Britannia Rules the Waves

[The Veteran]

Ok so I've recently revealed myself as somewhat of an Age of Sail nut and I wanted this game since it's initial release but price always held me back. Late last year I got hold of a copy from gamestation but it was pre-owned and the stupid copy-protection makes it useless after it's been installed once so I had to wait longer...

 

I finally got hold of the East India Company Collection late last year from Game where it was a steal! This pack includes the 'Designers cut' of the main game (I'm not sure what the difference is) and all 3 add-ons of Pirate Bay, Privateer, and Battle of Trafalgar.

 

While I'm aware this is not strictly an action or strategy game I'm going to be noting down my experiences here with a newly started campaign on Hard difficulty and see if the game can deliver what I hope it can. Having played some quarter of a century in a normal difficulty campaign I found my blockading of enemy ports from the get go seriously limited the opposition I faced and prevented the other companies from even constructing ships due to the massive financial drain I was on their efforts.

 

This time round I'm hoping that the enemy AI can find a way to evade my blockades, or break through them with a military attack rather than simply throw merchant vessels at them like last time... I'd also like to see some more actions in the southern colonies as once my blockades were in place last time round I found it very easy to reconquer much of the enemy holdings in a very short space of time.

 

For me, what's most important about this game is that it is not a quick or short experience as it represents a period of several hundred years of commerce during an ever-shifting political and economical climate worldwide including the making and breaking of numerous treaties and alliances, endless territorial disputes and frequent skirmishes between nationalities often featuring pirates and privateers alike.

 

I received very little reward from my first playthrough (while I didn't come close to completing the games main objectives I easily could have done) due to simple tactics proving far more successful than originally intended. I also failed to grasp the diplomacy side of the game as all other nations seemed to jealous and afraid of me to consider any kind of treaty, peace or alliance. I was further confused by the fact that breaking a treaty in order to form an alliance is a massive black mark with the nation in question. It is not possible for example to simply 'upgrade' your relationship from tier 1 to tier 2 and seemingly requires a temporary return to neutrality at which point you become hated by the country in question for failing to honour your previous agreement...

 

This playthrough will be an attempt to ascertain whether my shortfallings in the previous game are down to the gameplay itself or whether I have simply misunderstood some of the games features.

 

I'll be playing as Britain of course and seeking to carve out an empire without later abandoning it for no good reason. In short I'm going to rule the world! With 7 opposing companies I'm undecided on whether or not I should thin them out early on but time will tell and I'm more than happy to make this an interactive experience so please do feel free to pitch in with any personal requests or advice on how to progress with the game.

 

The most important thing here is that I gain a total understanding of a game that I'm certain has a lot more to offer than I've seen so far so if you notice I'm failing to explore a certain avenue (or more importantly revenue!) please let me know.

 

So enough chatter and on with the expansion! Long live the King! And all that jazz...

 

For those unfamiliar with the starting world in this period here's a quick reminder. All the red ports are the home-cities of the rival East India Companies, I'm in the top-left obviously! These in coastal order from left to right are The Netherlands, The Holy Roman Empire, Sweden and Denmark, with Portugal, Spain and France on the South Coast.

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In the previous game I found that three fleets of warships was more than enough to blockade all enemy ports by sealing the Mediterranean, English Channel and Portugal respectively. Portugal being so close the the Mediterranean outbreak into the Atlantic ocean can even be covered by one fleet but never hurts to be well-prepared!

 

I was disappointed in my last game that none of these other companies attempted to break out of my blockades and even the simple bypassing of Britain to the North wasn't attempted to successfully break out from the North. As I say, I think I'll give the guys a longer headstart this time and see how well they develop before I go with total war. France will get it asap though because, well they're France...

 

Anyway the vessel visible in that first image is a Cutter, one of only 2 types available this early on. This is a military ship but is very unimpressive so I send it down to Africa to run an automated trading route for Ivory. It'll buy at the destination then sell at home while each outward journey will see some of my home stock sold in return.

 

I built another Cutter immediately, unfortunately I'd assumed the ship I started with was a trader and only noticed now that it's not! The new Cutter took 2 months and sat guard in the English channel while a further commission of my first Sloop was sent to purchase Porcelain from India. This is one of my main objectives which are enforced by the EIC and failing these will result in my closure and end-game. The secondary objectives are obviously less vital but I managed to achieve all objectives in my previous attempt.

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It's not long before a Dutch vessel shows up in the English channel and as one of my secondary objectives is to sink/capture an enemy vessel AND I'm in a warship and they're in a tradeship AND I need all the new vessels I can get... I decide to capture it from them... Wallis Gunn takes charge of the new Cutter Brick and meets the Sloop head on.

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The Cutter is a relatively small ship with 28 crew but it more than sufficed last time so we'll see how much harder hard really is shall we! Visuals are very nice with lots of detail on the crews and canoneers but the vessel itself is not quite so well defined by comparison.

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MY rookie captain loads up the knippels, ready to take his first prize, the Dutch get in the first volley though and blow a nice chunk out of my stern with well-aimed roundshot!

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A few volleys of chainshot are exchanged and our opponent is by far our superior in terms of gunnery so the increased difficulty is already showing. It's not long before we've lost our sails and reloaded with roundshot in a desperate attempt to scare off the merchantman. At least we know they don't have the manpower to board us but with Brick immobilised they could quite happily sit off the bow and send us to the bottom.

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Thankfully they flee after taking a few sorry broadsides from our remaining cannons but although it's counted as a victory by the game I feel very much put in my place! The Brick is left a burning hulk and barely makes it back to London where repairs are quickly carried out.

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Captain Gunn however has learnt a lot from the engagement and will not be so reckless again anytime soon! He's earned himself a level up and decides to familiarise himself with the ships rigging, providing his flagship a rechargeable buff to repair sail damage.

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Now that I've realised the ship I started off with is a Cutter he's directed back to London to join with Captain Gunn but realising that Captain Wardley Doyle of the Cutter Anne is a seasoned veteran himself (+20% vision in strategic level) I decide to reinforce both squads instead. We find ourselves completely broke at this point after being unable to bring back a prize from our previous encounter but the EIC will award us 50k for arriving in india for the first time which will be more than enough to continue with some much-needed expansion.

 

While I wait for the lone Sloop Endeavor to reach India and bring in some cash I receive another mission, from the Crown this time. I'm provided with 5 galleons to capture an Indian port of my choice. It'll bag me another 50k but I can't keep the galleons tragically!

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The Galleons are sent to India while I wait for the annual reports to tell me what is currently the most valuable export before choosing a target for conquest. It also makes sens to have them capture a port that is exporting one of my campaign goals as these are cheaper in controlled ports.

 

Finally the Endeavor arrives in India and the 50k promised by the Crown arrives in my coffers! I immediately begin construction of the Sloops which will form 2 new Indian trade-routes but another piece of news changes my plans drastically!

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Matara is desperate for steel, something my homeport has an abundance of. Without a moments delay I load up a Cutter with the stuff and head for India at full sail. The Sloops will hopefully follow as they are completed but it's never certain how long the demand will stay high and there seems to be a lot less steel here than I'd hoped. Even the second cutter doesn't bother to set sail as only 4 more tons are available to us.

 

Meanwhile Sweden, Denmark and the Holy Roman Empire all send vessels through the channel, possibly to deliver their own steel... Time will tell but I still don't feel confident enough to attack them with only 1 fully laden Cutter.

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It seems the home port refreshes cargo each month so shortly after my new Sloop Diana is completed it joins with Captain Doyle's Cutter and the pair head for India with 23 tons of Steel. Another Sloop is laid down in London and our first Porcelain shipment is rounding the Cape of Good Hope on it's return journey just as the Galleons pass them travelling east.

 

The Sloop Bengal is soon complete and launched under the temporary control of Captain Jack Harper. With 57 tons of Steel now in the capital it loads up 20 and heads to India hoping to arrive in time to capitalise on the recent demand for the material it carries...

 

Captain Gunn shortly arrives in Mataya and delivers his 10 tons of Steel for a whopping profit of over 6k then picks up 10k of spices for the return trip to london. The Galleons arrive in India as he leaves and swiftly conquer the port of Bombay, an exporter of Spices! We are rewarded 50k from the Crown and the Galleons are returned to HM Royal Navy. Captain Doyle now reaches Mataya and sells his stock of iron for over 14k profit before heading east to collect some porcelain for the return journey.

 

We recieve an achievement for doubling our starting funds and are back on track for some serious expansion!

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Captain Jack now reaches Mataya with the penultimate shipment of iron and another 20 tons sold reel in another 14k before heading to the mainland and spending 30k on 20 tons of tea to take home! If this ship meets a grizzly end the company will be in for an awful shock! Thankfully he'll recieve an escort once he's back and I imagine the steel boom won't last too much longer before we can continue with some standard trade routes.

 

The race for territory now begins in earnest as Spain captures Luanda, Sweden captures Abidjan and the Holy Roman Empire captures Natal. Soon after, the Netherlands capture Cochin.

 

Captain Gunn returns home and sells off his tea for a healthy profit and then waits for the remainder of the fleet to arrive back at the capital. Only the unescorted Sloop Endeavour returns to India for more porcelain, taking with her an assorted cargo of common exports. Captain Doyle returns with a 19k shipment of Porcelain permitting the construction of our first Schooner, roughly equivalent to 2 Sloops.

 

Captain Doyle embarks on a trade-route with the newly conquered port of Bombay to bring home some spices while temporary captain Jack returns home with a wealth of Tea before his vessel is transferred to Captain Gunn. The fleet waits in port for the completion of the new Schooner before embarking on a final run to Mataya which is still crying out for steel. With 148 tons in port and 70 on board they just need to arrive in good time to guarantee a massive profit!

 

Tragically they only make it as far as the Canary Islands when they recieve word that the high demand is over. They sell in the port for a minescule profit and return home with some common but profitable goods. On their return they embark on a new route to India's East coast to collect some silk cloth. With a capacity for 70 tons it's the biggest venture yet so will present both the highest cost and reward if successful!

 

Denmark now captures the port of Aceh and France the port of Calcutta. India is being divided like a cake at a birthday party! Meanwhile captain Barwick Harper has failed to hook up with his escort in London but now alters his trade route from porcelain in India to Ivory in Africa. It is a very profitable market and a much shorter route. This should help given Britain's dire financial situation after the steel flop.

 

A few months pass as the 3 established trade routes continue to bear fruit but every journey uses 100% of the profits to fill the boats for the next outward trek so funds are still low. So low in fact that when Captain Gunn and his 70 ton fleet arrive in India they're unable to pay for the goods they were meant to be collecting! I tell them to hold fast while the other fleets make enough money to fill the fleet as the distance is too great to come home empty. As if that wasn't enough of a micro-managing nightmare I also recieve an order from a private trader for 50kilos of gold. I'll most likely divert Captain Harker from Ivory to Gold until this order is filled but it's only 50kilos so it's a matter of supply rather than hold space. I have 2 years to satisfy the customer and a 30k reward in store for me should I succeed.

IMG16

 

For the meantime I've written quite enough and played enough too! The fact that I'm experiencing such a slow start this time around when compared to my previous attempt is good and I already feel that I'm going to be challenged relentlessly in the future as a lot of ports have already been conquered whereas I only have one holding in India myself. Add that to the fact that it's not possible to trade in foreign ports and Diplomacy will also play a bigger part in this playthrough than in my last game so hopefully I'll experience a lot of the game that I previously haven't this time!

 

And for anyone who's actually read all of this narrative, don't worry this is a blip and normally trade just happens! The fact I'm rejigging a lot of vessels bears no relevance to the way the game is usually played and in the next 10 years I should have a lot of decent fleets so things will be slowing down and getting a lot more interesting militarily shortly.

 

I'll update this soon as I'm enjoying this much more than last time due to the increased challenge. My inability to capture a merchant vessel with a war sloop is very promising whilst rather embarassing but I see it as mostly a good experience! It prevents me from starving my enemies early on so they'll put up more of a fight this time. Keep watching if you believe me when I say there won't usually be so much text And like I said, feel free to direct my gameplay. Anyone want some countries as allies or enemies? Convicne me and I'll make it happen

[Space Voyager]

I'm not sure which countries are there to ally with.

 

The game looks pretty cool and I didn't even know it has battles! Is the strategic part in RT or turns?

[The Veteran]

Everything is realtime with a pause and 0.5-4x speed controls. It's pretty easy to use although it does have some rather odd moments in which the game won't pause at a sensible moment. For example, when you reload a game it will automatically be paused. When you return from a battle to the world map however (via a loading screen) the game is already playing. Very odd in my opinion as your fleets and any prizes you've taken will undoubtedly need attention as you need to return to port for repairs and ammunition.

 

The battles I experienced on the normal difficulty setting were very well done with one exception. There is a choice between overall fleet control where you can issue orders to the ships like move and attack, or the ability to command any one given ship directly and control down to the split second when it turns, fires and does everything else! My one gripe with the battles is that pathfinding AI for friendly ships is retarded and many times I lost ships that crashed into islands while in direct command, even though they'd been ordered to attack an enemy in the other direction.

 

Certainly I've already discovered the naval engagements in this difficulty to be far more challenging so I'm going to work on building up my fleets and commanders before I choose any enemies. I've got a long way to go till I have a well designed fleet and that'll take a long time without the ability to take any prizes but it'll come in time. My main personal goal is to raise the 60k necessary to start building the next tier of warship but I forget what it is...

 

And the enemies/allies to choose from SV are basically Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark and The Netherlands. A blockade of the Med. might be a good way to take care of Spain and France once I build up my strength a bit but realistically it'll depend a lot on what ports are owned by what faction as I can't let a lust for blood interfere with lucrative trade routes.

 

Nonetheless, my traderoutes won't take too long to establish and once they're all in place with small escorts I'll start looking into a few alliances and wars. Then there'll be something a lot more interesting to share in here

[The Veteran]

Just reloaded this to play a little more and I have -18k somehow! That means I only go about 2k into the black when my ivory shipment arrives and leaves my fleets completely unable to stock up on any kind of wares at all. Think I'm going to have to break off the escorts and go hunting for prizes! Told you it wouldn't stay boring for long lol