The Trade Prince

[h1] Космическая торговая империя [/h1] Кирпичик за кирпичиком собираем основу финансовой мощи галактики. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3014821147 [h1] СЮЖЕТ [/h1] Минимальный имеется. Надо выполнять простейшие задания других обитателей космоса. Ничего интересного - принеси 500воды/энергии/деса. [h1] ГЕЙМПЛЕЙ [/h1] Нам предлагают выбрать одного из героев, который будет обладать пассивными улучшениями и немного прокачать его, вложив очко скилла. А дальше всё достаточно просто, хотя, на первый взгляд, процесс может показаться непонятным. К тому же, тут нет русского языка, вникнуть с ходу не очень просто. Лично мне только на осознание происходящего понадобилось минут 15. Имеется галактика, состоящая из десятков планет. И есть портал. Смысл очень прост. Нам нужно организовать на планетах производственные и логистические мощности, а затем наблюдать, как поток материальных ценностей устремится в портал и подсчитывать барыши. Для этого тыкаем мышью по планете и строим там объекты. На старте дают один космопорт и одно производство на планете прямо рядом с порталом, чтобы был сразу хоть какой-то приток бабла и, соответственно, чтобы у нас оставалось право на ошибки. На каждой планете есть возможность поставить и прокачать разнообразные здания и, в обязательном порядке - надо построить космопорт, который будет вывозить товары дальше по торговым путям и так до портала. Если навести курсор мыши на планету или даже перемещающийся товар, то получим по ним самую подробную справку. Конечно же, в наличии нюансы, причём, некоторые из них очень важные. Например, космопорты обладают чем-то вроде пропускной способности. То есть, он может вывезти, по умолчанию, единицу товара. И мы можем хоть обстроиться заводами, но нужно, чтоб товары ещё и динамично вывозились или прибыли нам не видать. Это значит, что чем больше производящих зданий, тем более мощным должен быть космопорт. Прокачка зданий осуществляется через панель в описании конкретной планеты. Тут можем увидеть, сколько и какие имеются производства и насколько хороша логистика. Цена улучшений нарастает стремительно, так что стоит тщательно планировать этот процесс, иначе есть риск потратить немалые финансы бестолково на этом конкретном отрезке времени, хотя в будущем ситуацию можно и выправить. Планеты связаны транспортными маршрутами. Только по ним товары могут перемещаться. Имеется система производства сложных изделий. Для их изготовления придется совместить несколько ресурсов/продуктов попроще. Схема прилагается и она впечатляет масштабностью. Придется очень хорошо планировать и производство и доставку для получения самых сложных товаров. Есть условные главы с квестами, которые вносят некоторое разнообразие в процесс и служат источником глобальной прогрессии. Например, надо поставить в портал тот или иной товар в указанном количестве. Если это получится, то произойдёт завершение главы, а наш герой получит ещё один скилпойнт или же сможет продолжить наживать богатства (правда не понимаю – зачем) на пройденной карте. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3014821012 Рассмотрим плюсы и минусы игры, подведем итоги. [h1] ПЛЮСЫ: [/h1] + Простая, но приемлемая графика. + Хорошее музыкальное и звуковое сопровождение. + Интересная и в то же время простая основная геймплейная идея с производством, логистикой и торговлей. + Возможность организовать сложные цепочки производства. [h1] ТО, ЧТО МОЖЕТ БЫТЬ КАК ПЛЮСОМ ТАК И МИНУСОМ: [/h1] ± Игра на старте может ошеломить непонятностью. Если этот обзор прочитаете, то конечно – уже не сможет, т.к. вникнуть проще простого, на самом деле. ± Игра, по сути, почти автоматическая. Лично мне такая медитативность очень нравится, но явно она порадует далеко не всех. [h1] МИНУСЫ: [/h1] – В игре встречается серьезный баг. Если открыто несколько окон, то курсор мыши в окне игры может пропасть. Возможно, так она реагировала на попытку записать параллельно видео, но это не точно. Лечится запуском игры при закрытых других окнах. – Нет русского языка текста. Требуемый уровень познаний английского - низкий. [h1] ВЫВОДЫ [/h1] Почилив несколько часов, пофармив местную валюту от души, пройдя несколько глав могу сказать, что под настроение и если хочется на фоне послушать что-то, если хочется расслабона, то игра вполне и вполне пригодна для проведения в ней времени. Традиционно, полную версию обзора, со скриншотами, описаниями, красивым оформлением, можно найти в кураторе. [code] [b][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/6851324/]Если понравилось - жмите палец вверх и подписывайтесь на куратора Runner Streams. Здесь масса скрытых бриллиантов игровой индустрии.[/url][/b] [/code] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3014820794 Всем хороших игр!

So I decided to give this game a shot. First impression was that it had a really crappy tutorial. But after that it came together. I've been playing it all day. The increasing demands of satisfying the most complex factories while balancing trade throughput is addictive. It starts to get complex at level 7 and they say it has 100 levels. All good flow to the center planet and from there to the portal. The branching star system allows you to funnel all the production to the center planet. You must raise buildings to create goods to satisfy the mission objective. This is easy at the beginning and gets pretty complex at level 6 or 7. And they say it has 100 levels. Good luck!

[h1]TL;DR[/h1] 6/10: A mission-based logistics puzzle with some interesting concepts. If this is the first game made by the developer(s), they've done themselves proud. (Save for several rookie mistakes, none of which seriously impact gameplay.) [h1]Overview[/h1] Think [i]Mini Metro[/i], but with tangible graphics, taking place in space, and the ability to widen the routes by increasing the size of starports, and you have [i]The Trade Prince[/i]. The player's objective is to get people and/or products to a location on the map simply called [i]The Portal[/i]. But what exactly? It doesn't matter for the most part, except that the player would do well to send required people and/or items to [i]The Portal[/i] ASAP so they can get to the next map. Getting to a new map is a start from square one, except that a more complicated (and expensive) item will need to be transported to [i]The Portal[/i], which means a more complex supply chain demanding more planets. Fun, right? It's pretty interesting for people who enjoy strategy, but cannot afford something else. [h1]Graphics and Sound[/h1] The graphics are basic yet aesthetically pleasing. About the only sound to speak of is a boring loop of ambient music. The music does set the mood for the game in a way, but the player is really going to need something stimulating to play in the background in order to keep their train of thought for when they're trying to plan a complex supply chain. (Something like [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYVV_-heQ7c&pp=ygUaQ29sZCBXYXJwcyBTY2llbmNlIEZpY3Rpb24%3D]Science Fiction[/url] or [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOypE0DHeJc]Space Cowboy[/url].) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3010474688 [h1]Positives and Negatives[/h1] This game is literally n00b friendly. Anyone who plays this game on something other than [i]Criminal[/i] difficulty is the sort of person who doesn't make sense to ol' Il Pallino. (And shouldn't even call themselves a gamer.) Players will likely appreciate the roguelike nature of [i]The Trade Prince[/i]. The portal is often not more than one step away from the starting planet, but the map is practically random from there. [i]The Trade Prince[/i] has fresh concepts, and the idea of managers who provide bonuses can be leveled-up and made even more effective as the player advances into the campaign. Another interesting concept is that planets all have bonuses applied to them which will give the player something to think about as to what to build on said planet. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3010474799 [i]The Trade Prince[/i] also happens to be the Happy Achievement Hunting Grounds, and with the many achievements galore, the player will have a lot to play for. (All the while requiring more effort than, say, hunting for achievements in a visual novel.) Strategy games often suffer from inverse difficulty curves. While playing as a [i]Criminal[/i] the player is going to have to hustle to complete the first two levels. Then on the third level, enough of a profit margin was made to where the W0.02 per minute overhead increase meant that the player could actually grind, which made it easily possible to stay on the map after completing the objectives to unlock and level-up the remaining managers. Liquidation in [i]The Trade Prince[/i] is an all or nothing proposition. While some players may enjoy this mechanic, other players are bound to complain that in order to sell a no longer needed building on a planet, the player will need to sell every single building on the planet in question. There are numerous rookie mistakes made in relation to the graphics, which make the player wonder if the developer(s) ever played a video game before. One of these mistakes is the [i]PAUSE[/i] text that appears on the screen whenever the game is paused. This text often gets in the way due to the fact that it appears on the center of the screen, and the player will need to adjust the focal point on the map in order to see something of importance. Another rookie mistake is that the tech tree is almost unreadable from the tech tree screen when the player wants to see which advanced forms of products go where. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3010473913 The biggest rookie mistake, is that the screen resolution cannot be adjusted within the game, which seems to be a feature in nearly every other game ever made since at least the early-1990's. (The player will do well to be playing on a laptop instead of a modern day wide screen monitor.) [h1]Conclusion[/h1] A poor man's strategy game. While there are better games on the Steam Store Page, [i]The Trade Prince[/i] represents value for money. This game is highly recommended for strategy lovers who are out to earn achievements. [h1]The honest word of Il Pallino... OR ELSE![/h1] [quote]Follow our curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/7871885/]OCG-Curations[/url], if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.[/quote]

This is a very specific recommend, because this game has a very niche appeal. It's an 'idle/clicker efficiency maximization game' and it isn't as smooth as it should be for the price and the experience. The fact that it's impossible to lose a scenario is nice when you're in that sort of mood. The array of choices it presents can seem overwhelming at times, but there are tools and progression strategies that help you manage that. There's a number of optimization choices that it makes available that are meaningfully different. And then there's the fact that there's no zoom controls. Orange numbers displayed with an orange planet in the background, so that it's impossible to read them. Other annoying bits of sand in an otherwise perfectly adequate (and genuinely innovative) time-killer. If you're tired, jaded, and looking for something unique, this may raise a gentle smile. There are better and more interesting games out there that offer a similar kind of challenge, but this one comes with the benefit of extemely low stress and soothing music. Great for when you want to be able to walk away for an hour, have the game make progress while you're away, but not have it actually solve anything for you. Random star network generation and allocation of bonuses to planets gives it some variety between levels, but after a few hours, I found that I had a reliable-enough strategy for winning high-complicatedness levels, and the game doesn't really have complexity to offer. Not a terrible way to spend a day, but not one that I'm likely to remember later on.

At first light, The Trade Prince looks to be a simple idle clicker set in a Rococo themed space empire. The general idea is that you produce goods that ultimately get transported to the primary population center via a wormhole (The "Revel"). The way goods are manufactured is by ordered delivery with an ever branching prerequisite tree corresponding to its technology tier.  So, for example, in the early levels you will need to send "energy" to the Revel, so you just build the tier 1 tech "reactor" and energy is sent onto the Revel. However, if you need to send ore or glass to the Revel, then you need to [i]start[/i] with energy and then create a production chain, either on a single planet or through linking planets, to deliver the final product to the Revel.  Sounds simple enough, you just need to produce "more" of something and send it off, right? Well, just as history has shown time and time again that the solution to a political problem is never judicial... ... ... ahem... so, too, has it shown that the solution to a logistical problem is never "more stuff". And it is here that The Trade Prince differs from most of its company in the idle clicker genre.   The goal isn't to merely maximize production by building/upgrading buildings on the planets - though you can do that to win since there are no loss conditions - but to use synergizing effects of planetary bonuses and administrator bonuses to efficiently increase the effectiveness of your tradenet and keep the multiplying cost of building facilities to a minimum. Since P/=NP it is here where you will be spending most of your time by figuring out the most efficient way to produce the raw goods that can then be chained up to the final product in a min/maxed system. And the game excels at this....but it's not without its faults and problems. First and foremost, the game could have done a much better job with the interface with the most glaring omission being a lack of zooming in and out to see the sector in which you're operating. This oversight makes it feel like you're looking at the piece of paper Senor Chang held up in "Community" while trying to remember which planets you've selected for the production chain. The interface could have also included an overall planet dossier where you could tell at a glance the planetary bonuses so you could plan more effectively without having to click on each planet to check their bonuses. Depending on how you feel about those issues will be the deciding factor in whether you want to pick this game up or not....however, for the price of 10$, even factoring in the above shortcomings, it's still a solid buy. 

It's hard to get going at first. But it's not as complicated as it looks. The UI functionality is actually well designed, and supports the gameplay well. It's just not obvious at first. A really important feature is the ability to instantly undo/sell any purchase without penalty. So as a beginner, you don't need to suffer any mistakes. You can freely try something out, and then change it as soon as you have a better idea. It's kind of a distilled essence of factorio. Not that factorio pioneered this essence or anything. Of course not. But I mention it because that's probably the most familiar game with the same hook. There's a good foundation here, that can be built into something more immediately accessible. I definitely recommend trying it

Just love trying to find the optimal route. If the devs are making more like this I am excited.

I applaud the effort. Looks like a single dev project with some interesting ideas. Good use of AI generated artwork (most likely Midjourney) to give the supply chain management context, character, and flavor. To the developer: The UI/UX needs more polish. I found myself often building the network backwards: starting from Revel and adding higher tiers first, then moving outwards to add the lower tier buildings to support the inner network. The UI doesn't make placing the supply chain in reverse order very easy. Following the tree when it branches out a lot to ensure I'm placing all the correct dependencies can get boggled down through the various menus. Future projects should not only keep in mind the design and gameplay elements but attempt to predict and capture the common actions a player may want to do. Still overall interested in the next endeavor from this dev.

This game is basically one single mechanic - build extraction facilities on planets far away from your hub, then closing in build next level manufacturing facilities. It is made with early AI art, but it is understandable that such simple game wasn't really invested in by its maker. It is fairly good game, if you can get it for cheap it is very much worth it. It is comparable to idle games, just don't have microtransactions and the game is only single so no sense of rivalry there. Watching as the colorful spheres gathers on lines towards hub is somewhat hypnotizing. In short - this is a game to relax and get some form of relief even without specific goal. It has simple UI and mechanics, yet is somewhat rewarding good planning (some planets make particular wares cheaper than others), but on the other hand you can just let it play in the background, get you a ton of cash and buy the desired building without worrying about it. It's a fair game!