Looking for a little help, as the topic says, scratching a particular gaming itch.

Mostly an RPG, strategy, simulation fan, and I've been spending a lot of time on Spiderweb games and good old IWD. All that is mostly irrelevant, except to say that I haven't played the type of game I'm looking for in a while.

I want a trading experience that is at least moderately robust. I'd love for some exploration, some sense of adventure and discovery perhaps. Upgrades, skills, party mechanics, cargo, all that good stuff.

For context, looking for something that gives me some of the feel of games like the old Uncharted Waters games from the SNES for sure. That's probably the earliest example of a game I've played that I'm looking for. The latest, although not really spot on (considering that the trading very weak) Is Sunless Seas, which had the atmosphere, exploration, crew and ship upgrades...to be honest, if there was a bit more dynamism in the trading, I could probably play it forever.

Other recent ones that really captured my attention were sadly browser games, Caravaneer and its sequel. (But boy was that just about perfect, mechanic wise)

I've tried some of the Smugglers games, and after sinking 5-10 hours into V felt the progression fell a little flat. Patrician, etc didn't really give me what I was looking for either. (I think those games were just a bit more...expansive than this particular taste) I have Capitalism 2 in my library, but that also seems to be a bit more heavy on the economics empire and less on the city to city trading that I'm craving.

Anyone have advice, suggestions, or encouragement? I'm obviously posting on GoG because I've been looking for something here, but I'm more than willing to buy something elsewhere. (God knows I have enough half or unplayed games in my Library here after all.)

I love Port Royal. It is far from the best but the variety is great. You can trade, become a real estate guy, become a pirate, take contracts for missions both at sea and on land. The graphics are very minimal and the upgrades, while fun, are hardly what I'd call extensive, but I still adore it.

Port Royale does indeed sound like a decent fit apart from the party mechanics, though it's close to Patrician. (haven't played 1 myself, just 2/3)

I'd recommend you look into Space Rangers HD personally, it's a great mix of a ton of things and trading, upgrades, missions etc are all part of it. It's a great game.

How about Expeditions: Conquistador? It's a great RPG/strategy mix, with a party of explorers to manage and it's all about exploration and adventure, upgrades and stuff. The trading part is not very robust, with just a few resources like food and medicine, but still, I think you should try it. One of the best things I bought on GOG. Great tactical combat too.

How about Sid Meier's Pirates?

Might want to give Fragile Allegiance a try.

That might work. Any suggestion on 1 or 2 for trying out? I saw some reviews talking about 2's dumbed down combat, which...might be okay for what I'm looking for, honestly. Looks most promising so far, honestly! Though is there any issue with translation? I don't mind as long as it doesn't get in the way of the gameplay/questing. That's another one in my library. I hadn't considered it for trading based on other reviews, but maybe I was mistaken. Exploration does look interesting. Pirates! is another one I should have listed. But it's been about a decade since I played it, might be worth dusting off and seeing if it still charms. Though IIRC the swordfighting made me want to kill myself.

Uhm, I'm not too familiar with games like Patrician, but it always seemed really up the alley of anyone interested in what you mentioned. So here's a wacky idea: consider going sci-fi. You may very well end up being surpised at the sophistication behind the business/trading models in some of the games. Three that you can check out:

Hardwar. This is definitely one of the best games I've ever played. It's been many years since I've played it, but I recall that it had quite the interesting trading/economy model, ranging from the purchase of properties, to you chasing after bandits, or chasing after police chasing after bandits, so that you can salvage the scrap of the bandit's ultimate wreckage and look for a place that will give you a good price for it.

Freelancer. Freelancer is incredible as well, though it's much lighter on the business model, but far from trivial. Freelancer really makes you earn that moola. You'll do things like risking your butt to fly into dangerous systems to shoot and harvest valuable minerals from asteroids, and then looking for a planet or station that will give you a good price on it. Or, you could fly from planet to planet and look at what they buy and sell, and perhaps discover a profitable deal. I remember the excitement I felt when I discovered a planet that offered relatively cheap diamonds, or something, and another planet that payed big bucks for it. If you really want to make big money, then you could work hard and save up enough money to buy a small cargo ship, though then you are far less mobile, and far more vulnerable to attacks from raiders as you try to haul your cargo from one system to another.

The X series, I've never played this, but I've heard that it's essentially Freelancer amplified when it comes to the trading system. It came very highly recommended and I'd love to check it out myself one day, but not until I get a nice big monitor and joystick to go along with it :)

Never really got in the way for me at least

I was going to mention Port Royale but that was taken care of quickly. Nevertheless I look forward to more answers here - my type of game. Favorited!

Lots of items to trade & upgrades in Windward and I played it a LOT for the few weeks after release, but honestly it has gotten a bit dull. I will return, but it won't hold my attention forever.

I have #2 but sadly I've never actually played it, so I'd recommend #1.

If I remember rightly, there is actually a Uncharted Waters MMO that made it westside on PC and is having a new version for PS4.

Uncharted Waters Online - Gran Atlas

For a first-person game that fits your requirements, I suggest Mount & Blade: Warband.

Port Royale is good. Not super-complex but as others mentioned, it also ticks a bunch of those boxes. Ditto Space Rangers games. And Space Rangers has a goofiness factor that's hard not to like.

Democracy3?

Windward...looks awesome. I think I'm going to have to pick that up in the next couple of weeks. Going to have to look deeper at the co-op aspect, but the self generated worlds and general feel seem intriguing.

I can say for certain that you do remember rightly because I played it for 4 or 5 months about 2 years ago, I believe. I had low expectations going in and was truly pleasantly surprised. It really did scratch the itch, though in typical MMO style was rather grindy in some ways and exploity in others. (Want money? Buy dynamite, go into 'dungeon', repeat)

However, I'm mostly looking for games at the moment to help kick my MMO habit. Something to occupy a few hours in the evening between making and eating dinner and putting the kids to bed...something I can pause when one of them starts screaming and my wife gives me the look that says "Your turn"