Patriarch IV= capitalism training?

[cucucachu0000]

I just bought this game this morning that was on sale for 5 bucks just to check it out called Patriarch IV. I've only played it for 15 min but it seems pretty cool your a merchant buying and selling goods based on supply and demand, and it talks about how trade between cities that produce what they do the best for another cities specialty increases living standards in both places. This might be a cool little way of letting our kids learn about the market place in a more fun way than reading about hayek...... it might still be on sale I downloaded it from steam.

Has any body else played this before? I've only just started playing it and I wonder if the game keeps this libertarian streak going its got going so far or goes the way of most media where corporations end up making everyone slaves or something.

[ShaneEnochs]

I've never played it, but it sounds interesting. What is it for? Computer?

[AlexG]

Capitalism II is the most complex capitalist game I've played. And I played it when I was 11 and it's still hard to master today. I've been thinking about getting Patriarch IV on Steam since its on sale.

[ShaneEnochs]

Capitalism II is the most complex capitalist game I've played. And I played it when I was 11 and it's still hard to master today. I've been thinking about getting Patriarch IV on Steam since its on sale.

Would you recommend buying Capitalism II?

[cucucachu0000]

Yea I got it on my PC.
I've never heard of any games like these before ill have to try that one this one is pretty fun so far and not too complicated it has sliders and hints and stuff they drop on you seems easy enough for a kid to play.

[Kludge]

Capitalism II is the most complex capitalist game I've played. And I played it when I was 11 and it's still hard to master today. I've been thinking about getting Patriarch IV on Steam since its on sale.
+1

Otherwise, if you want an even more complex game where you're trying to work out how to get around the gov't and abuse financial services, and don't much care about how pretty the game is, Wall Street Raider (http://www.roninsoft.com/wsraider.htm)'s the way to go. Developed (almost?) entirely by one guy, and he's a super fellow.

Port Royale 4 is also due out in a few months, if you're just looking for an interesting economics-based game.

[Kludge]

Would you recommend buying Capitalism II?
I enjoyed it. I don't think I ever played any type of campaign mode (if one exists). The complexity comes mostly from having to micro-manage, and when there are no set goals, this can become very tedious. To produce a product, you need to first mine the resources, then do your sub-combines in a different factory (for instance, if you need to convert oil to plastic), then combine all that at a different factory -- and they need to be strategically placed, because you do have to pay freight fees for distance traveled. Once you've made your final product, you can market it, and sell it to competitors' stores, or sell it in your own stores. Other major factors on your product's ideal price point is the R&D you do on the sub-combines and the final product, employee make-up and training, as well as resource quality. There are other ways to produce your products and/or turn a profit, too. You can buy advertising agencies, buy resources from competitors or docks, and even just pop out some dep't stores and sell competitors' goods.

Edit: fwiw, the game's right around a decade old. It looks pretty good for its time, but, you know...

Edit2: the tedium doesn't really coming from being able to make so many choices. It's just when your resources at a mining location dry up and you need to find another. You can lose massive amounts of money if you have a large production line set up to transform certain resources, then suddenly find out you can no longer produce what you want. If you can't find another good spot to harvest the resource you want, you have to change all sorts of everything at all your stores stocking the good, your R&D becomes useless, and you lose out on all that marketing. Even worse, you need to refit your factories to produce something with the resources you can find, then set up new prices for every factory that deals with it, determine whether or not to allow external sales, and on.

[ShaneEnochs]

I enjoyed it. I don't think I ever played any type of campaign mode (if one exists). The complexity comes mostly from having to micro-manage, and when there are no set goals, this can become very tedious. To produce a product, you need to first mine the resources, then do your sub-combines in a different factory (for instance, if you need to convert oil to plastic), then combine all that at a different factory -- and they need to be strategically placed, because you do have to pay freight fees for distance traveled. Once you've made your final product, you can market it, and sell it to competitors' stores, or sell it in your own stores. Other major factors on your product's ideal price point is the R&D you do on the sub-combines and the final product, employee make-up and training, as well as resource quality.

It sounds fun, but I doubt I'd be able to enjoy a game of that complexity having a baby =\

I played a couple capitalism tycoon flash games that were fairly enjoyable.

[AlexG]

Would you recommend buying Capitalism II?

Depends on how much complexity you enjoy. Capitalism II is basically like actually running a business. It's hard but rewarding once you start getting profit.

Any of you gamers heard of Anno 2070? I saw a few videos of it and dismissed it afirst because of its "Polluter Capitalist" vs "Hippy Green Tech" factions, but it looks like it could be fun.