New Patch Info Thread - Page 3

Spyder · #21 February 20th, 2001, 03:24 PM

I have just (nearly) finished my first full game and I have some observations involving the interface that fit here:

1) When I go down the Event List at the beginning of the turn to find out what's going on so that I can respond to different triggers, I will highlight a selection (say, Atmosphere Converted) and then hit the Goto button. This works great, but, when I return to the Event List, not only do I have to scroll all the way back down to the event I went to to continue looking at the remainder of the list, I have to REMEMBER which event it was to which I went (God, I mangled that sentence

).

Please do one of two things, or both if it pleases you

A) Leave my Last selection highlighted. B) Leave the list pointer where it was Last viewed and give us a top/bottom button so that when I open the list, I'll be where I was.

2) When I am looking at my build list, If I am at the bottom and I click to delete that item, the list automatcally jumps back to the top...this causes me to delete the wrong stuff when I am trying to delete multiple items. If you can, please have the list stay where it is when I click on an item.

Paul E. Mason
Senior VMS Systems Administrator

God Emperor · #22 February 20th, 2001, 04:19 PM

Hmmm, have to agree with Samurai on 17. I liked to be able to edit prototypes.

Also, has the research queue problem (AI always having 4 items in queue) been fixed, or the cause identified?
Tampa_gamer said that he had not encountered it on his Darloks but I havent been able to reproduce his finding in any of my games.

Am interested in any feedback on this issue.
Regards,
God Emperor

raynor · #23 February 20th, 2001, 06:11 PM

Have you also noticed what a pain it is to add ships to a fleet? You click on one to move it over. Then, it resets you to the top of the list. So, you scroll down a couple of screens, and add the ship. Bam! Back at the top of the list. Because of this extremely annoying user interface BUG! (You can't call it anything else!), I usually just add ALL my ships to the fleet and then subtract off the bases and stuff I don't want.

dmm · #24 February 20th, 2001, 09:07 PM

quote:
6. Added - Game Option: Can only colonize planets of the same
planet type as your home planet (regardless of technology).[/b]

This doesn't sound like it will do what (some) people really want, which is to prevent rock-dwelling species from colonizing non-rock planets (and similar colonizations that some gamers considered unrealistic).

From what I've read, everyone still wants to be able somehow to obtain populations that can colonize other planet types.

So, unless this option is being explained incorrectly, it won't get used much and gamers will still have to use house rules and the honor system. Unfortunately, that won't work with the AI.

raynor · #25 February 20th, 2001, 09:24 PM

Could you perhaps explain yourself a little better? Maybe my brain isn't working so well after a big mid-day meal.

I read that option to mean that if my empire's default planet type is rock, then that is all I will ever be able to build colonies on regardless of technology. I won't be able to colonize ice worlds or gas giants. Sounds pretty good to me.

In other threads, some folks have complained that they had too many planets to manage. One solution is to alter the maximum number of planets per system. This option is yet another alternative. I think it will probably get quite a bit of use--especially in multiplayer games where folks don't want to face the tedium of managing a 300 planet empire with an interface designed for managing at most 60.

dmm · #26 February 20th, 2001, 09:36 PM

quote:
Originally posted by God Emperor:
Hmmm, have to agree with Samurai on 17. I liked to be able to edit prototypes. ... Am interested in any feedback on this issue.
Regards,
God Emperor

GE,
The reason for this fix is that construction queue rules have been changed. In the upcoming Version, if you replace the top queue item, then you lose all construction credit for it. So the above change is just closing a loophole in the new rule.

That's kind of a pain if all you're doing is adding a sensor. The intent, though, is to prevent people from constructing some big-ticket item for a bunch of turns and then suddenly switching it to a totally dissimilar big-ticket item (which maybe they just researched). So, in the upcoming Version, you won't be able to construct for 5 turns on your latest ship, and then edit it just before completion to contain armor, engines, and weapons that were unknown when construction started. You'll have to choose between starting construction from scratch, or finishing the old Version and then upgrading.

I must admit, I like to exploit the current system. But I think the new rule is more realistic. (Think about it: with the current system, you can be constructing a warship and replace it with a computer complex or an organics facility, with no construction penalty. HUH, WHAT?? Really, it had to be fixed.)

dmm · #27 February 20th, 2001, 10:03 PM

quote:
Originally posted by raynor:
Could you perhaps explain yourself a little better?

In the threads discussing colonization of planetary types, people were complaining that it was unrealistic to think that rock dwellers could ever colonize ice or gas, that gas dwellers could ever colonize rock or ice, or that ice dwellers could ever colonize rock or gas. But the argument was not empire-based, it was species-based. So if an empire of rock dwellers captures a gas planet full of gas dwellers from another empire, there is no logical reason why those gas dwellers can't be used to colonize other gas planets (provided the empire has the Gas Colonization tech).

My point is this:
An option implementing the species-based restriction was asked for but what is (apparently) being given instead is an empire-based restriction. Many people were hoping for the former. The latter is not as useful and is totally arbitrary -- there's no logical basis for it.

The same arguments can be made regarding the new option to restrict colonization to homeworld atmospheres.

If the idea was simply to reduce the number of colonies to manage, then you've already pointed out the obvious (and logically consistent) solution -- reduce the average number of planets per system. Or just play in an ancient galaxy.

raynor · #28 February 20th, 2001, 10:07 PM

Thanks!

I completely forgot about conquering a species whose home planet type is different from yours.

Nitram Draw · #29 February 20th, 2001, 11:25 PM

I love the idea of only being able to colonize one type of planet.
This could go a long way toward creating some valuable systems.

Talenn · #30 February 20th, 2001, 11:53 PM

On the subject of changing prototypes etc...

I, for one, would like to see some sort of added cost for the first ship in a class. Maybe a 'design fee' or 'prototype penalty' or somesuch. Not a huge cost, but something to encourage (and reward) a bit of preplanning and forethought. It would also help reduce some tedium as it wouldnt always be the optimum to redesign all of your ship as soon as you get one new component the way it is now.

It might make some financial sense to keep a class in production until a few changes are in order instead of for each new gadget. In fact, the cost wouldnt even have to be a resources cost (although that is certainly not a bad option) but perhaps a time cost...ie prototypes take 50% more time to construct or somesuch.

As far as a resource cost? Maybe 15-20%? I'm not sure if that would be enough to encourage some standardization or not. Perhapss a combo of the two?

Anyways, bottom line is that IMO, it should not always be in a player's best interest to constantly redesign their ships. It should go in cycles and not incessantly. This would definately reduce micromanagement and would prolly be adding some 'realism' to game as the same time.

Anyone else?

Thanx,
Talenn