§4 Captains
[4.01] Roles of Captains
[4.02] Skills
§5 The Dummies Guide to
[5.01] Trading
[5.02] Battles
[5.03] Capturing Ports
[5.04] Victory
[A] Contact Information
[B] Credits
[C] Webmaster Information
[D] Copyright Notice
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Now, Let the Guide Begin~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[1.01] Introduction
Okay, that is the best I can do with the box, my ASCII generator can only do
so much, and my lack of creativity can only do so much as well. Anyway, this
is my ah, 53rd guide I think. One of the more unheard of games this year,
this game lets you play as the manager of a trade company, an East Indian
trade company trading on behalf of your country. Will you succeed and crush
all the other competitors or will you fail and sink to the bottom of the sea?
To that end, only you can decide.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[1.02] Version History
Version 0.0 [16/8/09]
Started this guide.
Verison 0.1 [17/8/09]
Got some work done. Chapters 2 and 3 doneish.
Version 0.2 [18/8/09]
Captains done. I don't see much left to do, except how to fight and how to
trade.
Version 0.3 [19/8/09]
Quick and easy game, and now it is done.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[2.01] Ship List
--==Sloop==--
Cost = 15000 Pounds
Available From = Start
Construction Time = 2 Months
Cargo Space = 20 Tons
Cannon Space = 8 Light Cannons
Hit Points = 100
Marine Capable = No
Maximum Crew = 20 Sailors
Maximum Speed = 16 Knots
This is a good starting ship, it is a cheap ship and quite useful method of
trading. It can carry a nice amount of cargo space with a very quick speed,
which makes it a very useful ship to trade in the start. It is quick to
produce and cheap. This makes it a nice ship to send off to the further
ports to trade spice and tea.
--==Schooner==--
Cost = 25000 Pounds
Available From = Start
Construction Time = 4 Months
Cargo Space = 40 Tons
Cannon Space = 12 Light Cannons
Hit Points = 200
Marine Capable = No
Maximum Crew = 30 Sailors
Maximum Speed = 14 Knots
This is a nice trading ship, it can hold a fair amount of cargo, decent
speed and in groups, it can give you a nice advantage in battle. Basically,
this ship is the basis of your mercantile fleet. However, whilst you use
this in trading, remember that if you decide to carry some expensive
cargo, like spices, you want to cover and protect your cargo, this isn't
fighting ship.
However, use these in groups of 5, and with a decent captain, this would
be a force to be reckoned with. In groups of 5, it can take on enemy ships,
their trade ships and their warship escorts without minimal losses. However,
whilst they are powerful early in the game, they are weak in the late game,
but if you command them in battle, you can beat enemy ships with speed.
This is probably the best ship for trading due to the nice speed and tonnage
that you can hold. So it is probably the best ship that you can use. Sure, the
other ships can hold a lot more in terms of cargo, but this has speed, which
is important for those trips to the East Indies.
--==Cutter==--
Cost = 15000 Pounds
Available From = Start
Construction Time = 2 Months
Cargo Space = 10 Tons
Cannon Space = 12 Light Cannons
Hit Points = 150
Marine Capable = No
Maximum Crew = 28 Sailors
Maximum Speed = 16 Knots
This is your first warship, it is a fast warship, fast, and powerful. It has
the speed of a Sloop, and the firepower of a Schooner, so it is quite useful
if you want to fight the enemy early on. You can use these ships in packs of
5, which isn't expensive or long to build up, given the cost and speed of
building, and use them to hunt down the enemy ruthlessly.
--==Brig==--
Cost = 50000 Pounds
Available From = Start
Construction Time = 5 Months
Cargo Space = 80 Tons
Cannon Space = 14 Medium Cannons
Hit Points = 350
Marine Capable = Yes
Maximum Crew = 120 Sailors
Maximum Speed = 10 Knots
This ship is used as a transport or a warship. It has powerful cannons so
the best use for this is to use it as a transport to invade a port or you
can use the cannons to camp outside an enemy port, waiting and destroying
enemy ships when they need to enter or exit port.
The reason you cannot use this to trawl the seas for the enemy is the speed.
Most ships that are used for trading can move a lot faster, the best you
can do are to take down large enemy trading ships.
--==Flute==--
Cost = 75000 Pounds
Available From = Start
Construction Time = 6 Months
Cargo Space = 120 Tons
Cannon Space = 12 Medium Cannons
Hit Points = 450
Marine Capable = Yes
Maximum Crew = 50 Sailors
Maximum Speed = 8 Knots
The reason why this isn't such a good trading ship is due to the speed. If
you have a hell of a lot of money, then it won't be a problem to wait to
haul tons upon tons of expensive trade goods, like spice and tea. Otherwise,
this will serve as a transport ship to take over enemy ports with large
amounts of marines.
Like I said, if you want a use for this, wait until spice or tea prices are
high and then send in a fleet of 5 Flutes and then haul them home.
--==Xebec==--
Cost = 30000 Pounds
Available From = Start
Construction Time = 4 Months
Cargo Space = 30 Tons
Cannon Space = 12 Medium Cannons
Hit Points = 450
Marine Capable = Yes
Maximum Crew = 50 Sailors
Maximum Speed = 13 Knots
The Xebec is a nice pack hunter, it is a cheap ship and works great in groups
of 5. It has a fair amount of cannons, and with a good amount of speed, it
can take on several medium sized vessels with good success, speed and cannons.
When in packs of 5, these ships can be deadly. However, whilst they are good
against vessels their own sizes, with medium cannons, they are too slow to
catch the faster vessels with light cannons, they are too weak to fight the
slower vessels with the large cannons.
--==Galleon==--
Cost = 75000 Pounds
Available From = Start
Construction Time = 8 Months
Cargo Space = 100 Tons
Cannon Space = 18 Heavy Cannons
Hit Points = 700
Marine Capable = Yes
Maximum Crew = 120 Sailors
Maximum Speed = 8 Knots
The Galleon is the basic fighting vessel that you want to camp outside enemy
ports with. These serve as very powerful transports for your marines, making
them useful for taking enemy ports and with the ability to protect itself
from enemy counterattacks. Basically, it serves as a decent escort for your
weaker trade vessels as well.
These can also dual as trade ships, however, their slow speed only makes it
worthwhile for long hauling journeys, small trips aren't as worthwhile given
that they are just too slow.
--==East Indiaman==--
Cost = 100000 Pounds
Available From = 1650
Construction Time = 8 Months
Cargo Space = 200 Tons
Cannon Space = 20 Heavy Cannons
Hit Points = 500
Marine Capable = Yes
Maximum Crew = 100 Sailors
Maximum Speed = 8 Knots
This is the best in terms of trade ships. It can carry a hell of a lot of
cargo, making a full load of spice back to your home port exceptionally
profitable, and it has enough guns to repel most warships with 20 heavy
cannons. However, it is quite slow, but when you think about it, it would
take 2 full fleets of sloops to carry the same amount, though they are twice
as fast. Basically, in the time for a single East Indiaman to make a trip,
5 sloops can trade the same amount.
Basically, what I just said is that these can carry a hell of a lot, making
them worthwhile for long profitable hauls of spice and tea, but not
worthwhile for smaller journeys.
--==Frigate==--
Cost = 100000 Pounds
Available From = 1630
Construction Time = 9 Months
Cargo Space = 80 Tons
Cannon Space = 40 Heavy Cannons
Hit Points = 600
Marine Capable = Yes
Maximum Crew = 450 Sailors
Maximum Speed = 11 Knots
This ship combines strength with speed. It is one of the faster ships and is
quite heavily armed, with 40 heavy cannons, it can sink a lot of enemys and
escape. These ships are capable of taking all but the Ship of the Line. And
with decent tonnage, these ships make good trade ships, they have the power
to protect themselves and carry cargo.
These, when you have access to them, should be the mainspace of your fleets.
They are powerful, they are fast, they are capable of defending themselves
without escorts. They are everything that you want in a ship. You want to
trade, use this. You want to fight, use this. You want to escort your
Indiaman ships, use this. However, there are 2 ships that outclass this ship.
And below, they are.
--==Ship of the Line - 46 Guns==--
Cost = 150000 Pounds
Available From = 1670
Construction Time = 12 Months
Cargo Space = 120 Tons
Cannon Space = 46 Heavy Cannons
Hit Points = 750
Marine Capable = Yes
Maximum Crew = 600 Sailors
Maximum Speed = 8 Knots
A slow lumbering ship, this is a powerful fighter. Armed with more cannons
than you have teeth, this ship is capable of taking ports, taking down enemy
ships, and with powerful cannons, it is a force to be reckoned with. However,
given the speed, this is best used for waiting until the rich enemy fleets
wonder back into port or the enemy sends out a new expedition. With such
power, these are useful for force projection, use these in order to deter
the pirates from deciding it is fun to piss you off. These are very useful
ships, but the only limiting factor is the speed.
--==Ship of the Line - 90 Guns==--
Cost = 250000 Pounds
Available From = 1700
Construction Time = 15 Months
Cargo Space = 200 Tons
Cannon Space = 90 Heavy Cannons
Hit Points = 999
Marine Capable = Yes
Maximum Crew = 800 Sailors
Maximum Speed = 6 Knots
The most powerful ship in the game, this is one ship that you don't want to
face anywhere. Why? Armed with 90 HEAVY Cannons, a single ship can take down
an entirely fleet of lightly armed sloops with relative ease. With the massive
cargo hold, a single Ship of the Line can stage an invasion of a lightly armed
port with moderate chances of success. In a pack of 5, it is an invincible
force, the only thing that has a slight chance is the same sort of enemy
fleet facing it. This is a ship you want to take on in a real time battle,
only then will you have some sort of chance.
The lucky thing? It costs a lot and takes a long time to build and maintain.
However, if you want a way to make sure the enemy doesn't want to move past a
certain point, this ship is hard to overlook.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[3.01] Main Trade Items
Main traed items are listed here, these are the items that you purchase in
the ports all over the world and sell them back in your home port for the most
amount of profit. These are the ones you want to send your trade fleets for,
seeing they are the most profitable. However, sell too much in your home port
and the value will drop.
Why? Simple demand and supply. The more demand there is, which builds up over
the years, the more money people will pay for them. However, once you start
selling a lot of an item back at your home port, there will be a lot of the
stock at home, but people don't want it, so the price drops. Basically, the
more of an item you sell, the lower the price will fall to. However, give it a
few years, and the price will go back to normal. Keep in mind that the price
is stable for a year, so you can unload as much as you can in the year when
there is a high price, and then wait for a few years before the price goes
back to normal.
The basic rule is that the distance will determine how much you make. So if
you want to make money, you will want to move into the East Indies, and
purchase items such as Silk, Spice and Tea for selling back at the home port.
It goes a little something like this.
Basically, the further the distance, the more money you will make. However,
one important thing to keep in mind is that when you are trading these goods,
the ones that make the highest profit will have the highest initial cost
price. You purchase Spice, on average, about 1400 pounds per ton, and whilst
you do make 1000 pounds per ton in profit, it still has a high initial price.
Another thing to note is that Gold and Diamonds are sold in kilograms, instead
of tons. This is important because you can have about 50 kilos of gold on your
ship and still carry another X amount of tons of goods, where X is the tonnage
of your ship.
So basically you will need a fair amount of money to start, but when you get
into the game, you will make some money, a lot of money. I'll give you some
more information later on in a more detailed trade guide.
Export items are items that you can purchase from your home port and sell them
to other ports. Unlike main trade items, where you purchase from ports to sell
them to your home port, Export items are deliberately bought from home to sell
to those ports. So, what you can do is purchase export items, sell them at
your destination port, purchase the main trade good whilst selling the export
goods, and then sail back, and restart the cycle.
Sure, they don't make much in terms of money, not much at all, but it is far
better than sailing to your destination with an empty ship. However, should
you enter battle along the path, that is a completely different story.
Now, the export items are:
Coal
Iron
Iron Wares
Silver
Silverware
Steel
Steelware
Sugar
Tobacco
Weapons
Wool Fabrics
However, keep in mind that these aren't always available. On some days, you
might have access to steel and steelware, in other instances, you will have
access to sugar, it is quite random, but generally, the profit they make is
the same, which is not much.
But keep this in mind, the further away the port, the more money the export
item will make. Say you purchase the item from London, the place you want to
sell it is somewhere in India, say Goa, you can make quadruple the cost of the
item back at the home port in profit. Again, the profit isn't spectular, but
it is better than nothing.
Now, the cost of the items. The higher in the list, the better they are in
trade items to sell, that is, they will sell for more money.
Note that Silver and Silverware sell at high values, and at times, they can
surpass the profit made from main trade items, so don't rule them out
completely. Though you will need luck in order to have these item in stock
at your home port.
Generic items are items that you can purchase from ports and sell them back
at home. These are items that you can purchase when you run out of a main
trade good, and since you are hauling so much, you might as well haul a some
of these home for the little bits of cash that you can make from it.
Again, these don't make much in terms of money, and quite often, trading with
these will result in a loss, however, when you run out of main trade items, it
is better than going back empty handed. Below is the list of generic items.
The Generic Items are:
Bronze
Dyes
Jewellry
Leather
Luxury Items
Rice
Saltpeter
Stone
Precious Stone
Tar
Textiles
Wood
There is a thing to note, as with jewellry and precious stones, those items
are in kilograms, so they pretty much don't contribute to your ship's
weight.
The difference with these items is that you can trade them anywhere, it isn't
necessarily the case that your home port will pay more for these items than
other ports. Of course, this makes it good for warships because of the simple
fact that they will be moving in and out of parts as part of their patrolling
and prawl for enemy ships.
Like I said, only play with these on warships or there are no more main trade
items, because unless dyes are at an outrageous price somewhere, and you can
make more than a profit of 200 pounds per ton, this isn't exactly a high
value market, but again, it is better than hauling nothing.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[4.01] Roles of Captains
Like a normal fleet, there is the role of a captain. The captain manages a
fleet, and this fleet is the collection of a maximum of 5 ships. The captain
basically is in charge of a fleet, and is in charge of decisions when it
comes to automaticity.
As they progress and level up, they will learn more skills and that will
make them more useful, but their annual salary would be a bit higher. Do not
underestimate these skills, in battles, they can be the difference between
victory and utter defeat.
However, bear in mind that by the age of 50, your captains will start to
retire, so you will have about 20 years of service from a captain. Note
that you will always have a captain. Regardless of what happens, there will
be a captain, so if your captain dies in a battle, the first mate will take
over and be a new captain.
These skills are obtained and chosen when your captains level up. These are
eithr passive skills that automatically and always apply to your ships, or
they are active skills that can only be used in battle. I'll make a note of
that when it comes to that.
This is a semi useful skill for a person who is always in real time battles.
This will make your guns a bit more accurate, which is always a good thing.
Keep in mind that this is only for your flagship, so you want the most
powerful ship in the fleet to be the flagship.
--==Conquerer==--
Skill Type - Passive
+20% to the number of crew and marines when calculating the outcome of
attacking a port.
This is a useful skill if you are planning to capture a port. As such, you
will want to have this skill if you have a large fleet and you are planning
to take over powerful ports. This is useful later in the game, but it isn't
all that useful in the beginning.
--==Eagle Eye==--
Skill Type - Passive
+20% to fleet wide range in a strategic level.
This means that on the main world map screen, the view in which your ships
will have will be increased by 20%, which means you can see targets further
away than before. This is useful if you are a patrolling warship fleet that
is designed to escort your trade ships, as well as seeing the enemy moving
to your position closer.
This means that you can hit your enemy from a further distance for a short
10 seconds, which pretty much means that you can hit the enemy at a longer
range for a single salvo, on average. This isn't all that useful, because sure,
you can fire for a single salvo at longer range, but it doesn't mean it will
ensure any accuracy.
--==Feared==--
Skill Type - Passive
-20% to enemy morale.
They actually never decide to tell you what on earth morale is, but it would
be the morale of enemy ships. The lower their morale, the less likely they
are to fight you in a battle, the more likely they are to flee, and the worse
they will perform in a battle.
--==Haggler==--
Skill Type - Passive
-5% price for items bought by fleet.
This is a very good skill for your trading fleets to have, this will reduce
the cost of the trade items that you purchase, and considering a ton of
spice is about 1400 pounds, 5% off of that is about 70 pounds, which is a
nice little boost when you come back home and sell it. Don't scoff at it, it
will add up.
--==Kill Shot==--
Skill Type - Active
Special solid shot with +20% damage. Duration 10 seconds. Cooldown 25 seconds.
Flagship only.
This is a nice skill to have in battle, using this skill will increase the
damage of your cannons for a single shot, and in the single salvo that you can
let loose in this time, you can sink a crippled fleet. Best used for flagships
that are using some heavy cannons.
--==Leader==--
Skill Type - Passive
+20 points boost to crew morale for all the ships in the fleet.
This will basically make your crews more useful in battle, they will perform
better, landing accurate shots and reloading a tad bit faster and better when
they attack other ships and capturing them. Not exactly a useful skill if all
you plan to do is to sink the enemy ships.
--==Maneuvering==--
Skill Type - Passive
-20% to turning arc in a tactical level. Flagship only.
If you play on a tactical level, which is pretty much controlling a naval
battle, you will find this very useful, as your ships can execute a better
turn and as such, it will allow you to unleash a broadside from your cannons,
turn, reload, turn, fire, rinse and repeat.
--==Melee Specialist==--
Skill Type - Passive
+20% to the number of crew and marines when calculating the outcome of a
boarding action.
This is useful if you are a warship captain, given that they capture ships and
sell off the cargo for the money. This is useful as you will either fight as
effectively with a large crew when you have a small one or as an even more
powerful crew and it will cost a fair bit less.
--==Navigator==--
Skill Type - Passive
+20% to fleet speed in a strategic level.
This is a very useful skill, more so for the slow lumbering ships for them to
catch up on their prey, as well as for the fast trading ships to evade their
enemy chasers. This can be used on so many levels, so keep an eye out for it
and use it if you have the chance.
--==No Surrender==--
Skill Type - Active
No friendly ship will surrender. Duration 40 seconds. Cooldown 60 seconds.
This one basically means that when ships normally surrender after they take
too much damage this skill will effectively have them fight to the death,
which is useful if you want to inflict as much damage as you can on the enemy
because you are going to lose your ship anyway, might as well go down
fighting.
--==Organiser==--
Skill Type - Passive
+20% cargo space for all ships in fleet.
This is really useful for your trade fleets, you can imagine very well that an
extra 20% for a ship that carries 200 tons is an extra 40 tons, that is a
small ship's tonnage right there. So for some main trade items, that is an
extra 40,000 pounds right there in profit. Nothing to laugh at.
--==Rally==--
Skill Type - Active
+25 points boost to crew morale for all ships in the fleet. Duration 30
seconds. Cooldown 60 seconds.
This is a nice skill in battle, this will have your ships fighting the enemy
with a little more omph, they will reload their cannons, fight, everything you
want that much faster. Of course, there is that single problem that this
requires you to zoom on tactical mode.
--==Repair Hull==--
Skill Type - Active
Repairs 10% of the hull original maximum hit points. Cooldown 60 seconds.
Flagship only.
This is a decent skill if you fight with your flagship, however, this isn't
all that useful. If you are fighting the enemy, odds are you are turning and
firing, you won't be taking damage. And the flagship is the last ship you
want to send into battle unprepared.
--==Repair Sails==--
Skill Type - Active
Repairs 10% of the sail original maximum hit points. Cooldown 60 seconds.
Flagship only.
Again, the problem here is that you are sending your flagship into enemy
fire, and enough enemy fire to smash your sails. It would be a useful skill
in an ideal world, however, having to use this skill denotes lack of
tactics. You don't send in a flagship to capture the enemy when they are
still alive and kicking.
This is a useful skill, mainly because if you need to use this power, the
enemy is fleeing, so there isn't problem with sending your flagship, given
that the enemy is running, denoting that are outgunned. This will allow you
to play catchup, catchup to the enemy running away, board, and take their
wares.
--==Rout==--
Skill Type - Active
-25 points to enemy crew morale for all enemy ships. Duration 25 seconds.
Cooldown 90 seconds.
This is a nice skill in the heat of the moment, this will pretty much
have the enemy in a panic, giving you enough time to let off 2 full
salvos or time to board the ship and cause some carnage. Remember, the
lower the morale of the enemy, the worse they will perform. Use that to
your advantage.
--==Unthinkable==--
Skill Type - Passive
-20% damage from enemy cannon fire with all projectile types for all ships
in fleet.
Another good skill for your warship captains, mainly because it will have
them survive that bit longer in battle. This means that your crew will
take less damage, your sails will take less damage and your hull will take
less damage from enemy attacks. Though a mark of a good fighter is where
they don't take any hits, sometimes, getting hit by the enemy is unavoidable.
Trade is a relatively simple matter in this game, from your home port, you
need to purchase export items and then sail off an exotic port, sell the
export items, purchase main trade items, and head back to the home port to
sell them, and then rinse and repeat.
But when you start off, there isn't much that you can do, the items that
make the most money are too expensive to purchase en masse and too far away.
So what you should do in the beginning, given that you are given a poor
ship, the Cutter, to start off with, it limits your trade.
Why? Because you can only carry 10 tons on that ship. So purchase some
trade goods with your money and then head off to Africa, and enter a port
that sells diamonds. They will have a higher profit margin than gold will
have initially. But the reason I tell you to start with diamonds, and later
on, gold, when diamonds start to fetch a lower price at home is that it
doesn't require significant tonnage with your ship, something that is good
for your fleet.
When you have the chance, move onto building a schooner trade fleet, mainly
because of the speed which means you can turn a profit a bit faster. When
you have 5 schooners, you can start to move on from diamonds and gold into
all the other trade goods.
Because of their distance and your ship's tonnage, you will be needing to
alternate what you sell every year. So in one year, purchase and sell
spice, the next year, tea. Because of the amount you will be selling back
at your home port, your selling in a year will kill the price for pretty
much 5 years at least, so you will be alternating between 5 different main
trade items until the price gets back to a decent level.
But basically, the premise is the same, buy low, sell at a profit, rinse
and repeat.
Battles are going to be necessary is you want to defend yourself. If you
auto-resolve, there isn't much that you will need to do, all you need to do
is to ensure that you have enough ammo to fight and you have enough firepower
to win. However, on a tactical level, things are a bit different.
First, after playing the tutorial and being familar with the modes of battle,
the enemy will always tend to run away if you possess superior strength, and
whilst this isn't a problem on the strategic level with the Auto-Resolve
function, this is a problem if you are planning to capture the ship and get
some battle loot.
You will need to pursue the enemy, and if their ship is faster than yours,
there isn't much that you can do to chase them down, the most you can do is
to sink them with your cannons.
Anyway, there are three types of cannon balls, and anyone who has played
enough Sid Meier Pirates! will realise what they do. There are your normal
cannonballs, chain shot and grape shot. Cannonballs are your standard
projectiles, they are used to obliberate the enemy hull and sink them. This
is the standard destroying projectile.
Grape Shot is a little different. These are basically smaller projectiles
and they are designed to take out the crew with minimum damage to the
hulls and the sails. This is useful before you decide to board the enemy
ship, by reducing their crew and their marines, you are reducing the amount
of casualties that you will take when boarding.
Chain Shot is a projectile consisting of two balls attached together by a
chain. This is used mainly to take down enemy sails with minimum damage to
the hulls, but it will take down the crew a fair bit. You will want to use
this in order to knock down enemy sails,
Now you know what they do, you can find out how to use them. If the enemy
is escaping, blast them with some chain shot. If you are about to board
their ship, use some Grape Shot, and if they are simply too dangerous, sink
them with cannonballs.
Now, boarding. It is the same in other games, move up close and personal,
and then board. Depending on the morale of your crew and the size of your
crew and marines, it will determine who will win. Before you board, just
soften up the defences with a little grape shot here and there. Makes your
job a lot easier.
Capturing ports is a harder task. To capture a port, well, you are taught
how to do what, but it isn't too hard. Anyway, when you capture a port, the
important things to note before picking the target are the amount of stars
that the port has.
The more the stars, the harder it is for you to capture it. Capturing powers
should be done via powerful ships with large crews, cannons and marines.
Because those are the three things that are taken into considerion when you
capture a port.
Basically, these are the ships that I'll recommend you to use to capture a
port. Galleons are only good up to 2 stars, Frigates are good for 4 stars and
Ships of the Line are good for 5 stars. This is for a full fleet though and
all armed with marines. This way, you will lose less marines, and less ships.
Yes, you can lose ships when you take over a port, so make sure that you
are ready for any losses.
So why capture a port? Simple, because capturing a port and having it in your
company's name will let you use that port as a staging ground for your
fleets. It will allow you to repair, rearm and restaff your fleets, and
another benefit is that you will get cheaper trade goods. So for a port in
India selling spices, a port in your control there will give you some nice
discounts and will effectively let you stage a war fleet there to take out
enemy fleets.
However, remember that when you capture a port, you will need to pay the
port fees to maintain the port, and it will cost you a fair amount in pounds
and export items to build up a large port. This game, unlike others, is
rather self-explanatory.
There are only 2 ways to win, to sink and destroy all the other East India
Companies or you can capture all the 12 Indian ports. Have a pick on which
one is easier.
The first method is quite simple, you need to ensure that the enemy doesn't
make any money. So what you do is to build up a powerful force, ships such as
Galleons, Frigates and Ships of the Lines, and then put them into a fleet with
5 of them. This isn't about destroying the enemy all over the world, all you
need to do is to station this fleet outside their home port, and then wait
for them to show up.
Take down their ships, piece by piece. The reason for doing this rather than
hunting them down is simple. Your ships are slow battleships, their ships are
often faster trade ships. Also, this will cause the most loss for the enemy.
They have spent so much money on purchasing main trade items, and just before
they reach port, they are sunk by your fleet.
The enemy will respond with warships, and they will likely cause some trouble
and damage on your ships. Now, you need to head back to base to repair. It
may seem minor, but a major issue here is ammo. You will use ammo rather
quickly so you also need to rearm. I lost 4 galleons in a battle against a
vastly inferior force because I ran out of ammo. It isn't exactly fun. Make
that a priority, rearm and repair. And from there, rinse and repeat.
Slowly, you will have taken out most of the trade and war ships of the enemy
company. Use the game statistic screen and keep an eye on how many ships the
enemy has left. Once they are out of warships, move onto another target until
they get another ship, and consequently, sink that as well. Soon, they will
run out of money to play with, and with no ships to trade, they will do
nothing until they run out of money and get declared bankrupt. Rinse and
repeat with other companies to win. This isn't exactly a quick method, but it
is certainly the most cost effective.
The second method would cost a bit of money but it is much faster. You need
a powerful fleet, armed with a full crew and marines, and then capture all 12
ports in India. That is, all ports selling Spices, Tea, Silk and Porcelein
as well as the supply island port, will count towards the ports that you need
to capture to win.
This is best done late in the game, where you can project power from your
Ship of the Lines, or done early when you have access to Galleons and you
will have the power to take on 1-2 star ports, because hopefully the AI didn't
get their hands on them. It is your choice on which path to take.
There isn't any other way to win besides these two. Either make the enemy
submit and declare themselves bankrupt or block their access to India by
controlling all the ports, since you can't enter enemy ports.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[A] Contact Information
APPEARS IN g,a,m,e,f,a,q,s.c,o,m always. Remove the commas. Never on that
c,h,e,a,t,c,c.c,o,m. Remove the commas.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!Before you Email me, read everything in this Contact Information section and!
!check the guide. If the information is already listed, your email will be !
!promptly deleted. !
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
E-Mail Me, and for the love of all that isn't sacred, make sure that the title
of the game is smacked into place. IF THERE IS NO TITLE ON THE MESSAGE, IT
WILL NOT BE READ, AND PROMPTLY DELETED. Also, email with courtesy. If you just
hurl abuse, I will promptly hurl more abuse back, and save it so the entire
world can abuse you and see your stupidity.
When you write the Email, you have to do so in English, and English only. No
foreign languages allowed, Chinese, French, Spanish, Antarctic Penguin and so
forth, mainly because I won't be able to understand it.
There will be absolutely NO INTERNET SPEAK IN ANY EMAILS. Seriously, I will
not read emails full of lols, rofls or the like. No lazy English either. I
won't read crap like "Hw Tis in Gme" because it is lazy and inconsiderate. But
that doesn't mean you send me a business letter detailing what information you
want to know either.
Finally, if you see that there is something wrong in this FAQ, or something
that you think should be included in it, please send it in, the worse you can
do is to have it rejected, but if I think it is a good addition, I'll add it
with the next update as well as give you credit for the addition. Corrections
are always welcome.
I will also NOT RESPOND to the following:
* Phishing Sites
* Attempted Scams
* Mass Spamming
* Forward Messages
* Advertising
* Technical Issues
* Illegal Activities
* Unrelated Emails to the Game
* Emails about Another Game
All problems with technical issues to do with the gameplay such as bugs and
glitches should be sent to the developer or publisher, or look for fixes or
ways to avoid it. All technical issues with hardware should be sent to the
manufacturer of the piece of hardware in question.
The secret email address is:
hillsdragon13 [at] [ho.tm.ail] [dot] [co.m]
Now, the legend:
[at] = @
[ho.tm.ail] = Remove the .'s
[dot] = .
[co.m] = Remove the .'s
If you feel generous, you can send money via Paypal to that address. It is
completely optional, but I'm curious to see how much I can milk, I mean make
out of this. All donations are appreciated, seeing I have to pay for the
game this guide is for, and that does cost money, more since I'm faced with
the outrageous prices found in Australia.
It may be a pain in the ass, but most smart people could figure out the real
email address. The problem is that people would normally Ctrl+F to find the
email address without reading the relevant guidelines, as well spamming sites
which always find their way to my inbox.
Also, do not add me to your MSN, Yahoo or any other instant messaging system
because you will be blocked and deleted permanently. Also, I will not accept
invites to be your Facebook friend, or join any other social networking site
because all invites will be rejected.
The credits section is where all the credits for the guides go. Anyone or
anything that remotely helped out with this guide goes here, and that goes
for all those people out there who have interesting information to send in.
You know, your name could be on this list as well.
CJayC, The Creator of GameFAQs, thanks for all the memories
SBAllen for administrating GameFAQs, keep up the good work
You, no point of writing if no one is reading
Paradox Interactive for the distribution of the game
Nitro Games for developing the game
ASCGen for their program making ASCII Art
Me, for a shameless piece of self promotion
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
[C] Webmaster Information
This is where all the sites that this guide can appear on are listed. If the
site name is not on this list, that means that either they are accepted by
me but not listed, due to logistical reasons (this is the same copyright
section as all the other guides, and no point listing a Civ 4 site on a Sims
game), or they are not allowed outright.
Anyway, POINT OUT ALL SITES NOT LISTED HERE. It will be up to me what site is
allowed or disallowed.
NeoSeeker and SuperCheats will have the guides a full day after it appears on
GameFAQs. This is because those two sites grab any new update from me from
GameFAQs itself, so if you are itching for the newest version, please check
www.GameFAQs.com first.
It will NEVER BE ALLOWED TO APPEAR ON
www.cheatcc.com
Why? Because they stole some of my works before, and I will not forget that.
No amount of goodwill will be able to repair what you have done.
This game is Copyright 2009 Paradox Interactive. All Copyrights are held by
their rightful owners as well as any Trademarks used.
This document is protected by copyright laws in many countries, so please
don't steal. This FAQ can be used for personal use, which means you can store
a copy on your home PC, your IPod, USB Drive, etc. You cannot use this FAQ to
sell for your own financial gain. Doing so is fraud, and I will promptly have
all the money gained wired for directly to me.
If you do sell it, and you are caught, I will launch court proceedings if
necessary. If a website steals this, I will have your site shut down, either
through talking to your server, Internet Service Provider, and if you are a
big site, through your advertisers. It might start with a small email of
request, but I can snowball it. In fact, I will.
You also cannot claim this guide as your own. You are not allowed to use this
guide and submit this to another website, claiming it as your own work. I will
google search random phrases from my own FAQ just to ensure that it hasn't
been stolen or hijacked by other people.
I am also not affiliated with any corporation, and I was not paid by any
developer, publisher or distributor for the production of this guide. This was
done solely out of my own free time and will, a dedication to the video gaming
industry in general.
This document is Copyright 2009. All Rights were sunk by Ships of the Line.
This FAQ uses the V2.03 Template.
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END OF FILE Watch In Awe, Aeria Gloris END OF FILE
