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AEGIS _
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INTERACTIVE
ENTERTAINMENT
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Ports of Ca//™
The Maritime Simulation Game
Created by
Rolf-Dieter Klein
Martin Ulrich
Graphics by
R.E. LaBarre
J.D. Sachs
Ports of Call © 1987 Rolf-Dieter Klein, Martin Ulrich and Aegis
Development, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Klein, Rolf-Dieter
Ulrich, Martin
ISBN 0-915595-26-5
About the Game
A Back2round on Tramp Shippin&:
The traffic of goods by sea is organized in accordance with
international agreements and contracts between individual
countries. About 80% of the goods (called "cargo volume")
transported between two countries is handled by ships
registered under the flags of the countries concerned. The
remaining 20% is open to the free competition of ships of
other flags. These ships, called "tramp" ships, are usually
prepared to transport all kinds of goods. This aspect of the
shipping business is the focus of Ports of Call.
Whether a tramp ship owner makes a profit depends upon:
on the one hand, the laws, regulations and subsidies of his
country, and on the other, the rules of supply and demand.
If, for example, there has been a good coffee harvest, coffee
prices will drop,. and since there is a lot of coffee to be
shipped, the freight charges will rise. Now, if a lot of
owners start to compete for the business, the freight capacity
will start to increase, with a consequent drop in freight rates.
If the coffee harvest was bad, the freight rates will drop even
though the coffee price has risen, because the shipping
capacity is now in excess.
If a crop is exceptionally poor, it may be necessary for the
ship owner to temporarily lay his ships up. In this situation,
the ships cannot be sold because the ships' prices have
dropped (supply and demand). Also it is not economically
viable to operate the ships because the income nowhere
covers the overhead - fixed costs, such as maintenance and
finance, still have to be carried. This is now the time to buy
good, used ships at a low price. Apart from the economic
aspects, life aboard a tramp ship can be pretty exciting and
that's no "old sailor's yarn"!
The Object of the Game
Each player founds his own shipping company, with a
starting capital of $5 million to buy ships. Freight and ports
can be chosen continuously from offers on the market. Then
the captain chooses an economic travelling speed and casts
off to encounter many adventures on the high seas.
After unloading his cargo, the captain is credited with the
agreed payment. Then he may refuel, make necessary
repairs, and so on. The next job is to find anew, lucrative
cargo, buy further ships, and/or repay his mortgages; in
other words, he must have a more productive company than
his competitors.
The strategy of the game is flexible. A rogue will try to
make a quick buck by using cheap ships and juggling the
freight rates to force his competitors into bankruptcy. The
careful player, in contrast, will build a solid financial
foundation. The superior speed of his high-tech fleet will
enable him to snap up the more lucrative contracts.
Any strategy is deemed to fail if you don't have a good
captain to bring your ship across the world's stormy seas.
The formulas for ship movement have been calculated so that
ships respond to changes in speed and movements of the
rudder as in the real world. It is recommended that the
beginner does not start with ships that are too large. These
are slow to respond and, as such, require a more
experienced captain.
A ship's movement at sea runs at high speed. The captain,
however, must select the correct speed. Fuel consumption
depends on the time at sea and the weather conditions.
Determination of the economic travelling speed depends on
fuel prices and freight rates. Hence, you can see that a
captain's decisions also have an influence on the success of
the company.
The credit rating of an enterprise is very dependent on its
social status. The more ports served by a line, the higher the
status. And an owner who is operating modem, expensive
ships has a naturally better standing than the owner of a
rusty, floating wreck. The captain's conduct also affects a
company's credit.
A player's chances of success improve the more he knows
about international shipping. All data for the game
originated from actual developments in the maritime world:
the fluctuation of freight rates, refueling costs, port charges,
and ship operating costs. The ship operating costs include
amounts payable for tax, management, crew expenses,
safety precautions, and other costs - these vary
significantly from country to country. These general costs
are calculated for each individual ship and are reduced in
accordance with the subsidies, tax reductions, etc., that are
valid in the country of registration. The accounts are then
automatically debited periodically, without the knowledge of
the owner.
Ship prices are the same for all ship owners. However, in
reality, ship building is subsidized differently in each
country; therefore, a compensatory figure is included in the
basic costs.
In summary, Ports of Call has been developed with this
motto in mind: "Software with Hard Facts. "
Getting Started
What You Need to Run Ports of Call
Ports of Call will run on any of the Amiga family of
computers with 512K RAM and one disk drive. Kickstart
and Workbench versions 1.2 (or greater) are required.
Loadin2 Ports of Call
To start Ports of Call:
On the Amiga 500 and 2000:
• Insert the Ports of Call disk into the internal drive (DFO:)
after turning the computer on.
• Place the cursor on the PoC disk icon and double click the
Selection (left) mouse button.
• When the window opens, double click on the
PortsofCall ship icon.
On the Amiga 1000:
• Insert Kickstart after turning the computer on.
• When the Workbench hand appears, insert the Ports of Call
disk into the internal drive (DFO:).
• Place the cursor on the PoC disk icon and double click the
Selection (left) mouse button.
•When the window opens, double click on the PortsofCalI
ship icon.
Personalizine Your Proeram
Before you can continue, you must enter your name and
registration number. A requestor will appear with a blue
cursor in the first edit field. This is where you are to type
your first name, space, then your last name. If your name
has special characters, use the English equivalent - ae for a,
for example. Also, enter an i in place of y. Press RETURN
and type the registration number (found on your registration
card). Select OK and the game will proceed.
Playing The Game
After you start the game, you will be presented with a series
of questions. The first asks, Load an Old Game? Click
on NO with the Selection (left) mouse button if you've
never played before. You can load a saved game by
selecting YES, in which case, a storage requestor will
appear with a list of your saved games.
A new requestor will appear asking you to choose the
desired time duration of play. You have options of selecting
1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours or until the game is over. If you
playa timed game and you reach the time limit, you are
given the option of continuing play or quitting. After
selecting the desired time duration, select OK.
Next, a requestor will appear asking you to select the degree
of playing difficulty. You will be presented with three
options: Beginner, Expert and Genius. If you are new
to the game, select Beginner, then select OK.
A requestor will then appear asking you to choose the
number of players. You can enter up to four. After entering
the number of players, select OK.
The registration form requestor will appear asking you to fill
out the ship Captain's name and the name of the shipping
company. Click with the Selection button inside the Name
drawer, type your name and press RETURN. Then type a
name for your fictional company and press RETURN.
Select OK.
After registering, you must choose a home port. Select any
of the 28 ports listed and select OK. A screen will then
appear with a picture of the globe, showing you the location
of your port. Select go on to continue. The entire
registration and port selection process will be repeated for
each player.
After all players are registered, the World Simulation Display
will appear (see Figure 1). This is the main screen of the
game, where all action starts and stops.
Figure 1 The World Simulation Display.
The Ports of Call Menu Bar
You can see the Menu Bar when you press the Menu (right)
mouse button. To choose a menu item, put the cursor on the
Project heading and move it down until the item you want
is highlighted. Release the Menu button and that item is
chosen. The Project menu includes:
• About••• , which brings up a window containing
copyright information and the version number. Free
Memory measures (in bytes) how much memory is
currently available.
• New Game will clear from memory the current game and
start an entirely new game.
• Load will bring up the storage requestor so that you may
load a previously saved game to resume play.
• Save will save the current game you are playing, provided
it has already been named; otherwise, the storage requestor
will appear so that you may enter a IIlename and directory.
• Save As will bring up the storage requestor allo'Ying you
to specify any drive or directory and filename to save the
game to. After selecting Save As•••, type the name of
the game in the filename box and the directory you want
to save it to in the drawer box and then select OK.
• Print will print the current screen. If you have a printer
other than an Epson, you must copy its driver to the Ports
of Call disk and install it using the Preferences program.
Consult the handbook which came with your Amiga for
more information.
• If necessary, you can abandon play by choosing Quit.
Then a requestor will appear asking if you really want to
do this for sure. Select OK to quit, CANCEL to resume
play. Upon quitting the game, you will be shown which
player has been most successful.
The World Simulation Display
The Simulation Display shows a map of the world on which
the ships of all ship owners are shown - you must buy a
ship before you can see it. Individual ships are displayed in
the company colors. A ship will blink several times when
activity is expected. The numbers in rectangular boxes
represent the wind strength (on the Beaufort scale) for
weather systems calculated by the global weather simulator.
The higher numbers indicate storms.
The ACTION gadget in the lower left comer is labeled
START. If you select it again it will change to STOP.
Selecting START allows the SIMULATION ELAPSED
TIME gadget to continue and the game to proceed.
Selecting STOP freezes the time gadget, allowing the player
to conduct business away from the ship.
The SIMULATED ELAPSED TIME gadget. contains a
simulated 24-hour clock and boxes representing days. The
passing of weeks and years are shown underneath.
You must select STOP before you can select any of the
gadgets on the right side of the World Simulation Display:
GLOBE, OFFICE and SHIP BROKER. Selecting
SHIP BROKER brings up a requestor showing the
current ship owners' company names with buttons next
them. When you select a button, a screen will appear
showing you an elevator. The elevator has five floors from
which to choose, where you can buy or sell ships and get
information about the ship market.
Selecting OFFICE also lets you select a company name to
take you into that company's office. This is where your
books are kept, statistics are analyzed, mortgages and bank
overdrafts are applied for and repaid, profit and loss
statements are prepared and business developments are kept
track of. You can also change the location of your home port
from within your office if you think it is more economical to
operate under a different flag.
Hint: Checking your office periodically will prevent theft.
Selecting GLOBE allows each player to determine the
location of his ships, the ship's route and Estimated Time of
Arrival (ETA). These details are recorded on the Globe,
which can be rotated into any viewing position when you
hold the Selection (left) mouse button down on the rotation
gadget in the coordinate system and drag it to a new
positions while still holding down the Selection button.
In the World Simulation Display, the window in the lower
right comer displays the relative status of the shipping
companies.
.
After all the ship owners have bought their ships, select
START. The map will blink the ships in different colors to
signify an activity will occur.
The Port Display
You will now be presented with a screen showing the
captain's cabin - you can see your port through the
porthole (see Figure 2). The chalkboard contains information
regarding the city and country of your port. The captain's
log lists the last port visited, cargo, profits, bank balance,
ship condition and available fuel (in tons). The clipboard
contains options which you can activate by selecting them.
Figure 2 The Captain's Cabin.
Repairing Your Ship
If you bought a used ship, chances are that it needs a little
minor repair. After selecting REPAIR, you will be
presented with a requestor showing you the damage and
repair status of your ship. You can select the level of repairs
you want or can afford.
Refueling Your Ship
To refuel your ship, select REFUEL. This will bring up
the refueling screen, where you can select how much fuel to
put in your ship. By clicking the select button on any of
these buttons: 25%,50%,75% or 100%, the fuel will rise
in the tank to that level.
Chartering Your Ship
Selecting CHARTER allows you to choose where you will
go next and what type of cargo to carry. Every port has
different types of cargo - some worth a lot more than
others. To determine the best cargo, click on the various
destinations and available cargoes to determine the most
lucrative charter.
Laying Up
Laying up means to dock your ship for a short time. You
may want to wait until the laws of supply and demand
command a higher price for your cargo. As a ship owner, it
may become necessary to temporarily "lay up" the ship for a
week or so, because it is not economically viable to to
operate the ship when the income doesn't cover the
overhead.
Loading Your Cargo
When you are ready to embark, select LOAD CARGO,
then select OK. The screen will turn blank indicating an
action is taking place and you will return to the World
Simulation Display. Your ship will appear in your company
color. When it blinks on and off, you are ready to navigate
through the harbor on your way to the destination port.
Navigating Your Ship
Navigation is the most important aspect of being a successful
Captain. The ship must be maneuvered in and out of
different harbors and oftentimes through difficult obstacles.
The Navigation Control Panel is made up of the following
components: the Power Regulator, Speed Indicator,
and Rudder Regulator (see Figure 3). Each one must be
mastered to successfully navigate your ship.
The Power Regulator
The power regulator functions similar to a gas pedal in a car.
To go faster, hold the select button down and drag the speed
regulator up to go forwards, and down to go backwards.
Actual ship acceleration is simulated, so it takes time to gain
speed. With the regulator positioned in the exact center
(represented by a horizontal line) the ship's engine is at idle.
The Speed Indicator
The speed indicator is represented by a small horizontal line
directly to the right of the power regulator. It functions
similar to a speedometer by showing you how fast you are
moving. If the speed indicator is moving fast, you have a lot
of momentum and it will take longer to slow down or change
direction. Beginning ship captains should take time and
experiment with the navigation control panel until they are
familiar with maneuvering techniques.
Transverse
Thruster
(available only on
,...-.......71'----., more expensive
ships)
Power
Regulator
Speed
Indicator
Rudder
Regulator
Figure 3 The Navigation Control Panel.
The Rudder Regulator
The rudder regulator is identical to a steering wheel. When
the ship is moving forward, dragging it to the left will tum
the ship left and dragging it right will steer the ship right.
When the ship is traveling backwards it functions the
opposite.
Enterine a Harbor
The goal when entering a harbor is to safely dock your ship
and park it inside the blue target shaped like an arrow (called
the berth). The front of the ship must be pointing in the
same direction as the arrow to successfully dock the ship,
and the ship must be motionless and parallel to the dock
inside the blue target. The hourglass represents how much
time you have to accomplish this. You can use tugboat
assistance if you feel it is too difficult, but tugs cost you a lot
of money. If you are low on funds, you will be forced to
steer by hand.
Leavine a Harbor
You successfully leave a harbor by navigating your ship
through the blue target window. You aren't penalized for
exiting backwards. The goal is to safely exit without
crashing or going beyond the time limit shown in the
hourglass. You can use tugboat assistance if you feel it is
too difficult, but ~ugs cost you a lot of money. If you are
low on funds, you will be forced to steer by hand.
On the Open Sea
When you have successfully left the harbor, a screen will
appear containing infonnation on your destination, freight on
board, distance to travel (in nautical miles), and the deadline
for delivery (if any). Also, you may choose your traveling
speed (in knots). Remember, the higher the speed, the more
fuel is consumed; on the other hand, a long journey results
in a high total of fixed operating expenses. After making
your choices, you must challenge the cold, cruel sea - you
may STOP ACTION at any time during the voyage to
catch up on office work, buy ships, and so on. Bon
Voyage!
And the Winner Is ...
When the game is over, the Ranking List will appear. The
winner is determined by who has the highest status. If it's a
tie score, the assets are taken into account.
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AEGIS
INTERACTIV E
ENTERTAI NMENT
PaperDisk Publishing
Los Angeles, CA