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How do i install this game?

[another_guest]

Can't test it right now, but have you tried running setup.exe?
Though I believe you can run it straight away (trader.exe) without any prior installation. See for yourself whether it runs better under Dosbox or whatever Windows version you have...

How do you do to accept the contracts??

I make a mathematical expression to foresee the time expend in the travel.

The expression are below:

(Range)*(diesel use)/(diesel fuel)= speed (nm/day)

In this expression you will find the speed in "nautical miles/day" in differents percents of speed.
So, I make the list contends this information and the range:

for example:
Large Freighter
100% - 360 nm/day - 8183 nm
90% - 324 nm/day - 9511 nm
80% - 288 nm/day - 11115 nm
70% - 252 nm/day - 12827 nm
60% - 216 nm/day - 14400 nm
50% - 180 nm/day - 15553 nm

When I analyse a contract, I go to the map and see the distance between the ports. So I divide the distance for the time avaliable to finish of the contract, and compare this result with the above list, and choice the best speed to travel.


What do you think about it???
How do you do???

[another_guest]

I do something similar though I take some buffer for loading/unloading. In addition, I look at the profit I would make from such a contract, sometimes it's less than when following one of my regular profitable trade routes.

Do you know a new game similar with "ocean Trader"??? Or any trader game???
I like very much but I don's found any new game about it.
Can you help me??
Thanks

[pharmy]

Sorry can anybody help out, I can't save my game, it will always say cannot create file. Perhaps someone could send me their saved file, and I could put it in a trader\savegame folder and save onto that.

I think there is a "gamesave" folder or something like that.

This game is great, even if my original freighter, and a large freighter I bought with the insurance money and some extra, are now being turned into coral reefs. I noticed that my ships were being "suprised" by hurricanes and the like when they weren't insured, it looked like it was a subtle warning to get insurance, because the "surprises" didn't happen anymore. The new "surprises" were my freighters sinking after colliding with what must have been ghost ships, because the competition didn't seem to lose any ships.

Is there any point to buying shares or making time deposits, or whatever they are called?. And when will that lady in the bank find what she is looking for in her handbag, she's been looking for almost ten years now!

B.

[another_guest]

1. True, I have noticed the same, ships are far more likely to sink (collision, hurricane, ...) when they are not insured. However repairing them every time they drop below 80% usually keeps them safe except for the bigger ships, see point 2.
Don't forget that it's often more important to insure your cargo than your ship...

2. Bigger ships (bulk freighters, passenger ships) are more likely to collide than even large freighters. Definitely insure those ships and perhaps their cargo as well!

3. No idea about time deposits.
However buying shares can generate some income while you're saving up for a new ship and you don't use the cash to buy cargo. Suppose you have $ 10 million that you don't use but you need 40 million to buy the ship you want. This means that you can speculate with those $ 10 million for the entire time it takes you to save up the other $ 30 million. Get an advisor ($ 80,000 per month) then buy stock that's nicely going up. Even with costs and all deducted you can have a net interest of a few % per month. It's not huge but it helps a bit in the early stages of the game.
But yes, the profit to be made on the stock market is negligible compared to the money you make off trading.

I insure both cargo and ship, seen as I have lost a coastal freighter, two freighters, one large freighter, and a tanker, all to collisions, me and the insurance broker guy are good friends!

I have established some trade routes which are making money, but I find even with the smaller ships, that cargo availability is an issue, especially in Asia.

I actually want to buy a passenger liner, but at $280 million, a bit more than I can afford at this stage, but working towards it. Regarding ship maintenance, does it need to happen more often, and become more expensive, the older the ships gets?.

I was running the Sydney-Tokyo trade route until a Russian "trawler" sank my freighter fill of Core 2 Duo processors, but are their any other routes like this?. I find that the residents of Hamburg like coffee, and the Central/South American countries like their cars/machines/electrical goods!.

B.

[another_guest]

No idea about the ship maintenance. It would be logical that an older ship needs more maintenance (in the sense of "more often"), seeing that the prices in the game for used ships are so much lower for old ships.

I like coal from Sydney - iron from Tokyo (or what was the "grey" metal again?), doesn't run out if you don't use too large ships.
Also nice: coal from Sydney - machinery (the green things) from Tokyo - Hong Kong. Then back to Sydney with whatever Hong Kong has available.

Quite profitable: machinery or cars from Western European harbours to West Africa, then haul cotton or fruits back. Just change African ports quite often to keep some availability.

Wood from Halifax to some Eastern USA harbours, take iron on the way back.
There's also a route between 2 Eastern USA harbours that involves the yellow-grey and red metals (don't remember by heart what those are called) one way, and iron the other way.

Very profitable using bulk freighters: rice from Brazil to Hamburg (Hamburg pays quite a high price for rice). You can switch to coffee and/or cocoa whenever the rice availability would be too low.
Lineseed oil (or something to that extent) from Brazil to Rotterdam. The same oil also works well from Chinese ports to Sydney.

Rice from China to some of the ports North of Australia, then take oil from there to Sydney.

Passenger ships are awesome once you manage to buy them...
You can easily get over 10-15 million income from 1 trip. Just make sure to transport passengers over the longest possible distance: income = # passengers * distance
Maintenance costs and times are huge though, so keep some other ships to keep your cash flow steady during these maintenance intervals.