Transocean

[jomni]

Shipping business simulator.  Looks nice.
http://www.transocean-game.com/

[DennisS]

Shipping business simulator.  Looks nice.
http://www.transocean-game.com/

I purchased this yesterday. Here's my take on it.

Similar to Patrician, or Port Royale, without the building. Take cargo, from one place to another.

Simple mechanic, five ship classes which are unlocked through play. Money is earned, and taken by your investors (30% every three months), and spend on fuel, upgrades, and new ships. If you're caught with contraband, then a big fine as well.

It is quite difficult to lose, once you unlock the second and then third level of ships. You can generate millions of dollars per trip, for these moderately sized container ships.

Gameplay -
You accept a mission, at one of 50 ports, and they either pay for a tug to pull you out of harbor (100k to 800k per), or manually move them out yourself, using your speed and rudder. This is actually the best part of the game...TONS of fun with this. In the early going, the 100k cost to ingress and leave the harbor is a big BIG chunk of money, and if you pay for tugs, it will seriously slow you down to save up sufficient monies to purchase new ships.

You start with a crappy ship, in need of repair. By running missions all over Europe with this "feeder" ship, you will eventually get a second, and perhaps third ship. By running missions (contract) to move a specific cargo from one port to another, you will slowly build up the reputation you need to eventually unlock the entire world. This, coupled with significantly larger ships, is pretty entertaining.

I will say, I have played about a dozen hours. Most folks will find the game repetitive. I LIKE this genre, a lot, and have owned almost all naval economic sims ever produced, as well as the straight economic sims (capitalism II comes to mind).

This game should keep your interest for a week or two, and after you have defeated the campaign, this will unlock the free play game. Each free play starts essentially the same, the only difference are the ports you sail to. Again...it's a pretty simple sim, not a lot to do..just run the ships, save your money, buy bigger ships, save your money, make MORE money, buy bigger ships, etc.

Not a bad game..and one that I will come back to. If you want a better naval builder/economic game, get Port Royale 2, the best of the bunch.

[jomni]

Thanks for the comments.  Looks to be very light and easy to beat.

[Staggerwing]

Dennis, how is the transit handled from port to port? Is it realtime with time acceleration like the Silent Hunter games or do you depart port and then 'warp' over to just outside your destination for the entry and docking? How long did an average voyage take you? Also, is there damage modeling such as collisions, storms, and random mechanical breakdown requiring repairs?

[RooksBailey]

Thanks for the comments.  Looks to be very light and easy to beat.

Yeah, thanks for the quick review!  I have always been more interested in modern ships than planes, so when I saw this on Steam I was immediately interested.  I was browsing the Steam forums and while the general consensus is good, most seem to agree that it needs a good DLC or two.  If the company commits to some additional content, I definitely could see myself picking this up. 

Not to hijack this thread, but does anybody haven an opinion on Ship Simulator Extreme? Is that any good?

[LongBlade]

+1

Thanks for the posts.

Not sure I want this at $26, but if the price drops it might be fun to try.

[jomni]

Is there piracy?

[Ian C]

I'll echo everything DennisS says.
I've racked up 18 hours over the weekend on this so far. It is a repetitive yet 'highly addictive' game. I'm not saying its great or even good but it is certainly a 'one more turn' game and I have got a lot of fun out if it so far. There are no automation options for convoys or refuelling and you must load/unload/refuel/ each vessel with a clickfest and you will either hate this or not mind it. I didn't find it a problem, as once you get into the one-more-turn trap you become fixated on finding more lucrative consignments and making more money.

If you want more of a challenge, take on as many contracts as you can. The game is a good start for a deeper experience through DLC and I hope the devs see this.

how is the transit handled from port to port? Is it realtime with time acceleration like the Silent Hunter games or do you depart port and then 'warp' over to just outside your destination for the entry and docking?

Ships move in relative real time, about 1 day per 5 seconds or so. You can speed time with the '3' key. You see the ship icons moving on map.

How long did an average voyage take you?

Depends where to and from. You can set ship speed via throttle either in port or on map. Fuel will be used quicker depending on speed. Travel time takes anywhere from less than a day to several months.

Also, is there damage modeling such as collisions, storms, and random mechanical breakdown requiring repairs?

Yes. These are generic events. Reef and storm warnings appear and you have the choice to sail through or around them, resulting in a faster travel time but at the cost of wear and damage.
No mechanical breakdowns, but general wear affects vessel worthiness which is a value from 1-100%. Ships can be repaired in port.

Is there piracy?

There is piracy, which becomes more lilely the bigger your company grows but like reefs and storms, these are generic on-map events which require a 'pay the ransom' or 'sacrifice ship' either/or response but as a defense, you can fit your ship with water cannons (3 levels of upgrades).

[Ian C]

I'll echo everything DennisS says.
I've racked up 18 hours over the weekend on this so far. It is a repetitive yet 'highly addictive' game. I'm not saying its great or even good but it is certainly a 'one more turn' game and I have got a lot of fun out if it so far. There are no automation options for convoys or refuelling and you must load/unload/refuel/ each vessel with a clickfest and you will either hate this or not mind it. I didn't find it a problem, as once you get into the one-more-turn trap you become fixated on finding more lucrative consignments and making more money.

Port size and ship size must be taken into account when planning routes and refuelling at midpoint is often the only way to make it on time. Some smaller ships (Feeders) are the only ones that can dock at the smaller ports so beware when planning contracts that need a lot of a commodity in a short time.

If you want more of a challenge, take on as many contracts as you can. The game is a good basis for a deeper experience through DLC and I hope the devs see this.

how is the transit handled from port to port? Is it realtime with time acceleration like the Silent Hunter games or do you depart port and then 'warp' over to just outside your destination for the entry and docking?

Ships move in relative real time, about 1 day per 5 seconds or so. You can speed time with the '3' key. You see the ship icons moving on map.

How long did an average voyage take you?

Depends where to and from. You can set ship speed via throttle either in port or on map. Fuel will be used quicker depending on speed. Travel time takes anywhere from less than a day to several months.

Also, is there damage modeling such as collisions, storms, and random mechanical breakdown requiring repairs?

Yes. These are generic events. Reef and storm warnings appear and you have the choice to sail through or around them, resulting in a faster travel time but at the cost of wear and damage.
No mechanical breakdowns, but general wear affects vessel worthiness which is a value from 1-100%. Ships can be repaired in port.

Is there piracy?

There is piracy, which becomes more likely the bigger your company grows but like reefs and storms, these are generic on-map events which require a 'pay the ransom' or 'sacrifice ship' either/or response but as a defense, you can fit your ship with water cannons (3 levels of upgrades).

[DennisS]

Dennis, how is the transit handled from port to port? Is it realtime with time acceleration like the Silent Hunter games or do you depart port and then 'warp' over to just outside your destination for the entry and docking? How long did an average voyage take you? Also, is there damage modeling such as collisions, storms, and random mechanical breakdown requiring repairs?

Realtime with time acceleration. An average voyage, with time compression, is about five seconds in Europe, to about 15 for a very long journey across the Pacific.

Storms are modelled, and if you don't "avoid" them (you get a choice), you lose 20% off your ships health.

Slow and steady mechanical issues..below 70%, your reputation starts to suffer. It still goes up, but more slowly, due to the rust buckets you're floating into harbor.

Easiest and fastest way to damage your ship is to come screaming into port at 10 knots, and drift sideways at high speed into your berth. ALL ports have a top five time, and this is a major source of fun in the game. I have played enough now to be quite pleased when I post a new, fastest score...but that means keeping your pedal to the medal..not real smart. Very fun dynamic, arguably the funnest part of the game. Random ships get in your way, with some minor variations on where your specific ship berth is located, as you come into port.

I like this game..but it is a beer and pretzels game, light on content, light on replayability. Similar to Train Fever...a pretty solid sim, good production values, but not all that complex. I am beating it, and trust me, I'm not real good at these games. Better than J. Allen, but not by much!   

[DennisS]

Is there piracy?

Piracy is modeled, not sure how, as I haven't run into any of them. The game says to keep some extra cash on hand...so I am assuming that you simply pay them off to avoid the loss of your ship.

[Ian C]

Just to say, I recently picked up Ports of Call Deluxe 2008 edition for almost nothing, and a flash version of it is available here, but is more hardcore sim than Transocean:

http://www.portsofcall.de/index.html

[DennisS]

Just to say, I recently picked up Ports of Call Deluxe 2008 edition for almost nothing, and a flash version of it is available here, but is more hardcore sim than Transocean:

http://www.portsofcall.de/index.html

Is this version windows 8 compatible? I looked on their forums, and it doesn't seem to be.

[Ian C]

Is this version windows 8 compatible? I looked on their forums, and it doesn't seem to be.

I'm not sure, I'm on Win 7 64-bit myself.

[steve58]

...on sale at Steam for $18 for the next ~41 hrs...