Advances in nautical technology made longer travel by sea possible. Players take over the role to build a trade empire for their nation. They are chartered to explore the vast seas outside the known world and found colonies to harvest rich goods on a modular world map.
Nations which can control a monopoly of particular goods will be able to make the most profit. But weakly protected colonies will be easy targets for the other nations and fierce battles are fought between fleets for those key colonies on a tactical battle map.
Players can invest their money in developing new ship types (carracks, galleons, frigates, etc.) or harbor defense. Or, they can spend their money by buying new ships, trying to find the perfect balance between merchant and battle ships.
The game is won by the player who has the most victory points after a fixed number of rounds. As points are awarded for earning money, not keeping it, make sure to spend it wisely!