Port Royale review

[Anrhydeddu]

(I posted this in the game review forum here but it would be more read here.)

I spent some quality time with Port Royale this weekend and have these comments.

The game was developed by Ascaron, the same folks who developed Patrician I and II (and coming out with III this month). I have not played Patrician II but is a real-time trading simulation featuring elements of construction and the historical background of maritime trade in the North European area between London and Novgorod at the time of the Hanseatic League. This is important because Port Royale is a Caribbean/Spanish Main version of Patrician, using the same game engine. What this means is that the emphasis on obtaining wealth in Port Royale is on trading, not necessarily what you would expect for an Age of Piracy game.

This does not mean that trading is all there is in the game. It does have nearly all of the elements you would expect playing a game of this era, duplicating many of the features you and I loved about Pirates!/P!G. All of the reviews talked about a steep learning curve. I disagree with that term because the learning curve is not that hard. What is hard (and perhaps implied by ‘steep learning curve’) is that you must work hard at establishing an automatic trade route at the beginning of the game (and keep your trading towns prosperous) or else you might as well not play the game. Here’s why (from a post in the forum). “It costs a lot of money to be a pirate. Captured ships sell for ridiculously low prices, and loot is not plentiful enough to survive on. It also takes a lot of sailors to run a pirate fleet. And you get your sailors from "legitimate" towns. If these towns don't prosper, you won't be able to find enough sailors. And, in order for the towns to prosper, you have to take a hand in their development. You might not have to build a trading station, but you will have to supply them with the goods they need to prosper. So, in order to survive in the game, you are going to have to set up as a trader to some extent. And the only way to succeed in that is to micromanage. Soon, you will find yourself much more concerned with where you get bricks than where you get cannons.”

In my game, I started out as the English in a later year (1630). By that time, there are the three English islands of St. Kitts, St. Martin and St. Thome that are very close to each other and thus with a base in St. Kitts, they make a logical trade route. I am not kidding when I say this but it took over 2 hours to set up that first trade route and get it working properly. The best way to do it is buy and sell many goods (to keep supply and demand at a reasonable level). In each of the towns on the route, you have to specify exactly what you are buying at what maximum price or selling at what minimum price. There is enough help from the forum to plug in the “magic” buy/sell price for each commodity but they are time and region dependant. In fact, I had to fast forward a couple of months a few times just to see if these commodities and prices would constantly bring in increasing revenues. That is why it took so long, and I had not even bothered with doing anything in the towns to help that along (too much micromanagement, imo).

However, once I had the steady stream of income, I could then concentrate on playing a pirate game. What this mean is that I could then buy a bigger ship like a Brig (I had a couple Pinnaces doing the trading), load it up with sailors, cannons and cutlasses and do several things. The simplest thing would be to hunt pirate ships that could threaten the trade route and as long as I don’t bite off more than I can chew, they provide some rewards (at least it’s fun to semi-watch the sea battles). I could ask the Governor for a Letter of Marque to go after the bigger ships of the Spanish Dons or the French, but that would be much tougher with a single Brig. But as implied in the quote above, captured ships and loot just don’t bring in enough to live on (which is so unlike Pirates!/P!G). The Governor, as well as other townfolks, do have missions that you can accomplish and they range in wide variety from delivery specific commodities by a certain date, capturing a known pirate, attacking an enemy town and leading a convoy to safety – all with a nice reward from the governor upon completion. All of this leads to increasing experience which gives you promotions which then allows you to buy bigger ships and take on more challenging missions (and making the game harder). These are all fun to do – as long as you have a steady stream of income coming in.

Finally, what can be done differently to have had made Port Royale more popular? Simply put, it is not a "dumber" trading system....but a much more robust Pirate system. In other words, have the option to live my entire life as a pirate or privateer, without dealing with trading. That way, the game can be played both ways. Each would be a challenge, and each very enjoyable (to paraphrase the rest of the post from above).

[WSUCougar]

Thanks for the review, Steve. Am I correct in assessing your overall impression of the game as a thumbs up with a few important caveats?

[Anrhydeddu]

Yes, Chris, your perception is very accurate (given that I am not that far into the game).

[Anrhydeddu]

Check out the start of my new Port Royale dynasty

Port Royale: The Golden Age of an English Privateer

[Calis]

Hmm, damn now I have the decision to make on whether to get this or wait and see how Sea Dogs...err PotC pans out.