Hi, I am Stefano, Italian from Germany. I work in the videogame industry and this is my first post. I am developing a light eurogame where players are different country rulers (England / France / Spain / Portugal / Netherland)
They have ships to send to the New World to get specific goods (Coffee / Tobacco / Sugar / Corn / Cotton). In Europe there's a market where demands and prices for the different goods go up and down each turn according to the shipments. Demands is dictated by 6-sided dice with goods and a joker on it. Dice are rolled secretly and a mechanic similar to PERUDO makes players bet on the highest desired good for a monopoly (the winner is the only one who can sell that good for that turn). Prices and demand go up and down according to majorities on dice and type of goods taken from the New World by the players.
Coins earned are used to buy upgrades to ships and/or structure to have different advantages or ultimately to send your ships exploring for a new route.
The end of the game is finding this new route (so no victory points) in order to rule trading over all other countries. the thing is ships used exploring for the route cannot be used for trades (and cannot come back to trading), so the game is about managing, betting and bluffing and perfect timing.
I am looking for help designing/prototyping the game and for some advice on how it could be improved.
Thanks in Advance Stefano
Here a preview of the prototype Board (thank you Farmville and Pirates of the Spanish Main for the illustrations)
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/855/sfondo4.jpg/
Basically dice values are related to Goods as follows:
6 Coffee
5 Cotton
4 Grain
3 Tobacco
2 Sugar
1 Nothing
Each player rolls three hidden dice. (This represents your Country's demand)
Then you decide where to send your ships (left side).
Price starts at the black 1 for all goods and moves according to demand and offer.
A Liar's Dice Phase is used to determine which is globally the most wanted good. the winner can move the price of a Good of his choice two spaces up or down in case of exact prediction (I say 5 Coffees and there are 5). If the prediction was almost exact (I say 5 Coffees and there are more) last Good used goes up 1 line. Three 1s means all cargo is lost and you get no money this turn.
You collect money according to selling price then price for each good moves as follows:
EX.
if globally there are more Coffee Dice than Coffee Ships, Demand is higher than Offer so the Coffee price goes up of the difference between Coffee Dice and Coffee Ships
[6 Coffee Dice against 4 Coffee Ships -> price goes up 2 lines on the next turn]
if globally there are more Coffee Ships than Coffee Dice, Offer is higher than Demand so the Coffee price goes down of the difference between Coffee Ships and Coffee Dice
[6 Coffee Ships against 4 Coffee Dice -> price goes down 2 lines on the next turn]
If globally Coffee Dice and Coffee Ships are equal Price stays the same on the next turn.
Same for all Goods.
With Money you can buy Special Actions and use your Ships for exploration losing the chance to earn money but going closer to victory.
In the Liar's Dice phase if you ships the exact 3 Goods of an opponent you get a bonus.
I am working on the English Tranlation of the rules and I am glad if someone is willing to test and help me finding sensible prices for Special Actions or any flaw in the game.
Thx