Game Classification

Developed by the creators of Time of Defiance, Picaroon is a free-to-play multi-player strategy game (MMORTS).

Battle alone, or as part of an alliance, in an apocalyptic water-world. Seek domination by assembling mammoth fleets, navigating treacherous sea (overcoming forces of nature and odd rogue pirates or two!) and inhabiting or conquering additional islands. Picaroon has strategies for all; be you builder, attacker, defender or diplomat ? each game is different.

The game is set in grim water-world future where the players fight it out for possession of what remains above sea-level. There are three different ways to play: Classic Picaroon ? these games contain hundreds of player and last for approximately 2-3 week, Skirmish Picaroon, an archetypal clan game in which fights last approximately 1-2 hours and Persistent Picaroon ? a continuous game in which everyone can compete. The ultimate aim of the game is to gain reputation points to progress ones rank from "Powder Monkey" to "Picaroon Admiral". Of course, the is always a winner of each game of Classic and Skirmish Picaroon, the real challenge is to hold onto an empire in the Persistent game ? only the most daring will succeed!

Players start off with an island which must be colonised (a phase of the game reminiscent of the Catan series), in order to build ships and create a dominant fleet. As well as exploring the world, building settlements and fleets, players can expand their territories by discovering more islands, form alliances with other players or just plain battling it out to seize islands with existing colonies. On top of all this PvP action, there is also a plethora of NPC entities such as rogue pirates, whirlpool wormholes and travelling salesmen which roam the open seas looking either for victims or to provide a helping hand

Gameplay can be enhance using "Specials", which are similar to those found in collectible card games as in Magic the Gathering games. There is a vast selection of Special cards, each of which has a feature such as; forcing a volcano to erupt, laying a minefield or quadrupling construction speed for an hour on a settlement. Certain Specials can be obtained for free by finding them (for example, on a new island) or by winning them (for example, by completing certain "Questorials"). Alternatively, decks of cards can be acquired using either of the following methods; by taxing your settlers, players can raise in-game gold to buy one of several random decks of cards, alternatively more specific decks can be purchased using a secure micro-transaction system.

More Specials appear as part of Classic Picaroon?s unique end-game: The ultimate battle where the skies go dark, the roulette wheels spin and giant, mammoth ships materialise out of nowhere alongside submarines launching ancient nuclear tipped missiles?Who will win? [source:mobygames]

Distribution : Retail - Commercial
Platform(s) : PC (Windows)

Links

• http://www.mobygames.com/game/picaroon/