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I’m continuing to work through the British campaign in the Early Access version of Ultimate Admiral: Age of Sail. As the game progresses, the player gets access to the top-tier, 1st Rate Ships of the Line and sizable supporting fleets, which is nice. Progress also brings more challenge to the game. Managing a dozen or more ships is a little harder than it was for the smaller squadrons. It can be particularly difficult when the scenario divides your attention, a frequent hallmark as the campaign marches on.

Seeking victory at Cape St. Vincent.

In this, my second run-through of the British campaign, I chose to play as John Jervis. Not being a very astute scholar of British history, I don’t know my British admirals unless he is named Nelson (my choice the first time around). It is therefore an extra treat to play this version of the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, it being Jervis’ most famous victory.

The Ultimate Admiral version of the battle is a close approximation of its historical counterpart. The fleets are slightly smaller; let’s say within a factor of two of the historical order of battle. The weather and lineup (featuring a disordered Spain) are also fair approximations. The HMS Victory is not present, instead awaiting me as a reward after my victory (wink wink) in this battle.

As expected, advancing through the Campaign scenarios results in better and better gameplay. This is both due to better ships and better situations as well as from a historical angle. I have more fun refighting the defining battles of the age as opposed to simply “stopping a supply ship before it delivers its cargo.” It also helps that the development team has been doing a lot of work throughout the summer and I’m playing in a noticeably better game than at the outset.

One area I hope to be resolved as development continues is relative to the AI. As I said, managing large fleets or multiple squadrons is challenging for the player. For myself, when I am in the thick of battle, I have to pause every 10 seconds-or-so to individually tweak each engagement. Sometimes this is exciting but sometimes it’s just tedious. One mitigating factor is the AI can’t seem to handle either larger fleets or multiple squadrons very well either. Several battles in a row, I find myself fighting a larger enemy fleet piecemeal because the AI withholds a portion of its forces from the battle when not directly threatened.

While the AI’s weakness helps to make these scenarios playable (i.e. winnable, as a loss will end the campaign), it also means that you can’t rely on the friendly AI to help manage your own fleet. Stupid AI stuff aside, there is also no way to govern the intent of that friendly AI. You see, what a ship “should” do is very dependent on its situation. A damaged ship should hang outside of engagement range to prevent being sunk. Likewise a small ship facing a larger, better armed opponent. When the opposite is true, you hope your friendly AI would press its advantage. But I don’t feel I can trust the AI to make even simple decisions for me, so I micromanage each ship (or just aim smaller/damaged ships away from the battle so they effectively disengage).

Conventional tactics at the Battle of the Nile

This is one problem I really hope the developers can solve. Get it right, and I see it as an advantage for history buffs. In a historical battle or “random” match-up, the ability to create “challenge” through scenario conditions can be limited. One strategy a player might use is to delegate control to an AI. For example, imagine limiting yourself to direct control only of your own ship and whatever squadron you’ve assigned to it. Units distant or otherwise not coordinated directly with your actions must be left to the computer. This might be a nice way for a player to even the playing field against an AI opponent that, to acknowledge reality, will never be able to keep up with an experienced player, no matter how good the programming skills of the Ultimate Admiral team.