Cash Flow & Profil system is weak..

[unmerged(176661)]

I've seen a lot of suggestions but none really mention the weakest point of the game ( at least for me ! ).

I think one main modification should be done regarding the player motivation to keep playing after something important and negative happens.

Let say ( and ity happens a lot ) that you loose 2, 3 or 5 fleets carrying valuables ( tea, silk, spices...) you run out of cash flow, can't buy any more etc.... at this stage of a game after you've spent 5, 10 or 20 hours..the game is over !

The second point and the most important modification to do is regarding the cash flow. Maintenance si too expensive and when you get the game you can't really increase profits before hours and hours of playing, during all these hours if you have one problem you're dead.
Maintenance cost should increase with players fortune and the government should give to the company cash every year to keep controling trading posts, I can easily imagive a system that will finance the player with 100.000 for Fortress level 1, 200.000 for level 2, etc...

A great game is a game where you have suspens and when you make a mistake or bad luck is on your side, you can still make it. The cash flow sytem leave you very vulnerable, too vulnerable.

Two other minor suggestions:
1/ I can't understand that you can't access friendly nations trading post, doesn't make sense, at least we should decide what and which volume can be bought by an country we have an alliance with, no ?
2/ Allies, Mercenary or pirate fleets should be hired for a limited amount of time in order to increase combat capacity very quickly, no ?

Hope I help !

Marc

 

[unmerged(159865)]

Let say ( and ity happens a lot ) that you loose 2, 3 or 5 fleets carrying valuables ( tea, silk, spices...) you run out of cash flow, can't buy any more etc.... at this stage of a game after you've spent 5, 10 or 20 hours..the game is over !

Marc

Welcome to the world of business. spend wisely

It would be nice though, and I've seen it posted somewhere else around here, to have a spreadsheet, showing profits for the individual fleets. that way we can easily see which routes are being profitable, and which routs are a money drain.

 

[BB4Life]

The only advice I can offer about your two points are to save more frequently and in increments. Use the slots to save different phases of your game. Be careful when overwriting. If things go badly during a certain phase, reload and try a different strategy or tactics.

I agree with your second point that maintenance can be expensive. I usually only build garrisons and trading posts to keep my costs low.

 

[unmerged(175798)]

Is a level 1 fort and garrison on say level 2 sufficient? If you go to level 3 garrison your costs are damaging. Hard to hold a port without strong forts garrisons particularly in 1700's.

 

[delra]

Start sinking AI war fleets!

I build Fort1/Gar3 early on and later when natives start attacking upgrade to Fort2/Gar4. Then I just have SOLs and Frigates patrolling catching bad guys and retaking my ports if one was taken in the meantime.

 

[unmerged(175798)]

Start sinking AI war fleets!

That's my problem, I am hopeless at sinking ships in real time . I have been practicing but not very good. Most likely I would get a better result with auto resolve ( as risky as it is). I think a lot of players are in the same situation re real time battles.

 

[nijis]

I don't know what your precise experience is with the battles, but I also found myself completely unable to fight at first. Then I realized that a crew skilled in gunnery seems to do several times the damage of an untrained crew, and I started winning battles that I previously would have lost.

 

[unmerged(175798)]

Do you take direct control or do you let the ships auto fire/ ammunition type etc?

 

[nijis]

I take direct control of the lead ship in the line, because getting down on your ship's deck via the movie cam key, and watching the waves break on your bow while you try to line up shots, is for me the best part of the game.

The other ships follow in line, although sometimes I'll click out to put them on a straight course or to attack. I'll put them on auto-ammo but hold fire until we're pretty close. I don't know how many opportunities they're missing with a narrow arc, but with several ships I can usually punch about 125% over my weight, and with a single ship maybe 150%. Others who are 133ter than I can probably do much better.

Btw, if you play with a single ship and have the skills Repair Hull and Repair Sails, then you can probably take on several times your weight in broadside poundage by taking direct command. IMHO those skills are rather inappropriate for this game, but others may disagree.

Honestly, if I hadn't suddenly realized that crew skill (earned, unrealistically, by running away from battle) was drastically improving the effectiveness of my gunnery, I would have become very discouraged.

 

[unmerged(175798)]

I think I will flee until I get that skill, then challenge them. THX.

 

[azedalis]

You need to build your war fleets early and start gaining experience with them. Once you get a good captain and experienced fleets, it makes battle so much easier

 

[nijis]

I think I will flee until I get that skill, then challenge them. THX.

I think that's probably the best plan. However, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what gains you those precious little stars. I think that you at least have to enter the battle map before you flee, although you might also have to exchange broadsides. If your ships aren't getting any more experienced, you might try to put together a small fleet and hunt isolated enemies.

 

[Forster]

Put togetber a small fleet of two to three cutters. Find the best captain you can hire (combat skills). Then attack, if the fleet you are attacking is equal to your fleet in size or larger, cancel the attack. Keep attacking. I try for capture, so I tend to use grape (?) shot to lower crew strength, then try to board the enemy ship. Most of the time they surrender before that.
Keep the ships, return to port. Add schooners to your trade fleets or start new ones. Add cutters and other war ships to your attack fleet. Eventually you will have enough to start a second. I usuall sell off sloops. Make sure you repair the fleets and buy ammo and hire crew if your captain doesn't do this automatically. If funds are short, wait until a trade ship comes in so you can get the combat fleet up to strength.
When you get enough funds, build some Xebecs, add them to one of your attack fleets and send it pirate hunting. When your enemies get strong enough, start building larger combat vessels.
Two thirds of my trade fleet are captured ships. I am playing Portugal. Poor Spain and France have no ships. About half of my combat fleets are made up of captured ships.
The Empire made an alliance with Spain, so I am going to set one of my attack fleets on her now. :rofl:
I don't switch to deck view, I prefer to stay in the view the combat starts. When you attack, try to cross the T, stay away from broadsides as much as possible until you have done some damage to them. If you are giving them a broadside, chances are they are giving you one too.

 

[BB4Life]

It kind of sucks, always having to outnumber, outclass, or out-skill the enemy in order to win. The naval ai is good, I just wish there was a better naval ui so that I can use things like tactics and the weather gauge in my favor. Even showing things like firing arcs in the naval combat view would help. Do the EIC expansions make any changes to naval combat?

 

[Pauvrelieu]

Do the EIC expansions make any changes to naval combat?

Well, if you count the designer's cut as an expansion, then, sort of. It adds small islands to the combat map that can be either used to your advantage, or sink one of your ships. I've lost a couple of ships in my fleets, instructing them to attack an enemy vessel, only to have them run directly into one of these islands, then sink shortly thereafter. I think that either the pathfinding isn't quite there, or it was designed this way, so you have to keep closer tabs on all of your ships, which is hard to do if you're in direct/deck view of a different ship.

 

[unmerged(159865)]

It's nice to also get your ship as close the island as you can and watch the enemy beat itself against the rocks. I think this sucks, because when I go after a ship...I go for a prize!!! Not a pile of mashed lumber and cloth.

 

[Forster]

It kind of sucks, always having to outnumber, outclass, or out-skill the enemy in order to win. The naval ai is good, I just wish there was a better naval ui so that I can use things like tactics and the weather gauge in my favor. Even showing things like firing arcs in the naval combat view would help. Do the EIC expansions make any changes to naval combat?

Well, after I got my schooner built, I started with one cutter. So the challenge is still there. Taking on a galleon with 2 Xebecs and 2 cutters can still cost you, so it isn't all a walk in the park.:wacko: