Commander: Conquest of the Americas

Commander: Conquest of the Americas is an economical simulation set in the 16th century and beyond. The player takes the role of one seven European nations (which influences the starting position) and tries to colonize North and South America. The game focuses on trading: producing goods, ship them to Europe and come back with new settlers or goods. Expanding colonies is more static than in other real-time strategy games as the player only chooses new buildings in a menu and doesn't put them on the map itself. There are about 30 of them which all serve different functions, e.g. production facilities or churches to improve morale. With a higher population the colony gains influence over more ground and if it reaches a new resource ground it automatically gets used. It also opens the opportunity to trade with the natives. Diplomacy consists of a few options to trade, form alliances or declare war.

If the player engages in combat the game switches to its own combat screen with up to 30 ships. The goal is of course to navigate the ships skillfully to sink the hostile units. This can be played with regular real-time strategy controls or by controlling the ships directly with the keyboard. Battles can be automatically calculated if the player doesn't want to fight himself. All of the 14 ships have certain advantages and disadvantages; some of them are only available in later years. The captains can be upgraded over time by giving them special abilities like faster sailing but this is the only part of the game which resembles RPG elements or research options.

The game offers three modes: free playing, campaign or instant ship battles. During the campaign the player receives missions from his advisors, e.g. getting a certain amount of gold bars in a limited amount of time. Success or failure influences the advisors' mood; if it sinks too low the game ends. The player can set routes and therefore automate regular trading activities.