Tropedia

  • Before making a single edit, Tropedia EXPECTS our site policy and manual of style to be followed. Failure to do so may result in deletion of contributions and blocks of users who refuse to learn to do so. Our policies can be reviewed here.
  • All images MUST now have proper attribution, those who neglect to assign at least the "fair use" licensing to an image may have it deleted. All new pages should use the preloadable templates feature on the edit page to add the appropriate basic page markup. Pages that don't do this will be subject to deletion, with or without explanation.
  • All new trope pages will be made with the "Trope Workshop" found on the "Troper Tools" menu and worked on until they have at least three examples. The Trope workshop specific templates can then be removed and it will be regarded as a regular trope page after being moved to the Main namespace. THIS SHOULD BE WORKING NOW, REPORT ANY ISSUES TO Janna2000, SelfCloak or RRabbit42. DON'T MAKE PAGES MANUALLY UNLESS A TEMPLATE IS BROKEN, AND REPORT IT THAT IS THE CASE. PAGES WILL BE DELETED OTHERWISE IF THEY ARE MISSING BASIC MARKUP.

READ MORE

Tropedia
Register
Advertisement
Farm-Fresh balanceYMMVTransmit blueRadarWikEd fancyquotesQuotes • (Emoticon happyFunnyHeartHeartwarmingSilk award star gold 3Awesome) • RefridgeratorFridgeGroupCharactersScript editFanfic RecsSkull0Nightmare FuelRsz 1rsz 2rsz 1shout-out iconShout OutMagnifierPlotGota iconoTear JerkerBug-silkHeadscratchersHelpTriviaWMGFilmRoll-smallRecapRainbowHo YayPhoto linkImage LinksNyan-Cat-OriginalMemesHaiku-wide-iconHaikuLaconicLibrary science symbol SourceSetting

Taipan! is an 1982 computer game, built for TRS-80. It is based on the James Clavel novel of the same name, itself part of the Asian Saga. The player takes the role of a "taipan"(merchant-prince) and trades all about the Indian ocean in four commodities: Opium, Arms, Silk, and General cargo. Variance in price makes it possible to buy low and sell high. There is also the risk of being attacked by pirates(though players with enough firepower might prefer piracy for the sake of the Plunder making you wonder who actually is the pirate. Other hazards include being mugged, having your opium confiscated by the authorities, and running a-foul of Li Yuan the local crime boss. There is no definite end; play continues as long as the player wants. As with other An Entrepreneur Is You games, the most interesting part is toward the beginning when you are just getting your business started.

Those who wish to play again "for the memories" can find it online for free here.

Tropes used in Taipan! include:
  • The Don: Li Yuen, head of the pirates and extortionists in Hong Kong. "Donate" money to his operations and his hired hands may assist you in naval battles. Refuse him and the guy will sent pirate ships after you. A regular eextortion racket.
  • An Entrepreneur Is You: Your goal is to set up a successful trade operation.
  • Pirate: 19th century pirates of the Pacific Ocean are your constant opponents. The infest the trade routes between Batavia (modern Jakarta), Hong Kong, Manila, Nagasaki, Saigon, Shanghai, and Singapore. Thus every important trading port in the game.
  • Plunder: Defeating enemy ships leads allows you to plunder them and add to your supplies.
  • Spiritual Successor: Tradewinds
  • Turn-Based Strategy: It is part of the genre.
This page needs more trope entries. You can help this wiki by adding more entries or expanding current ones.
Advertisement