Tradewinds (game)

Tradewinds is a game published by Sandlot Games, in which the player is a merchant, buying and trading goods and sailing to various cities to trade goods as well as combating encountered pirates. It is very similar to the game Taipan! that was available for the Apple and TRS-80 in the 1980's. The Taipan! game drew inspiration from the novel Tai-Pan authored by James Clavell.

Gameplay

General Gameplay

At the start of the game, the player is given a choice between four playable characters. Each character has his or her own unique advantages and disadvantages. For instance, one particular character starts off with a warehouse and a small fleet of junks, while another character starts off with the largest ship available in the game, fully equipped with cannons, but without any cash.

Once the player has made his choice, he cannot switch characters for the remainder of the game unless he starts a new one. From this point, he has only one objective: to attain the rank of Tai Pan. To do this, the player will need to attain a million points through trading goods and completing quests assigned to him by town governors.

Along the way, the player will encounter pirates who will attempt to capsize his fleet. The player can choose to fight them off, flee, or dispose of all cargo (which makes fleeing easier). If the player wins the battle, he receives a certain amount of cash recovered from the enemy. If he loses, the game ends, but can be resumed at the last port where the player called at.

The player also has the option of repairing or buying ships at shipyards scattered throughout the Tradewinds world, as well as to purchase or sell cannons or ammunition. As the game progresses, the player will be given the opportunity to purchase larger, stronger ships that can hold more cannons and cargo.

If the player starts off as a merchant-based character, he May Be subject to paying certain sums of money to the Pirate King Gossamer.

Saving

The player may only save a game when he arrives at a port. He is not allowed to save during a battle.

There are banks and depositors in the game at various ports so that players can deposit extra money before a journey to a new port so risk of loot reduces because there may be many fights with pirates on the way to be fought and won or else the game ends and a new game is to be started.

Bank deposits provide a lot of interest so the money keeps on increasing all the way. the more you save the more you increase your wealth.

Sequels

As of 2007, Tradewinds has spawned two sequels, Tradewinds 2 and Tradewinds Legends. While Tradewinds 2 is a direct sequel to Tradewinds, Tradewinds Legends takes place in an entirely new world. As well as that, Tradewinds Legends has another sequel titled Tradewinds Legends: Unlikely Heroes.

The setting of Tradewinds is in the seas around China. The settings of Tradewinds 2 is in the Caribbean. Tradewinds Legends takes place in the Middle East.

External links

• Sandlotgames.com - Owners of the Tradewinds franchise