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UI Idea for Fleet organization

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unmerged(133722)

Second Lieutenant
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Feb 2, 2009
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  • Europa Universalis III
  • Europa Universalis III Complete
I've posted in many threads about my frustrations with the Fleet bar (the area of the screen in Strategic view that shows all the captains). Quick summary of the basic complaint: Once the game is rolling and you have 6+ fleets, with retiring generals and new fleets being created and old fleets sinking or being split up, it becomes incredibly frustrating trying to remember Who is doing What. Checking the Trade prices for Items, I see that Porcellan is no longer profitable. Which fleets are doing porcelein? Oh yeah, I have to click through every single one of them and follow the dotted line to the main port. That's not good design.

So, to my idea. Along the left screen border, from top to bottom would be an icon for each MTI I am importing (determined by the trade route the fleet is coming from or going to). Arrayed next to each MTI icon is an icon for the Fleet assigned to that MTI. The border of the Fleet Icon would be Red for Going To the MTI Port, and Green for Coming Home. This way I can quickly see: A) What I am importing, B) Where my ships are, and C) What coverage of all MTI's I currently have. Changing the MTI for a Fleet would be as simple as dragging the fleet icon from one MTI and dropping it on another. A nice addition would be to "delay" that order for ships bound for the Home Port until they unload, re-load, and set sail for India.

Thoughts?
 
There's a dedicated sticky thread for ideas and wish lists so devs don't have to traverse the forum the whole day to bump into those.

I like your idea so please post it there so it's noticed!
 
if you have guys on trade routes you can look at the captain info to see what their route is. It doesn't tell you where on their route they are though. Select the captain you wish to look at an it opens the captain and his ship above and then click on the captains face beside his ships. Bit of a hassle the way it currently stands.
 
bilbous said:
if you have guys on trade routes you can look at the captain info to see what their route is. It doesn't tell you where on their route they are though. Select the captain you wish to look at an it opens the captain and his ship above and then click on the captains face beside his ships. Bit of a hassle the way it currently stands.
Click to expand...

That's true, Bilbous, the information is there. It is just not presented to the user in a helpful way. In fact, I would go so far as to say that who the Captain is, is the least helpful information you could give me. Even if it were just a number indicating the max cargo hold of the fleet, you could make some inference (large cargo is coming from India, small from Africa). But just the captain? Blah.

Also, the current model works fine with a few fleets. Try getting 21 fleets, and then tell me (without clicking on every single one) how many you currently have getting Cloth? It's unduly cumbersome.
 
I was pretty sure I wasn't telling you anything new. As far as fleets go I've only made it up to ~1650 and I never had more than 7, maybe 8 fleets at one time. I am not making a lot of money but I am solvent, learning things the hard way.

Sometimes I think it is better not to have guys on trade routes at all you go to the MTI port fill up then leave carrying nothing but the commodity you want. A lot of times I've seen fleet come back empty because I was short on cash, most of the rest of the time they come back with a bunch of miscellaneous crud because they could not fill up on the prime stuff.

but I ramble.
 
I did the same thing, and got so overwhelmed trying to keep track of everything. After reading through these forums and playing more, I've gotten much better at early game, going slow. I don't use Auto-Route until later in the game, and I don't introduce it until it is going to my own port, a place where I can guarantee supply at profit. Everything I do manually, which works until you get about 5 fleets, I've found. At least that is the limit of my brain, while playing a game in my spare time.
 
I have 7 fleets at the moment 1651-2, 3 auto routes to my India ports, a frigate fleet in the North Sea fighting my enemies Denmark and Sweden, a lame fleet serving the free port of Abijan, a fleet in London collecting prize ships, and a floater who may or may not be servicing my port in Natal. The Dutch and the Pope have resigned.

I'm not sure why I'd need a lot more fleets except to gain monetary or land achievements, I think I can toast these last two northern enemies this way and then move back down to Natal or take Jedida to trash the rest after that. Probably won't take more than another fifty years at a guess. I'm doing at least twenty or thirty battles a year. It was a little higher before when I was at war with four countries instead of just two. Pretty much as soon as I repaired in port there was a fleet to trash right in front of me.

I think your idea could be good and I hope you do not mind repurposing this thread as you posted the idea in the other thread.
 
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