Suggestions and wish list

Wishlist

Wishlist:

- West Indies (Caribbean) and Americas
- Far East
- Special based missions (example: intercept treasure convoy, find enemy frigate harrasing trade routes, delivering letters of diplomacy etc, reinforce outpost, blockades, changes in missions based on declared wars etc.)
- Ability to custom color the ships
- Dynamic Weather
- Click on fleet and go into 3d sailing mode even if not in battle
- Is it possible to hide the complete interface in 3d mode? Will be nice to be able to do this (if it can be done already, I apologise and overlooked it)
- Variations of same type of ship depending on what nation ship (where ships was built) is from. Not when captured.
- Ship Upgrades (reinforces hull, improved cannon, bronze plating etc.) that also shows this visually?
- Ability to pan camera vertically and drop closer down to sea level in 3d mode
- Choose nation in Battle/Skirmish mode for Singleplayer
- No time limit or increased time limit for Battle Skirmish mode

I am sure I will think of some more...

Thanks,
G

- Is it possible to hide the complete interface in 3d mode? Will be nice to be able to do this (if it can be done already, I apologise and overlooked it)

Click to expand...

"G" as far as I remember.

Hey Kim,
It would be be great for you to give us a list on what you think could be possible, not all things at once but add to it over time. I understand that the game code has limitations and you can only do so much. I just wanted to know what would be up and coming in the tweaks, any chance of doing this?

I was really hoping that with such awesome looking graphics that the sailing portion would be expanded a bit, kind of like Age of sail 2. EIC is the best looking game of its kind yet! and I was really hoping that this end would be developed....

Cheers!

DavyJones said:

Wishlist:

- West Indies (Caribbean) and Americas
- Far East
- Special based missions (example: intercept treasure convoy, find enemy frigate harrasing trade routes, delivering letters of diplomacy etc, reinforce outpost, blockades, changes in missions based on declared wars etc.)
- Ability to custom color the ships
- Dynamic Weather
- Click on fleet and go into 3d sailing mode even if not in battle
- Is it possible to hide the complete interface in 3d mode? Will be nice to be able to do this (if it can be done already, I apologise and overlooked it)
- Variations of same type of ship depending on what nation ship is from
- Ability to pan camera vertically and drop closer down to sea level in 3d mode
- Choose nation in Battle/Skirmish mode for Singleplayer
- No time limit or increased time limit for Battle Skirmish mode

I am sure I will think of some more...

Thanks,
G

Click to expand...

I second the motion!

On travel:

- Ships should slowly break and lose crew as they travel at sea. There should be a constant need to repair your ships on each end of the trip as well as replenishing crews in ports along the way. There should be a very good chance a Sloop or a Cutter won't make the trip to India and back while big strong merchant vessels should have enough hull points to go back home. Player should be constantly worried if his ships will be able to get back home just like it happened historically.

This will allow the game to reproduce the situation of ships like Swedish East Indiaman "Gotheborg" which is famous for going all the way to China, buying Tea there and coming back around Africa the whole way to Sweden just to sink at the entrance of the port in Gothenburg.

- Repairs should take time. Make it a few days only but it should be present in the game. It's too arcade to enter a port and have an instant repair of all ships in the fleet. A repair icon should appear over a damaged ship and the whole fleet should be held back in the port until this ship is fixed. If you don't want to wait, you could move this ship to another fleet and make other ships leave without it. This would either slow convoys down significantly or force player to rotate ships, maybe even station a fleet in Cape Town to take the cargo over and deliver it safely to home.

- There could be a captain's skill to repair ship's faster. There also could be a skill to train crew that would increase the amount of experience they get from combat and travel.

- Schooners buzzing to India and back under 10 months is another thing that needs addressing. If ship's basic speed is 14 knots and it gets 20% speed increase from Navigator captain and 20% from experienced crew it can break new sea travel speed records that were unknown to that era and travel well over 20 knots. Small ships should be kept in check by constant need to stop for repairs at multiple ports. So they could buzz from Europe to Cape Town, stop there for repairs for half a month, buzz to India to repair there and make same stops on the way back.

Experience instead of giving additional knots over max ship's speed should work the other way round. Inexperienced captains with newbie crews should get penalty so a lame Schooter should travel at 8-10 knots max on average on the way to India while elite ones should be able to squeeze max speed from the ship, maybe even go over it time to time.

- Cost of sailors should be increased to make purchasing a ship to be a much harder choice for the player. There shouldn't be a situation when player is perfectly capable of running a whole fleet of Brigs, Galleons and Frigates. I even saw a guy on this forum who had convoys of 5x Frigates to each of his ports of India. Player should be forced to make cuts and bring some Flutes and Xebecs and other cheaper ships to the equation.

- Galleon needs a nerf. It's too good all-around compared to all the other ships of his period. It has big cargo bay of 100t, 18 heavy cannons and armor of a small fort all at once. Hull and sails should be reduced to 500-600, guns should be switched to medium size (18 medium would still be stronger than anything else until Frigate! For example Brig has 14 medium and Flute/Xebec 12 medium). Also amount of sailors should be raised to increase upkeep. This way Galleon wouldn't work as an ultimate "I WIN" button.

- Ship costs should be increased, especially for high-end stuff like East Indiamen, Frigates and SOLs. Frigate at 100 000 is way too cheap and obsoletes smaller ships too quickly. Constant need for repairs which would be higher for high-end ships would force player to keep using cheaper ships due to economic reasons. Much more accurate historically.

Wishes:

1. Ship and Fleet manipulation to use Drag and Drop. You should be able to drag the ship from the Dock and drop it onto a Fleet. The button and tab clicking is goofy, considering Drag & Drop is implemented for trade goods.

2. Fleet bar changes from Captain icons to something useful. Show main MTI, direction (To/From home port), and someway convey ship makeup (maybe Red numbers indicating Cannons, and Blue numbers indicating Cargo space).

3. Fleet bar grouping. It's way too hard to keep track of which fleets are doing what. A 100% military Fleet should be separated from the trading fleets.

4. Replace "Center map over location" to "Goto Location", or "Enter Port", depending on the use case.

5. The fleet's cargo hold should be represented in a single screen. Just group all of the cargo together, as opposed to my having to flip through tabs to dole out the amount. Especially for 5 cutters which only has 50 slots...this is tedious.

6. Diplomacy and the meaning of "At War" needs a total re-write. Not sure what the intentions were, but neither of these really do much, nor add much to the game (from personal experience and from what I can gather from the Forums).

7. Probably way beyond the scope of the game, but this game is a Case Study for why the world has Futures contracts! So...Futures/Forwards, combined with Insurance and Loans. When you purchase a fleet-load of Spices, you can choose to "lock in" the current price at the home port, and that money is in your account. However, in reality the money is a loan on the collateral of you delivering those goods. If a ship in the fleet sinks and you loose 20% of your shipment, you have to either give back the money you were loaned (with a penalty), or delivery more goods from your warehouse. Buying Insurance would cut into your profits, but cover any losses. Which would add the ability to Sell Insurance to another company, or offer to cover their loss with your own good (for which you can get a premium).

8. Unload cargo directly to Warehouse. Load cargo directly from Warehouse. Both in Auto-Trade mode.

9. The icon messages that indicate that Someone has Declared War on Me should at least have a Red Border or something to give them a higher priority. Someone declaring war on me should not be given the same priority that someone declaring war on someone else is. Actually, for a great implementation of message delivery, look at World of Warcraft. Text that appears in a designated area, and fades over time, is a much better way to show continuous updates of information than giving me a Click-Click-Click Workout.

10. There seems to be lag in clicking and the actual selection. Clicking a port can have up to a second delay before switching over to Port View. Users need immediate feedback, else they start clicking and clicking and clicking, causing all kinds of bad things to happen.

11. The Give Up Port button is horribly placed, and I keep accidentally hitting the button (partially due to #10). It's nice that it has an OK/Cancel, but placing it in a less accidental place would help.


12. Use commas, or periods, to separate numbers. After 1650, it's tough to tell exactly how much money I am looking at.

Continuing my wish list....

31. Some ports were capable of being cheaply fortified to the point of being almost impossible to attack sucessfully, whilst others would cost enormous sums of money and still not be secure. Differences in the ability to fortify ports would add more variables and replayability.

32. Perhaps stone may have to be transported to some locations to fortify them. And weapons to recruit a garrison.

33. Differences in garrisons - most ports were defended by local militias, but we have european marines on guard duty. Corrupt ports would be easier to take.

34. Some areas were rife with disease, and although very profitable they were expensive in europeans lives. People wanted more money to work there. Perhaps some tropical African and Indonesian ports should be more expensive to maintain and to expand.

35. The size and cost of ships in comparison doesnt seem right. A first rate ship of the line could have up to 1,000 crew and carry another 1,000 soldiers to attack a port. The marines would be considered part of the crew. The cost of an first rate was very close to the cost of an aircraft carrier these days.

36. All nations were not equal - France (always rich), Spain (silver from the Americas), and Britain (trade from the new world to Europe) were the biggies. Places like Portugal never stood a chance because they never had the population to secure trade by colonisation or to create a local demand. Others were in with a chance - Holland was replaced by Britain, and Sweden and Denmark had some bad luck. Perhaps this could be reflected in the game ?

37. Ships never lasted long. They were repaired with wood from broken up ships and the rot and wood worm came with the old ships wood. Cost of repairs varied but it is possible to have a ship last 150 years in this game. Somewhat exceptionally, but historically there was one ship that only lasted 3years before it was broken up. The Victory after Trafalgar should have been broken up but for sentimental reasons it was repaired at the cost of two replacements. Perhaps we could have battle damage or simple bad luck or the age of a ship rendering it beyond economical repair.

38. There are some biggies in trade at this time that have been left out. I mentioned previously slavery, but wood and hemp were in huge demand. You needed these before you could consider a trading empire. Spain actually moved ship construction to the West Indies to be close to these resources and to ease the cost of ship building. Perhaps they could be included and sold at ports that have ship building, the larger the shipyard the more they need wood and hemp.

On point 36 it has to be remembered that Holland was one of the most powerful trading nations during this period. Militarily not, but trade wise they had by far the most expansive trade business of the old world..... and they where very rich.

How about adding an event box to the strategic interface, which'll show us information like fleets arriving at ports and those announcements that now come as "letters" such as built ships etc. Just a normal scrolling text box.

DavyJones said:

On point 36 it has to be remembered that Holland was one of the most powerful trading nations during this period. Militarily not, but trade wise they had by far the most expansive trade business of the old world..... and they where very rich.

Click to expand...

Yes you are right. The amatuer historian/strategy gamer knows who won the war between the Dutch and Britain, yet for most of our period the Dutch were very rich and powerful. Still, they were displaced by the British, from New Amsterdam (New York) to South Africa to India, the Dutch were eventually displaced everywhere except the West Indies, the name of the game ! There they displaced the British. The Dutch should definitely be included in the biggies and perhaps the British and as an up and coming middle power with Sweden whilst Denmark and Portugal would be a real challenge to win with.

Continuing my wish list....

39. Xebecs came in many sizes like Galleons, and I would like to see this in the game. Being long and narrow, Xebecs were not ocean going vessels. However, Xebecs were mainly found in the Mediteranean and Dhows were probably sailed from Madagascar but certainly were sailed from Arabia. I wish for many sized Xebecs (in the Med Sea) and Galleons, with Dhows in the East.

40. Pyrates (in general) raided a single merchant vessel, took the cargo, spared the crew and ship to spread terror for the next victims who hopefully would surrender when they saw the pyrates flag. They then dropped off most of their crew in a hideaway and went to a port to sell their booty. Large Pyrate ports are the stuff of legend based on the Barbary Coast. Most Port authorities knew who the pyrates were but turned a blind eye if the port's company wasnt suffering. In game, this would mean any pyrate who didnt attack your ships could use your port. They would need to be identified in the current way Captains are.

41. Pyrates did not attack fleets, nor did they have Galleons or other large ships. Large ships were too unmanouverable in the pyrates preferred escape area of close to the coast. If they did take a large vessel (a very difficult exercise from a small vessel), it would be of little value except for the cargo.

42. A personal disappointment with the game is when a Xebec sinks a Frigate. Outside the time frame of this game there was a "Xebec" that may have been able to match a Frigates firepower and out sail it, but it was a Barbary Coast vessel only.

42. Frigates were the best possible combination of sail area and displacement , being faster than smaller ships and bigger ships. Why do little sloops, schooners, cutters and brigs go faster than Frigates ? Galleons and Xebecs, if smaller than a frigate, can not go faster than a frigate. Where smaller ships MAY have an advantage, is in pointing into the wind. Being able to point higher, they may be faster towards the wind. But downwind, they are dead fish to the frigate.

There was a reason that Frigates were the only ships in either the Royal Navy or the French Navy that routinely operated alone. They might travel in a fleet but that was usually for the protection of the other ships.

I concur with Ionus that Xebecs should no be seen outside the Med. No one intentionally took them past Gibralter unless they stayed in shallow water.

When they did try to attack a warship it was routinely 5-1 or greater odds. And they usually lost, badly. A 18/24lb Frigate had tremendous range advantage over the 9/12lb guns usually mounted on a Xebec. The throw weight advantage was also guaranteed to favor the Frigate.

Now, there's one small historical anomaly here. The 44 gun Frigate in British service did not appear until around 1800. They were a response to the American Heavy Frigates such as the USS Constitution. We're talking 1797 for the launch of the Constitution and it's greatest victories were in the War of 1812!

The 5th rate in the game should have no more than 38 guns plus 4-8 carronades. The guns would have been a mix of 12 and 18 pounders.

Which would still kill almost anything afloat.

Anything smaller than a 6th rate Frigate would have been effectively a "fleet auxillary" not a combat vessel. Though the did have to fight on occasion.

patch tool suggestion

A rabid beaver stole my manual to use in his dam, how can I update my game?

Using the game update tool leaves a bit to be desired. If you have to download and apply the patch manually anyway then the tool probably ought to close the game instead of just minimizing it and opening the browser for the sole purpose of downloading. Using a browser to download the game is not optimal as there are a variety of other ways using fewer resources. If you do use the browser then perhaps display the patch details on the blank page that opens when the download starts.

You could probably even take a page from firefox (among others) and download the patch, restart the game with the patch application prior to loading. Of course that lame Stardock DRM probably prevents it.

Well you best get that Beaver to give the manual back. You need the code key EVERY time you upgrade. And the email address you used to register, you did register, the product.

Next, forget the in-game upgrade. Go manual. It's foolproof as long as you know how to unZip a file.

It's simple.

all the ingame update tool does is download the zip file, you still have to unzip the archive and run the patcher manually.

1) I would like to see a way to compress time during a tactical battle and avoid the looooong wait during maneuvering... x2 x4 x8 etc.

2) More fleets slots, more ships per fleet or more captians.

3) It would be nice to see distinctive ships for each company/country.

4) I would really love a way to store a captured or spare ship in the dock or where ever so I don't need to sell it, or move to another fleet, or start another fleet as my fleets are so limited in number.

5) It would be nice if on the strategic map where 2 of your fleets are in close proximity and one gets attacked the other fleet can come to the aid of the 1st fleet as a tactical battle reinforcement.

1) I would like to see a way to compress time during a tactical battle and avoid the looooong wait during maneuvering... x2 x4 x8 etc.

Click to expand...

Added in 2nd patch. Update your game.

Surrender

Kim,

A small change that probably means days of coding...

An "Are You Sure?" dialog box when you click on "Surrender" in the Tac Screen. I accidentally surrendered one of my Frigates this morning. Thankfully I'd saved right before the battle so I didn't lose anything.

"Surrender" is the only order that has immediate conseguences. If you are going to surrender a ship, the extra time to answer the question will not make a difference.

Thanks,

Danevang said:

1) As far as I can see the option to switch off the info text above ships in battle is not in the game. I feel that it really should be, 'cause it it just feels too arcade to emerge yourself in the naval battle, only to be reminded that you're playing a game, when text about ship name, damage etc. pops up over ships constantly.

Click to expand...

I did some digging around in

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\east india company\Config\keybinds.txt

and I found this:

show_ship_names = g

change it for example to

show_ship_names = n

Otherwise it will conflict with show gui which is bound to the g-key by default.

Line Formation and morale

I had a 5 Galleon fleet attacked by a SOL46 Pirate.

The Galleons reduced him to 26 hull when they all stopped firing. The SOL46 raked and sank the lead ship in the line. The other four, almost untouched, surrendered!

Is this another reason not to use Line? The SOL would have sunk with the next broadsides from the remaining ships. Why would the remaining ships surrender?