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[another_guest]

That would seem like "squeezing a little too hard" to me...
Who on earth would want to pay for such an old game; then there are a whole range of better alternatives to spend your money on.
While I liked the game back then, I wouldn't want to compare it to more recent similar games. Let's face it, if one had to choose between paying for POC or getting something like Transport Tycoon for free, the choice would be easy...

They make it sound exciting, but in that half page, they've summed up everything that can ever happen in POC. And apparently they haven't changed much compared to the old version, apart from technical issues like CPU usage.
POC XXL might be interesting, but POC for windows? :blink:

[another_guest]

Originally posted by Jack@Sep 17 2004, 10:52 PM
Probably most importantly. Never sail anywhere at full speed unless you have to because you’re on a time-limited contract. Slow your boats down to at least two thirds of full speed and you will save lots of fuel.

This doesn't always hold. In fact, on none of my routes this holds.

With fuel costing an average 110$/ton, and 300000 profit for a mid-size freighter, 1 million for the largest ship, any speed ranging from top speed to 2 knots below it, is most profitable. In these cases, sailing at two thirds of the top speed will cause your net profits to drop with 20%.
So it only works if
1) you need the bigger sailing range
2) fuel is terribly expensive
3) you're carrying cheap cargo

[athcnv]

I first tried this game ages ago, but deleted it after getting far too annoyed with the ship maneouvering (cos I was no good at it!), and because I could never seem to make enough profit.

Now, I do ok, though this is the first game that I had to use MS EXCEL with in order to do well! :blink:
At least, I think that's the case (I created a spreadsheet with lots of formulae to calculate the total costs). It gets complicated since nothing follows a linear pattern - fuel cost varies over time at each location, and the total transport cost depends directly and indirectly on your speed (Faster = fewer days = less running cost BUT more fuel used)! I even had to create a formula to work out my average fuel cost! (Lemme see, I've got 50% fuel left that cost 100, fuel at current location costs 75, if I buy another half tank, what's the average?...)

Also, on a whim, I made my home port Singapore and simply did the Singapore-Buenos Aires route over and over, having bought the larger of the 2 pre-owned ships with a 50% mortgage. I was helped by a time-limited contract (got fined $1m for being late, even though I went at top speed (and through 1 storm) - but since the delivery was for $3m that wasn't a problem!

Oh yeah, I found that the cheapest speeds were either 10 or 12 knots (well, for my one route anyway) - 12 would be cheaper IF fuel was cheap (below 100 per tonne or less, I think), AND IF you didn't get delayed by storms (going through means risk of damage, going round means more days at sea, burning fuel!)

Note: I actually played the "1 hour of real time" limited Windows version - allowing me to run Excel in the background! (So I could put fuel price changes in immediately!) Note: Windows version allows you to play "Pure economic" way - so no ship handling! (Those "habour tugs on strike" and "alert - ship on collision course!" dilemma events still occur, but the game seems to randomly decide the outcome now.

[another_guest]

In the beginning it's sometimes hard to make some profit, but once you've got a few ships running, it's easy.
A few routes I always use:
1) for the cheapest ships: Basrah - Hong Kong. While your ships will be damaged and robbed every once in a while, in one direction the rewards are big, especially for a distance this small (5953 miles). Plus you've got the $500000 bonus if you smuggle weapons.
2) for more expensive ships: Hamburg - Hong Kong: a long route, but with fairly good rewards, and every now and then exceptional profits can be made (cargo without any time limit, paying over 3 million for the largest ship's load)
3) Tokyo - Dar-es-Salaam: 7502 miles, good rewards, annoying riffs though
4) San Francisco - various ports

Just pick the best value/distance ratios. Also, try to buy ships of a decent size: I'd prefer 2 used ships of 20000 tonnes over 1 faster ship of 10000 tonnes. After all, the price you get for your cargo is directly proportional to your tonnage. Faster ships will allow you to take contracts with a time limit, but those are risky...
A rule of thumb: for mid-sized ships (I guess those are 20000 tonnes, double of the smallest size available), I want at the very least 300000 profit for a 6000 mile journey.

I wonder when the game ends if you don't have a time limit... I've once had a total net worth of over 750 million, with a fleet of 25 ships, and the game just kept going...

can someone explain how i make the game run slower on the full old version not the 1 hour game remade for windows. old dos version

[another_guest]

Originally posted by Cristiano@Apr 17 2005, 01:01 PM
can someone explain how i make the game run slower on the full old version not the 1 hour game remade for windows. old dos version

Run it through Dosbox. You can find Dosbox and its tutorial here:
http://www.abandonia.com/main.php?nav=programs

[Kearnsy]

Oh man! I just had a huge run of bad luck!! First my really cheap boat sinks, by better one gets shelled and then emensly fined for being late, THEN I get a fine for controband and to top it all off someone stole $500,000 from my office!! :ranting: :ranting:

[another_guest]

Never let your boats go below 55%, so that they will be above 50% when arriving at their destination (except when they get shelled, but that won't sink them). And avoid the Bermuda triangle...

Being shelled and contraband... sounds like Basrah to me.
On that route (Basrah - Hong Kong) I only use ships costing $2 million. It doesn't matter that much when they get damaged.
As for smuggling, I think only the contraband with a value of at least $500000 is profitable enough to take. But avoid taking any with you when your regular load is one with a time penalty. I never take any cargo with time penalty unless I've got the largest (and also fastest) ship on that route, and the payment is at least $3 million.

Go into your office quite often, and no one will ever steal from it.

[minhtuan]

The Abandonia version works perfectly for me (I use Win98SE)

I stopped playing when I have 9 ships and 50mil (genius level).

It's funny I see that the DOS version is the best. POC XXL is terrible. I haven't tried the Windows version.

I just tried San Francisco - Capetown - Sydney - Hongkong over and over.

The ship manual handling is the best POC offered, it makes this gem truly memorable. I like it. But when I reach Rio de Janeiro I have to let the tug do all.

[Van Der Litreb]

Wow, I remember playing this on my Amiga 500. I also remember that by far the easiest way to make money in this game is to completely do away with the shipping business and just trade in the ships themselves.