Cruise guide: the composer

What a cruise captain does

Everyone else moves cargo. A cruise line moves people, and passengers pay for the story of a voyage. Your board offers short lines, quick round trips to a nearby port, and three ready-made round trips from every port: a Showcase of the most appealing ports in range, a Coastal loop of the nearest calls, and a Grand tour to two distant ports. When a storm closes a port, evacuation charters appear for ships docked there.

A cruise is judged twice: once when it is offered (its score sets the fares), and again on return (passenger satisfaction sets your Elo).

How an itinerary is scored

Every port has an appeal from 1 to 5. New York, Istanbul, Sydney, Malé and Tokyo sit at the top, and busy industrial ports such as Felixstowe and Houston near the bottom. An itinerary's score, from 0 to 100, combines:

• Appeal: the average appeal of its calls.
• Variety: more calls and more different sea regions score higher.
• Season: each region has a month curve. The Mediterranean, Black Sea and North Atlantic peak in summer, while the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, Oceania and the Persian Gulf peak in the northern winter.
• Novelty: repeating the same itinerary loses 15% each time, recovering over three game weeks. Guests get bored.
• Risk: pirate heat at the calls lowers the score.

Fares follow the class earning ladder for the real hours under way, scaled by the score, and cover the voyage's fuel and crew. Lines are simpler: short hops of 60 to 700 km, some at rush hour for extra pay.

Satisfaction and Elo

On return, passengers rate the voyage. They start content and are happier on a high-scoring trip. A storm hold or detour costs satisfaction, tribute paid to a pirate costs more, and a late arrival a little. Your Elo for the cruise is roughly 12 times satisfaction minus 4, plus up to 6 for a long voyage, so a bad cruise can cost rating. Evacuations are different: fares only break even, but each one earns 40 Elo, the largest single award in the game.

The hulls

• Harbor Ferry (tier 1): 400 passengers, speed 28, trips within 900 km.
• Coastal Ferry (tier 2): 1,200 passengers, speed 30, within 2,200 km.
• Boutique Liner (tier 3): 4,000 passengers, speed 34, within 6,000 km.
• Grand Liner (tier 4): 12,000 passengers, speed 38, within 12,000 km.
• Expedition Ship (tier 5): 8,000 passengers, speed 36, within 20,000 km.

A Harbor Ferry costs about $65,000. Each call refuels the ship, so a round trip with more calls may run further than the base range. Cruise starts modestly, is good from tier 3, and leads every calling at tier 5.

The upgrade tree

The Cruise Bridge raises satisfaction (Entertainment Suite, Concierge Desk), halves the storm penalty (Stabilizers), and speeds boarding. Each hull commits to one branch for good:

• Ferry: lines and short hops. Commuter Fit carries more passengers on lines and Peak Pricing adds 15% to rush-hour lines. Its doctrines are Metro Line (Rush Empire, Express Lines) and Island Hopper (Mail Runs add a little to every line).
• Luxury: ticket prices (Luxury License +5%, Suite Class +10%) and satisfaction (Fine Galley, Spa Decks, Butler Corps), building to Royal Suites. Its doctrines are Palace At Sea and Grand Tour, whose Odyssey Routes halve novelty decay on itineraries through four or more regions.
• Expedition: remote and polar itineraries, with the Polar Pioneer and Eco Voyager doctrines.

Risks and counters

Your enemies are boredom, weather and pirates. Rotate itineraries so novelty does not wear down your score, sail with the season, and avoid calls in hot pirate water: tribute is the biggest satisfaction loss. A forecast holds or reroutes your ship around storms, which still costs a little satisfaction, and Stabilizers halve that. Closed ports drop out of the board automatically.

How Cruise fits with the other callings

A liner in port makes fresh fish sell 15% dearer there, which is good news for local fishers. The Boom port state raises cruise calls into a port by 20%, and the Cruise season event raises cruises and liner calls by 30% for two days. Shepherds who keep zones cool protect your satisfaction, and your evacuation charters are the passenger side of the disaster response that Cargo relief runs carry for goods.

Your first hour

Start with lines. A Harbor Ferry on a short line lands fast and teaches the loop. Then compare the three round trips on your board: the Showcase usually scores highest, but check its time against the Coastal loop. Note each trip's score and the satisfaction on return. Buy Entertainment Suite and Stabilizers early, and avoid sailing the same itinerary twice in a row.

Tips

• Follow the sun: Mediterranean in the northern summer, Caribbean and Indian Ocean in the northern winter.
• Do not repeat yourself. Each repeat costs 15% of the score until three game weeks have passed.
• Calls in different sea regions raise variety more than extra calls in the same one.
• Avoid pirate zones. Tribute paid on the way is the biggest single satisfaction loss.
• If a ship of yours is docked in a port a storm has just closed, look for the evacuation card: 40 Elo.
• Lines never lose novelty, so a ferry on a good line can run it all day. Peak Pricing makes rush-hour lines worth more.
• Watch the calendar for Cruise season (+30%) and the news for Boom ports (+20% on calls).
• High-appeal ports such as Istanbul, Valletta, Barcelona, Lisbon, Cape Town and Sydney anchor good itineraries.