Naval strategy title East India Company will receive a standalone addon on the 8th of December, say developers Paradox Interactive.

East India Company: Battle of Trafalgar will see players re-enacting the famous Napoleonic sea engagement off the coast of Spain wherein Admiral Lord Nelson oversaw the sinking of 22 French and Spanish vessels before losing his own life.

The downloadable content will be available through all major digital distributors and will cost USD $9.99, say Paradox.

The game’s features include:

 

Paradox Interactive and Nitro Games today announced a "Designer's Cut" update for the naval strategy title, East India Company.

Based on ideas from the game's developers, as well as feedback from the East India Company community, the free add-on introduces enhancements for improved gameplay, including new port views, the ability to fight on land in island battles, the introduction of multiplayer modes "Beehive" and "Breakthrough", history graphs to help track long term progress, and many more new features.

“In 'Designer’s Cut', we made several improvements to the original game to make it even better," said Kim Soares, lead designer for East India Company. "Some features were chosen from the ideas presented to us by the East India Company community. This kind of feedback from the active players is invaluable, as they have spent hundreds of hours playing our game and know it inside and out."

 

Paradox Interactive have released a demo for East India Company, their historical trading simulator which we previewed a little while back.

In this demo, players start with access to some ports and fleets, enabling them to immediately compete for the game's main trading items. In addition, the demo also features two naval battle scenarios, allowing players to jump right in and try out the ocean warfare for themselves.

We're hosting this demo at GP Downloads (794MB).

For more information about this game, head over to our hands on preview.

 

Publishers Paradox Interactive have announced today that development on its upcoming naval strategy title East India Company has reached completion.

Developed by Finland based Nitro Games, the PC title will offer players the opportunity to build large trading empire and engage in naval battles. If you haven't already, have a read of our preview to learn more.

East India Company will be available through digital distribution channels on July 31, and our friends Mighty Ape have a special import shipment due for sale on August 7th. More information at the official site.

 

Paradox Interactive and Nitro Games have launched a competition for East India Company entitled ”Rule The Waves” in which the real-life likeness of three lucky winners will be transferred digitally into actual in-game characters, which will then feature in the final game.

To be in with a chance of being turned into a great sea-faring commander in East India Company, simply follow the instructions posted on the official forums. The winning ”Commanders” will be added to the game through an upcoming patch. For more information on the game, check out our hands-on preview.

 

Which particular attributes are responsible for elevating a strategy game to stratospheric success?

Certainly not the eye candy. This is good news for Nitro Games, as their latest foray into the muddy waters of international trade relations is about to be released, and it's not exactly out to stretch your hardware.

East India Company manages to position itself between the whimsical trade-or-die clickfest that is the Anno series, and the militaristic strategy of the rather excellent Total War franchise. And yet, it's vastly different to both, preferring to concentrate on the concept of an autonomous trader out to fleece the wealth of entire nations, primarily through clever hoarding of resources and beneficial barter between budding economies.