Commander: Conquest of the Americas

I liked this game quite a bit. It does the whole trade thing pretty well. It's definitely one of the better economy games released recently. It not only allows you to build ships and set up trade routes but also allows you to build colonize and maybe be a pirate if you want. I'll go into some pros and cons: Pros: -You aren't stuck playing the economy game. You can play a military game by being a pirate or fighting with other countries. -The game does the trading really well. The amount of resources aren't overwhelming (although the amount also isn't very impressive either). It's easy to just jump into the game. -There is a good amount of ships and you can customize each one you build by spending a little extra money. Cons: -The colony management is a little too simplistic. It does add to the game but it is only picking a building you want to build from a list. -There are only limited colony spots that you can build colonies on. I would've liked to just see where the resources were and build a colony accordingly. -You have to buy the resources from your colonies to sell them in the Home Country (Europe) and, as far as I can tell, you can't trade with other colonies. Instead you trade resources via diplomacy but those resources can only be traded via diplomacy and you cannot sell them in Europe. Because of this it is very possible to go negative and you can't do anything about it. All in all it's a fun game and I would recommend it. Especially now (11/27) with a sale going on. Certainly worth the $4 for the base and $6 for the complete.

Commander: Conquest of the Americas is a flawed but still interesting game about the age of sail and colonisation. You start your game as one of the European nations trying to colonise the new world, from the northernmost tip of Canada down to...The northern part of Brazil. Sorry South America, you're not allowed in here, this game is about the north only. You are thrust into the role of the colonial governor and have to colonise the new world. To do so, you'll be sending out a fleet to find a place to settle, and then you will be bringing in new colonists and exporting the products from there to the old world. In time, you will end up with multiple colonies and you will have to set up trade routes and pirate hunting patrols. You will mainly be doing this as you sit back and watch your new world empire grow, trying to make a profit and making sure your advisors are happy so they don't try to get the king to replace you. The campaign stuff is limited, and somewhat repetitive. The AI nations do not really offer you much of a challenge, and it is easy enough to take out their new world holdings and fleets. Given a bit of planning and thinking ahead, you can turn a massive profit and conquer most of the world. You will then be pretty much just waiting for things to happen as your automated routes take care of everything else. The game mostly does well in the ship battles, where up to 3 squadrons of 5 ships per side can join battle in a realistic simulation mode that I have not yet been able to find anywhere else. This is my main reason for saying this game can be a good recommendation for some. If, like me, you are a fan of more slow, simulation style naval warfare rather than action packed speedboats with explosive linings and machinegun-cannons then this is a good way to get your fix. But being entirely fair, I can not really recommend it for other things. The campaign is nice as a way to lend some kind of importance to the battles, but it does not really do much else. The in-battle AI is capable enough that it won't just roll over for you, but it is not amazing either, and the detail of the simulation is still far from perfect. Even though I like this game, and have probably spend way more time on it than I should, I can't really recommend it for anyone who is not a fan of the time period and simulation battles. It does decently well at the economy and trading parts of the campaign, but it is repetitive and you will find yourself speeding up time a lot until something interesting happens.

This is an amusing game that makes me think of what you would get if you simplified Empire: Total War. Basically you set up cities in the new world, and trade with the home port to grow your economy, eventually waging war (either actual or economic) with the other colonial powers to conquer the americas. the mechanics are straightforward, every building and ship costs maintenance, and all the raw materials and finished good provide income. setup stable trade routes, bring colonists and soliders from the home port and you are set. the graphics are low, but its fun if you like this sort of gameplay. the controls are simple, and the menus make sense, once you get the hang of it its fun to repeat play because there are different ways to win. it is a cheap game though, so there are strange shortcuts that are missing, there are a lack of notifications about current events each turn, although there are popups they are usually reminders about failing a mission or a new missoin that can get annoying for some because well into the game there are a lot of things to keep track of, basically you can set up a trade route bringing ppl and goods in different directions (growing and defending settlements, satisfying needs) but the route you take and the time matter (especially once a good runs out) if you dont mind having to check every turn every single part of your empire because nothing lasts that long then this game is great i actually didnt care that i kept running things into the ground, i never won, but it was interesting to set up trade routes that eventually failed only to have someone declare war on you

Many of the achievements seem to be broken and will not trigger. In addition, the naval combat is also extremely broken and buggy. The voice work is terrible. The visuals are average for 2010. The music is bland and repetitive. I think there might only be three tracks in the entire game, at most. Though probably only two. Set on an endless loop, good god. Finally, the commercial and administrative mechanics of the game are extremely primitive and superficial-- this game is, in essence, a poor man's Port Royale or Patrician, as regards the trade sims of this model. I don't know if I've missed anything, but this game is so uninspiring it's hardly a surprise that I don't especially care. Do not pay any more than $2.50 USD for this title.

Personally I would recommend this game as a game that you would buy when it is on sale for very cheap. I will go with the pros and cons of this game as far as I personally experienced them. PROS: -a good commerce and civiliazation building game. -The interface is pretty cool. -Useful tips and hints as you first start out. -The Ship combat is fun. CONS: (there is a lot of them) -Poor tutorial (no tutorial for combat? really?) -Advisors can get pretty annoying at times. -The graphic textures are pretty fuzzy (I am not sure if it is my computer or the game itself) -The game can get pretty tedious and long. -Combat can get pretty confusing at first. -Trying to board other ships needs to be fixed. -buggy interface -the art portraits are rather lousy. Now I am not saying this is a terrible game. But I am saying that this is a good game that would buy when it goes on sale for $1.99. However, I do believe this game needs to be updated and it would be cool if they came out with a sequel.

Combining elements from both trading and strategy games, Commander: Conquest of the Americas will appeal to a wide range of players. Players take charge of one of the many European powers aiming to conquer the New World. Starting from 16th century, players can choose from many different nations, each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses. Founding new colonies and then making them thrive is key to success. In order to accomplish this, players need to manage and optimize resources and production in their colonies, before transporting the goods to other colonies or back to Europe. Rival powers and Native Americans can prove to be allies or enemies, depending on the player decisions. Hostile fleets engage each other in highly detailed tactical level. Players can command their ships in RTS fashion or take direct control themselves. Features -Conquer the New World -Choose from 7 different European factions -Manage your colonies and their resources, production, military, and much more -Game world spanning from the Caribbean to Hudson Bay -Naval battles with as many as 30 ships in varied environments and 2 different control modes -Interact with both the European powers and the natives

[b]Summary:[/b] Early game is enjoyable if you like looking at lots of numbers and stats. Then comes the second part of the game where the shortcomings of the game mechanics become clear. [b]The good:[/b] [list] [*]The game is visually appealing. It still looks very good 5 years after release. [*]There's a decent amount of tutorials to help you with the game. [*]There is some replay value because the colony spots and resources are fairly randomized. [/list] [b]The bad:[/b] [list] [*]The user interface is severely lacking: button hitboxes are pretty bad, important information like building queue is completely missing, ... [*]Trade automation is a good concept, but is poorly implemented. Example 1: your colonies have a maximum population and you're supposed to ship in all the new people from your homeport. This can be automated. HOWEVER, if your colony is max size, the ship will just go back and forth instead of dropping off the colonists and removing the automated colonist loading line. Example 2: (the single most annoying thing you'll encounter) Your home port can only take 3000 units of every resource. If you have more than 5 colonies, then you'll have ships going back and forth fully loaded until some of the stock gets consumed in your home port. [*]There's a feature where colonies demand goods from your home country. However, at full size, the demand is usually higher than what the home country can produce. Having a steady supply line of these goods to all your colonies does absolutely nothing. [*]There's still bugs. I've had traded goods (with other nations) not pop up in my warehouse, I've had a war ship fleet not chasing slower pirates (abandoning the follow move within the second), I've seen AI ships spazzing about, doing nothing, ... [*]The AI is pretty bad. Mid-late game, half of them is bankrupt, while having as many ships as I do. Diplomacy is very simplistic and poorly implemented. You'll have AIs breaking pacts for no reason or becoming hostile for no reason. They also send you pointless trade offers. [*]Selling me a physical boxed copy and then forcing me to install Steam??? I thought only SEGA, 2K and Bethesda were this bad at business. [/list] [b]Things that could improve the game, but won't happen because it's old and abandoned:[/b] [list] [*]Add RPG-like events where you're in the governor perspective. There's so many possibilities here: natives, pirates, disease, enemy incursions, ... [*]Don't limit colonies to one boring circle. Expand your territory inland with benefits and more encounters with natives. [*]Overhaul the automated trade window to remove obsolete transport lines, like passenger transportation after the colony is full size and include quick options for shipment of all processed goods to the home port [*]Expand diplomacy [*]Add smaller European nations to the diplomacy list to solve the problem of overstocked homeport warehouses. [/list]

Mission bugs...trade asks for 50 whatever, sell it back at home port...doesn't count. Asks for 1500 processed goods in a short timeframe, jump through hoops...sell processed goods...doesn't count.....next time asks for 2600...same same...guess what..It doesn't count... I would suggest that Paradox not get to count your money...too late for me. I thought it was just a fluke so I restarted a new game and put too many hours into the game to return it.

There is much about this game that could be somewhat entertaining. The battles are more than a bit clunky. Essentially a resource allocation game with an overlay of discovery and exploration. Took me long enough just to figure out how the game works. Its just an acceptable title for being very minimalistic. One more thing there is no end to the game. Just stick to it for as long you can bear with the same fun. 3/5

Even pausing the game didn't help the machine gun-like "rat-a-tat" sound of messages and information and missions flashing on the screen. The tempo of this game was just too much for me...I couldn't even get through reading what one message said and, "ding!"...another message flashes on the screen. There are much better games out there that won't make my blood boil within the first five minutes of play time. Now I remember why I uninstalled this game some years ago. I'm going to uninstall it for good this time. I do not recommend this game.