I bought Port Royale 2 way back in the last Christmas sale on Steam, if I remember correctly. I never really got around playing it, though the reason for that escapes me. It’s a fun Caribbean trade/pirate game, not too simple, but also not to complex. You trade goods, fight sea battles, build up or conquer towns and fight in wars as a buccaneer.
Today, I played through the tutorial scenarios, and even managed to lose the last one, so that leaves four more scenarios to finish. The game isn’t really about finishing scenarios, though. The “Free Play” mode is where Port Royale shines. You start out in a town of your choice, with a small ship, a building permit and 30.000 in cash and you get to build your trade empire or pirate fleet, whatever you prefer.
You can also buy out and improve towns to get ahead. I threw a feast in my home town here.
After completing the tutorials, this is exactly what I did. I started the free play mode and played for a couple of hours. I got one of my captains to four experience and sent him to do trading on his own, bought another ship and hired another captain, built a bunch of farms and houses in the starting town and traded up to a couple of hundred thousand. My plans are to get more captains on auto-trading, increase my passive profits and eventually build a fleet big enough to start some fighting.
I’ll probably play some more tonight.
