Although the game has been in development for about 2 years now, there is a good chance you might have not heard of East India Company, coming to the PC in the first quarter of 2009.
The game is set during the trade explosion of the 17th century. You take the role as a British, Dutch, French, Danish, Portuguese, Swedish, Italian or Spanish director of a high-seas trading company. But this game isn't centered around trade -- it is a RTS centered around ship-to-ship combat.
You start with a single ship with which to build your global empire. 40 different towns and ports are the game, which you explore, trading different goods and building a respectable fleet. The trading companies operate on the far side of the world, Asia, so you can start battles and wars at will.
Build fleets to run back tea and opium, and other hot commodities of 17th century Europe. Blow stuff up with your devasting array of arms. Get rich and build a global empire.
Judging from the screen shots, it looks like the game has two seperate components: a Civilization / Colonization type trading game, with a naval RTS battle simulator handling the combat.
Features (include (from a press release):
FEATURES
Manage!
• Hire and manage your own crew
• Buy guns and ammo
• Repair and upgrade your ships at port
• Trade goods (tea, spices, gold…)
• Establish profitable trading routes
• Open diplomatic relations or declare war
• Negotiate tense political situations
Rule!
• Lead the most powerful company in history
• Take over colonies and expand your empire
• Build a powerful fleet to rule the seas
• Conquer strategic ports
• Accomplish tasks ordered by your company or the Crown
Fight!
• Declare war on rival empires fought at a real-time tactical level
• Command ships and fleets independently
• Wage war on the vast open sea
• Sink your rivals’ ship or board them to take control in bloody hand-to-hand combat
Multiplayer (Internet or LAN)
• Supports up to 10 simultaneous players
• Player statistics tracked on the EIC game server
• Raise your ranking by thwarting your opponents
• Supporting several exciting multiplayer modes, such as "Escort" and "Breakthrough" testing the player tactical online skills.
