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| Luis...good name for a trader | Here we have the Pedro Ruiz, basic starting ship |
Patrician III: Rise of the Hanse, Port Royale II: Cartels, Construction and Conquest and Tortuga: Pirates of the New World (apparently to be in this compilation you must have a colon in your title) are the three games included in this pack. Each of the three relies heavily on classic real time strategy elements, though the later two toss in real time battles at sea, both between ships and sword to sword just to change things up.
Individually the games each offer unique features, though there are moments when you experience a sinking sense of dejavu as you move from game to game. The basic trade elements that you learn in Patrician III will be used through the other two games, though by the time you reach Tortuga much of the trading and investment strategy gives way to smuggling and battle, then again isn't that the point of piracy? Instead of seeing the similarities as a weakness I felt it was more a learning model with each game offering a unique turn on what the previous had taught.
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| The trading docket. Town to warehouse to ship to trade route to sale. Ahhh...industry | Trade routes! Back and forth we go selling all the way |
Patrician III is likely the best game of the pack to start your seafaring tour with. In this game you are a trader in the 1300s along the coast of Northern Europe. The goal of the game is to gain as much power as possible, mostly through trading and real estate. The skills you learn here about when to buy and sell and what merchandise to hold onto will be used in future games, so keep good notes. There is a lot of material to explore here, and the economics used in deciding when to do what and how to balance your populations are solid and provide plenty of good gameplay. As far as graphics and sound this is the weakest of the three games, though mostly just because the look is dated rather than inappropriate to the theme being presented.
Port Royale II shifts locations to the Caribbean and time forward a couple centuries, not that much has changed in those centuries as far as the game goals, but with Patrician III in the 1300s and Columbus in 1492, you do the math for a game where the Americas are considered the New World. Much like Patrician III you're looking to gain the most power possible using the trading skills you've used, but also with an option for privateering, which is just a nice name for piracy as you board other ships and take off with their cargo. This introduces a real time element to the game play as you fight ship to ship and sword to sword with other Captains trying to protect what you intend to rob. Graphically this game is much prettier then Patrician III, showing the progress of graphical technology between the two. It's a nicely balanced game and by far the one I spent the most time playing.
Tortuga continues to explore the seas of the Caribbean, journeying from colony to colony and meeting other ships on the high seas. Visually it's most similar to Port Royale II, though there is far less emphasis on land and trade, instead focusing on the action adventure angle of piracy. Here you have a delicate balance to strike as you can't anger everyone or no one will pay you for anything and everyone will fight you. So you have to decide where to make your friends. The drawback to this is that it can feel like you're just going from milkrun errand to errand which isn't nearly as exciting as it sounded on the governor's brochure. Graphically this game is very similar to Port Royale II, though it is a bit lacking in diversity, all the colonies started looking very familiar, which I found a drawback.
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| Another colony and company! | Each town has needs. Fulfill them and make a profit |
All in all this is a good set of games for burning away spare hours with high seas hijinks. Now if only it came with a Captain Jack action figure!
Top Game Moment:
TOP GAME MOMENT
I loved my first sword fight. The real time mixed with the RTS is a nice touch.
