Some Early Feedback

[Devildogff]

Just going to list things as I noticed them.

The end turn button took me five minutes to find. I'm sure you have a big button on the way, but figured I'd mention it.

The middle button being the panning button feels a bit out of place. The option or default to use the left mouse button is more intuitive, methinks. Especially if you won't be dragging the left mouse button at any time. See Endless Legend's/Civ V's default.

Having to select the "Move" button to move fleets is not ideal. I should be able to right click my destination and it move without having to first select move.

I was intercepted by pirates and they destroyed my unarmed fleet, but the fleet survived on the strategy map and I was able to continue moving them. THEY WILL NEVER GET ME!

Combat feels a little clunky. Very pretty, but clunky. I'll play more in order to better specify why feels clunky. Might be the fact that again, I have to select commands. Would be better to see a target reticule when I mouse over an enemy, movement icon when my mouse hovers over empty space, etc. Less clicking = best.

Overall, the game feels very exciting. The graphics and art are top notch and this early beta build feels solid. You guys are doing well.

I'll keep adding to this thread as I play more and invite others to do the same

[sven]

Just going to list things as I noticed them.

The end turn button took me five minutes to find. I'm sure you have a big button on the way, but figured I'd mention it.

The middle button being the panning button feels a bit out of place. The option or default to use the left mouse button is more intuitive, methinks. Especially if you won't be dragging the left mouse button at any time. See Endless Legend's/Civ V's default.

Having to select the "Move" button to move fleets is not ideal. I should be able to right click my destination and it move without having to first select move.

I was intercepted by pirates and they destroyed my unarmed fleet, but the fleet survived on the strategy map and I was able to continue moving them. THEY WILL NEVER GET ME!

Alright! You have just reiterated Arioch's current top-3 pet peeves about the current build. You may want to read his post in the "Getting Started" thread, as he address most of these points there. But, some of this stuff, namely, the apparent survival after destruction bug (really a question of missing effect, I think), and the the needlessly obsure end-turn button, are easy to fix. I'll move those up on my priority queue. Hopefully, you'll get patches sometime tomorrow

[sven]

The middle button being the panning button feels a bit out of place. The option or default to use the left mouse button is more intuitive, methinks. Especially if you won't be dragging the left mouse button at any time. See Endless Legend's/Civ V's default.

This is not quite as easy to fix as it sounds, but, it's another one Arioch regularly reminds me about. I don't use a pan-drag semantic in strategy games myself, but, apparently, I'm in the minority here. A left click drag-to-pan is another feature I'll bump up the list. (Also, I'm amazed that you discovered the old middle-button drag-pan semantic -- that's one I put in mostly as a temporary testing feature, and both Jim and I had largely forgotten about it.)

[Arioch]

The end turn button took me five minutes to find. I'm sure you have a big button on the way, but figured I'd mention it.

This is one of the UI changes that's still in the hopper. Here's my mockup that includes the proposed End Turn button: http://well-of-souls.com/temp/svenfleet ... _icons.jpg

Having to select the "Move" button to move fleets is not ideal. I should be able to right click my destination and it move without having to first select move.

Yep, this is at the top of my list for the tactical changes that we didn't get to. Both move and attack should be context-sensitive right-click options, as well as explicit left-click options.

I was intercepted by pirates and they destroyed my unarmed fleet, but the fleet survived on the strategy map and I was able to continue moving them. THEY WILL NEVER GET ME!

This happens when you successfully retreat from a battle; the retreat animation is the same as the exploding ship animation. It confused me for a while too.

[Devildogff]

Yeah, it was definitely the retreat graphic that got me. I was being hit by lasers as each ship warped out, so it looked as if they were destroyed. Now that I've had ships get destroyed, I see the difference. Perhaps sound effects and a more obvious graphic will help.

I've looked over the "known issues" post and apologize for repeating some of what was there.

The game in general would benefit greatly from mouse-over tooltips. Obviously with an option to turn them off. When I'm in the fleet screen, it would be extremely helpful if I could mouse over each ship to know its name.

Also, the event icons are a bit obscure and would benefit from some small text beside them, I.e. "Pirates Encountered" beside that icon or "Scouts Arrived" beside that icon.

Would love to see a research screen with the scientist in his lab, much like the Master of Orion games. I'll post a comparative screenshot, but that would provide a greater sense of immersion and also, Arioch is a fantastic artist, so it's be great to see more of his art.

I feel the need to reiterate that you have something special here. Keep up the hard work and I'm certain you'll have a fantastic game here.

I'll post more feedback as I continue to play.

[Arioch]

Also, the event icons are a bit obscure and would benefit from some small text beside them, I.e. "Pirates Encountered" beside that icon or "Scouts Arrived" beside that icon.

The notification icon display is in the midst of being revamped; the icons for it are already done.

I feel the need to reiterate that you have something special here. Keep up the hard work and I'm certain you'll have a fantastic game here.

Thanks!