I've just played EIC (Developer's Cut 1.12) for a week or so after buying it in the bargain bin for $10.
It was fun, but some of the bugs really got to me, so I've pretty much given up. I'm not expecting much in terms of a response, but I thought I'd share so Paradox can get some feedback.
I play a lot of naval sims and I like the mix of strategy and real time tactics. The naval battles were OK, and were entertaining enough. The controls were a bit sluggish and the "You did great damage with that shot" when every cannon ball missed got a bit annoying, but the game breakers were waiting until the battle started to set formations. The ships would then crash into each other trying to form line. The same islands appeared every time, the wind was always against me no matter what position I intercepted from on the strategic map and if the battle lasted until night, the game crashed.
After winning a battle, I tried to transfer over the enemy cargo-"EIC has stopped working".
After winning another battle and not wanting to fall for that one again, I put the surviving enemy cutter my brand new frigate and its top ranking captain captured into its own fleet to sail it home and sell. After exiting the battle, the cutter was there, but no frigate. It just disappered.
OK, I'll just go back to fleeing or auto resolving. Being very careful to rearm, refit and recruit after each interception and keeping a careful eye on the relative strengths of fleets I was very suprised when the four frigate fleet led by a top admiral was completely destroyed by a single cutter. The relative strengths showed a totally full bar for me and a tiny sliver of red for the enemy, and then BOOM thirty six months wait and 400,000 ducats gone. If there were storms in the game and the ships went down off the Cape I wouldn't have cared, but to lose them like that just got me angry.
OK, I'll just NEVER fight battles, back to the trading.
The next bug that really got to me was when selling goods, sometimes the wrong goods were sold. I'd noticed it before but now that I was pretty much just playing a trading game made it pretty annoying. Trying to carefully maximise profits became a bit of a joke when I couldn't be sure the tar I'd bought for sale in Lisbon would be sold for a loss in Goa while I was REALLY trying to unload my silverware.
Continually having to click on the game speed after changing views got pretty annoying too. Is it too much to ask for the game to stay on the speed I set? Why force me to keep changing it?
After searching the forums I found all of these bugs had been reported but there was little if any response from the designers. I can understand the company is small and they have other projects, including "Commander" (which probably incorporates a lot of improvements) but it was still frustrating. The game is still being sold and promoted through giveaways like the "What's his face Two Legs and his Zombie mates" video competition so some ongoing support would be nice.
I like the mod friendly nature of the game, and would really like to spend some more money on Paradox / Nitro games, but I'm not sure if I can fork out full price for one after my experiences with EIC. For $10 I got my money's worth, but I was expecting a lot more hours from this style of game.
Any thought would be appreciated. Until then, I'll be playing Empire: Total War for a much more reliable and satisfying naval battle experience in the age of sail, or sinking the Japanese merchant marine fleet in Silent Hunter IV.
EDIT:
Thinking that perhaps I'd been a bit hasty, I reinstalled and tried again.
Guess what? I must be a bug magnet! It's early days and my fleet was returning with enough silk to fill the last compulsory part of the first mission. It made a food stop in Cape Verde as part of its "sail to home port" orders. It left the port and stopped. It won't move, no matter what orders I give it. Looking a bit closer, the Cape Verde port shows that my fleet is IN the port, except it isnt there in the port view. Three schooners with $100,000+ locked up-I've tried all available orders and I watch a green trail of dots to the end waypoint disappear one by one as if the ship is actually sailing there at a super fast pace. The fleet info screen says the fleet is "returning to Lisbon" at 9 knots but not actually doing anything. I guess I should have a look through the bug report threads for this one too. I thought it might have been because the fleet was out of supplies, but it just topped up and then left the port.
I'm spending more time looking for bug fixes and reports than I am playing.
Where's my old copy of "Pirates"? At least it was RELIABLE.
EDIT: Ah forget it. I've lost all interest in anything Paradox and Nitro games has released or will release in the future. Luckily it only cost me $10 to discover they release buggy chunks of poop. Anyone want a free copy of "East India Company"?.
I'd really appreciate a response from the designers. PM me and I might think about buying something else in the future.....
It was fun, but some of the bugs really got to me, so I've pretty much given up. I'm not expecting much in terms of a response, but I thought I'd share so Paradox can get some feedback.
I play a lot of naval sims and I like the mix of strategy and real time tactics. The naval battles were OK, and were entertaining enough. The controls were a bit sluggish and the "You did great damage with that shot" when every cannon ball missed got a bit annoying, but the game breakers were waiting until the battle started to set formations. The ships would then crash into each other trying to form line. The same islands appeared every time, the wind was always against me no matter what position I intercepted from on the strategic map and if the battle lasted until night, the game crashed.
After winning a battle, I tried to transfer over the enemy cargo-"EIC has stopped working".
After winning another battle and not wanting to fall for that one again, I put the surviving enemy cutter my brand new frigate and its top ranking captain captured into its own fleet to sail it home and sell. After exiting the battle, the cutter was there, but no frigate. It just disappered.
OK, I'll just go back to fleeing or auto resolving. Being very careful to rearm, refit and recruit after each interception and keeping a careful eye on the relative strengths of fleets I was very suprised when the four frigate fleet led by a top admiral was completely destroyed by a single cutter. The relative strengths showed a totally full bar for me and a tiny sliver of red for the enemy, and then BOOM thirty six months wait and 400,000 ducats gone. If there were storms in the game and the ships went down off the Cape I wouldn't have cared, but to lose them like that just got me angry.
OK, I'll just NEVER fight battles, back to the trading.
The next bug that really got to me was when selling goods, sometimes the wrong goods were sold. I'd noticed it before but now that I was pretty much just playing a trading game made it pretty annoying. Trying to carefully maximise profits became a bit of a joke when I couldn't be sure the tar I'd bought for sale in Lisbon would be sold for a loss in Goa while I was REALLY trying to unload my silverware.
Continually having to click on the game speed after changing views got pretty annoying too. Is it too much to ask for the game to stay on the speed I set? Why force me to keep changing it?
After searching the forums I found all of these bugs had been reported but there was little if any response from the designers. I can understand the company is small and they have other projects, including "Commander" (which probably incorporates a lot of improvements) but it was still frustrating. The game is still being sold and promoted through giveaways like the "What's his face Two Legs and his Zombie mates" video competition so some ongoing support would be nice.
I like the mod friendly nature of the game, and would really like to spend some more money on Paradox / Nitro games, but I'm not sure if I can fork out full price for one after my experiences with EIC. For $10 I got my money's worth, but I was expecting a lot more hours from this style of game.
Any thought would be appreciated. Until then, I'll be playing Empire: Total War for a much more reliable and satisfying naval battle experience in the age of sail, or sinking the Japanese merchant marine fleet in Silent Hunter IV.
EDIT:
Thinking that perhaps I'd been a bit hasty, I reinstalled and tried again.
Guess what? I must be a bug magnet! It's early days and my fleet was returning with enough silk to fill the last compulsory part of the first mission. It made a food stop in Cape Verde as part of its "sail to home port" orders. It left the port and stopped. It won't move, no matter what orders I give it. Looking a bit closer, the Cape Verde port shows that my fleet is IN the port, except it isnt there in the port view. Three schooners with $100,000+ locked up-I've tried all available orders and I watch a green trail of dots to the end waypoint disappear one by one as if the ship is actually sailing there at a super fast pace. The fleet info screen says the fleet is "returning to Lisbon" at 9 knots but not actually doing anything. I guess I should have a look through the bug report threads for this one too. I thought it might have been because the fleet was out of supplies, but it just topped up and then left the port.
I'm spending more time looking for bug fixes and reports than I am playing.
Where's my old copy of "Pirates"? At least it was RELIABLE.
EDIT: Ah forget it. I've lost all interest in anything Paradox and Nitro games has released or will release in the future. Luckily it only cost me $10 to discover they release buggy chunks of poop. Anyone want a free copy of "East India Company"?.
I'd really appreciate a response from the designers. PM me and I might think about buying something else in the future.....
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