The Marketplace

Found in: Jia Ching, Tanchon, Edamame, Lama Sut, Shangri La

The Marketplace is central to Tradewinds, and the prices of each of the goods vary each month. Buy goods when they are cheap and sell them when they are expensive, to make the best profit. If you cannot find a good price immediately you will need to either store them on your ships or in a warehouse until you can get a better price for them.

There are four types of market goods:

• General Merchandise - this is usually relatively cheap, and good for a budding trader to deal in at the start. Prices can vary wildly but start around 10 gold and go up to around 20 gold.
• Arms - a common trade good, arms typically range from 50 gold to 500 gold.
• Silk - expensive but beautiful, silk usually fetches anything from 500 gold to 2,500 gold!
• Dream Dust - Dream Dust is illegal, but also the most lucrative cargo of all. Prices normally range from 6,000 gold to an astonishing 21,000 gold...but if the Port Authority suspects that you have Dream Dust aboard they may raid your ships, seizing any they find aboard!

Your total available cargo space is displayed in the top right corner of the screen, and a single unit of any trade good will take up one unit of space. Remember that cannons take up 10 units of cargo space each! Select trade goods by tapping on them, and either use the arrows to select a quantity and tap "Buy", or tap "Buy Max" to buy the maximum number of units of that item that you can afford and carry. When entering quantities to buy or sell, you can also tap on the field between the arrows to bring up a number entry box, or use text entry to enter a number directly. When selling your goods you also have access to the the "Sell All" button, which sells all the cargo in your fleet or your warehouse.

You can purchase items directly into your warehouse, or sell directly from it, by selecting "Warehouse" at the top of the screen. This option is only visible if you own a warehouse in that port.

The Shipyard

Found in: Jia Ching, Edamame, Shangri La

The Shipyard is the place to come if you wish to buy additional ships for your fleet, sell a ship, or repair damage from combat.

Repairs to a ship will cost a certain amount of gold depending on how damaged a ship is and what type of ship it is. More expensive ships cost more to repair. The main Shipyard screen always offers an option to fix the entire fleet ("Fix Fleet"), but ships can also be repaired individually by tapping on a ship and then "Repair". If you do not have enough money to pay for the full repairs, tapping "Fix Fleet" will repair as much as you can afford.

It is a good idea to repair your ships whenever you can, as losing a ship also means losing the cargo on the ship.

Tapping on a specific ship allows you to view information about it: number of cannons, current free space (and whether it has the "Smuggler" type), name, type, hull points and value. From here you can also buy new cannons to fit to the ship, or sell them. Cannons cost 6,000 to buy...but beware, they are only worth 3,000 to sell, so don't buy more than you need! Remember that cannons take up 10 space, so the more cannons you have on board, the less cargo you can hold, and vice-versa.

If a ship has the "Smuggler" type, the Port Authority will not find any Dream Dust stored on it when they perform a search.

Tapping on a specific ship also allows you to sell it, as long as it is not the last ship in your fleet. This sells it "as is", with any cannons and cargo on board. Don't forget to offload your cargo first, because while you will be paid for the cannons (at the normal price of 3,000 each), you won't get anything for the cargo you leave on board!

To purchase a ship, tap on "Buy Ship", which will display information about the ship on sale (including the price), then tap "Confirm Purchase". New ships only come with 1 cannon regardless of size. You may have a maximum of 15 ships in your fleet at any one time, so if you've just found a dream ship but are at this limit, you will need to sell a ship to make room first.

Ship types:

• Junk - Maximum cargo 25, Hull points 4
• One Masted Sloop - Maximum cargo 150, Hull points 15
• Two Masted Sloop - Maximum cargo 200, Hull points 25
• Brigantine - Maximum cargo 300, Hull points 40
• Juggernaut - Maximum cargo 350, Hull points 100, unique to Gossamer

The Bank

Found in: Jia Ching, Tanchon, Lama Sut

Placing money in the bank allows it to accumulate interest, which counts towards your goal of 1,000,000,000 gold. The amount of money you have in the bank increases by 3% each month.

When depositing or withdrawing money, tap on the numerical field to bring up a number pad, allowing you to quickly enter a specific figure

For respectable citizens like Madame Tso or Douglas McGowan, using the bank is very important, as denying Gossamer's demands for too long might result in being robbed. If this occurs, Gossamer's thugs steal a certain amount of the money you have on your person, but the money in your bank account is safe.

The Moneylender

Found in: Jia Ching, Tanchon, Shangri La

Sh'iao Ch'ian, the Moneylender, is happy to loan you cash in amounts up to twice your current net worth. However, your debts accrue interest at the steep rate of 10% per month. You want to visit him and pay him back as quickly as possible. You can only have one loan at a time. You must pay back your previous loan in full to take out another.

Loans from the moneylender accrue interest at a rate of 10% each month, so it is in your best interests to pay it back quickly!

Borrowing or repaying money to the moneylender is very similar to depositing or withdrawing money from the bank, including the ability to tap on the number field to enter a specific number.

The Port Authority

Found in: Jia Ching, Tanchon, Edamame, Lama Sut

The Port Authority is the place to purchase a warehouse, hire guards for your warehouse (if you already have a warehouse in the current town), check for news of notorious pirates and which shipping lane they are on, and to collect bounties on notorious pirates you have defeated.

Notorious pirates can be found on particular shipping lanes between two towns, and will only raid that shipping lane for a short period of time before a new one appears elsewhere. Each notorious pirate has a unique name - usually something like "Mad Bartholomew Crown". It's important to keep track of where these pirates are to either avoid them or hunt them down! If you travel between the same two towns that the Port Authority name, you will encounter the notorious pirate.

Collecting bounties for notorious pirates is a lucrative but risky occupation, as they are normally tougher and more numerous than the chance encounters, but you not only gain a reward from searching the wreckage (as with all combats), but the port authority will also pay you a bounty. It is possible to "save up" bounties from notorious pirates, and collect several at once. The more bounties you are collecting at the same time, the higher the reward will be.

You start out with a warehouse in your home port, unless you are Gossamer. Unfortunately it is quite possible for your warehouse to be robbed while you are not there. Hire guards for your warehouse from the Port Authority to reduce the number of burglaries. Paying protection money to Gossamer also helps!

The Alehouse

Found in: Jia Ching, Edamame, Shangri La

The local population will have nothing to do with these dens of "barbarian" drink. This makes them a useful place to meet up with other traders and merchants like you. You might hear rumors of market opportunities, tips on how to play the game or gain the respect and admiration of others. If you buy enough rounds of drinks, you may be able to hire mercenaries to join your fleet for a little while. Mercenaries will, for a fee plus half the spoils of battle, add their gun-laden ships to your fleet for a few months.

Talking to the bartender is free, and will tell you many interesting things about playing the game. However, if you want trading tips, you'll have to buy a round of drinks (or several) for the bar patrons...after a few drinks, they may tell you something profitable!

The Warehouse

Found in: Jia Ching, Tanchon, Edamame, Lama Sut

Each character apart from Gossamer starts play with a Warehouse in their home port, and all characters can acquire Warehouses in other ports during play.

Warehouses can be used to store large quantities of goods, much like a fleet of ships, but they remain in one place - you cannot access a warehouse in a port other than the one you are docked in.

Warehouses are best used to buy a lot of goods cheaply and store them for a later date, either selling them when the price is high in that port, or carrying them in your ships to another port. Purchasing or selling from a warehouse works in the same way as from your fleet.

To transfer goods from your fleet to your warehouse, select the type of goods you want to transfer ("Silk" for example), then "Ships" (as opposed to "Warehouse") Enter the amount of goods you want to move. The amount of goods to move is displayed in the number field under "Quantity to Move". This is initially zero. To change this figure, use the arrow buttons either side, or tap "Max" to select the maximum amount to move. Then tap "Move goods to warehouse".

Moving goods from your warehouse to your fleet works in the same way, except you must have "Warehouse" selected, not "Ships".

Sometimes your warehouse may be robbed. The chances of this happening are worse if you are playing as Douglas or Madame Tso, and have neglected to pay your protection money to Gossamer. You can also hire guards from the Port Authority to reduce the chances of your warehouse being robbed. If you have guards for your warehouse, the number of months they are hired for is displayed at the top of the screen.

The Log

Tap on the portrait of your character or open a menu to enter the ship's log. The log displays the last 50 events that happened in the game. The most recent event is at the bottom. Scroll up and down the log with the arrow buttons to the right.

Below the most recent event is your current rank, which is based on your wealth level. The possible ranks are as follows, where "Beggar" is the lowest:

• Tai-Pan
• Empire Builder
• Merchant Noble
• Sea Dragon
• Commander
• Entrepreneur
• Master Trader
• Expert Trader
• Trader
• Merchant
• Beggar

Below the rank display are some buttons. The "Mute"/"Unmute" button is always visible, and allows you to mute/unmute the sound. If you are docked in the port, you will also see buttons allowing you to "Save" and "Load" your game. Tap the "Back" button in the bottom right to return to the game.

Setting Sail

To travel to another port, tap on the "Set Sail" button and you will be taken to the map screen. From here you can see all the towns. If you are playing as Douglas McGowan or Madame Tso, Shangri-La is normally not visible or available to sail to...although sometimes pirates will reveal the location of the city for a while once you defeat them!

To sail to a town, simply tap on the town or on the name of the town, and you will start moving. Sailing the high seas can be risky, and there is a chance of encountering pirates as you travel. If you do, a pair of crossed swords will flash on your location, and you will enter combat (see below).

If the ship is taking too long to travel, tap on the screen once to speed it up!

Pirates and Notorious Pirates
Check with the Port Authority before setting sail, in case a notorious pirate is raiding the route you intend to travel. If you encounter a notorious pirate, then it is also possible that you will encounter a normal pirate as well.

Storms
An additional hazard of sailing the high seas is bad weather. Storms can blow up without warning, and will push your ship off course to another town. A storm is indicated by a small white cloud flashing over your location.

Combat

Combat in Tradewinds is turn-based, and your fleet (the white ships) will always fire first on the enemy (the blue ships.)

Your ships only fire on the selected enemy ships. Selected enemy ships have a crossed swords icon floating above them. By default, all enemy ships are selected. Tapping on an enemy ship toggles the status, so you can tap to de-select a ship, then tap again to select it again. Try to select only the largest, most dangerous enemy ships, so that you can concentrate your fire and take them out of the fight quickly. If you take the default option to fire at all ships, you waste a lot of firepower taking out the least dangerous enemy ships.

There are four combat buttons, located just below your fleet. From left to right:

• Fire: All your ships fire on all selected enemy ships. One cannonball is fired for each cannon on each of your ships.
• Flee: You attempt to sail away from combat. This may result in you escaping, or possibly only outrunning some or none of the enemy ships.
• Dump cargo: You dump all the trade goods weighing your ships down so that you have a better chance of fleeing.
• Select / De-select all: Selects or de-selects all the enemy ships. You must have at least one enemy ship selected to fire.

Below the combat buttons is a horizontal row of icons representing your ships, and below that a similar row representing the enemy ships. You can scroll through the list using the left and right arrow buttons to either side. Tap and hold on the icon of one of your own ships to be reminded of the name and number of cannons. Tap on the icon of an enemy ship as an alternate way of selecting/de-selecting it. To the right of each ship icon is a health bar. A fully healthy ship has a full blue bar. As a ship gets more damaged, this blue bar is replaced by red.

If you are happy with the selection of enemy ships to fire at, tap on the "Fire" button (the leftmost combat button). Each turn a ship can only fire at one enemy. Your ships will divide their fire among the chosen vessels, and with luck your enemy will be severely reduced in number!

Once your turn is over, the enemy get their turn to fire on you. The bigger the enemy vessel, the more cannons they will be able to fire on you, so when picking your targets in your turn, it is important to go for the most dangerous ships first...the enemy will do the same to you!

After the enemy's turn, it is your turn again, and this repeats until one side or the other has no ships left.

Retreating
Going down with the ship isn't the only choice you have in combat when you are losing. The middle of the two combat buttons are "Flee" and "Drop Cargo" respectively. To attempt to escape from combat, simply tap the "Flee" button. You lose your opportunity to fire this turn, but if successful you will outrun the enemy. If your attempt is unsuccessful, then the remaining enemy ships (for you may still have outrun some of them), will get their turn to fire on you as normal.

To improve your chances of fleeing, distract the pirates with some choice loot, and lighten your load at the same time. The "Drop Cargo" button allows you to drop all of your cargo in combat. While this might seem like a foolish thing to do, a subsequent attempt to flee has a much higher chance of escaping.

Hint: Petra Gale has a higher chance of escaping from any combat than the other characters, because of her long experience in dodging the law!

Hints and Tips

Tradewinds does not have to end once you reach 1,000,000,000 gold! You can continue playing after that point, but may retire at any time by selecting the "Retire" option from the Game menu (just below the "Abandon Game" option.) The "Retire" option will only be available after you reach 1,000,000,000 gold!

Your final score at retirement or defeat is calculated as follows: (Cash + Bank Account - Debt) / Months In Game

Make the most of the advantages and disadvantages of your character! Each have some bonus or benefit that helps them in some way, such as Douglas McGowan's cheaper ship repairs or Petra Gale's ability to escape combat more easily.

Saving and Loading

You can freely exit and re-enter Tradewinds without losing your current game. As well as this, there are three save slots, allowing you to play more than one game at once. To access a save slot you must be docked in port. Tap on your character's portrait, or open a menu to access the log. The screen will have changed to the game "log" screen, showing all the events and features that have happened to your character while playing Tradewinds. In the bottom left corner is an option to mute all music and sounds (also available from the Sound Settings item of the Options menu), and in the bottom right are the "Load" and "Save" buttons. To save a game, tap on "Save", which will display the three savegame slots available, and then tap the "Save" button next to the slot you wish to save to. Saving over a previous saved game overwrites it.

Loading a game works in a similar fashion.

Note that to load and save a game you must be in port, viewing the town screen, and there must be no dialog box up waiting for an answer.

The Game Settings

Tradewinds features a number of options to allow you to adjust the game slightly. To access them, tap on the menu button, and then select "Game Settings". The settings and their functions are as follows:

• Show Tips (Yes/No) - This option enables or disables the tip dialogs that appear as you play the game, which explain new features or elements.
• Show Building Names (Yes/No) - This option turns off the display of the building names tooltips while in the town screen. Even if the option is on, these names are only displayed if you tap and hold over the picture of a building in town.
• Show Port Names (Always/Tooltip/Never) - As with the building names, this option allows you to control the display of town names on the map screen. Setting the option to "Tooltip" will only display the town name if the stylus is tapped and held over a town.
• Combat Tooltips (Yes/No) - This option enables or disables the display of a tooltip label if you tap and hold over a combat button (Fire, Flee, Drop Cargo and Select All / De-select All.)
• Incidental Sound Effects (Yes/No) - This option enables or disables the background sound effects played randomly in town.
• Map Click sounds (Yes/No) - This option enables or disables the clicking sound played as you move on the map screen.
• Remove Unused Resources - Tapping this button will allow you to remove all graphics and sounds not required by your device, which can greatly reduce the amount of space Tradewinds takes up (especially on low-resolution devices). Subsequently beaming a "minimised" file such as this to another Palm may mean the recipient may not be able to play that version, but can obtain a version that will work from http://www.astraware.com/palm/tradewinds.

Registering

In unregistered mode, the maximum length of a game is 4 game years. After 2 years, the game will begin to prompt you to register occasionally. If you register Tradewinds, the game time is unlimited, and there are no annoying prompts!

Also, in an unregistered version you may only play as Douglas McGowan. If you register, you get three more colorful characters, Petra Gale, Madame Tso, and Gossamer. See the "Characters" section for a description of their talents.

After 5 free games, every time you start a new game you will have to watch a short countdown reminding you to register. Registration removes this delay.

If you beam a demo to someone else, and they also like the game, then they can register it by purchasing online.

Registering Online:

For those that like the speed and convenience of buying via the internet, when you register for the game, you'll get a code which will unlock the game and remain valid for future upgrades. Go to the web page at http://www.astraware.com/palm/tradewinds/ for more details.

You'll need to know your HotSync ID which you can find by running Tradewinds, opening into the menus, and selecting the 'Register...' option. Your HotSync ID will be filled in for you below.

When you register, Astraware will generate a key based on your ID, which will normally be sent out by email within 48 hours of you registering. When you receive your key, go to the same register option, and enter the key into the space provided.

Astraware Products

You can find out about Astraware and the product range we have for mobile platforms by visiting our website at www.astraware.com.
Here are our top products at time of writing:

Release Revision History!

• Corrected a problem with the start up memory checks that could prevent the game from running on some devices

• First Public Release!

Feedback

If you've got suggestions about how to improve Astraware Tradewinds, or with reports of any problems you've had, then please contact us!

Tradewinds enquiries/feedback: tradewinds@astraware.com
Registration problems: registrations@astraware.com
General Astraware enquiries: feedback@astraware.com  

Contributors

Sandlot Games Corporation
Game Design and Programming: Andrew Megowan
Graphics: Israel Evans
Sound and Music: Daniel Bernstein
Additional Writing: Lisa Zimmerman

Astraware
Programming: Janet Campbell
Graphics: Stov Thorley, Bryan King
Music: Yannis Brown

Thanks also to the help of our enthusiastic beta testers, who helped perfect this game!

Software License Agreement

1. Grant Of License
   This License permits you to use Tradewinds on any single computer, provided the software is installed on only one handheld device at any time.

2. Copyright
   The software is owned by Astraware Limited and is protected by United Kingdom copyright laws, international treaty provisions, and all other applicable national laws. You may not modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or otherwise attempt to discover the code and algorithms of the software.

3. Other Restrictions
   You may not rent or lease the software, but you may transfer your rights under this license agreement on a permanent basis provided you transfer all copies of the software and all written materials and the recipient agrees to the terms of this license.

4. No Warranty
   The software is delivered as is and Astraware Limited makes no warranty as to its use or performance. Astraware Limited does not, and cannot warrant the performance or results you may obtain by using the Software or its documentation. Astraware Limited makes no warranties, express or implied, as to noninfringement of third party rights, merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. In no event will Astraware Limited be liable to you for any consequential, incidental or special damages, or for any claim by any third party.

Legal

Astraware Limited takes no responsibility for any adverse effect that this software could cause to your machine or the data on it: backup important data before using Tradewinds. Tradewinds is protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties. Tradewinds is licensed, not sold.

You may not reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble this software.

Astraware’s and its suppliers’ entire liability and your exclusive remedy shall be, at Astraware’s option, either (a) return of the price paid, if any, or (b) replacement of the product that does not meet the warranty and which is returned to Astraware with a copy of your receipt. This warranty is void if failure of the product has resulted from accident, abuse, or misapplication. Any replacement software product will be warranted for the remainder of the original warranty period or thirty (30) days, whichever is longer. These remedies are not available without proof of purchase from an authorized source.

Written permission must be obtained before distribution of this game, either in demo form or full form, through any online or offline methods. You may link to the product specific page, but not directly to the files (as these will change and as the programs are updated) 

Copyright (c) 2004 Astraware Ltd., Sandlot Games Corporation.

Astraware and the planet logo are trademarks of Astraware Limited All rights reserved.