Pirates & Traders

[gp184]

gonna try it now

 

[JJeff]

I have been playing this game for months (since the early releases) and I love the game. There's one thing I don't get: What does "trading faction" do? I walk into a port and they say there's a trading faction there, but I don't know how that affects me.

 

[strategy]

I have been playing this game for months (since the early releases) and I love the game. There's one thing I don't get: What does "trading faction" do? I walk into a port and they say there's a trading faction there, but I don't know how that affects me.

I think you must mean trading factor? He wants gems (this is clear if you read the rumor, but not in the information text for the port view. I will try to have this cleaned up for version 1.3 so that it is clear what the effect is).

 

[JJeff]

Thanks. I had never gotten the rumour. I always walked into a port with the factor. I probably should have looked at the Merchant page to see the "Demand" listings (didn't look for it there until today).

 

[Agrajag]

I just found the game and LOVE the concept. However, I've hit a couple of things that have made the game frustrating. The main one is that, after working very hard all evening to get my ship JUST right, I was in the Shipyard of a port and accidentally hit the wrong button which immediately, without any verification, sold my ship for a piece of junk. Thus the entire night was ruined with no way to undo it that I could see.

Another one for the new players is that in a battle I can't quite remember what all the improvements are that I have and what they'll impact. It'd be nice to see some visual indicator of this (like making the various buttons have say red text instead of black when that attack is boosted by an improvement, for example).

I'm also not sure why I often can't seem to fill my cargo hold. It'll say, for example, 48/50 and the ship I've defeated has food and other items but I can't go above that first number often.

Understand that I owned a game testing company for 16 years so if my comments make it sound like I don't like the game that's simply not true. Just a hazard of the vocation. I love the game but would like to see it be all it can be and would gladly pay to remove the ads.

 

[ms_green]

Thanks for asking.

The permission is actually READ_PHONE_STATE (why Google decided that this should be identified as Phone Calls in the long description I don't know - and I hate it, because it is very misleading).

What it does is provide Read Only access to the phone state. It is required to get the device id of the phone, which is used by some advertising networks for account/audit purposes - e.g., to prevent the same phone receiving the same ads repeatedly or to prevent fraud (your clicks = small earning for me. If one device suddenly started registering 100s of clicks, however, the ad networks would start becoming suspicious).

I am currently discussing the new permissions with the ad network involved, but I think their need for this is understandable. I may decide to drop them anyway (it's not as if the earnings from ads is anything worth bragging about in any case), but for the moment I have upgraded the module as per their wishes.

wow, thank you very much for this detailed answer! now i finally know what this read phone state actually means i

 

[strategy]

I just found the game and LOVE the concept. However, I've hit a couple of things that have made the game frustrating. The main one is that, after working very hard all evening to get my ship JUST right, I was in the Shipyard of a port and accidentally hit the wrong button which immediately, without any verification, sold my ship for a piece of junk. Thus the entire night was ruined with no way to undo it that I could see.

Ouch. Yes - I can see how that would suck. I've noted the problem in the task list.

Another one for the new players is that in a battle I can't quite remember what all the improvements are that I have and what they'll impact. It'd be nice to see some visual indicator of this (like making the various buttons have say red text instead of black when that attack is boosted by an improvement, for example).

Totally agree. I am working on a graphical update together with an artist, and adding small icons to the ship image (or some other solution to visualize your ships capabilities) is one of the issues we are looking at. I hope we will be able to get that version ready in the not too distant future.

In the meantime, pressing the ship image to go to the status view is the only option.

I'm also not sure why I often can't seem to fill my cargo hold. It'll say, for example, 48/50 and the ship I've defeated has food and other items but I can't go above that first number often.

Hmm... that's a new one. I'll look into this.

Next time you encounter this, could you take a look at your status screen and check whether you have any jobs/missions in progress? These take up cargo space as well - it is possible that I may have missed updating the cargo capacity information with this.

Understand that I owned a game testing company for 16 years so if my comments make it sound like I don't like the game that's simply not true. Just a hazard of the vocation. I love the game but would like to see it be all it can be and would gladly pay to remove the ads.

If Google ever figure out to expand the paying/publishing market to Scandinavia, I would certainly consider a "premium" version of the game, but for the moment the options in that respect are limited. But thanks for the comments/suggestions - I always appreciate constructive feedback.

 

[Black Roberts]

Arrr matey. Newbie to the forum. Just some thoughts for the developer. I noticed you show the number of troops in the city your in. Is there a way to attack that city? If not is there something in the works to allow a swashbuckling type, such as myself (Avast ye lubber), to rule the world? Is there something in the works to allow a peep to create a fleet? Lastly, the status screen shows whether or not someone has a specialist? I've played this great game a while now and haven't seen any yet. Are there any? If not is this something also in the works? On a side note thank you for developing the BEST strategy game available for a Droid and I've played a few.

 

[strategy]

Arrr matey. Newbie to the forum. Just some thoughts for the developer. I noticed you show the number of troops in the city your in. Is there a way to attack that city? If not is there something in the works to allow a swashbuckling type, such as myself (Avast ye lubber), to rule the world?

Not yet. Yes. If not in the next version, then in one of the versions shortly after.

Is there something in the works to allow a peep to create a fleet?

Not currently. Apart from game balance issues, the combat model doesn't really support multi-ship engagements and simply having sequential 1-on-1 ship battles until one side runs out does not appeal to me.

Lastly, the status screen shows whether or not someone has a specialist? I've played this great game a while now and haven't seen any yet. Are there any? If not is this something also in the works?

None yet, but they will come in a future version.

Glad you enjoy the game.

 

[RawlingsSc]

Not currently. Apart from game balance issues, the combat model doesn't really support multi-ship engagements and simply having sequential 1-on-1 ship battles until one side runs out does not appeal to me.

I remember in earlier pirate games I've played that the fleet just gave you higher cargo capacity and a choice of ship to fight with. You still won or lost the fight with that one ship you picked.

Hopefully that makes sense.

 

[Deleted User]

just downloaded, will return later with what some comments!

 

[Agrajag]

I'd like some expensive, back-handed way to get into a port of a nation that despises me. As I suspect a lot of beginners do, I just attack the Spanish but even at that nearly half the map is off-limits to me entirely for the entire game. Maybe I could sail under other colors of a different ship I just took or pay another group to do my bidding there. Say we let some ship go or crew "live" and they owe us. Maybe they'll do what we need there (complete a job, make a trade, etc.) or maybe they get there and send the armada after us creating perhaps an enemy on the sees that is possibly as infamous as us.

On the bigger front I'm finding the moving method a bit taxing and slow. Perhaps the ability to slide my finger from A to B and let go?

 

[Deleted User]

I have come back to congratulate you on a game well done!
I couldn't stop playing yesterday.. haha keep it up!

and I think it's awesome that you reply to ppl and consistently updating!

 

[Skapheles]

In line with a previous comment, Instead of making a fleet can you make it so that you can capture a ship and then sell it in port and not lose your current ship?

 

[strategy]

@Agrajag:
You can already get into a port even if they despise you, but it is risky (as in your character might get killed). There is a sneak option if you try to enter a hostile port (Cunning is useful for this). Once inside, you can purchase an amnesty with the Governor.

I also plan to add an encounter in the game that will allow the player to purchase amnesty (e.g., you meet the Spanish envoy at a party with the governor).

Regarding movement, implementing your suggestion would probably slow down the map scroll. However, I plan to (relatively soon) implement an option so that the player can select any region on the map to move to, and move there using a single press of the move button.

@Skapheles:
Ships in the game are extremely valuable - 20K+ doubloons - so allowing the player to capture and sell ships would unbalance the game a lot (nothing else would be worth doing). So for the moment, this is not in the plans.

 

[strategy]

Version 1.3.0 is now on the market. This is a massive update - I've changed so much that describing everything in detail would take a few posts, but here are some of the highlights:

• Longer gameplay; time is now accounted in days instead of months, and different actions have a different time cost.

• Mast rating has been replaced by Sails; Sails rating determines the cruising speed of the ship.
• Five new ships (Canoe, Large Barque, Large Fluyt, Large Brig, Large Frigate) for a total of 20 ships in the game.
• Major rebalancing of ship stats due to the new ships and game system.
• Three new game events: Native attack, Immigrant ships, and Troop ships.
• Game events now have knock-on effects; native attacks can cause weapon demands, while surplus and demand will result in more ships in the area carrying the related trade goods.
• Crew numbers are no longer accounted in multiples of 5.
• Three save game slots instead of one.
• Two gameplay modes: True Pirate (same as old version = ironman), and Regular (permits restore of an old saved game; no longer automatically saves the game).
• Major game interface tweaks.

Next on the list of priorities (once I've gotten the probably inevitable bug fixes out of the way) is to implement the port attack option.

 

[Wogs]

Im having trouble downloading it. I can download everything else. Weird

 

[SpicyTacoto]

^^^ditto. Can't download.

 

[azrhei]

Dev please make a paid-for version of this game. Something this quality deserves to be supported, and I can't imagine that many people bother to click ads in the game. At the very least, put a link up from the main menu so people can donate or something.

Edit: I've played the game multiple times from full charge until my battery died. My favorite game so far has been seizing the Spanish Treasure Galleon on Buccaneer difficulty, then fully upgrading it (44 or so cannons :O) and destroying the world. Can't wait for port attack to be added to the game so I can try this again.

Edit 2: British Man-o-War. Nuff said. <3 dev, gogo

 

[strategy]

Download issues: Hopefully this is just a hiccup in the update process (it can happen occasionally). If you are still having trouble, try to go into Settings > Applications > Download Manager and "Clear data" and Settings > Applications > Market and "Clear cache". This should force the Android market to refresh the game listing and ensure that the download works correctly.

 

[Dead_Jester]

Been playing this game for about a week nw and i gotta say that you are on to something great here! I love the game concept and love how you implemented it on the android platform, and i cant wait to have port attack.

I have a few suggestions for the game though. If we can attack a port then how bout being able to choose a port as kind of a home port that we could store items (such as food in case we loose our ship/cargo) and also possably a shipyard that we can store one or two ships that we can upgrade. This way we can have a backup ship or take a new ship and keep it at our shipyard long enough to upgrade it and then take it out and use it. Also missions that have unique rewards would be cool. Do a difficult mission and get a unique upgrade for your ship that you cant get anywhere else.

These are just things I would like to see in the game but this game is already amazing. Keep up the good work

 

[JJeff]

I think the changes are good for the game and can't wait for the further updates in the future.

But I think the new events (Native attack, Immigrant ships, and Troop ships) are happening a bit too often (or at least they are in my game with a 5-8 St Martin and a 4-7 Cartenga)

I still don't understand why the Treasure Galleon is a good ship (not the cargo, the ship itself). It's too slow and too unmanageable. When I sail with it, other ships just sail away and laugh at me after taking 1 broadside. How do you board other ships with it?

I currently feel the Frigate is the best ship, esp with the new stats of 18 Hull, 18 Sails, 16 Rigging and (*YAY*) 50 Cargo. Fast, manoeuvrable and good for trading or pirating. At least it can catch up with most ships and let you attack them every round instead of having them always run away...

 

[Agrajag]

Twice now I've gotten a rumor about clothing only to see the rumor not appear in the rumor list.

 

[RawlingsSc]

I noticed on the "loot ship" screen, the ship mods listed were the mods on my ship, not the one that I could seize. Unfortunately, I noticed this after I had seized a ship that looked to be nicely upgraded, but was stock.

Love this game a lot, and the changes have just made it even better!

 

[chigins]

I love this game.. I am not very good at it. I seem to get captured or sunk frequently but the great thing is I can start again..

Thanks for a great game.