Patrician III

JuntaJoe · Site Admin

Want a game that could keep you occupied on a slow trip to Saturn?

You could play a single game and be there months!

So what's it like? Imagine crossing one of those railroad games with Sid Meyer's Pirates and sprinkling in a dash of Tropico.

This game is miles deep! You are a trader in the Hanse period of northern Europe. Very early Middle Ages. On the surface you move goods around on ships and boost your income and rep. Then it gets deeper. You have pirates and sea battles. You have your home port to keep happy with goods. Eventually you can build satellite trading stations in other towns too. In the town you build industry and housing. As time moves on you gain status and become part of the city council. Then you get to build city fortifications. Did I mention the rare attacks by inland prices on the towns? I mean this game is way deeeeeeeep!

Forget graphics. Nothing fancy here. But the program is rock stable if you put on the patch. Must do the patch though or you crash when you take orders to go out and kill pirates. And that's just too much fun to miss out on. The patch only covers that one glitch and is only a couple meg download. The reason the game is stable is that it is really just the 3rd gen of Patrician. Instead of expansions they simply rebuild the game every couple of years and added features. So basic bugginess was dealt with a long time ago. It's also from Germany and they don't think like Microsoft. Just make sure you order the English version!

The game just hit the bargain racks and is just a cd for $10. You have to download the 65 page pdf manual and print that big boy. All those pages and it still barely scratches the surface. You definitely need fan forum help to get beyond the basic moves. It's a very subtle game.

On a budget and need a long term challenge?

Grab a copy off Amazon.

Gazza · Serf

Hi
I've been playing Patrician 3 for a while - brilliant game - Where did you get hold of the patch to fix the crash when you go pirate hunting please? Ascaron claimed there isn't a patch for this game when I asked them! Thanks

JuntaJoe · Site Admin

It's a community built patch. Something I'm seeing a lot more of these days as game makers seem more than happy to let the gamers clean up their coding mistakes. Rolling Eyes

Anyway, here's the link you want: http://www.ascaron-forum.com//postlist.php?Cat=&Board=FAY_Patrican_3

Btw, welcome to Castle Doom! Feel free to poke around jump in anywhere. Smile

Gazza · Serf

Unfortunately the link only gets as far as the ascaron patrician forum, but the patch link is dead. A load of good tips on strategy, pirates etc though.

JuntaJoe · Site Admin

Hmmm, you are right about the patch link broken.

I dug around and found a direct link that seems to work:

http://www.panix.com/~ayana/Patrician3Patch_v11bBeta.zip

I saved a copy on my hd too.

Just be sure to read that thread with the broken link however. You have to put it in exactly as instructed or it doesn't work. Something about switching exe's or such. It'd been a while since I did it.

Gazza · Serf

Thanks very much - it worked! And I agree- the patch does make the game far better. No more crashing when taking a patrol.

JuntaJoe · Site Admin

Glad you liked it. Yeah it helps a lot.

Btw, don't be shy. Poke into anything you see on the forum.

apeatwork · Serf

Good afternoon.

I have the same problem with Patrician 3. Great game, but at some stage it always dies on me and I'm ready to throw my computer out of the window. I have downloaded the patch you guys suggested, un-zipped it, but then I'm not sure what to do. You mentioned something about following a thread with the broken link, but I cannot find it. If anyone could nudge me in the right direction that would be highly appreciated since I do not want to chuck my computer out of the window.

Thanks

JuntaJoe · Site Admin

Wow, it's been a while. I seem to remember you have to find the same kind of exe file in the game file on your hard drive and swap it out with the patch file.

Here's another Patrician forum that might be discussing the same patch: http://www.drunkenscotsmen.com/TSR/viewtopic.php?t=137&sid=73899fc3f1ac034614598009b92f58a5

Also seems like that forum has some still active Patrician players on it.

apeatwork · Serf

Thanks very much.
I love playing the old games. Many new games just had a graphic update but not the game play. This one is a gem.

paladinmagnus · Serf

Ok sorry to gravedig - but I am having the same problems from above and I am also about to throw a brick at my computer...

Infuriating when after 12 hours, the game keeps crashing at exactly the same place.

The links above are broken and I can't find anything on the internet for the life of me! Can anyone point me in the right direction please? Thanks!!![/i]

JuntaJoe · Site Admin

The direct download link still works fine.

Try removing and saving the game's exe file and putting in the one that comes in the download.

Also, it seems that some better informed people are talking about it here:

http://forum.kalypsomedia.com/showthread.php?tid=4692

and

http://www.gog.com/en/forum/patrician/patrician_3_crashes_when_starting_a_patrol_a_patch

paladinmagnus · Serf

Thank you so much!!!!

JuntaJoe · Site Admin

You are very welcome. Smile