... one involves setting buy and sell orders at businesses (storage facilites) in towns that can take advantage of the dynamic economy, and another involves setting up trade routes, which I have yet to do.

I recommend that anyone who finds the traits I mentioned compelling tries this game. If hack and slash and immediate gratification is more your speed (and I like that, too), stay away. You will be frustrated and annoyed.

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