Graphically superior version of the Patrician series
I love the Patrician series because it is the very first economical and trading simulators that I've ever tried. I used to roam the high seas in my snaika boat, buy beer from Volgograd and sell it until the money I was offered no longer satisfied me. I never really managed to become a patrician as some disaster always sweeper my fleet away, but the game opened my eyes to how commerce, en gross commerce works, and how the buyer, seller relationship works. But Patrician 3 is more than just an economical simulator. It includes a building portion, granted, quite small and almost superfluous, it contains many minigames and many different flavor options such as marriage, having children and so on. But the core of the game remains the overseas trade, which can be quite satisfying if you don't mind a very simple yet very satisfying set of overall options. You can play the standard map, where the goods are placed to reflect historical accuracy, or you can set the map to scatter the goods placement randomly. At any rate, once you set into a groove the game takes over and is very hard to give up, since you always want a larger fleet, larger purchases and more in-depth economical growth. Alternatively, give the Port Royale series a go, it's the same economical engine, but the game is played in the Caribbean area, where rum and sun dominate the atmosphere.
