High Seas Trader is a naval strategy

Strategy game

A strategy game or strategic game is a game in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome...

 video game. The player runs trade route

Trade route

A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a single trade route contains long distance arteries which may further be connected to several smaller networks of commercial...

s, fends off pirates, collects artifact and offers transport to fellow countrymen in need, all for the sake of climbing up the games ranking ladder, which in turn allows the player to buy bigger ships, more firepower and larger cargo holds to progress quickier in the ranks.

Starting out

The game is set in 1650. The player starts out with the most basic ship, Fluyt, and 3000 (3k) gold.

Nations

The player chooses a nation at the beginning of the game. Consequences lie in relations between nations, which nations declare war/peace will determine which ports the player can access at given times, and which ships will open fire on them at sea. The options are:

• Dutch
• English
• French
• Portuguese
• Spanish

Ships

• Fluyt (Crew of 100. Cargohold of 300t. 4 banks of 1 cannon. Price: 4k)
• Corvette (Crew of 100. Cargohold of 150t. 4 banks of 2 cannons. Price: 8k)
• Merchant (Cargohold of 500t. Price: 14k)
• Frigate (Cargohold of 350t. 4 banks of 4 cannons. Price: 16k)
• East Indiaman (Crew of 250. Cargohold of 700t. Price: 21k)
• Fourth rate (Crew of 300. Cargohold of 600t. Price: 27k. 4 banks of 8 cannons)

Titles

• Peddler (Fluyt and Corvette)
• Journeyman (Merchant and Frigate)
• Tradesman (East Indianman and Fourth rate, Small estate - 2 treasures max)
• Merchant (Medium estate - 4 treasures max)
• Master Merchant (Large estate - 6 treasures max)
• Viscount (end of the game)

Guild ladder

Climbing up the ladder ranks grants the player titles, access to bigger ships, and bigger estates. The player can gather points in the categories, then cash them in for a title. Once they're granted a title, the points in the categories reset, allowing them to do it all over.

• Daring
• Honor
• Loyalty
• Nobility

Ammo

• Round (Long range ammunition)
• Chain (Short range ammunition, tears up sails leaving attacking ships dead in the water)
• Grape (Short range ammunition, leaves big holes in attacking ships)

Cannons

• Swivel-gun (0.3t)
• Saker (1.0t)
• Demi-culverlin (1.2t)
• Culverlin (2.0t)
• Demi-cannon (2.5t)
• Cannon (3.0t)

Banks

Players can place money in banks for safe keeping. This is useful if they ever lose a battle at sea, as they can start over with their savings. However, banks charge interest from the player's money, so the money might not be there when they need it.

Reception

The game was reviewed in 1995 in Dragon

Dragon (magazine)

Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...

#221 by John Brunkhart in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Brunkhart gave the game 2 out of 5 stars.

See also

• Sid Meier's Pirates!
  Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004)
  Sid Meier's Pirates! is a 2004 strategy/action/adventure computer game developed by Firaxis Games and published by Atari. The game is a remake of Sid Meier's earlier 1987 game, also named Sid Meier's Pirates!. Overall, the gameplay remains similar to the original game, though it features a 3D game...
  
  (2004)
• Sid Meier's Pirates! Gold (1993)
• Sid Meier's Pirates!
  Sid Meier's Pirates!
  Sid Meier's Pirates! is a video game created by Sid Meier and published and developed by MicroProse in 1987. It was the first game to include the name "Sid Meier" in its title as an effort by MicroProse to attract fans of Meier's earlier games, most of which were flight simulators...
  
  (1987)

External links

• High Seas Trader at IGN
  IGN
  IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
  
  
• High Seas Trader at GameFAQs
  GameFAQs
  GameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff "CJayC" Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by CBS Interactive. The site has a database of video game information, cheat codes, reviews, game saves,...
  
  
• High Seas Trader at GameSpot
  GameSpot
  GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
  
  
• High Seas Trader at GameSpy
  GameSpy
  GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...