Patrizierforum

Hi everyone, I'm a noob here but have been a big fan of Partician and Port Royale Series since they both started. I am sure many of you would be aware of the DarkStarOne game that was also made by Ascaron before its demise and I wanted to go over some of the things I believe made it a flop and how I think it could be made in to a winner.....and hope the guys from Gaming Minds pay attention and give it shot, so here goes.....

Problems with DarkStarOne was the fact you were limited to one ship, although it could be customised, this was rather limited. Also the underlying game play became very repetitive and boring quickly because there weren't that many choices in what you could do in the universe they created.

So why do I believe it could be a great game, specially if made by the same guys that created Patrician and Port Royale, well I believe DarkStarOne would be more successful if it was more of a Patrician/Port Royale set in space/future.

In Port Royale we can choose many different paths, from being a pirate or bucaneer, a simple trader, a business man, or a combo of all of these things. You can buy and sell ships, steal them from other players and AI, you can take on quests/jobs for the various nations and the locals of each island/town.

So I'd like to see a game in space/future like DarkStarOne, but with the same variety of choices as we seen in Port Royale. Don't force me in to having one ship, let me buy, sell, steal ships and provide me with a huge range of different ships for hauling cargo, military action, and in all different sizes from small scouts to huge battleships....Also the idea of customizing a ship like DarkStarOne was great, but this should be extended to all the available ships, including cargo ships:

Military Upgrade/Customizations might include:
Upgrade weapons
Upgrade shields
Heavy and Light weapons

Some ideas for Cargo ship upgrades:
Additional cargo space
Hidden cargo space for hauling illegal cargo or as a hiding place during a boarding

Upgrades for all ships would include things like:
Longer range engines
More powerful thrusters/engines that provide not simply higher speeds but faster acceleration perhaps most useful during combat or when running from the space police with your illegal goods.

Some upgrades may come at the expense of no longer being able to do other upgrades but any upgrade should be able to be undone so players can change tactics and refit their ships. All of these upgrades would lead to a very diverse range of ships because within each class/model there are dozens of different configurations.

Perhaps added to this might be options to research new technology to add to our ships. I'd also like to see the Logo function we've seen in Port Royale used so we can add that personal touch to our ships. If the game was highly modable would also be good so players can add even more variety to ships and upgrades.

Also the idea of illegal goods would be great, not simply goods you may of stolen from AI or other players but perhaps hauling cargo that is ok in one part of the universe but illegal but still sometimes consumed in other parts of the universe.

I think a game like this would give the dev team more freedom in creating a Port Royale style economy because your no longer restricted by a time period and earth. Your dealing with many different races, governments, and climates so you can make up a very diverse economy of goods to trade with. Some things would only be available in certain systems or planets, some may be produced in one place and consumed somewhere else by a completely different race.

Obviously there would be wide range of races, planets and climates, the bigger the world the better but unlike DarkStarOne, dont go too far and end up continually repeating things. The planets and universe of DarkStarOne was great except you ended up seeing the same thing too many times and regardless of how beautiful you make it, it still gets boring.

Just like in Patrician or Port Royale it would also be nice to add some sort of story that helps things along but I'd hope it would also be the type of endless play you can get from Port Royale. As part of that I wouldn't mind seeing it done in a sort of GTA style of play. By that I mean the whole open ended world where you can go anywhere, do anything, complete missions in any order you like, free roam. One reason for that is that while I'd like it to still have auto trading options and stick to the Port Royale style in that area, it would also be nice to have the option of having your own ship or taking direct command when you want, I guess a bit like East India Company, ships can manage on their own, but its nice having the option to get your hands dirty sometimes. The other game that springs to mind when I think about this aspect of the game is Tortuga II, one of the few really great things about that game was being able to zoom right in on the ship and see some action taking place onboard, that would be a nice thing to have in a space trading/combat/piracy game, and also in Patrician 4/Port Royale 3.

I guess this post is an attempt to drum up some support for this type of game, so who out there would be interested in this idea if it was done right? What would you add to what I've already said?

I think its a great idea anyway and if a game like this was made with all these features (and many more) I believe it would be a winner, in part simply because no other developer seems interested, you'd have a monopoly. Let's face it, there have been games that did this in the past, but can anyone say that there has ever been a game that truly did it well and covered all the bases? I'd say no, some reasonable attempts, but none that truly hit the mark.

Why do I think a company who seem to specialize in sailing/trade games would be the right guys to tackle it, well like I said I believe a lot of this stuff is already being done in Port Royale and for me they've proven to be a good developer.

Ok enough said, any support/comments?

P.S. anyone able to tell me if Gaming Minds ever take a look in these forums?

So is there a way of posting this idea in a place where the dev team will see it?

I really like both ideas and since no other company is currently making those style of games, I see it as a real winner for any company that does take on the idea.