best trading simulation and strategy out there

Dear God, make that there is bad weather, so I get to play Port Royale 2!
1. The naval battles are absolutely outrageous. They look very good, but what is more important: Ascaron has managed to put on a good AI. Thus, the difficulty is slightly higher, but not too high. Now the battles are much pleasant and unforgettable as in the other titles before. Especially as the different types of ships now all play very differently.
2. You can really play how you want. Whether you are a trader or pirate hunter or builder or privateers, everything works. Although I only had to act a little start of the game until I could afford a decent ship.
3. A very interesting economic system! You can really affect anything, and watching what effects arise. Whether one enemy pirates traders to damage the economy of a city, or there simply buys all goods, both going. Or build a monoculture of a commodity to flood the market at dumping prices. Then the other traders begin to demolish their farms, and you create unemployment. Cool.
4. Always something happens, constant variety. If one has such a small empire built, and thinks the money is flowing from alone in the checkout there are still constantly doing anything else, it was a mission, or even a war, or a raid, or that you have to convert production.
Then you can here lead a sea battle, where you have to attack from the shore, then carry a sword fight (done very nicely), etc. so that there is really never boring.
ergo: more gaming fun for the money there nowhere, finally a game in which you can dig for weeks or months.