Welcome to Nautica, a game conceptualized and designed entirely by the

students of MDI. We promise to make your journey through the galaxies

worthwhile. So brace yourselves to experience some “out of this world” thrill.

THE GAME
MAP OF THE GALAXY

(not to scale)

ABOUT THE ROUTES

• The game is played in 5 seasons. Teams play one planet in each season.
At the end of each season, decisions submitted by the teams are
processed together to generate the results.

• In the first season, the teams begin their journey from the planet
Astropolis, the starting point of the mission. Here, they have to choose a
ship for the journey, select a route plan and buy cargo for trading on
next port.
• The currency utilized for exchange of any service or good is known as
AU or Accounting Units.

• There are 4 planets around the planet Astropolis – Biblis, Constello,

Demokrtios and Endrimedon which constitute the major trading
planets. During the game a team has to traverse every planet only once
in order to complete the journey.

• Select your route and ship by estimating the travel time between the
planets (Relevant information is provided below). The route has to be
chosen by each team keeping in mind the safety along the route. The
more the number of teams taking a particular route, the higher the
competition.
• COSMIC DUST AND DEBRIS
You may encounter space calamities like cosmic storms of space-dust
and debris on the routes and may get delayed in reaching the next planet.
The spaceship will also get damaged in that case.

• SPACE-PIRATE ATTACKS
There is also a probability of space-pirates attacking the ship. This will
result in loss of cargo (products carried for trading). These pirates
usually roam in groups varying from 5 to 20. Each pirate is capable of
looting approximately 1% of the cargo carried by the ship.

• The probabilities for storms occurring, encountering space debris and

pirate attacks are mentioned on various routes are mentioned below:
Routes Probability of Probability of Probability of
Space-pirate encountering encountering
Attacks space debris cosmic storms
Astropolis - Biblis 18% 12% 40%
Constello - Biblis 20% 16% 34%
Demokritos - Constello 25% 23% 22%
Constello - Endrimedon 30% 23% 17%
Endrimedon - Demokritos 35% 13% 22%
Biblis - Endrimedon 27% 25% 18%
Astropolis - Demokritos 23% 22% 25%
Endrimedon - Astropolis 32% 18% 20%
Constello - Astropolis 16% 10% 44%
Demokritos - Biblis 15% 9% 46%

For e.g. Probability of no calamity occurring on Astropolis to Biblis is

[1 – (1 – 0.18)*(1 – 0.12)*(1 – 0.40)] = 0.567 approximately.
DISTANCES
The distances between the planets are given below. These can be used to
decide upon the route plan. Please note that distances are not to scale in
map.

Distances ( Endrimedon Beblis Constello Demokritos Astropolis

lightyears )
Endrimedon 0 500 480 450 468
Beblis 500 0 540 565 552
Constello 480 540 0 520 560
Demokritos 450 565 520 0 528
Astropolis 468 552 560 528 0

ABOUT SHIPS AND CREW

• The teams have been given cash worth 14,000,000 AU to take on the
journey. With this amount, you need to buy a spaceship, hire crew and
marketers (explained later), buy products and trade them at other
planets. Also, beware of the expenses arising from cosmic calamities or
space-pirates on route.

• There are 4 different types of spaceships – namely Alpha-Messiah,

Mariner-4T, Titan-X and Delta-Aggamemnon from which any one can
be bought.

• The ship can be bought only at the first port. The team can change the
ship at the first port if they desire. So it is advisable to think very
carefully about which ship to buy depending on the strategy that the
team adopts before actually making the purchase.
 Ship Alpha- Delta-Aggamemnon Mariner-4T Titan -x
Messiah
Price (AU) 1000 K 1250 K 1750 K 2000 K
Speed(light-years /day) 30 25 20 15
Capacity(units) 2500 2900 3300 3700


• TRADE-OFF
The cargo that is carried by the smaller and faster spaceships is much
less compared to the cargo that can be carried by the larger slower
spaceships. The smaller - faster spaceships reach early and have the
advantage of higher marketing efforts and the larger - slower spaceships
have the advantage of carrying more cargo, trade more and thus earn
higher profits.

• In case of damage, the spaceship will have to be repaired before the

next part of the journey. Some cash will be utilized for this purpose and
it will be deducted from the team’s current cash before it resumes the
journey.

• The crew for the spaceship needs to be hired based on the
specifications of the ship and your requirements. There is a maximum
cap on crew for each type of spaceship which has been specified later.

• Cost of the crew varies from planet to planet. This means that the crew
can be re-hired on every planet. The crew has a fixed and a variable
component (per day) of the salary. The fixed component needs to be
paid upfront and the variable on reaching the next planet.

• The time taken for the spaceship between planets will depend on the
number and type of navigators on board, the distance between the ports
and the effect of debris and cosmic storms during the journey. The main
screen of the game shows the number of days taken between the
planets.

NAVIGATORS
They are the crew members who assist the captain in troubled times
during the journey. In cases of cosmic storms and debris, they help the
spaceship to maintain its speed and minimize damage to the spaceship.
They are of two types.

NAVIGATOR 1
These are crew members who can limit the reduction in the speed of the
spaceship due to cosmic storms and debris. The more the number of
navigator1 hired, the lesser is the reduction in speed. The fixed cost for
these navigators is 8000 AU and variable cost is 5500 AU.
NAVIGATOR 2
These are crew members who safeguard the spaceship when it goes
through cosmic storms and debris. The more the number of navigator2
hired the lesser is the damage to the spaceship.

SOLDIERS
They are crew members who protect cargo from the space pirates. There
are two types of soldiers - the defender1 and the defender2. Both are
specialized in their own fields and can be used effectively against space
pirate attacks. The more the number of soldiers hired, the lesser is the
financial loss to the ship during pirate attacks. However the soldiers are
costly and have to be bought efficiently in order to optimize the loss to
the spaceship.

DEFENDER 1
These are front line soldiers who fight against the space pirates. They are
as good as any spacepirate when it comes to duels. They are merciless
and tough and will definitely kill a pirate before they go down in the
fight. In short, 1 attacker neutralizes 1 pirate.

DEFENDER 2
These are soldiers who are more defensive and do their best to prevent
the cargo from being looted by the pirates. Each defender is effectively
able to protect 10% of the captured cargo by the pirates.
EXAMPLE
If 15 pirates attack the ship, the potential cargo loss would be of 15%. If
4 attackers are hired then the potential loss reduces to (15-4) 11%.
Further if 5 defenders are hired then the total cargo loss would be
reduced to (11- 10%*11*5) 5.5%.

CREW RESTRICTIONS
The following table shows the maximum crew that a particular spaceship
can carry and it also specifies how much is the maximum of each crew
member that the ship can accommodate.

Ship Total Navigator 1 Navigator 2 Attacker Defender

Alpha-Messiah 10 3 3 3 3
Delta-Aggamemnon 12 3 3 4 4
Mariner-4T 15 4 4 5 5
Titan-x 18 5 5 5 5

ABOUT THE TRADING

• There are five products in which the teams can trade. The products are
purchased from the raw material markets and then loaded onto the
spaceship where they are inspected and packaged. The cost of inspection
and packaging is negligible. All the products after packaging are marked
with the special space-trade seal. This allows the team to sell the
products in consumer markets which are different from the raw material
markets. Consumer markets are regulated by an inter-galactic governing
body which sets a floor and a ceiling price for each product.

• There are many teams travelling across the planets trying to sell these
products and hence the selling strategies of other teams affect your
team’s sales.
• The team buys the raw material on the prevailing prices of the day it
reaches the planet. The buying prices of raw materials keep increasing as
demand increases with arrival of more and more ships. The selling in
consumer markets happens on the 41st day when all the teams reaching
that planet can participate. All teams leave the planet together after the
selling activity has taken place on the 41st day.

•Last trading season, at one of the planets during trading seasons, the
buying prices of one of the products, Gharley followed the below
mentioned trend:
Trading Buying
season Pr
(AU/unit)
1 750
2 760
3 770
4 837
5 862
6 940

• After purchases, if the closing cash balance goes below the amount
required pay to the crew (fixed costs) hired for next season then you will
not be allowed to travel to the next planet which essentially means
disqualification from the game. PLEASE MAINTAIN A HEALTHY
CASH BALANCE TO AVOID THIS SITUATION.

•The DEMAND of any product for a team is a function of the quoted
price and the marketing expenditure. The selling price and the number
of marketers have to be quoted for each product. Also the expected
sale (the quantity that the team expects to sell) should be quoted. Please
note that even if demand for the product is higher than what is quoted,
expected sale is the maximum sales that the team can achieve for a
product.
• The Financials section lists the income and expenses on a port. The
income from sale and expense of purchase of products is an estimate
based on your quoted quantities. However, as explained earlier, the
actual quantities may vary from the quoted quantities. In such case the
opening balance (calculated on the basis of actual quantities sold) of next
planet gets updated. Please note that the marketer has not been included
in the financial section, kindly take that into account when trying to tally
the financials.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTS

GHARLEY
This is a cereal and is the main staple food, bought by the rich and the
poor alike although in varying quantities. The buying price of this
commodity from cultivators varies from season to season depending
upon external factors like drought, rainfall, crop output, etc. The sales of
this product are not quality differentiated i.e. there are no variants based
on quality. In the previous trading season the average sales of 90% of
the traders was between 800 and 1400 units per season. The buying
price ranged from 600 to 750 AU/unit.

TENTROL
This is a fuel and is used for various purposes such as fuelling various
small space-locomotives, machineries in plants. It is a renewable source
of energy and powers the transportations and industry sector of the
planets and thereby planets are heavily dependent on this product. The
buying price of this product depends on the success of extraction of
tentrol from remote ores and has seen considerable fluctuations in past.
The sale of this product was between 900 and 1300 units for most
traders and the buying price varied between 1500 ans 1700 units per
season.
STREEL
This is a special alloy of various space metals with a variety of properties
such as superior strength, durability, light weight, easy handling,
resistance against space dust and corrosion. Because of these properties
the demand of streel as a building material has been growing within the
construction industry. It is a major component in buildings,
infrastructure, tools, ships, automobiles, machines, appliances, and
weapons. The requirement of this product has remained consistent over
the years and has been growing gradually. Last trading season the sale of
this product for 90% of traders was between 500 to 800 units and the
buying price for this product varied between 1000 to 1200 AU/unit.

BARZOOKA
This is one of the latest weapons in the artillery market of the galaxy. It
is a multipurpose gun that can emit laser beams as well as launch
destructive light rockets. The demand of this product has seen many
fluctuations depending upon the intergalactic peace and the awareness
about the product. Last year 70% of traders sold 200 to 600 units of this
product with the highest sale being as high as 850. The buying price
varied between 1600 and 1750 AU/unit.

FRELIZAH
This is one of the favourite drinks of the galaxy inhabitants. It is seen as
a thirst quenching tasty drink and has had an increasing demand in the
past. The demand has been found to depend on the ability to convince
consumers about the quality of the product. Last trading seasons most
traders sold 750 to 1050 units of this Frelizah and the buying price
varied between 900 and 1050 AU/unit.

Prices of above products are always quoted in per unit terms. All units
are equivalent for cargo calculations of the space-ship (mentioned later)
The demand data mentioned above is based on previous years’
information and may change in this time with the arrival of so many new
traders.
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT PRODUCTS
• At Astropolis, a starting cargo load of 100 of each product is
automatically bought using the seed capital that has been provided to
you. The rest of the cargo can be bought according to team’s strategy.

• The selling decisions include price quote, marketers utilized and
intended quantity to be sold. But the actual quantities sold would be
based on market conditions (other team’s decisions). The result of actual
quantities sold would be available only in the next season.

• You may restock your cargo at each planet by giving orders for
purchase of goods up to the full capacity of the spaceship, so that they
can be traded at the next planet. However if the sales is less than the
intended sales then the teams will be left with more inventory than they
expected. In this case the amount bought would be reduced in equal
proportions from all the products that have been ordered for purchase.
For example let us assume that a spaceship having 2500 tonnage
capacity intends to sell its complete capacity at a planet and places orders
for selling its full capacity and hence orders for purchase of 1000
units of gharley and 1500 units of streel. However the team manages to
sell only 1500 units totally at the port and is left with 1000 units of
inventory, then the purchase would be 600 units of gharley and 900
units of streel. The proportion of buying material would be the same,
however the total capacity bought would be only 1500 units as 1000
units is still left with the team as inventory or stock.


• The commodity holding tab under trading section in the game shows
you the opening inventory of all the products.

• The selling can be done only on the stock that the team takes with it to
the planet. The items purchased at any particular planet can be used for
sales only in the next planet as inspection and packaging activities need
to be completed before selling.

•The teams should try to sell maximum cargo at each port. However
any unsold cargo is carried over as inventory to the next planet in the
next season. The teams also have an option to not sell the complete
cargo by specifying the units they would like to sell. The balance is
carried over to the next planet in the next season. The results of the
selling decisions would be known to the team only when they login in
the next season.

• The teams must try to sell all its products in the last season. Any
remaining inventory would be liquidated at the prevailing buying prices
of that planet and added to your cash balance.

• Please assume that supply of raw materials is unlimited.

• The demand for goods at each planet is proportional to the number of

teams reaching that planet in that season. The consumer markets at each
planet receive information in advance regarding the number of
sellers being present on the day of selling and hence the demand for
each product varies accordingly.

•However, the total market demand is also affected by the overall prices
quoted by the teams for each product.
MARKETERS

Marketers play a very important role in the selling of the various

products in the consumer markets. They are responsible for the
promotion function. They have to be hired at every planet. Different
number of marketers can be hired for every product ranging from 1 to
10. The demand of any product for a team is also a function of cost of
marketers employed for that product.

•Strategy
The team can carve out a strategy for each product they want to sell and
utilize more or less number of marketers accordingly. However,
spending very high on marketing for products not requiring the same
may lead to higher expenditure and thus lower profits. Similarly
marketing less for products that need to be marketed explicitly may lead
to lesser sales of the product than expected. The team’s ability to
understand competition would help them decide on this parameter.
• Costs
Marketers’ cost has two components, a fixed cost and a variable cost
(per day). Since the trading happens at end of season (6 weeks), the
teams that arrive early on the port can utilize the marketers for more
time. This only means that they can have higher marketing expenditure,
which may or may not facilitate their cause – to earn more profits.
The fixed and variable cost of marketer is 5000 and 1400 AU
respectively. The marketer expenditures for teams would generally vary
from 25,000 AU to 400,000 AU.

MARKETING INFORMATION
To help the teams to do a better analysis, a market information section
has been provided. This information would be helpful to you in
understanding the competitive dynamics.
HOW TO PLAY
In order to play the game you need to be familier with the gaming
interface. Go through the following FAQs to understand the game
properly:

1. How do I know which is my current planet?

When you login you would be able to see the planet name and the image
of the planet. Informations like opening amount and the day you
reached the planet would also be visible. On the first day of the game
since the journey has not started there will be no information about days
taken. Since the starting planet for all teams on the first day is
Astropolis, all teams would get Astropolis as there planet on the first
day. From the second day onwards teams would get different planets
depending on the planets they select.
2. How do I select my ship?

Under the ship management tab, you would get headings such as
ship, planet and crew. Click on ship. Select your ship from the drop
down menu. Information regarding the ship such as name, price,
speed, total capacity and total crew capacity would be displayed.
Once you click on save the ship currently selected would be saved.
You would be able to change the ship after clicking on save also.
Once the launch button is clicked no further changes can be made
and the ship selected would be fixed for the whole game.
3. How do I select my next planet?

When you click on planet you would get a drop down menu for planets.
You can select the next planet you wish to go by clicking on the planet.
Once the save button is clicked the planet would be saved. Inorder to
change the planet selected once again change the planet form the drop
down menu and click on save. No changes can be made for the current
day after the launch button is pressed.
4. How do I select defenders and navigators?

Once you click on Crew you would get a drop down menu form
which you can select defenders or navigators. The cost shown is the
fixed cost for navigators and defenders. It doesnt include the variable
cost for these crew members. You can type the number of navigator
and defenders of each type you want to hire in the “number” box.
The values would be saved one save is clicked. In order to change the
values, type again and click on save again. No changes allowed after
clicking on launch.
5. How do I submit my decision for products?

One you click on the trade tab on the left panel, you would get a drop
down menu for all the products. You will have to submit your
decision for each product one by one. Submit your decisions carefully
as if you miss out on entering the values before launching no changes
would be made. Commodity holding refers to the initial inventory of
that product category which 100 for each product at the begining of
the game. You can enter the total quantity of that product you want
to buy by entering “buy quantity” under the tab “buy”. Buying price
refers the price at which that product is available for you to purchase
on that day. From the second day onwards teams would have to hire
marketers and quote the selling price and selling quantity so two more
tabs namely “hire marketers” and “sell” would also appear. Click on
hire marketers to mention the number of marketers you want to hire
and click on sell to enter the selling price and expected maximum
sale. You can save your values by clicking on save. Please make sure
you have entered values for all the products before clicking on
launch.
6. How do I interperet the financials?

Under the tab financials you would be able to see your trading results
of previous seasons. The cargo damage refers to the damage caused
to your cargo because of obstacles like cosmic storms, space debris or
pirate attacks. Ship repair cost displays to cost incurred by you to fix
the damages caused to the spaceship. You would be able to view
most of these values from the second day onwards once the trading
starts.

7. What is the use of history of decisions?

Under this tab you would be able to see all the past decisions which
you have taken. This is meant to assist you in your analysis. This
information would be available from second day onwards.

8. What is the use of marketing information?

Under this tab you would be able to see latest market trends ar any
important news that might assist you in taking decisions. Also any
other information relevant to the game would be displayed here.
Hence it is advisable to check this space regularly.
9. What happens when I click on launch?
Once you click on launch, all the values entered in all the boxes and
the things selected would be saved permanently and no further
changes would be allowed for that particualr day. It is there for
advisable to make sure that the decisions are entered currently before
clicking on launch.

Team Nautica
http://nautica-imperium.com/

Contact: admin@nautica-imperium.com nautica20x@gmail.com

Hardik Srivastava +91-8800116766

Prakhar Dadhich +91-7838663703

Pratyush Mishra +91-9310797738
Umang Choudhary +91-9711665437

Mohit Tyagi +91-9810397226

Mukund Murali +91-8800538723