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Hello, this is my first post here and from all what i can gather in the internet not everyone here is happy about the automatic placement of ships pre-Battle. And my suggestion is that you can place your ships before the battle starts just like the TW games create groups for them, maybe assign a cours while you are at it. If someone here is not aware how it works in TW, just imagine you starting a battle and you are free to place your units/ships where you want them and then start the battle. Empire Total War had a good system for it they even had working battle lines and so on maybe you all could write your feedback for this suggestion and own ideas how something similar could be created in UAD. I´m looking forward to hear your thoughs about this and wouldlike to see a productive discussion below -Patrick/Koalabaer

Hello... I am new to this game as I just started playing with some friends the other night. I have to admit that I have some mixed feelings about this game but am willing to hang with it since I understand how difficult it is to develop such games. I have seen a lot of suggestions and discussions regarding the actual features that many people would like to see in this game. I have no idea how a development group could accommodate so many requests (and hopes). In any event, I have been building software for 44 years and am already in the planning phases of a new product. I have a lot of experience with intuitive interface design and I believe this is the area that is causing most of the complaints and negative reviews people are seeing about this game. An interface in any application should intuitively guide the user or player in this regard as to what is available and what the limitations of the application are. In a game such as this, the limitations would calculated to be the level of experience that a player has gained over time by successfully playing the missions in the game. In business software, limitations are usually imposed as result of the level of access to certain functionality that any one user can have. This is what is known as "security" rights. I see the biggest issue that could generate negative reviews and comments is a result of the confusing interfaces, which appear as if they are not completely finished. As a result, the game has an incomplete feel to it and I found the game mechanics as a result, difficult to ascertain. From what I have experienced so far it appears that the game interface is on the right track but is still in need of quite a bit of refinement. If I may here is what I would suggest as some refinements... I. Instead of having separate screens that move you back and forth between actual game play I would refine your existing menu design to be much smaller with the entirety of your game play options under various master menu options. Each selected option would then bring up a new form for the user to interact with over the playing screen. II. A refined menu would also be able to be hidden so that users could play the game without the menu being visible. In its place you could use what you are already using in the game, which is the icon with the horizontal bars, which would be display in a corner when the menu is hidden. III. Another facet to the menu system, which is standard in all well-designed applications is a HELP option, which provides the various screens for each of the sections of an application with information on how to work with it. In the case of a game, this information would be mostly relegated to the keyboard and mouse options that are required. None of my friends I was playing with knew of any such option in the game and they had been playing it for a while so this is something that is definitely lacking. Like the menu icon, which is already being used in the game, a standard help icon could also be placed in a corner when the menu is hidden. IV. I noticed that prior to entering a battle a new screen comes up and tells the player that you are about to enter a battle. From what I have seen from playing the game, I don't see this as a necessity and it also interrupts the actual game-play making it feel somewhat rough. The game play has already shown that the physics are rather sophisticated. As a result, there should be a more refined way to inform the player that he or she has entered a combat zone and should ready is ship for an engagement if he or she would like to do so. If not, the player has the option to sail away from the combat area. As a software engineer interface design has always been paramount in application design as it guides the rest of the application's development since that is what all the internals are supposed to react to; the users selections. Poor or incomplete interface design can ruin the potential of any application and over the many years I have been in the software development field I have seen many a software tool fail as a result. I believe you have a naval simulation that has all the possibilities of becoming a very high quality product, which could go a very long way to providing other periods of time for naval action in new products down the road However, I see all the symptoms from the many forum responses I have read that your efforts may be headed in the wrong direction in that you will continue to add and refine features and complexity in the game in the hopes that you will be able to maintain interest without refining the interface adequately to be to accommodate them smoothly. No doubt these comments may cause an uproar in the forums. I am becoming used to that since I have made various proposals in the Rise of Flight forums for which I have been vilified to a degree. However, my proposals were an attempt to enhance a community that has all the earmarks of one that is declining in relevance to the general market, while the developers pursue other, unrelated projects. Unfortunately, my predictions for that community are being borne out and I would hate to see the same for another potentially, fine product that has what appears to be a loyal following. With all respect... Black Falcon

A suggestion: Three of the indicators in the battle screen are horizontal: the cannons, one's own life, and enemy's life. I would strongly suggest that all three of these indicators be set perpendicular, so that captains need not do mental gymnastics to translate which cannons are loaded, which side they need to defend, or which side of an enemy they need to attack. I've asked around our quite large guild and this seems to be a very common opinion. Many thanks! Sturmherold

So here is the first guide of a group im going to do about this game. In spanish cause there is a lack of Naval Action guides in this language. n49Z_9Bz1Ao

Hello, I just registered to post this suggestion: I think it is a good idea to place the hotkey for a command next to its button (at the right side of the screen). This would be a great way to familiarize players with the shortcut key which is the best way to play this game. Furthermore, there could be an option to hide the command list interface, to free up more "real estate", so as to speak. I am a table wargamer who resorted to the PC for the lack of an opponent. So far, your game is the only one I like since 1997 (Sid Meier's Gettysburg). I sincerely hope that you will have a most successful career. I have recommended this game to all my friends. And please, can we have the next game base on the Napoleonic Wars? Preferably a campaign that involves the Russians: Austerlitz, Borodino, even battles after 1812 in which the Russian played the most important part but was largely neglected by history. My number one interest is the Napoleonic period with an emphasis on the Russians. Thank you for this wonderful game!

One of the things I'm becoming concerned about as I play the game and read the forum is what the end product is going to play like. It's my belief that the best works, work best because there is a strong vision behind them; informing every part of the design process. Ultimately I suppose, I think that the algorithm is just as good a way of expressing one's individual understanding of the world and communicating that to other people, as other things that lead to art! Stay with me. Personally, what exited me about UGG, was the fact that there was very little micromanagement. I'm old now and I just can't keep up with an opponent who can always win because they have 'super fast processing power' (I have lots of experience, but I express it slowly). I prefer a game that, if it's at a strategic level, is just that and gives me time to make decisions that I can trust my forces to carry out (more or less reliably). Conversely at a tactical level, I'd like to be able to make almost all of the decisions. I want to be either General or Lieutenant, but not both at the same time. I guess what I'm saying is that I'd like the strategic elements of this game to be discrete from the tactical; if we're going to have a supply train, I really don't want to see it or have to deal with it on the battlefield. My worry about this process (the forum and debates), is that the pressure to please everyone might push the developers towards something that loses sight of the story they were originally trying to tell. Of course I might be quite wrong about what I perceive this to have been, in which case... I'll just go on enjoying myself ;-)