Commerce is the cornerstone of East India Company, so its only natural for it to take up most of your time, as it requires careful planning each step of the way. Your vessels are engaged in a two-way trip between your home port, the only trading point in Europe, and foreign cities far away into the East. Deciding which goods should be traded is going to make all the difference between prosperity and bankruptcy and the game presents you with a few tools to assist you in this subtle operation.

Arguably the most useful instrument in choosing the merchandise you want to export and import is the trading panel, providing you with all the information you need about the prices of goods that are being sold in every port. Basically you get a lucid view about the demand of goods in each city, so you can load up the ships with the most lucrative commodities to maximize the profits. Naturally the most expensive goods are the ones generating the highest revenue, and these are called main trade goods, available in most Indian ports and some African ones.

Once again a question arises and you'll have to decide between investing your time in micromanagement, or settle with the more straightforward way of setting automated trade routes. Taking care of each ship individually and personally choosing the purchases in every port will result in higher income at the end of the year, but this can easily turn into a tedious activity that will weed out the less dedicated players. Another major inadequacy of automated trade routes is flooding the home port with certain goods, that eventually leads to dramatic decline in their value, greatly reducing your profit.

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Sooner or later the fleet will simply grow too much and you'll be overwhelmed, so cutting down on profits in favor of efficiency is no longer an option, but a necessity. Fortunately it is still possible to expand your company without being too concerned about micromanagement, by simply making the right decisions regarding your investments. On the bright side, as you progress with the campaign the shortcomings of automated trade routes are compensated by the benefit of owning ships with larger capacity.

Unlocking these bigger ships that can carry more commodities in one voyage is going to be extremely costly, but the expenditure is worth making. The vessels itself are expensive too, so determining the right moment to introduce them in your fleet is crucial, and any mistake can result in an untimely conclusion of the campaign. From the very beginning you are advised against spending too much on ship upgrades and save enough funds for buying goods, and this is something one should be concerned about throughout the entire campaign.

Preserving the fragile balance between these two components is further complicated by the more belligerent side of East India Company, as you are forced to spend a sizeable amount of cash on military ships. Most of your trading vessels have some offensive capabilities, but they are ineffective against a heavily armed ship, which can single-handedly cripple an entire fleet. Purchasing military ships prove expensive and they've got limited cargo space, but failing to add a few of these vessels to your fleet will cost you dearly, once you are being attacked by pirates or rival companies.

While the pirates represent more of a nuisance that can only be dealt with by force, you can in theory avoid naval confrontation with other trading companies by signing pacts and alliances. The diplomatic component plays a huge role in this game, and as you progress with the campaign it becomes increasingly clear that some compromises must be made. Sometimes paying some kind of tribute in exchange of a signed charter is enough, other times you may be forced to concede a port to sweeten the deal.

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When nothing works out, threatening with war is the last resort and most of the times this means you'll plunge into a full scale conflict. Once war is declared you can engage any enemy ship, intercept a fleet and even attack a port, looting and pillaging if you manage to defeat the opponent. In fact one of the conditions for winning the campaign, beside completing objectives and outlasting the other companies, is controlling all Indian ports for a given amount of time. Since most of them will eventually be controlled by a certain rival company, it's only a matter of time you'll be compelled to declare war, just to gain access to a rare commodity.

Since your ports are equally vulnerable to attacks, you can spend some resources on upgrading the garrisons, as well as warehouses and shipyards, so they've got a better fighting chance. Owning a lot of ports on the other hand is a particularly demanding business, since the maintenance costs are high and you need a very competitive economy just to keep up with these expenses. Naval confrontations on the other hand are more frequent, and there are two distinct ways they can be dealt with, depending on your mood and will power.

Just like in trading you can choose between the easy way of auto-resolving battles or take a more practical approach and control your fleet in 3D encounters. The benefits of the first method are obvious, as you save a lot of times, but the disadvantages are quite substantial so you might want to think this over. If you let the AI determine the outcome of the fight, its most likely you'll be on the losing side even if the forces are evenly matched, and even if you triumph there is nothing to be gained, as you won't be able to loot anything.

On the other hand switching to tactical mode, commanding each ship individually and launching coordinated attacks with your fleet, will quickly turn into a tedious activity. The battle is slow paced and if you want to do this properly there is no room for haste, as each action weights heavily. Hiring capable captains with cool skills and sailing in escorted fleets should turn the balance in your favor, but even after you crush the opposition there is more time to be spent on chasing the fleeing enemy ships. Everything comes with a price and if you are eager to explore the potential of these naval battles that you must be willing to invest a lot of time.

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Conclusion:

Despite its few flaws, East India Company has enough depth to make those strategy games fans rejoice and keep them wired, trying to overcome all those challenges posed by its demanding campaign. If you are ready to get mixed up in the high stakes game of world diplomacy and international intrigue, that this sophisticated, yet approachable title is definitely a good choice.

Gameplay: 78

East India Company is a campaign driven title and while there might not be great replayability in it, the gameplay is solid enough to make those long hours worthwhile. Strategic mode is where the game truly shines and all those economical decisions never pile up into a burden, despite their depth and complexity. Tactical mode is really a hit or miss, depending on taste and will power, but while some people will dismiss it as time-consuming and tedious, the most savvy consumers will appreciate its intricacy.

Graphics: 79

For most of the time you'll be looking at a flat map and even if you zoom in there are not many details to catch you eye, but given its nature, East India Company look quite nice.  Visually the game truly shines during the naval combat, with carefully crafted vessels and beautiful animations; as expected the water looks gorgeous and attractive weather effects further enhance the gaming experience.

Sounds: 73

The main theme is overwhelming at some points and fits in nicely, while the sound effects present only in tactical mode create an appropriate atmosphere for the naval combat. There is no voice acting of any sort, but since there is a lot of information to be absorbed in a short period of time, written notes are probably the better choice.

Multiplayer: 70

We can't really speak of a multiplayer mode as it doesn't even remotely resemble the actual campaign, being stripped down by any complexity and reduced to a few tactical battles. Dominion and Last Ship Floating are aiming to provide the player with different gaming experiences and thrills, but it's virtually the same thing going on: try to sink the opposing fleet as fast as you can.

Hardware 78

I can't really complain about anything regarding hardware as this game runs smoothly even on maximum details and there are no crashes of any sort, so there's no reason to save very often. It's a bit frustrating to watch those long loading screens each time you enter or exit a port, but you'll eventually get used to it, especially since this is a game where patience is the most prized virtue.