HANSE ISLANDS (1)

ABOUT THE GAME

GENERAL INFORMATION

Genre: Turn-based strategy, trading simulation, survival
No. of Players: 4
Duration: 20 min+ (~20 turns of 1 min each)

Purpose: To allow players to experience the prisoner’s dilemma through the trading of resources between 4 islands and research the correlation between the level of player cooperation and their chances of success in the game.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

• OS Windows 10, OS Linux (requires source code to be compiled)
• 4 players on each PC, connected to a server
• Internet connection
• Optional: QT5 development suite (to compile source code)

SYNOPSIS

The Hanse Islands are an archipelago made of 4 islands. Each island produces its own unique resource which can be stone, wood, iron or food. As one of the 4 players, an island will be randomly allocated to you, with an initial stock of 1000 units for each of the 4 resources.

With each turn (1 min long) that passes, your island will produce a further 100 units of its unique resource, but also lose 100 units of the other resources it does not produce. The goal of each turn is to trade resources with other islands, to ensure that none of your resources are depleted, which would otherwise mean the end of the game for you. The game ends when only 1 player is left, who is then declared the proud winner.

Trading within the game will be carried out according to the prisoner’s dilemma, as defined in game theory, which means that trading promises will be made and players will have the choice to either honour or break them. It will be up to you to decide whether honesty is really the best policy in order to win this game. Please note that the only way to survive and make progress is to trade with other players.

PLAYER GUIDE

HOW TO PLAY

• Starting the game
  1. Click on START GAME.
  2. Enter a unique name of your choice.
  3. Click on CONNECT.
  4. Wait for every player to connect before starting to trade.
• Starting a new trade
  1. Click on another player’s island and choose TRADE.
  2. Under the heading “Your offer”, enter the amount of the resource(s) you are promising to ship (this offer will be visible to other players).
  3. Under “Amount of sent resources”, enter the amount of the resource(s) you would actually ship to the other player (invisible to other players).
  4. Under “Desired resources”, enter the amount of the resource(s) you would like to receive from the other player (visible to other players).
  5. Click on TRADE to confirm the new trade.
• Viewing and responding to pending trades
  1. Click on your own island and choose TRADE.
  2. Use the navigation buttons “PREVIOUS” and “NEXT” to go to the pending trade transaction you wish to respond to.
  3. Under “Actual resources”, enter the amount of the requested resource(s) you would actually ship to the other player (invisible to other players).
  4. Click on TRADE or DECLINE, based on your decision.

DOWNLOADS:

Go to: https://craft.vegova.si/hanse