Patrician III: Rise Of The Hanse PC Game
Download PC Game mediafire Link Free
Ever wonder what it would be like to play as a Hanseatic League trade tycoon? Probably not, since the predominantly German Hanseatic trading league that ruled the Baltic in the 14th to 16th centuries doesn't get much play in English-language schoolbooks. However, the setting's unfamiliarity isn't that important when it comes down to the business at hand: making money the old-fashioned way. This medieval business sim puts you at the helm of a budding trading company that can sail the Baltic with goods like beer, cloth, and spices and can set up workshops to increase the volume of profitable products. Eventually, the game world grows and responds to your economic actions, your reputation grows, and there's the chance to become the hometown mayor or even take on league missions to build new towns. For anyone keeping track, Patrician III isn't much of a sequel. The additions consist of some graphical effects and interface features, in addition to some new, beneficial late-game missions, but the core gameplay still makes for a deeply intricate and challenging business game.
Learn the motto 'Buy low, sell high.' and you'll get the guilders rolling in.
If Patrician III isn't as different from 2001's Patrician II as we might expect from a full-price sequel, it's interesting to note that it was released as Patrician II Gold in Germany, which, in turn, bundled in an expansion pack never localized in English. Of course, that won't matter for most gamers in the US, who never saw Ascaron's games in stores back when they were self-published. But for the record, let's look at what exactly is new in this version. The best new content comes in the major missions you need to accomplish before you can step up as the League's leader, which includes the chance to build two new towns from the ground up, the chance to set up land routes between specific towns, or the chance to attack pirate bases. As for the core gameplay, expeditions to the distant Mediterranean are easier and more profitable, the automated trading works better, and the city-building side of the game now includes more civic buildings. Less noticeably, the 2D town and sea combat graphics have gotten a face-lift with the addition of seasonal weather effects and new animations.
The essence of running a trading company is, no doubt, the same as it's ever been: Buy low, sell high. Even though there are a number of ways to make money in Patrician III--from building and renting houses to sponsoring freelance pirates for a cut of the loot--the game is fundamentally all about trading, and this is generally your most profitable pursuit. Between starting out with a single small ship and getting enough resources to organize your own convoys, it's essential to micromanage your ships and transport goods between the game's two dozen towns. Although the game's interface can take some getting used to and Encore's 15-page printed manual is entirely inadequate, Patrician III's basic gameplay is simple enough. (Just be sure to check the disc for Ascaron's PDF manual with details on more advanced topics.) While you might not already be an expert on the geography of the Baltic Sea, the number of towns is manageable, and many have familiar names like London, Oslo, and Hamburg. It's also not hard to figure out where goods are produced cheaply, since clicking on a town brings up a list of its local products, and the best prices can often be found by using common sense. For instance, there's plenty of wine in the Rhine region, whale oil can be found in Scandinavian ports, and there are premium animal skins in the Russian trade centers.
Prices fluctuate dramatically, but it's always easy to see if the goods stored in your warehouses or on a ship can be sold for a profit because the break-even price is always conveniently displayed in the trading windows. When you move on to manufacturing to increase the volume of goods available to trade, it's important to buy raw materials cheaply and to produce in high enough volume to make the end product as inexpensive as possible, which helps to fatten your profit margins. Unfortunately, it's impossible to get an estimate on the costs involved in manufacturing until the goods are already in your warehouses, so sometimes, despite your best efforts, you'll spend time setting up industries that are completely unprofitable. Another option is to hire a manager for your trade offices and have him automatically buy or sell goods when they hit certain price levels. While this means you're dependent on cities or competing traders to produce the goods, it can practically guarantee you turn a fat profit on the transactions.
Starting with a single ship, you can build a trading empire that's connected by large convoys on automatic trade routes.
New paths open up as you grow your trading company: You can join the local guild, establish trading offices in other towns to maintain local warehouses, and build additional and larger ships. Your larger goal isn't just wealth, but it's also power and social status. There are several levels of social status that are dependent on your wealth and your reputation among the common and wealthy residents of your hometown. Additionally, there's a hidden score that is improved by providing needed goods, sponsoring public celebrations, upgrading local civic buildings, and by simply being impressively wealthy. When you reach the rank of counselor or patrician, you can be nominated for the yearly mayoral election. Once mayor, you're eligible to be elected alderman to lead the Hanseatic League itself, but with official power comes the responsibility of building and maintaining the town's defenses out of your own pocket. Fortunately, by this point it becomes much easier to make large sums of money quickly as you group your trading ships together in convoys that can be instructed to automatically run a set trade route.
Download PC Game mediafire Link Free
