The Story

In this game, you start playing as a promising merchant in medieval Venice. In the beginning, all you have is the courage, and no ducats at all. Therefore, your first step is to take a loan. The game lasts until the date on which you have to repay the loan. 

If you can repay the loan, you will live. If not, you might experience some trouble convincing the lender to keep you alive! You will compete with nine other traders. The trader with the most ducats on the last day wins the game

Trading

Trading starts on your local Venetian market. You buy mineral dyes and store them in your warehouse in Venice. Nine other port cities trade nine different goods for mineral dyes at ratios defined by the local market of each port city. Your goal is to spot the best deal! Be careful, prices on the local market change every 50 days! 

In the warehouse, you can stock up to 999 pieces of all trade goods. Buy low, sell high!

The Convoy

To exchange mineral dyes for a trade good with a port, you need to create a convoy. The convoy consists of a merchant ship and three escort ships. You have to buy the ships and hire captains before agreeing on a trade. Once the trade agreement is signed, you select the crews and start sailing. When the convoy arrives at the target port, the goods trade at the ratio sealed in the trade agreement. 

The local market changes don’t affect already closed deals. At the moment when the convoy returns, the goods get unloaded at the warehouse, and the player receives one experience point.  You can sell the goods on the local market straight away or wait for a better price. With each experience point gained, you unlock new ships and captains.

During the journey, the convoy can battle more than once. If the merchant ship is sunk or hijacked, the privateers won’t attack the convoy anymore. If escort ships sink, the merchant ship will continue to sail alone.

Privateers

Hire privateers to hijack convoys of other traders. Three warships and pirate captains are required to launch a raid. Once launched, the privateers will attack the first convoy on their way.  The privateers return home after a battle, regardless of whether they won or lost. If won, once they are back, the goods are unloaded at the warehouse.

If they don’t meet any convoy on their way to the selected sea, they will return home and skip attacking, even if they encounter a convoy on their way back.

Battle as Convoy

To win, the player controlling the convoy must ensure the merchant ship makes it from the leftmost column to the rightmost column.

The merchant ship can crash, sink, or lost to hijackers. If the merchant ship doesn’t arrive in the most right column within 50 game rounds, the battle ends as a draw, and the convoy won’t make any progress. The convoy can also achieve victory by sinking all three enemy ships. The hijacked privateer warships will replace lost escort warships in battles during the journey. If they arrive in Venice, they sell for a thousand ducats a piece.

Battle as Privateer

To win the battle, the player controlling the privateers must seek and destroy the merchant ship. 

You can either sink it, crash it, or hijack it. The biggest prey is when you manage to hijack the merchant ship.

To sink it, you have to hit it twice. The merchant ship might eventually undergo repairs once. In that case, you have to hit it three times. When you have a captain with a precision shot or barrage fire, you can sink it with a single shot.

The hijacked escort warships sell for a thousand ducats a piece on return.

The Seas

You will encounter five different types of seas: clear, islands, stormy, foggy, and cloudy. 

The type impacts the visibility of enemy ships and the probability of a storm. In stormy and foggy seas, ships remain invisible even after they provide their position due to firing.

If a storm is present, the wind direction will prevent ships from sailing in that direction. If the ship is directly in the storm, it won’t be able to move, except it is a merchant ship with a navigator captain.

Also, if the wind is right, breaking through is possible - the ship can move three fields to the top or to the bottom.