AFnord: I'm interested. From what I've heard Patrician 4 is a bit simpler to get into (mainly due to it being easier to get a good overview of things) than Patrician 3, a game that I wanted to like, but which I found frustrating at points.
Yes, for one thing, all goods are actually profitable to produce in Patrician 4... But also, in general, it is indeed a more accessible game, while also containing elements not yet present in the previous two parts of the series (such as research).
Oh, and rising in rank is also not a guessing game anymore (in P2/3, you had a certain -somewhat easily obtainable- wealth requirement, and a popularity requirement of which you had no exact feedback whatsoever.)