From Game Manual Merchant Colony is a complex, sophisticated trading game set in the age of expansionism. The aim of the game is to build up a successful trading company, similar in some respects to such organizations as the East India Trading Company. There are three key elements to success: 1) running a shipping company, 2) moving your fleet around the world exploring and developing new colonies, and 3) developing production of goods in the colonies and trading - both profitable sale of your own goods, and buying and selling of more general commodities.