Suggest - Features and Improvements

[JohnnyW00t]

Oh, also:

9. Sort the designs on the ship design list so that the most recent design for each ship type remains at the top, sorted by ship size from largest to smallest.

[preston87]

Привет всем, добавьте обучение игре, кое как разобрался, что как строить.

[JohnnyW00t]

On the refit screen for a particular ship, allow users to select an updated design to fill in from rather than having to select all the equipment by hand. I had a bunch of cruisers and destroyers defending individual systems that I wanted to update with my latest swag and I had to do them all by hand. Or was I missing something obvious?

[JohnnyW00t]

When research is complete, in the message at the bottom at the start of the turn, list the technology that was automatically inserted into the queue. That way one might save a trip or three to the research screen screen when the chosen tech was acceptable.

[Gyrfalcon]

game_195 is an excellent example of why a tech tree would be very helpful. I'm a tiny bit too far away from the next nearest colony/invasion targets at Sirius and Kochab and would like to research the thing that gives me more range. But it is not clear where that tech is, or what I need to research to get there.

Also, why are there separate techs to research for command range and scanning range? Never mind the nonsense of being able to detect a ship much further away than I can hear the tech-equivalent radio signal, what gameplay excitement is there in researching them separately?

[VagabondZOD]

Some suggestions, probably some repeats in here from others suggestions and stuff you already intended to do but haven't had time for yet.

Ship Design:

• Put color flags on the modules so it's clear what slots they can go in. So a point-defense module has orange, white, (color for heavy that I forgot). These don't have to be big, maybe just colored circles in the upper right corner.
• Filter modules by said flags. So I want all modules that can go into a System slot, so I click on a Blue button at the top of the module list and bam, good to go.
• Expand information displayed when you click on a module. I wouldn't mind knowing Power usage, Cost and Range when I'm deciding to add Lasers or Missiles beyond the damage value + vague description currently displayed.
• How do I find out what weapon options do? Rapid fire is obvious, but what does accuracy really do? I don't know how hit/miss is calculated, so I don't know if Accuracy takes me from 50% to 75% to hit (exciting and overpowered!) or 95% to 100% (who cares!).

Planetary Management:

• It would be really nice if I could have a drop down to change what my planets were building from the Planetary Report overlay. When a place finishes construction it inevitably defaults to something I don't want and I'm clicking through multiple screens to finally be able to change production.
• I love the art of this game, but I don't love how large everything is on the production selection screen. Could you drop ship images from here to make a more easily navigable list? I'll still get the great artwork in fights and when sending my ships hither and yon across the galaxy.
• Could there be a mouse-over that displays ship equipment from the production screen? Sometimes I'm not sure if I've upgraded ship X and I'd rather not go into the ship design screen to find out.

Combat:

• Maybe I'm doing something wrong here, but ship selection seems to be a pain. I click on a ship - nothing happens. I double-click on a ship, it's selected for a moment and then deselected. I single click on it again, and now I can function. Maybe some sort of next ship button / tab key cycle to get from ship to ship without needing to manually select each?
• I don't have the foggiest idea what the colored bars are for ships when I'm blowing them up. I think gray is armor, green is crew and blue/red are some kind of internal structure? Wouldn't mind some kind of explanation.

Game Pace:

• I have a ton of dead turns in the early game. Scout gets inevitably shot down by pirates before I can retreat, colony ship settles somewhere hopefully, trade vessel goes off and trades. Now I'm just waiting on tech and labs/factories for a while. Maybe decrease lab/factory initial cost but ramp up faster for additional ones. So 50 /150 / 250 instead of 150 / 200 / 250 for example. Get early planet development choices out of the way, then increase to be comparable with ship costs to encourage getting out there and doing stuff.

[Arioch]

Maybe I'm doing something wrong here, but ship selection seems to be a pain. I click on a ship - nothing happens. I double-click on a ship, it's selected for a moment and then deselected. I single click on it again, and now I can function.

A single-left click should select a ship in tactical combat, even if it's an enemy ship or during the enemy turn (though, of course, you can't issue orders unless the ship is yours and it's your turn). If this is not working, then something is wrong.

[AzraelRavenwing]

So. I love this game so far, even though its an... Im guessin early beta so I know their is some things that may drive me nuts atm like being Zerg Rushed by fleets of 20 missle packing light ships from all the AI players. but anyway my suggestions are this. Start the humans on a somewhat bigger arid planet, like Medium. or give them a second scout ship to start with. as for FTL. i see reference to Hyperspace lanes. if that's the case wouldn't that if you are at one planet,your limited by lines that connect to other planets, not just being able to FTL to any start in fuel range. Or at least give a visible jump range. maybe Match up the AI play style with the race descriptions? Yoral i could see using large fleets of smaller ships. Ashdar? Carriers with some cruiser support. Gremak having a lot of smaller fleets, with their larger combat vessels Orthin turtle like.. and the Phidi... I honestly don't know about them. anyway another thing would be Customizable map sizes or different map styles, like spiral galaxies or cluster.

[Dinkelsen]

I have 3 suggestions I would like to post:

1. Planetary production window.
When selecting itemsto produce in the planetary production window, all items are cobbled together in one large and a little confusing list. Maybe adding a panel system at the top of the selection area could help. Panels could be "Terraforming" (and colonizing other planets in the same solar system), "Planetary infrastructure", "Ships", "Stations". Items could be sorted by popularity, putting ships and items that are selected more often recently further to the top of the list.

2. Invading
Invading feels a little too easy. I can build a few troop ships and then go around and invade every planet I see. I would rather have to "reload" those troops I just sent to the planet - maybe if I had to go to a planet that was 10 turns under my control and there I would get 1 troop point per turn and population point back. Much like the "repair" mechanic.

3. Auto resolved combat
When combat autoresolves (shift-click on "attack" or "Defend") I suggest showing the combat results page. I would like to know how the battle went, so I find myself frequently looking the battle results page up. Since its there it could be displayed automatically.

Edit: added 3rd suggestion

[Estean]

I really love the artwork and the combat system so far!
Some of the things have maybe already been mentioned. I read through all the posts but by now, 4 days later I have already forgotten half of them again.
So yeah, a short FAQ might be a good idea.
Here are my suggestions:

1. Definitely some System to have a better overview of which weapons and modules go into which slot. A color-code system might work or at least a Tab system for the different module types. Right now there is just too much stuff in the list.

2. It is kind of difficult to see which techs I need to research in order to for example unlock light/heavy cruisers. A kind of research-tree-like visualization would be good, or a clearer distinction into certain categories (again, maybe Tabs), so that it is clearer which techs I need to research to gain a bigger hull, space station etc.

3. I would really like to have more variety in the buildings on a planet apart from factories and research labs. I know it might be a big feature to add but it would certainly improve the game very much and give the player more to do. I mean there are endless possibilities for special buildings like biodomes, military academies, etc... I think this would add a great deal of depth to the game.

4. A better indicator of how your boarding action is going. Maybe in form of a mousover to see your chances before you start to board.

5. I have to agree with the previous post that Invasions are kind of too easy at the moment. You should have to at least fill up your ground forces on the Transports to some extent. Otherwise you can just steamroll through enemy territory much to quickly. Maybe have your planets build ground-force units.
A nice Idea would also be to have different ground forces for different Biomes.. I mean it kind of makes sense if you think about i.e. an aquatic race conquering a human planet, they would need to have some special equipment for that and vice versa.
You could also make deals with the Pirates and buy some of their troops as mercenaries.

[faijeya]

Default transports (as opposed to a custom transport design with an invasion module) aren't really ships.
Scouting with them is useless and they do operate as intended only when they are removed from the main map and from direct player's control, both for trade and for transporting population.
In addition, when you want to expand your transport fleet, it turns in a clickfest, as you have to click through every transport and set it to trade.

Why not set them to trade on construction automatically?

The only corner case are the unsettled humans, but after you find a colony or two they use transports like everyone else.

[Arioch]

Why not set them to trade on construction automatically?

This will probably eventually be an option (which may be on by default). But we need to work out some issues with tutorials (making sure that the player understands that the transports are even there) and some special cases with the Phidi (who can have armed transports).

[faijeya]

Understood.

Also, I'd like to second these points:

- Have a check box on the combat screen that toggles "fast animations".
- Have some UI on the combat screen that allows you to "auto resolve" the rest of the combat from there.

Waiting for the AI to move their multiple ships in-range during planetary defense is boring.
Autoresolving the mopping-up phase (a beam ship against multiple enemies with spent missiles, for instance) would be great, too.

[Dinkelsen]

Speaking of tactical combat:

When all my ships are moved, I have to click on the End Turn button to initiate the opponents turn. Maybe in this case, the opponents turn could start automatically. It you thought about it but didn't like the idea of enemy turns starting "in your face" there could be an option to activate it.

[faijeya]

Regarding tech.
It's nice it's intertwined and variable, it's not really transparent as it has to be represented in the form of a 3D tube to be readable somehow.
But simplifying prerequisites web to 2D-friendly does not play along with your stated vision to have a semi-dynamic tech tree.

What if:
1) each era was simplified to a 2D-friendly design
2) there were 4-6 designs for each era (excluding the first one)
3) the exact design of an era was defined by the order in which gatekeeping techs are researched

Gatekeeping techs are lucrative for the player and the order of their research may be largely shaped by player's research officer's bonuses.