Competitive Analysis

I recently purchased Commander: Conquest of the Americas, through Steam, as it looked like it fit into the genre I'm hoping to enter.  My intentions were to evaluate this game and hopefully incorporate the best aspects of it.


Let me begin by saying that this game was not well reviewed.  It wasn't poorly reviewed, just deemed mediocre.  After my first couple hours in it I can see why.  It lacks the intuitive simplicity that Sid Meier's games are famous for.  Though that is a hard standard to compare against.  The team at Firaxis always amaze me with their balance of simplicity and strategy. 

Commander seems to be a trading simulation at its heart and in that respect I compare it to the Patrician III.  In fact, I would say that it is a step closer to my intended game than Patrician is.  You found colonies, bring colonists over from the Old World, and compete with fellow European Nations.  The focus though is on developing the colonies production trees, and setting up automatic trade routes that maximize profits.

I haven't played through a whole game yet so my summary may be premature, but my first impression take aways from this game are as follows:

GOOD

• Resources distributed around map, semi-realistically
• Not based on a grid, ships can move around in any direction similar to Pirates!
• Resource development, you can improve colonies to turn local sugar cane, into sugar, and then rum
• Ships can easily form squadrons and fleets to make protection and resource pooling simpler
• Four advisers that give suggestions and missions to complete
• Very pretty to look at
• Steam achievement system

BAD

• No exploration, the whole map is known from the start
• No randomization, you always play the map of the Caribbean
• Too many resources and colony improvements
• You must keep the advisers happy or the game will end
• UI is bad
• No homeport screen, colony screen hard to access and provides little information
• No good statistics or summary screens, information is hard to find
• Tutorials are just videos with someone speaking about what they are doing
• No end game, the goal is to amass a fortune

 I'd say the game has been worth the $15.  It provides another reference point for me, and there are some aspects I did enjoy and will try to build in.  I don't know if I'll go straight for the 3D rendered ships and oceans, but the original Exploration could do with a more advanced economic model.