Never a depression in the imaginary markets

October 13, 2008 4:58 PM

I want to make piles of cash, see my enemies driven before me, and hear the lamentation of their women. Can you recommend your favorite economic sim games?

Free or free-after-trial is best. I have no preference as to online or offline, although offline is preferable for my sanity. Games that don't occupy too much memory are best for my PC. I also have a Wii.

I enjoy Monopoly, but online play isn't all that awesome; it feels like the kids' table. What I really liked, in '97 or so, was a space sim called Escape Velocity for Mac, in which you could trade commodities from planet to planet and become rich. I also enjoyed peaceful trading between towns in Sid Meier's Pirates (as well as that lame and easily gamed combat system). Clearly I am behind the times.

posted by Countess Elena to Computers & Internet (14 answers total)

I still love Railroad Tycoon 2 - though I always borrow too much and get wiped out on the downtick. It's fairly old now, and your PC will probably be fine (heh, by now your phone probably meets the minimum spec...)
posted by pompomtom at 5:08 PM on October 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

You can often pick up Civ III and other empire-building games for $5 - $10 at the US chain Half-Price Books.
posted by zippy at 5:54 PM on October 13, 2008

You know they made EV Nova for the PC right?
posted by unexpected at 7:47 PM on October 13, 2008

On a different tact: Acquire is back in print.
posted by garlic at 8:25 PM on October 13, 2008

Open Transportation Tycoon Deluxe might be something to consider. It runs on well... everything save Plan 9 and NetBSD. You can find the necessary source files as the game is pretty much abondonware. In fact... you may want to head to abondonia... DOSbox can be your best friend.
posted by PROD_TPSL at 8:39 PM on October 13, 2008

I like Dopewars. Years ago, I liked Aerobiz and Taipan! Guess I've got strange tastes.
posted by box at 8:47 PM on October 13, 2008

I was just reading about Eve Online. It's an MMORPG set in space. You command a ship, can do courier runs, join a corp and take on jobs, become a pirate and steal all you want, mine for ore, etc.

Piles of cash? Check
Enemies driven before you? Check
Lamentation of their women? Well, I don't know about that one...

Low system reqs and a 14 day trial! Sounds similar to your Mac game too.

I haven't tried it yet myself, but that's only because I have to work tomorrow... Have heard good things though.
posted by comiddle at 9:08 PM on October 13, 2008

If you don't mind going a little bit broader than just economics, there's Democracy, which has a free downloadable demo. Economics is a major part of the game, but there is other politicking to be done as well.
posted by camcgee at 10:00 PM on October 13, 2008

Puerto Rico online
posted by billtron at 5:17 AM on October 14, 2008

Oh, and here are the rules for Puerto Rico.
posted by billtron at 5:18 AM on October 14, 2008

Two things. One, you are possibly my favorite person that I've never met. Two, this is very much not what you're looking for, but I think it will satisfy all of your cravings - Diplomacy, the board game. You can play this with 3-8(?) people, and it's all about conquering other territories. Unlike Risk though, all action is very simple, and there is no chance involved. The main "playtime" is spent in diplomacy phases where you have about 15 minutes to talk to other countries. Anything goes, including lying, cheating, offering your firstborn, etc. Make sure that you play with people that you're willing to hate, or are able to seperate the game from reality. Quite a few friendships are lost to this behemoth.
posted by RKaushik at 8:45 AM on October 14, 2008

Diplomacy is a great game if you play with strangers or really hate your friends. As board games go, you'd be much better off with Settlers of Catan.

I would strongly recommend Alpha Centauri, which is done by the same people as the Civilization games, but has fewer, more highly specialized factions—one of which is focused completely on domination of the world through economic means. The game is old, so you can probably find it very cheap and it should run on anything.
posted by UrbanEconomist at 1:03 PM on October 14, 2008

Response by poster: I thought of Settlers of Catan! My problem is -- as with Monopoly -- my friends and family are bored by these types of games, so IRL play wouldn't be so likely.

Thanks, guys. I've downloaded EV Nova to start with and I'll be checking all these out!
posted by Countess Elena at 4:35 PM on October 15, 2008

If you like Settlers, there's an online clone here. (It's called Xplorers.) You have to create an account, but it's free. You can either play against bots or against other people. I love it because for some reason I absolutely suck beyond belief at Settlers, and I like losing to a computer that can't taunt me. Also, games against bots take about ten to fifteen minutes (win or lose!) rather than an hour or two IRL. That may or may not be a good thing, depending on your perspective. Of course, playing against real people takes just as long as the board game.
posted by badmoonrising at 2:22 PM on October 16, 2008