Tide Trader: Pirate Seas

Your uncle left you a small cutter, 1,500 silver and a debt of 5,000. His fleet lies at the bottom of the sea, sunk by the pirates of the Black Gull.

Trade your way out. Buy coffee where it is cheap, sail it to the port that pays more, and watch the silver come in. Every voyage costs weeks, every week adds interest, and every crate you sell moves the price. There is never one right answer.

SPOT THE PRICE GAP
• Seventeen island ports across six seas, each making some goods cheaply and paying well for others
• Salt, timber, coffee, rum, spices, gunpowder, silk, porcelain and pearls, and in the north amber, sable, cinder glass and ambergris
• Your own trades move prices, so today's best deal may not be tomorrow's
• A captain's log remembers every price you have seen

PLAN EVERY VOYAGE
• Longer trips take more weeks and meet more pirates
• Storms, floating cargo and harbour searches along the way
• Short bans make some goods pay far more, if the harbour watch does not catch you
• Buy a round in the tavern to hear what is happening across the sea

FIGHT WHEN YOU MUST
• Quick sea battles that last seconds, not minutes
• Fire when your guns are loaded, brace for their broadside, aim at hull or sails, and board a beaten ship
• Heavy shot, grapeshot, chain shot and smoke, or try to flee
• Face the Black Gull at her lair, then break the chain at Shrike's Perch

GROW YOUR FLEET
• Seven ships, from a nimble cutter to a mighty man-o'-war
• Upgrades, more cannons, a bigger hold and warehouses ashore
• Governors' contracts: deliveries, rush orders, smuggling runs, escorts, named pirates to hunt and treasure charts
• Two chapters of story across six seas, and free trade after them

MADE FOR YOUR PHONE
• Portrait, one hand, big buttons, no typing
• Text size and reduced-motion settings
• No account needed. Your voyage saves after every move

FAIR TO PLAY
• No energy timers and no lives
• Ads only when you choose one, for a small bonus, never in the middle of play
• One optional purchase, the Captain's Pass, gives the same bonuses without the ads, and three sets of colours for your ships. It never gives silver

Set sail, captain. The Reach is waiting.