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The year is 1850. You're a merchant captain with a small ship, 1500 silver dollars, and dreams of building a trading empire.
Your mission? Turn your modest vessel into a trading empire during a 200-day voyage through historic ports of Hong Kong, Shanghai, Nagasaki, Singapore, and Manila.
Ready to hit the high seas? No installation needed:
$ npx ctraderRuns smoothly on iTerm (3.5.10+) and Warp (2024.11.21+)
🌊 Trade & Economy
- Dynamic market system with realistic price fluctuations
- Strategic trading between 5 major Asian ports
- Market trends that shift every 14 days
- Risk vs reward decisions with cargo space management
- Historically accurate cargo overloading mechanics
⚔️ Naval Combat & Protection
- Hire and manage your guard fleet
- Real-time damage distribution between your ship and guards
- Strategic fleet maintenance decisions
- Intense pirate encounters with multiple outcomes
⚓ Ship Management
- Historically accurate sailing speeds (8-20 knots)
- Strategic overloading decisions with risk/reward tradeoffs
- Critical decisions about repairs and upgrades
- Weather and damage affect your travel time
- Three upgrade types: Speed, Defense, and Capacity
🎲 Events & Encounters
- No two voyages are the same
- Random events that scale with your wealth
- Dynamic weather conditions
- Trade regulations that can make or break your fortune
- Mysterious islands with valuable cargo
- Classic Mode: 200 days to build your trading empire
- Extended Mode: Push beyond limits (with score penalties)
- Guard ships aren't just for show - they'll take most of the damage in fights
- Damaged ships sail slower - keep an eye on that repair cost
- Each port has its specialty goods - learn the trade routes
- Weather the market storms - sometimes holding cargo pays off
- Strategic overloading can be profitable, but watch the weather!
- Your reputation affects everything from prices to pirate encounters
- Consider ship upgrades based on your trading strategy:
- Speed upgrades for longer routes
- Defense upgrades for dangerous waters
- Capacity upgrades for bulk trading
✅ Points are awarded for:
- Accumulated wealth (cash + cargo value)
- Ship improvements (speed & capacity)
- Crew reputation
❌ Points are deducted for:
- Ship damage
- Extended game penalties
- Poor reputation
Set in the bustling trade routes of 1850s Far East, Sea Trader uses authentic period measurements and trading practices.
All cargo is measured in piculs (擔), the standard unit of maritime trade in 19th century Asia. One picul, approximately 60kg or 133lbs, was originally defined as "a man's load" - what a single porter could carry.
Ships' storage capacity was measured in "tons burden (t bm)" - a volume-based measurement where different goods required different amounts of space.
Sea Trader reflects this historical system through a simplified storage mechanism:
- Cargo Types: Different goods require varying storage space
- Compact Goods (like porcelain): Dense cargo that stores efficiently
- Standard Goods (like wheat): Takes normal storage space
- Bulky Goods (like tea): Requires extra storage space due to packaging and careful stowage
- Overloading: Ships can be loaded beyond their rated capacity
- Reduces sailing speed proportionally to overload amount
- Increases risk of cargo damage during storms
- Makes escaping from pirates more difficult
Prices in the game are in Spanish silver dollars ($), the standard currency of Far East trade in the 1850s. Also known as "pieces of eight", these silver coins were accepted across all major ports from Hong Kong to Manila.
These features are in active development!
- Advanced weather system affecting travel times
- New ports to explore with unique opportunities
- Specialized cargo missions
- Port-specific events and quests
- Reputation-based trading advantages
- Historical events affecting markets
Love Sea Trader? Got ideas? We'd love to hear them! Open an issue for:
- New feature suggestions
- Balance tweaks
- Bug reports
- Historical accuracy improvements
MIT - Feel free to fork and create your own trading adventure!
"In these waters, fortune favors the bold... and the clever!" 🏴☠️