Suggestions and wish list

[Ionus]

Any Thoughts on Battle Audio? It seems to Me that the sound of a Broadside striking it's target would be more like a train wreck than the "chop some kindling" sounds we have here. I like all the other suggestions, and include a "run, like smoke and oakum" button.Lose the auto resolve.

My understanding is that the sound varied, but in general it was like a cross between a hammer striking a wooden barrel and splintering a piece of pine. A train wreck involves metal, and the odd sound probably did have metal striking metal but I wouldnt think it to have been common. A cannon ball striking a cannon would sound like a hammer hiting an anvil, dulled a bit to allow for pooorer quality metal. Decorum prevents discussion of the sound of these balls hitting people, but popping ropes were a twang and sails were like very quickly tearing a sheet. Quite a lot to be incorporated, so it is understandable they went for just a splitting wood sound.

As an aside, so many of these battles were in still water that some cannon crews had learnt they could increase the range by skipping the ball on the surface of the water to punch a hole in the waterline. This was a better option then shooting into the water unless the two ships were very close.

[silverballz2002]

In the Making of "Master and Commander" the Director and his audio Guys had no real idea how a Cannon Ball sounded in flight.So they bought a cannon and the low "Moan" of the shot, in the Movie, is the actual recorded sound. Just for anybody interested..

[gamer8]

Sorry somebody suggested i should put this thread in here. i hope it the write "Sticky" Suggestions. Its taken from my other thread with some amendments!

This is a great strategy game which offers something different. However there are some flaws and inaccuracies I found in this game that I wished could be fixed with either a patch (if possible) or a new successor.


1. I wish the port building levels are more visible on strategic/global view. Also Other port details should be displayed like defence/goods price etc.

2. A port GENERATES income. This means the more ports you own the more money you make. Other country's ship that trades goods in that particular port should be TAXED everytime it TRADES. The benefit of owning a port should not just be getting an item discount IMHO

A PACT should mean a country is allowed to RESUPPLY at your port for FREE but trading will be TAXED evrytime. So a country desperate for silk will have to pay extra in your port. This is port income and should cover maintenance.

A mother country should not have to bear the cost of maintenance for all overseas ports! The profit it makes from selling goods at home should be focused solely on building fleets and expansion. Now this would make a huge difference to gameplay in a positive way.

3. Messages in mailbox should be archived so you can refer to it in future.

4. A port search made available (Sorry - Civilisation style)

5. Advanced auto trading options such as "do not import/export this good"

Ok i havent finished playing but these are the main issues i found in this game. No hating just ideas that could make it a total classic. Cheers everyone!

[railrunner130]

1. The port costs kill me every time. I'd love to see that fixed.

2. It would be nice to have a "go to home port" button somewhere on the map screen.

3. Each port should have it's own unique wallpaper that changes with additions and size. See next idea.

4. Each port should grow or shrink depending on the demand and amount of traffic each receives.

5. Each en-route port should get a stipen from travellers.

6. There should be some sort of ship tracking module that lists how many of each ship are active or are awaiting introduction into the fleet.

7. Possibly a "for sale" module where you can buy older ships that have been sold off by either you or other players.

[gamer8]

The surrender button should also come with a confirmation "Are you sure you want to surrender?".

Ive hit that button by mistake a number of times! It annoys me having to reaload to whole game beacuse of that.

[Alerob]

My suggestions for future improvements of this exelent game:

1. Nicer looking landscape when fighting coastal battles (like in Age of Sail 2).
2. Flag ships should be designated somehow in the battle (bigger flag for example).
3. Port fights should be playable like battles we play between two fleets.
4. Option to remove flag in a certain fleet on strategic level and use the fleet for piracy. This wouldn't affect diplomatic relationship unless being defeated.
5. Possibility to skip from one port to another (like in Civ). The current situation of leaving and entering the port repeatedly is awkward.
6. When a fleet on strategic level is invovled in a fight, it would be nice to be shown its location on strategic map.
7. Option for naming fleets instead of the captain icons.
8. It should be easier to form a line and keep it during battle. The process is too slow and the line disintegrates sooner or later. This works well in Empire TW.
9. Being able to see the composition of other players' fleet on strategic level.

That's all. Thanks.

[Leooow]

My list of things I would like to see changed.



1. Customisable ships, more cannons less cargo. Less cannons more cargo. Weight of ship affects speed etc.
2. Differences between ships, some ships are just faster then others even if they are in the same class. (The black pearl could outrun almost any ship and it was a East Indiaman class(just saying))
3. The fleet should take money with them to trade, so that if you are low on money they can buy MTI's. But if you give them to little money they can't buy that much (new strategy's) Would be a chance to really look at the sale prices.
4. Captains should gain experience no matter what, not only in battles.
5. If a captain retires the crew would give the command to someone with the most skill of their fleet. Not some bloke without any exp.

Maybe for the expension (privateer) it would be cool if your fleet would gain a wanted status and an wantedprice. This price should go up if your fleet would havoc the oceans. And an online scoreboard for the fleet(player) with the highest bounty and if this fleet is still alive or not.

I hope you can do something with this, some things are probably mentioned earlier. But I just wanted to contribute.

Greetz

[Brian292395]

Ship repairs should take some time. Instant repairs are unrealistic. At the normal level of difficulty I won the game at the end of 1633 using a fleet of three Xebecs and one Cutter to destroy and capture enemy ships partly because I could repair my privateering fleet instantly.

[cruizer]

Ship repairs should take some time. Instant repairs are unrealistic. At the normal level of difficulty I won the game at the end of 1633 using a fleet of three Xebecs and one Cutter to destroy and capture enemy ships partly because I could repair my privateering fleet instantly.

I agree. The repair time should also be a function of the damage level. As a minimum I would say the time should be 10 % of the construction time. I think repair time could exceed the time for new construction of the same class of ship. Repair involved dis-assembly and re-assembly. I also think repair costs for the smaller ships could exceed the cost of new construction.

I think ships like captains have a limited life span. At some point the ship will need a complete overhaul or scrapped. Once overhauled the ship would be considered new. The maintenance cost would be essentially a saw tooth pattern. For smaller ships it was typically cheaper to build new than repair. Due the size and quantity of materials required to construct a large capital ship it usually worked out to be cheaper to rebuild/repair the large ships.

Greg.

[Capt Nemo]

It is difficult to follow the economic stituation. The financial report gives just a snapshot once a year.

When most of my fleets are homebound, my cash is low because there is a lot of unsold, expensive goods aboard, but when my fleets are outbound the expensive goods is sold and my cash level is higher. But what are my lowest and my highest levels? Dare I build new ships or update ports without running the cash level too low?

I would like to have a diagram shoving my cash levels for each month for the last two or three years. A diagram similar to the MTI prices. Then I can see my lowest level.

[railrunner130]

Along those lines, the ships cargo should be listed as assets. I see the same error.

As for purchasing new ships, I set a $$ limit based on funds. It's of course lower at the beginning of the game, but I'll increase it as the fleet matures and more expensive boats (and larger cargo loads) require more cash to build.

[City Builder]

I agree with most of the suggestions of wish lists already written in this thread.

It may well have been mentioned in the past 6 pages but since I did not read all 6 pages I will just put my one big wish here.

1. More detail on the strategy map. I'd like to see the landmasses much more detailed, with high resolution textures. I'd also really REALLY want to see our fleets represented by SUBSTANTIALLY better models for the ship(s). I spend most of my time on this map and I'd really like to see a highly detailed replica of the ships in my fleets. If my master unit is a Galleon, then I'd like to see a highly detailed replica of a Galleon with fully billowing sails as it makes it's way across the ocean. And if my fleet has 5 ships in it, then I'd like to see them all represented on the map. When I choose any one of the ships in my fleet on the strategy map it would select them all as a group. Only the main ship (one that is chosen by the player to be their Captains ship) should be the one that is in high details, the others in the fleet can be represented by low detail replicas of their type of ship.

I know this is just an eye candy request, however... For a $40.00 game, I would have thought that this would be already in place since so much time is spent on this screen, why not give the players something really spectacular to view. I'd love it. While were at it, make the water nice too. Certainly it can't go into such detail as in the battle screens, but seriously it could be so much better than what it is now.

Im sorry because I know this will offend the artist in the development firm, but the graphics on the strategy map look like a person with home photo shop made them, not a professional artist like what I know you are.

Specifically, I love the wish list of the 2nd post on the first page of this thread so I won't bother to repeat all of them as they are almost all wonderful ideas that would greatly enhance the game play.

Honestly, I was amazed that my wharehouse is just a closet for storing stuff. It really needs to be interactive like in the Port Royale 2 or Patrician 3 games. It's all rather dull to have the dead wharehouse that only acts as storage unit.

That is all. Please consider making the strategy screen what it really should be.

[City Builder]

Another suggestion or wish.

2. When I am given a mission to pick up or deliver xx item to such and such port. It would be really nice if there was a button on that mission quest letter that would take me to that port so that I can see where it is before I decide to accept. In that way I know best whether it's something that I can accomplish in the given amount of time or something I should disregard.

3. Make the missions worth something. If I can trade ### amount of a certain product in one run and it makes me more money then the mission quest, then it seems absurd to me to take the missions as I'd be losing money in the meantime. Make them worth something more than what I can currently earn through trade (even if you have to make it dynamic so that the game knows how much money I can make on my best trade route).

4. Instead of all this scrolling around make use of the right mouse button, when I click the trade route button to set up a trade route, let me first left click to select the trade route setup, then right click it (or another button, link etc) that will give me a simple drop down list of all the ports in the game along with a tiny icon (or make it larger and make it wording) of what those ports contain. In this way I can avoid all the scrolling around when I'm trying to find a specific port that I wish to setup trade with by simply looking at the drop down selection list and seeing what they have at that port.

5. More information, all the time. For example the crown has sent me a mission that they'd like for me to make a pact with Spain, and that the reward will be a surprise (there is not exact amount or item listed as the reward), however if I fail the mission, then I must pay the Crown half of the reward as a penalty. Ummmm Okay, so WTH is the actualy reward? I think it best to maybe know that before I agree to do the mission so that i know if I can even afford the penalty so that I can weigh my options wisely. It's really a rather strange quest anyway, since I'm pretty sure that I can simply give Spain 50,000 (or more) to buy the pact with them, but since I don't know what the reward is, I'd likely be overpaying for the pact which makes no sence at all. Theres many of these little things that should be cleaned up, that is my wish.

5a. And just out of curiosity's sake, I decided to buy my pact with Spain. It cost a total of about £165,000 to get Spain to accept the pact. What was this great reward that the crown gave me? The crown gave me a whopping £5985 (Yes, Five thousand, nine hundred & eight five £. Woopie!). If this mission was made as a joke from the developers, Im sorry but I'm not laughing. It is this kind of stuff that should be cleaned up and or removed from the game. But you know what they say, fool me once shame on me, fool me twice shame on you. Pfffft, five thousand pounds reward for making a pact with Spain, Pffft.

6. Again, make ample use of the right mouse button. For example when I am in the port screen, instead of making me click the names of the buildings at the bottom of my screen, let me place my mouse where one of the panels appears, right click and choose from a list which building panel I want to appear there. Then I should be able to move my mouse to where the other panel will appear and do it again. Then I should be able to right click on either panel and choose another building to show up there.


As it is now, it's not very intuitive or elegant for that matter. I come into port and click the fleet link, it opens in the left panel. I then click on the warehouse link and it opens in the right panel. I then click on the trading post link and it opens in the left panel (where my fleet was located), and now I've got to click the fleet link once again and it shows up in the right panel. As it is now it's simply confusing the players in that panels never open in a consistant location on the screen. It's taking an unnecessary amount of clicks and confusion to open and close the panels.

Plus think of it this way. If I have a panel open then Im working in that panel, so it makes more sence to make it so that I dont have to move my mouse to the bottom of the screen to open and close panels in the port screen. A simple right mouse button click is all that should be needed to open a particular panel that I want to see, in either the left or right panel area as by my choice.

Honestly, a good chunk of the UI needs an overhaul to give it an efficient UI and a polished appearance which is what a game that sells for $49.99 is supposed to have.

7. Unsticky the windows. Let the gamer decide where they want the windows to appear, let us slide them around on the screen, and have them remember their last position. I get so agravated when I'm looking at a huge interface window and can't move it around my screen in the game, that feels so 1985ish. Like I said, a good chunk of the UI could/should be enhanced tremendously to make it more streamlined, more user friendly, and more pleasing to the eye.

[Ionus]

You have some very good ideas there, City Builder, and I like your phrasing. With all the work going on at Nitro, perhaps they can include some of the suggestions here ?

[fleurenf]

I would like the option of tactical and DT view for trade as well not just for battles.

[azedalis]

I would like some intelligence to auto-trade routes and destination ports. Example. Each owned port could have a switch (toggler box) for iron wares. If the destination port is owned by you and the box is checked then at home port a fleet will buy iron wares first for delivery into the warehouse of the destination port. This giving a reason to increase warehouses of your owned port if you want to have more then the limit of the current warehouse. I see no reason otherwise to increase warehouse sizes.

I guess what I am saying is there is no reason to setup auto-trade routes because of the disadvantages on doing so. Infact I would like to see a slider for auto-purchase of iron wares in the home port....so much of a % of it to fill from 0 - 100%. It gets tiring to have to open up your home port every month to fill it up to the desired level.

I guess I am use to HOI series and the automation that they added to the games so you dont have to micromanage everything if you don't want to.

Why not make ports build at different speeds, A level 1 shipyard (Lvl 2) should not be as fast as a level 3 shipyard (lvl 4) producing a schooner...or maybe set it up that a Lvl 1 shipyard can make 1 lvl 1 ship, a lvl 2 shipyard can produce 2 lvl 1 ships at a time or 1 lvl 2 ship and a lvl 3 shipyard could produce 3 lvl 1 or 2 lvl 2 or 1 lvl 3. Also force all simutanious builds to be the same ship model and will have the same start and stop date if you want more then 1 ship built at a time.

I think new designs for ships to be a quest. IE not just paying a certain a amount of pounds. Or have an option for either....this way its more of a challenge. In hard mode your income is irratic, it would be nice to be able to complete some task to get there. Also might be nice to actually have more then 3 difficulty levels...Going from Normal to Hard is a rude awakening.

I think 1 universal building material is stupid also....why not have wood and stone be materials for building up the ports.

Why not make each country unique....a bonus on something and a penalty on something. Why play any other country besides Portugal???

If out of supply fleets dont get a penalty in fights they should....atleast a moral hit.

[Chalako]

I have read this topic but i didn't find anything about Clippers.These sailing ships where very fast and mostly used for small but expensive cargo or important mail.I would like to see them in an add-on.

Port Royal 2 and Patrician 3 do they work on Vista.If they can i should consider buying them if it's avalable.

[azedalis]

A few thing I would like to see.

1) An option that makes the program stay in the time speed you set, whatever your doing. If I got time stopped I want time to stay stopped after I read a game message or after I look in a port.

2) Arrival notices that allow me to go into the port as soon as the fleet docks.

3) Convoys...setting up fleets to sail together...no different routes or port stops...I could make 1 fleet of warships to protect 1 fleet of merchantmans This way we are not changing fleet sizes as someone recoomended earlier, but combining 2 fleets. If you think its too hard to program battles with more then 10 fleets...why cant we set one to fight and other to flee if attacked.

4) Would love to change names afterwards of ships...its a pain if you combine fleets or whatever and have the same name on multiple ships. Why not force each ship to have different names or atleast place a roman numeral after the first so we can tell them apart.

5) I want to add notes to fleets...Like I might have a fleet that is making a run, but want it to go attack a fleet. I want to have a note saying what porty it is assigned to.

6) Adjust cost to be appropriate...a garrison of 100 men for 2000 and a garrison of 250 for 6000 yearly. Normally it is cheaper to house more men and feed them then a smaller force. See 7.

7) Port buildup is too easy...and too structured the basic level system. Paradox games are not known for taking the easy way out. I would like to see
varrience on ships and port structures. The 4 levels of of forts and garrisons should be max sizing...The fort level giving the bonus to the garrison is fine like it is...but why not have cannons as a purchased item and supplies also. Have the number of men recruited be maybe a percentage and takes so long to increase....very unrealistic to go from 250 men to 750 men in like a day. Have crews and cannons on ships be varible...Be able to goto say 120% cannons with a loss in cargor space...can goto 120% crew withthe same idea. With less crew or cannons the ship can carry a bit more. Ofcoarse with less crew comes the penalties if manevering and reload speeds ect. BTW...when you increase the cannons above 100% you need to increase the sailors also so you dont get a penalty. Have light/medium/heavy cannons cost different cargo spacing

8) Why not have cities able to be built for so much money...it would reduce upkeep of a certain amount of men...right now the 100 men for 2000. So thats 20 pounds per man...with a city it would goto 5 pounds per man for those 100 men...the more city blocks you do the more men you can reduce upkeep on. Make a city block cost 5000 pounds this way its a long term investiment. Also this could give veriance to the ports on the map...they could be set with so many city blocks to start with and that determines about the number of defenders it has.

[Ionus]

I have read this topic but i didn't find anything about Clippers.These sailing ships where very fast and mostly used for small but expensive cargo or important mail.I would like to see them in an add-on.

Probably because the time zone of the game is 1600-1750 and clippers appeared around 1830.

[azedalis]

How about letting us decide name of the game save. Just saying its the campaign and the save date does little if you want to save multiple games as different companies.

Also I think any combat is experience weither you win or lose...alot less if you lose, but still valuable experience.

I really want notes for fleets...shouldnt be that hard to incorperate. Even if it is attached to a captain or whatever.

How about rumors of where the pirates are. I really like the games like Pirates that had more to do then just buying and selling merchandise.

Infact I would think crews would lose moral the longer at sea...and gain moral the longer in port Right now I could go into port and come almost right out with a full load. and go about my business in non-automatic routes and make tons more money then if I let the computer do the auto-routes. Its faster in port manually, when I go into a port I can buy the low weight items. I can make several port stops to buy these low weight items...so I make tons more money and its alot more interesting then auto-fleeting...plus I make convoys with multiple fleets to buy all I can of an MTI so I can sell it all together getting the most profit.