1602 A.D.

There are five tutorials, twenty-five scenarios and six campaigns for single-player gaming in 1602 A.D. The multi-player section adds another thirty-seven scenarios. More than 700 islands are in the database. There are also downloadable scenario packs and the game comes with a custom scenario editor - and a good set of instructions on how to build these scenarios. (If only the basic rules had been as well and as completely written as the editor instructions!)

Unlike many other games that cover this period, 1602 A.D. is NOT primarily a game of exploration - and it does not take place in the "real" New World of the Seventeenth Century. There is no recognizable continent or archipelago. The player will have a map of a random chain of islands. The player can scroll over these islands and see coastlines, bays, rivers, mountains - even herds of deer capering about. If other players (there can be up to three other computer or, if on a LAN or Internet setup, human players) have established colonies, these are visible and can be looked at in great detail - including what commodities are produced and demanded by those colonies. What is NOT shown are native and pirate settlements and what commodities each island can produce.

To find out these key details, the player has to move his ship to an island and click on an "eye" symbol. In a few seconds the symbol will rotate and will provide a complete report as to what the island is best suited to produce (cocoa, tobacco, spices etc.), whether any natives or pirates lurk there (their settlements and the animated inhabitants therein will appear on the island) and, most vital of all, whether or not the mountains on the island (assuming there are any) produce any type of ore. Ore is probably the most critical commodity, as it will be used to make bricks and tools - two of the three things vital to construction of a colony (the third requirement is lumber, but all islands have trees so that is the easiest building block to find).


Aztec motif.	The warehouse.

This type of simple exploration allows the player to find the island best suited to his needs and plans. It must be done BEFORE setting foot on the island - a process that is initiated by the construction of a warehouse. This warehouse uses up some of the basic building blocks carried by the player's expedition (usually a single ship, although some scenarios start with small fleets). Waste this initial outlay on a dead-end island and the game will be a lot harder and slower to play, let alone win.

Plant The Flag... er, Warehouse (and Marketplace)

Once the player has found an island that has what he is looking for (ore), and has determined that no other player is already there, he can make his landing. (Do not even try to compete with a computer opponent, or even a human one, for the same island - the humans will waste themselves while other, unopposed computers march forward rapidly. If a settlement is already there, move on - there are always more islands).

This is where the city planning begins, for 1602 A.D. is as much a city planning game as Sim-City, Caesar III or Pharaoh. Unfortunately, this is not really made clear in the rule book - but it is made crystal clear in the web site information. That packet of "Resources" the player prints out from the web site becomes the Bible for play. It explains how a player needs to set up a chain of marketplaces from his warehouse. These set up administrative boundaries inside of which colonists can build their settlements. They also form collection points for materials, provide carters to collect materials produced at different types of buildings, and provide a conduit for building materials that can be accessed by the tiny sim-settlers.

There are more than 90 types of buildings that can be constructed. Only a few, however, can be built by the initial landing party. Although noted in the rulebook, this is not fully explained except on the web site. The "City Planning" section of the mis-named "Hints" section on the web offers a simple "Prerequisite" list that shows the minimum number (and type) of people that must be in a settlement before a type of building can be constructed

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