Nemo is gone, but his machines have opened a whole new world to us! The floors of Neptune's seas lay open to us, ready to surrender their bounties. Equip and upgrade your mining machines, then guide them to the rich mineral seams beneath the ocean. Control the supply of resources to bend the market to your will. Become the master of Nautilus Industries!
In the game, players take on the role of an enterprising business owner, with each trying to exploit the riches of the sea as well as the marketplace to earn the most money by the end of the game. Players take a series of simple actions, such as programming a mining robot, increasing warehouse capacity, swapping mining zone order, or purchasing stocks.
Each round, players have three actions they must take before the market phase. During this phase, players collect and sell resources, in turn order. Each sea zone is mined in a specific order, and players have the option each round to sell or hold their resources for a later round. When resources are sold, the market price of that resource decreases to reflect the supply/demand of that resource; stocks of the company using that resource also increase in value. Accordingly, if a resource is not sold, the market price for that resource increases. Players must decide when to sell and when to hold. Should you flood the market to bring down the price so your neighbor makes less money? Do you think the player beside you will hold out for a higher price, or will they sell just to spite you?
Nautilus Industries is easy to learn because of the simple actions you take, yet dynamic because of the way the markets, stocks, and players affect the gameplay.
- Has an original theme.
- Artwork captures the theme well.
- Confusing stock purchasing mechanism.
- Component fit issues on the stock chart.
- Component count might be off.
- Tedious and finicky market phase.
- Repetitive gameplay loop.
- Feels more like accounting than a game.
- Low replay value.
- Limited meaningful tactical choices.
- Left the reviewers disappointed.
- Mining for rare minerals, buying stocks in companies, and controlling prices with supply and demand
- the ocean depths
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- action selection — Players take three actions per turn, with the option to repeat actions.
- Resource Management — Managing warehouse capacity for storing gems.
- Set Collection — Collecting same colored gems.
- Stock market — Players buy stocks in companies and the value of stocks and commodities are adjusted based on supply and demand.
- Worker Placement — Players place subs on mining zones to mine gems.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Nautilus Industries like what what can you like nothing America I don't usually have anything to say anyway so you're fired
- felt more like an accounting or math class than a game
- Nautilus Industries gets a five out of 10
References (from this video)
- Naval/industrial exploration
- Stock-market-themed Eurogame
- economic
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Stock market / economic engine — Resource management with market dynamics
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Look Back, where I take a look at reviews that I did a year ago, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, and 20 years ago this week, and tell you what I think about them now.
- This game was very much a Sudoku board game. I would play it a whole lot less today.
- It's now impossible to find. It has not been reprinted for a lot of uh litigation reasons.
- I think the second game in the Dice Tower Essentials line.