OPINION: Patch suggestions?

[StormcloudCreations]

Here's the thread where I take suggestions/tweaks for a possible patch for Trader 2. It may be a little while, since i'm hard at work on my next project. But it probably will happen, assuming response here (or through e-mail; feel free to write me as well) is decent.

Let your voice be heard!

[ April 09, 2003, 16:25: Message edited by: StormcloudCreations ]

[StormcloudCreations]

*bump* to the Intel Forums Front Page

[SlapBone]

Well since you ask I think there are 3 things that would be really nice.

1. A ship indicator to show what planet you are on (as previously mentioned).

2. Ability to use the regular bank account to purchase trade goods and ship upgrades without having to pull the money out. ( I know this was a point made by the Gamespot guy but I was feeling the same thing already)

3. Stop orders for stocks (this is my personal pet )

Also, as we discussed in the other thread, I think we would like to see a few snazzy historical graphs (especially on the stock market screen).

[Nick]

1:
How about indicators on the planet screen, like stock quotes and investment funds?

ie: make green clover child care symbol GCCC
and have GCCC +1, and any other changes reflected on a in a box somewhere on the planet screen (upper right hand corner looks good to me). This would save the effort of having to check its screen each turn to keep track of investments

2:
Make tollboth earnings more clear. I don't know if it never pays out or just poorly, but I could not even detect my tollbooth earnings one game when I owned one on every planet. Similarly, when one wins the freebies, winnings should be indicated clearly.

3:
Make loan rates and deposit payouts related. In one of my first games, I was able to take out a 100,000 loan out and then earn a higher percent in interest by depositing it in the savings account. This makes no sense.

4:
Allow partial inventory sales. Sometimes, I would like to sell of part of my inventory of one type of item to replace it with another. As it stands, I must sell all or nothing. This is very unflexible and unrealistic for a market. Perhaps, you could even account for the demand and supply curves by offering slightly different prices for different quantities sold (more units sold, lower price) and purchase prices (which should increase as quantity increases).

5:
The ability to save the current game without exiting (which is sometimes a nice thing to be able to do). And the ability to have more than 1 save slot.

and History graphs would also be very nice

[StormcloudCreations]

*bump*

[StormcloudCreations]

*bump* More suggestions?

[LinuxElf]

Derek:

Well, here's my short wish list:

1. Save without exiting. Actually, this might be one of the more annoying things about the game. (Which should tell you that I like the game a lot!)
2. Indicator for which planet I just left, as someone else mentioned.
3. Counter of some sort for how many times I have visited each planet. This could just be a number next to each planet or something like that.
4. A "notepad" or checklist for each planet. You right-click on a planet, and your checklist comes up. In the checklist, you could have choices of "Buy, Sell, Cheap Gas" for example. In other words, when I play a computer game, I do not expect to need to write anything down. It is, after all, a computer game, not a board game. With Trader 2, I tend to end up with a sheet of paper with scribbled notes all over indicating where to buy and where to sell and which planet to buy gas on. (Or, maybe I need some vitamins for memory enhancement! )
5. You have a "Withdraw all money" button. I'd like to have a "Deposit all money" button.
6. Have a game option button for depositing money. When I check this option button, then every time I click "Leave planet", I get a dialog box prompting me, "Do you want to deposit money in Galactic Bank before leaving?" Choices would be, "All, Amount (with a place to fill in an amount), No". Then, if I click "All" or "Amount (and fill in amount)", the computer will automatically deposit that amount without taking me through the Bank screen. If I don't click the game option button, then I don't get these prompts.

That's all I can think of at the moment. It's a fun game.

Thanks.

LinuxElf

[ April 15, 2003, 11:18: Message edited by: LinuxElf ]

[Gzian]

Have a way to determine the economy of a planet WITHOUT having to land on the planet. Also, news info sent to players giving hints about where to buy,what to buy and where to sell would be great.

Also PLEASE allow saving without exiting!

[ April 20, 2003, 04:35: Message edited by: Gzian ]

[StormcloudCreations]

Hi Gzian,

These types of news "hints" are available periodically on the Status Report screen at the top under "Galactic News Report". It sometimes gives you a planet that's great for selling, items that are hot, etc. It might sorta become mechanical if there was always a screen that told you what planet had the best or worst economy, highest chance of pirate attacks, etc. Part of the challenge and strategy of the game is figuring some of it out for yourself.

[Gzian]

Please make the available ships in the shipyard MUCH better than what is being offered. These ships are about the same as a starting ship. It doesn't take too many turns to get better ships than what is offered. Have ships that have much better weapons, cargo and passenger holds for a big price such as 400-800K or more. The current offerings become obsolete very quickly.

Also, there should be some special items found randomly that would boost the benefits of ships and/or escort ships.