House rule to make disengaging more difficult

[nijis]

I'm enjoying my EIC campaign (v 1.06) immensely. I'm particularly impressed by the care in balancing the campaign economics to keep things challenging throughout, so that even if you've gotten a good head start, you still need to watch your balance sheet.

My main gripe is that enemy fleets pose zero threat to my shipping, as the starting distances make it far too easy to escape. (Another gripe is the instant repairs, but that's a fairly minor point).

I was thinking of implementing my own house rule, which would require at least one damage-inflicting broadside to be fired by either side before I can hit the "escape" button.

Any other suggestions on how to do this?

 

[unmerged(153936)]

House rules are great for keeping the game interesting I usually get trade fleets run down trying to flee enough during the course of a campaign that I haven't made a rule for that. It doesn't happen alot, but when it does it can really put a hurt on you.

Other than what you've thought of, you could try a rule that you have to be either back on, or on an intercept of your original course before using the flee command. For example, if the battle starts with you headed due east with the enemy running downwind or on a broad reach from the north, you cant just turn south and hit flee. You have to keep out of range while tacking so that you're east of your initial point before fleeing. I've done it before for the fun of it, and it can be challenging. Time compression is a must.

 

[nijis]

That seems much more realistic than my idea, actually. I assume that the challenge comes in when you're significantly slower than the attacker.