Topic: Enhancement Requests

[ConstantOdds]

I like this game, but I can think of a few things that would make me like it more:

• I wish that there was a way to see my ship improvements while I'm in a battle.  I swap ships a lot and can't remember if my current vessel has chainshot or grapeshot or grapples, and that affects how I engage the enemy.  It looks like there's space on the lower part of the screen during the battles, it would be great if that were visible.  If not, then maybe the regular Status button so I could go and look it up.
  

• I'd like to see the Top Pirates area done a little differently.  I wish it included the ship name and an epitaph you could write when you die.  I also would want the ability to sort the list:  I like the game itself, but could care less about stashing money away.  I always scour through the list to see the most ships I've captured or the longest I've lived, and it would be nice if that was easier to do.  It would also be nice to see the highest promotion you achieved (they all show as Scurvy D, although some should be Vice Admiral Scurvy D, right?).
  

• You know the header area where it says how much money you have and the date?  I wish it showed how many more turns you had at sea without running out of food.  That's the single most important info for me while I'm sailing, and currently I have to leave the map to go to the Status screen, see how much my crew eats each turn, then go to the Cargo screen to see how much I have left, then do the division in my head and return to the map.  It's the only aspect of the game that I find tedious--couldn't that be easier on us?
  

• When you make a new pirate, it remembers all your stats except for your skills.  This is way better than it was, but why not remember your skills?  I make the same pirate every time, with a little variation now and then.  If anyone wanted to subtract the stats back to neutral or if you wanted a reset button or something, that's fine, but having to subtract and then add stats back into order each time only makes the pain of getting sunk by a merchant ship on my way home from getting beat down by a frigate that much harder to bear.
  

[MicaByte]

• I wish that there was a way to see my ship improvements while I'm in a battle.  I swap ships a lot and can't remember if my current vessel has chainshot or grapeshot or grapples, and that affects how I engage the enemy.  It looks like there's space on the lower part of the screen during the battles, it would be great if that were visible.  If not, then maybe the regular Status button so I could go and look it up.
  

Unless there is a bug preventing this, you should be able to access the Ship Status screen by pressing the picture of your ship on the encounter view.

When I redo the interface at some point (and figure out some nice icons), I intend to build a common status bar with map/status/help icons to be used on every view.

• I'd like to see the Top Pirates area done a little differently.  I wish it included the ship name and an epitaph you could write when you die.  I also would want the ability to sort the list:  I like the game itself, but could care less about stashing money away.  I always scour through the list to see the most ships I've captured or the longest I've lived, and it would be nice if that was easier to do.  It would also be nice to see the highest promotion you achieved (they all show as Scurvy D, although some should be Vice Admiral Scurvy D, right?).
  

Noted. I'll be redoing the high score system when I add on-line scores.

• You know the header area where it says how much money you have and the date?  I wish it showed how many more turns you had at sea without running out of food.  That's the single most important info for me while I'm sailing, and currently I have to leave the map to go to the Status screen, see how much my crew eats each turn, then go to the Cargo screen to see how much I have left, then do the division in my head and return to the map.  It's the only aspect of the game that I find tedious--couldn't that be easier on us?
  

Good point.

• When you make a new pirate, it remembers all your stats except for your skills.  This is way better than it was, but why not remember your skills?  I make the same pirate every time, with a little variation now and then.  If anyone wanted to subtract the stats back to neutral or if you wanted a reset button or something, that's fine, but having to subtract and then add stats back into order each time only makes the pain of getting sunk by a merchant ship on my way home from getting beat down by a frigate that much harder to bear.
  

Noted. The reason why it does not currently remember your skills is because I grab the information from the last saved game score and the game does not know what your starting skills were at that point (unless you got very unlucky). It's not difficult to add, though.

[ConstantOdds]

Unless there is a bug preventing this, you should be able to access the Ship Status screen by pressing the picture of your ship on the encounter view.

Hey, you're right--same goes for the enemy ship.  I never guessed to try it, and didn't think to look in the help (where it's explained clearly).

[jakal323]

I didn't even notice that there was an enhancement request thingy. Here's one.

Port Blockades - This could be something our enterprising traders could profit from. I figure that warring nations would use this sort of tactic to ensure their opponents weren't able to resupply themselves. However, a skillful captain could either sneak their way through or attempt to slug it out. On the other side, profit. Unfortunately, you might get torn to shreds on the way out too. Historically, maintaining a blockade was a job for frigates and smaller, but big boats were usually around. This would be a way to introduce first rate ships (72 gun monster!!!) without having them run around willy niily. Our little tiny ships (in comparison) would make great blockade runners. One could hear of a blockade from a rumor and know that there was profit to be had by shipping food, weapons, etc.

[ConstantOdds]

That port blockades thing is actually a pretty good idea.  I find out a port is blockaded, so I need to stay clear unless I think I can get through the blockade either by fighting through a big ship or sneaking past in a fast one, and exceptional trade rates could be found on the other side, but you've got the same problem trying to leave.  I think I get it, and it sounds cool.

[ConstantOdds]

Oh yeah, I had a small request.  Do you think you could have it show your crew size and capacity in the tavern screen somewhere?  Whenever I'm in port, I go to Status, check how much I need to recruit, and then back out of that and go to the Tavern.  A tiny [80/100] in the tavern somewhere would come in handy since I need to repeat that trip to the Status screen every time I want to recruit.  It's something little, but is a bit of a drag.  If you'd rather verbalize it, you could add "you are able to recruit 35 people, though you only have berthing for 20" or something like that.

[jakal323]

That port blockades thing is actually a pretty good idea.  I find out a port is blockaded, so I need to stay clear unless I think I can get through the blockade either by fighting through a big ship or sneaking past in a fast one, and exceptional trade rates could be found on the other side, but you've got the same problem trying to leave.  I think I get it, and it sounds cool.

You've got the long and the short of it. The best thing about it is that it could be a result of war as opposed to a simple random event, so everything still remains deterministic in nature.

[Caliphear]

I'd really like to see random rare "named" ships, crewed by famous pirate captains.

It would also be great if ports changed hands sometimes, especially if you could conquer a port for your home country.

[ConstantOdds]

I think I've gotten the hang of the game as a pirate, but it's tough going as a trader.  How about a pirate that hustles you for protection money from time to time, and if you don't pay he could come back and attack you but if you do he might come to your aid in a ship battle sometime?  I'd take even a bully's patronage to keep my merchant ship afloat at this point.

[MicaByte]

Always looking for ways to balance the game. What's the problems playing as trader?

It has already been suggested that Pirates should not sink the player ship after a boarding battle - this was a measure I put in to encourage traders to fight pirates less (as was historical), but which will probably be removed in the next version (so, i.e., pirates only plunder your ship and never sink it unless in the heat of battle).

Adding Loans will also make it easier for the player to recover after a pirate attack, which seems to a problem at the moment.

Ideally, both traders and pirates should be able to achieve high "scores" in this game. Trading should be the slow, but more secure way of gaining treasure, while piracy should be the faster, but high risk, option.

[ConstantOdds]

Here's my experience as a trader, but I have no idea how typical it is for other people. 

The goods that I can afford out of the gate have such a low profit margin compared to the constant rate my crew eats as I try to travel from where I start to where I can sell the goods, so it seems like I'm forced to spend any money I make on food rather than more cargo.  Most of my trader games don't get out of the gate, as opposed to the pirate games where you start with a ship and crew that can beat half of the vessels out there.

If I do manage to get a lucky break, like a surplus and shortage near where I start, I will at least have a chance of surviving the first year.  But then again, the merchant boats get sunk or plundered by other ships so frequently, which leaves me either dead or broke.  Unless I switch to a pirate ship to do my trading which usually leaves me without enough cargo space to keep my earnings above my food costs.

As a pirate, I can sink a ship which improves crew morale, gives me cash and cannons, as well as plunder to sell.  As a trader, you're that ship which is providing the cash and cannons.  It makes sense I guess, which is why people don't make a lot of movies about the derring-do of early Caribbean mercantile vessels. 

More cash at the start would help make the merchant path more plausible, and if you could take out loans that would make the frequent plunderings a lot more recoverable. 

You've probably got it pretty realistic, but I'm not sure it's much fun.  If I had to be a merchant back then, I've learned my lesson to just trail the military conveys from port to port instead of braving an open sea with a 50:50 pirate to trader ratio. 

To make it playable, I go back to calling it Pirates & Privateers, with the pirate option being the same as it is now and instead of a pure trader path I switch back and forth every few months between trading (to try to make it work) and privateering (to pay the bills).  Or I go with piracy for a few years at the start of the game to capture a trade galleon and have several thousand gold on hand, then pay off the governors for clemency and retire to a life of legitimate trading.

[Straputsky]

Hello,
hope it's the correct topic. I would like to have some additional features. From a noob point of view they should be easy to implement. If not, just ignore them... 

I would like an extra menu for upgrades. At the moment I have to sail around, waiting for a special upgrade to come. I would like it to have a menu where I can upgrade the things I wish at any time. Maybe you can split it up, that poor ports don't offer every upgrade. Next there should be some upgrades which are useful for traders (for example "additional cargo space" or "better selling prices"). There should be a maximum number of upgrades per ship (maybe even ships differ here, so one can have only 5 upgrades, another one . Upgrades should be removable. Maybe some Upgrades should be dependent (means you can choose between more cannons or more cargo space, but can't have both at the same time).
All in all I thought about a simple sub menu where are some checkboxes. If you want to remove an upgrade, simple uncheck it (there should be a confirmation message so that you don't erase by accident).

Second I want to be able to buy the ships I'm looking for. I played one game where I wasn't able to buy a frigate for over ten years. None of the rich ports offered one to me. That's a little bit frustrating. I wouldn't mind if there's some delay (pay today, but get the ship in one year). Maybe another submenu?

Third one is just for fun: Don't know if you know the game Colonization. At the end, they finished the game with a "A (xy) was named after you". The higher your score the better the thing which was named after you. Maybe someone has some funny ideas about some comments belonging to your achieved highscore. But that's nothing crucial. Just an idiotic idea... 

(You really read all this through? Phew, you're tougher than me then  )

[MicaByte]

I try to read everything. Thanks for the suggestions.  

I already have plans to improve the shipyard (now detailed in this Task). This is part of a planned change where the number of ship improvements are increased (i.e., so that it is possible to gradually improve the ship, rather than having just one improvement per ship factor). More ship purchase options are also in the cards.

Retirement titles are also an idea I'd like to implement at some point. Though I'm debating to what extent it should be baked into the storyline system.

I'm not sure about limiting the ship improvements per ship, as it adds a lot of additional interface changes without adding too much to the game.

I hope to add some new features on a weekly/bi-weekly basis for a couple of months. Can't say when those changes will make it into the game though. As long as I don't get tired of working on this, though, they will eventually make it into the game...

[Chodespot]

Well, I have noticed that in the status area, there is a topic for "specialist." I have yet to find one. I usually play as a plunderer, so I am very often at the tavern recruiting new people for my ship. Is this for a update to come later? or am I just doing something wrong? It seems as though this will be a great asset to my ship so long as there are many different types of specialist.

[MicaByte]

Well, I have noticed that in the status area, there is a topic for "specialist." I have yet to find one. I usually play as a plunderer, so I am very often at the tavern recruiting new people for my ship. Is this for a update to come later? or am I just doing something wrong? It seems as though this will be a great asset to my ship so long as there are many different types of specialist.

Specialists will be coming in a future update. 

[Badmiker]

First off, can I just say how much I am enjoying this game, and let you know that I'VE WASTED DAYS ON IT!

I love the way my brig got blown out of the water by a Spanish Flag Galleon when I was just about to retire wealthy and successful. (I couldnt resist a pop at it).

Also, the way that every so often a game ends after a couple of turns with me destitute/sunk/hunted-down-like-a-dog. Wonderfully unpredictable!

My requests:
I think the fundamentals are all there; trading/fighting/missions/progression all work well but I'd like to see more integration.
It'd be great to influence the politics in the area; if, after a successful mission, you could be called to the governor and told that the 'shady character' was his agent and that you were now being asked to do a 'special' mission (take cargo/passengers or attack specific ship) which would then affect the areas politics (ie make peace, or make war etc).

Similarly; if I'm a British captain then surely enemies warships should attack me on sight? (Maybe this happens already, I havent noticed). Vise Versa; if I attach a foreign vessel then this should increase chance of war between nations.

Also; is there a way to induce privateers to attack me? I dont want to attack them first, or to 'leave' but I do want an excuse to steal their ship.

Is there an explanation of what the 'skills' affect? Charisma, for example, is a mystery to me.

Thanks for the game. I realised what it reminds me of; remember Elite?! High praise!

[MicaByte]

Glad you like it.

Integrating player actions with regional politics is the next big thing on the agenda; version 1.3.x will implement a lot of this stuff.

Enemy warships will attack you on sight, but only if you are a notorious pirate. Otherwise they simply ignore you (we assume that they either have better things to do than to chase traders or that you fly a false flag or something  ).

Privateers will always attack you if given the chance (they're just Pirates). Also, no one cares whether you beat up Privateers, so attack away.

The skills are described if you access the help from the New Pirate view.

Elite was an inspiration for the game, so the resemblance is probably no coincidence. 

[Cantora]

Hey Strat,

In the harder modes, I think it still might be a good idea to offer a chance of not being thrown in the dungeon if you're captured by a merchant. Anytime i try and take on a merchant (when i first start) and they beat me, the game ends. However sometimes when fighting a patrol they let me go. I believe having the option for the merchants to also let you go - maybe with a bribe even, would stop me having to restart the game over and over lol.

[Cantora]

Warehouses!

top merchants of the day would hire or buy a warehouse to store goods and also hire some employees to protect it. They would then sell when the price is right.
BUT if you were of a specific nationality and that nationality went to war with the country that your warehouse was in, you were in a fair bit of trouble...

see where I'm going with this?

Here's a glimps of the use:

Nationality: Brit.
Hire a warehouse + employees at 100dub p/y in each Brit location.
I store gems I purchased cheap and wait until there is a factor.

Or lets say I go and build a w/h in a french port to store weapons ('cos they always have cheep weapons) but eventually they go to war with Brit and my warehouse gets sacked, but my goons managed to get some of it to safety..
and so on. Upgrade your warehouse to store more, or have a larger protection going on to save more if I get sacked, etc.

Can

[Cantora]

Here's my experience as a trader, but I have no idea how typical it is for other people. 

The goods that I can afford out of the gate have such a low profit margin compared to the constant rate my crew eats as I try to travel from where I start to where I can sell the goods, so it seems like I'm forced to spend any money I make on food rather than more cargo.  Most of my trader games don't get out of the gate, as opposed to the pirate games where you start with a ship and crew that can beat half of the vessels out there.

If I do manage to get a lucky break, like a surplus and shortage near where I start, I will at least have a chance of surviving the first year.  But then again, the merchant boats get sunk or plundered by other ships so frequently, which leaves me either dead or broke.  Unless I switch to a pirate ship to do my trading which usually leaves me without enough cargo space to keep my earnings above my food costs.

As a pirate, I can sink a ship which improves crew morale, gives me cash and cannons, as well as plunder to sell.  As a trader, you're that ship which is providing the cash and cannons.  It makes sense I guess, which is why people don't make a lot of movies about the derring-do of early Caribbean mercantile vessels. 

More cash at the start would help make the merchant path more plausible, and if you could take out loans that would make the frequent plunderings a lot more recoverable. 

You've probably got it pretty realistic, but I'm not sure it's much fun.  If I had to be a merchant back then, I've learned my lesson to just trail the military conveys from port to port instead of braving an open sea with a 50:50 pirate to trader ratio. 

To make it playable, I go back to calling it Pirates & Privateers, with the pirate option being the same as it is now and instead of a pure trader path I switch back and forth every few months between trading (to try to make it work) and privateering (to pay the bills).  Or I go with piracy for a few years at the start of the game to capture a trade galleon and have several thousand gold on hand, then pay off the governors for clemency and retire to a life of legitimate trading.

I find being a trader much easier and more enjoyable at the start of the game for a few reasons. Primarily the options you have available to you to make money honestly are numerous; several types of jobs, straight forward trading, more complicated trading, etc.

I start out each game in one of two ways:
1. I do jobs until i have about 5k - and then upgrade to a ship with strong sails/canons to outrun the enemy.
2. I trade weapons between two  close cities until I have enough $ to upg to gems, and then upgrade to a larger trader so i can outgun enemies.

Or I mix the two together. Once I have enough cash to sell my boat and upgrade to the next one, I do it straight away and then go from there. It takes a while before I can become a pirate/privateer, so I always start out as an honest man. Any extra $$ would make it a walk in the park.

As long as you invest in the chain-shot upgrade, all is good, as it is the best way to outrun enemies (For now)
I only play on swashbuckler .

[Cantora]

A couple of things...

1. Real privateers would increase their wealth and fame by capturing enemy ships and adding them to their fleet or selling them....
??

 2. I can disable any ship in the game with a Brig + extended gun deck + chain shot. The game (even at hardest level) is a walk in the park with chainshot the way it is + the strength of masts, sails, etc. Maybe increasing the strength of masts, etc, to make it so capturing/sinking ships is not as easy (At least at the harder levels)?

[MicaByte]

1. Historically, many pirates often let their victims go - it was good "business" (in the sense that mercy usually resulted in easier captures). Since Pirate society was essentially egalitarian (the Captain was mostly "first among equals" - not commander in chief), maintaining a fleet was also problematic. Even the greatest pirate chiefs (Morgan, for instance), could only control "their" fleets if there was prospect of loot. Trying to model the reality of this might be interesting, but probably would not be very fun in a mobile game.

The real reason why this has not been included, though, is game balance. Allowing players to have fleets would tip the scales heavily in favor of piracy over trading, and there is also the question of how this would fit into the game mechanics. This is a frequently requested feature, though, so I won't say I definitely won't do it - it's just not a priority at this time.

2. I will eventually be looking at ways to make the higher levels more challenging. One of the way's that I plan to do this is to add more challenges at the higher levels (dedicated pirate hunters, famous pirates, etc). I'll tune the combat variables too, if this seems called for.

[Cantora]

- makes perfect sense re: why not having so many ships - though having the ability to sell them might be good? It can be pretty frustrating when you spend a billion trillion dubloons on upgrades then change over to a new ship and start again...although i suppose that makes it more a challenge. hmm.

And the upgrades for the future on harder level sounds great. can't wait to get the full version of the game