How about this: Some kind of exploration mechanism (race?) to the early 1600 campaign. For example, initiating trade relationship first with an unvisited port in some MTI category would allow especially good prices (or value at the home port) for the MTI trade in that port. This would encourage exploring ports other than just the first Indian port commission given at the start of the game.
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agents
It could be interesting to have agents. These could be taken from our warehouse, like Cargo and dropped in a port. They would give us real-time info on that port (spies) or could be made to do some missions.
But I think I will be happy with the changes announced and I agree with the first poster. Basically, play Patrician and implement the trade features that we are used to in this game.
It could be interesting to have agents. These could be taken from our warehouse, like Cargo and dropped in a port. They would give us real-time info on that port (spies) or could be made to do some missions.
But I think I will be happy with the changes announced and I agree with the first poster. Basically, play Patrician and implement the trade features that we are used to in this game.
Would it be possible to click on one of your fleets and see them sailing in 3d mode?
That would be nice for a close inspection...
That would be nice for a close inspection...
I like this idea too.
Also, as some people as said before, i think that captains skills leveling is not what it could be. One of my trade captain have gained one level in his life, my warfleet captain don't
I never had a captain that increase more than 1 level, by luck it is possible to hire high level captains.It would be fine to have the ability to trade with other nation's homeport, and those port would keep "open" to trade at the national indian company death (the nation keep is needs in MTI for sure
o).And a last one, could you increase the number of fire ordonance ! It is very shoking to lose a battle because your battle fleet have no more bullets
It would be nice if those ordonance count in ship load, so you could load some small ships fully to hunt for bigger trade ship ^^
Some things I think would benefit from a tweaking after playing this solidly for the weekend!
1) Button to send selected fleet to home port. I know you can press "H" then click, but a button would be nice.
2) If you only have 1 fleet at a port, it would be nice if it was automatically selected when you come back out to Strategic view (so you can give further orders instantly)
3) In the Port view, would be much friendlier if you can open more than 2 windows and drag them around (within screen constraints). Also have it remember your last used page when you move between windows, for example when you flick from Trade > Export items to Fleets > Fleet A then open a 3rd window and go back to either of the 1st two, it should remember what subtab you were on.
4) When offered a "Diplomatic Offer" it would be good to have a button to open the Diplomatic status window.
5) Routes overview screen. I like the new Commander info summary, but would be good to have all on 1 screen perhaps with some other functionality but not necessarily.
6) Message history/log. Would be good to call up those "High demand for..." messages because I always forget the names!
7) Option for fleet to "wait in port..." to purchase goods if cash flow is a bit tight, rather than leave empty handed for the sake of waiting a few months. Maybe a little drop down for wait 3 months, 6 months, 1 year?
8) Tactical view - ship selection sensitivity seems a bit too low. (Enemy and your own). I can sometime click near them a dozen times before highlighting one.
9) Drawing a selection box around your ships is also a bit weird because it draws the box flat to the water, so you tend to have to draw from much further out than it seems.
10) To get around the above, shortcut hotkeys and assignable control groups would be good. I know there are only 5 to handle but you may want to group 3 to flee!
11) Would be nice to zoom out more / more top down tactical view with the mousewheel.
12) Would be good to have hotkeys for the fleets in Strategic map.
13) Minor point - but why can you not meet 2 fleets mid-sea to change captains or reassign ships?
14) Separate slider for speech volume in battle / strategic views.
Really hooked on the game so far, just these bits of polish would make it a much more pleasurable experience!!
1) Button to send selected fleet to home port. I know you can press "H" then click, but a button would be nice.
2) If you only have 1 fleet at a port, it would be nice if it was automatically selected when you come back out to Strategic view (so you can give further orders instantly)
3) In the Port view, would be much friendlier if you can open more than 2 windows and drag them around (within screen constraints). Also have it remember your last used page when you move between windows, for example when you flick from Trade > Export items to Fleets > Fleet A then open a 3rd window and go back to either of the 1st two, it should remember what subtab you were on.
4) When offered a "Diplomatic Offer" it would be good to have a button to open the Diplomatic status window.
5) Routes overview screen. I like the new Commander info summary, but would be good to have all on 1 screen perhaps with some other functionality but not necessarily.
6) Message history/log. Would be good to call up those "High demand for..." messages because I always forget the names!
7) Option for fleet to "wait in port..." to purchase goods if cash flow is a bit tight, rather than leave empty handed for the sake of waiting a few months. Maybe a little drop down for wait 3 months, 6 months, 1 year?
8) Tactical view - ship selection sensitivity seems a bit too low. (Enemy and your own). I can sometime click near them a dozen times before highlighting one.
9) Drawing a selection box around your ships is also a bit weird because it draws the box flat to the water, so you tend to have to draw from much further out than it seems.
10) To get around the above, shortcut hotkeys and assignable control groups would be good. I know there are only 5 to handle but you may want to group 3 to flee!
11) Would be nice to zoom out more / more top down tactical view with the mousewheel.
12) Would be good to have hotkeys for the fleets in Strategic map.
13) Minor point - but why can you not meet 2 fleets mid-sea to change captains or reassign ships?
14) Separate slider for speech volume in battle / strategic views.
Really hooked on the game so far, just these bits of polish would make it a much more pleasurable experience!!
Thanx Kim!
I've noticed that the ships start outside of cannon range now! that and the port screen load times are a huge improvment. All I would ask for you to consider would be:
1) Mission editor, as this would give mutiplayer and single player battles unending possibilities
2) tweaks to the camera controls and views. Could you make them so I could get a 360 view and move around the ship?
I've noticed that the ships start outside of cannon range now! that and the port screen load times are a huge improvment. All I would ask for you to consider would be:
1) Mission editor, as this would give mutiplayer and single player battles unending possibilities
2) tweaks to the camera controls and views. Could you make them so I could get a 360 view and move around the ship?
I like this idea too.
Also, as some people as said before, i think that captains skills leveling is not what it could be. One of my trade captain have gained one level in his life, my warfleet captain don't
It would be fine to have the ability to trade with other nation's homeport, and those port would keep "open" to trade at the national indian company death (the nation keep is needs in MTI for sure
And a last one, could you increase the number of fire ordonance ! It is very shoking to lose a battle because your battle fleet have no more bullets
It would be nice if those ordonance count in ship load, so you could load some small ships fully to hunt for bigger trade ship ^^
It seems autoresolve (battles) does not give any experience to captains. Fight naval battles manually and you'll earn experience fast.
For trade: the experience factor is set very low in the vanilla game. Many folks edit the factor up so a few trips to India with large vessels give good xp to the captains.
suggestion: taking stuff from warehouses
I am wondering if it would be possible to change auto-trade mechanism so that the fleets on auto-trade would take the primary trade good from the warehouse before turning to the trade post? Currently, the fleet needs to be taken off from auto-trade to load the warehouse stuff. It would be a great enhancement if the fleet was smart enough to pick the primary good stored in the warehouse on its own.
This should apply only to the primary goods of course (no need to pick up tools mean for construction).
I am wondering if it would be possible to change auto-trade mechanism so that the fleets on auto-trade would take the primary trade good from the warehouse before turning to the trade post? Currently, the fleet needs to be taken off from auto-trade to load the warehouse stuff. It would be a great enhancement if the fleet was smart enough to pick the primary good stored in the warehouse on its own.
This should apply only to the primary goods of course (no need to pick up tools mean for construction).
After the two patches, a lot of my initial complaints have been addressed. Thank you!
Here is my wish list:
-- The biggest annoyance remaining for me is the Fleet icon bar. Putting a postage stamp sized picture of a random guy doesn't help me organize my fleets. Especially since the guy changes every few decades. How about instead of the picture of a guy, it's the picture of the MTI this fleet is currently transporting? Echoing what others have posted, the needed information in this icon view is 1) The direction the fleet is sailing (to/from main port), 2) The MTI of the port from which /to which the fleet is trading, 3) The ship makeup of the fleet (or even cargo capacity would help). The least helpful information is what the Captain looks like
-- Allowing movable icons, or group-able, for Fleet view. The order in which they are displayed currently is based on the order in which I created them. Once you reach 8+ fleets, with retiring captains...it's chaos. At the least, Military fleets should be visually separated from Cargo fleets. Ideally, I should be able to group and place the icons as I want, to accommodate my own play style.
-- A better heads-up display of income. A P&L model would work best. P&L is Profit and Loss, and is used by stock/derivative traders to figure out how much they are earning or loosing. It takes your open positions (i.e. unrealized profit) into account. So, if you have a fleet of 5 40-lot ships filled with Spices, you have an UnRealized P&L of the money you can expect when you get to sell minus the cost of purchasing the goods. Rather than a single Bank balance, this will give you a better idea of your wealth, as opposed to a number swaying violently from hundreds of thousands up, to hundreds of thousands down, etc.... You can then see your current bank balance, and see your current P&L, and quickly determine if you have enough money to build that level 3 fort in Goa.
-- The ability for a fleet to wait in the port until there is enough MTI Quantity, or I have enough money to fully stock the MTI, before sailing for home.
-- The ability to move a ship out of the Dock without going into Port View. Similiarly, moving a ship to a fleet is a tabbed-dialog and multiple click hell. You have Drag & Drop wonderfully implemented all over the game...why not here?
-- The ability to have your ships auto-fill up from your warehouse instead of the Trading Post. Combined with the ability to auto-unload to the warehouse, instead of to the Trading Post.
-- Blockades! The only difference I can find for being At War with another company or not at war is that their ships will attack my ships MORE OFTEN. The AI never seems to accept a White Peace. Wars are very ill-defined. Speaking of which, the message telling me that someone has declared war on me should stand out a little more. Right now it looks the same as "Company A just took Port X", which are easily ignored. I want to know really quickly when someone declares war on me.
-- UI poo - Some dialogs have checkboxes that say "Click to not show tips", while other have "Click to show tips". Consistency! The checkmark means it is showing tips, no check means no tips. Or the other way around. Whatever floats your boat (sic), as long as its consistent.
-- Click to Center view. How about "Goto Port" instead? Since for most of these, that is the next action....
-- Delayed Orders. If I want to change my auto-trade route, I need to wait for the fleet in question to hit my main port, and then start its journey back. If I do it before, the damn thing turns around mid-voyage! What this leads to is me constantly cycling through my fleets (again, clicking on postage stamps of random old guys) to hopefully get everything covered. Argh!
-- Everyone has mentioned this already, but for the sake of inclusion - allow me to Auto-Flee from Battle Mode. Allow me to gain experience from Auto-Resolved battles. Allow me to possibly capture ships, goods, and money in Auto-Resolved battles. The inclusion of this play-mode seems to be the companies attempt to make the game attractive to as many different players as possible, but for those of us who only occassionally want to do the heavy lifting in a battle, and are much more interested in the actual Trading aspect of the game...this is punitive.
Ok, so this is a lot of "wishes". I played the game the whole weekend, off and on, and while I do enjoy it....there is a lot of room for improvement
Here is my wish list:
-- The biggest annoyance remaining for me is the Fleet icon bar. Putting a postage stamp sized picture of a random guy doesn't help me organize my fleets. Especially since the guy changes every few decades. How about instead of the picture of a guy, it's the picture of the MTI this fleet is currently transporting? Echoing what others have posted, the needed information in this icon view is 1) The direction the fleet is sailing (to/from main port), 2) The MTI of the port from which /to which the fleet is trading, 3) The ship makeup of the fleet (or even cargo capacity would help). The least helpful information is what the Captain looks like
-- Allowing movable icons, or group-able, for Fleet view. The order in which they are displayed currently is based on the order in which I created them. Once you reach 8+ fleets, with retiring captains...it's chaos. At the least, Military fleets should be visually separated from Cargo fleets. Ideally, I should be able to group and place the icons as I want, to accommodate my own play style.
-- A better heads-up display of income. A P&L model would work best. P&L is Profit and Loss, and is used by stock/derivative traders to figure out how much they are earning or loosing. It takes your open positions (i.e. unrealized profit) into account. So, if you have a fleet of 5 40-lot ships filled with Spices, you have an UnRealized P&L of the money you can expect when you get to sell minus the cost of purchasing the goods. Rather than a single Bank balance, this will give you a better idea of your wealth, as opposed to a number swaying violently from hundreds of thousands up, to hundreds of thousands down, etc.... You can then see your current bank balance, and see your current P&L, and quickly determine if you have enough money to build that level 3 fort in Goa.
-- The ability for a fleet to wait in the port until there is enough MTI Quantity, or I have enough money to fully stock the MTI, before sailing for home.
-- The ability to move a ship out of the Dock without going into Port View. Similiarly, moving a ship to a fleet is a tabbed-dialog and multiple click hell. You have Drag & Drop wonderfully implemented all over the game...why not here?
-- The ability to have your ships auto-fill up from your warehouse instead of the Trading Post. Combined with the ability to auto-unload to the warehouse, instead of to the Trading Post.
-- Blockades! The only difference I can find for being At War with another company or not at war is that their ships will attack my ships MORE OFTEN. The AI never seems to accept a White Peace. Wars are very ill-defined. Speaking of which, the message telling me that someone has declared war on me should stand out a little more. Right now it looks the same as "Company A just took Port X", which are easily ignored. I want to know really quickly when someone declares war on me.
-- UI poo - Some dialogs have checkboxes that say "Click to not show tips", while other have "Click to show tips". Consistency! The checkmark means it is showing tips, no check means no tips. Or the other way around. Whatever floats your boat (sic), as long as its consistent.
-- Click to Center view. How about "Goto Port" instead? Since for most of these, that is the next action....
-- Delayed Orders. If I want to change my auto-trade route, I need to wait for the fleet in question to hit my main port, and then start its journey back. If I do it before, the damn thing turns around mid-voyage! What this leads to is me constantly cycling through my fleets (again, clicking on postage stamps of random old guys) to hopefully get everything covered. Argh!
-- Everyone has mentioned this already, but for the sake of inclusion - allow me to Auto-Flee from Battle Mode. Allow me to gain experience from Auto-Resolved battles. Allow me to possibly capture ships, goods, and money in Auto-Resolved battles. The inclusion of this play-mode seems to be the companies attempt to make the game attractive to as many different players as possible, but for those of us who only occassionally want to do the heavy lifting in a battle, and are much more interested in the actual Trading aspect of the game...this is punitive.
Ok, so this is a lot of "wishes". I played the game the whole weekend, off and on, and while I do enjoy it....there is a lot of room for improvement
How about making alliances relevant in the battles?
If a company is being attacked and there are allied fleets within a certain radius of the attack, game would suggest them to join the battle in order to help their ally? This way making alliances would count in battles in certain occasions. The supporting ally would have the option to select some of his fleet ships to fill up the 5 ship upper limit of the attacked fleet, for example.
Best would be to get rid of the 5 ship limit in the battles, of course...
If a company is being attacked and there are allied fleets within a certain radius of the attack, game would suggest them to join the battle in order to help their ally? This way making alliances would count in battles in certain occasions. The supporting ally would have the option to select some of his fleet ships to fill up the 5 ship upper limit of the attacked fleet, for example.
Best would be to get rid of the 5 ship limit in the battles, of course...
This could be something I'm just missing, but could it be possible to show ships' names on tactical view fleet panel? So instead of clicking through all the icons, I could choose the right one by name...
edit. Just noticed the highlighting on the minimap, so I'll live without this...
edit. Just noticed the highlighting on the minimap, so I'll live without this...
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