Ideen / Vorschläge

[Pawleus]

As for torpedoes, isn't that what the total damage represents? I mean it's basically the torpedodamage * tubes / firerate. Or you mean the damage caused by just one salvo, ie: the first salvo?

I meant there should be two values: the one that already is (total damage/min - at least I think it's per minute based on Wiki), and the other one that should be: damage per full salvo (or even better: first frontal salvo because some launchers are at the back)

1. As always for such suggestions, any actual idea how it should be represented without overcrowding the map? If yes, then I'm open. Maybe a special overlay like for the Scan overlay?

My suggestion is mainly for the system screens. As for the map I used the question mark because I wouldn't want overload the map, too, and I haven't figured out a way to show it, yet.

[blotunga]

As for torpedoes, isn't that what the total damage represents? I mean it's basically the torpedodamage * tubes / firerate. Or you mean the damage caused by just one salvo, ie: the first salvo?

I meant there should be two values: the one that already is (total damage/min - at least I think it's per minute based on Wiki), and the other one that should be: damage per full salvo (or even better: first frontal salvo because some launchers are at the back)

1. As always for such suggestions, any actual idea how it should be represented without overcrowding the map? If yes, then I'm open. Maybe a special overlay like for the Scan overlay?

My suggestion is mainly for the system screens. As for the map I used the question mark because I wouldn't want overload the map, too, and I haven't figured out a way to show it, yet.

I could maybe add something along the lines of first frontal salvo? I really should implement the battle simulator when i have time so that i can visualize battles better.... I might even catch some bugs in the process....

You know that you can cycle between systems even when you're on the manager screen right? Just press left-right on the keyboard or click near the system name and drag the mouse left/right. Maybe some small icon would be nice, i have no idea yet...

[Pawleus]

Yes, I know I can cycle this way. However, when cycling I would prefer to see screens that have much more information, that is the build or production screen, and I would like to see a small icon there (at least on the production screen) to notify me whether or not the SM is on without visiting the SM screen just to know it. (Edit: or perhaps just a different colour of those population bars when the SM is on)

BTW, it would be nice to see on the production screen the same info about the max size of the system population that is on the build screen. Actually, there should be two max sizes: the current one and the all terraformed one (3 values in a similar way as on the build screen: current population/current max population/total max population).

I am going to have more suggestions so bear with me, please

Edit: I had to change the names above to the production screen (because it's called this way in the game and I thought it's the population screen )

Edit2: more as promised - perhaps they have already been suggested, but my google translator imparted flawed understanding your posts hadn't revealed so.

I can't find a way to display enemy system defenses even being in their system (all seen is the number of troops not their quality) and I don't even know how fiercely their population will fight (not even how fiercely my population will fight) unless I attack and even then I only know they were sufficiently (or not) strong to repel it without any details - it could be nice to see details of enemy system defenses depending on our scan strength (either on tooltip or on the right side selected system screen).

I see no easy way to evaluate how strong my system attack is (unless I laboriously count everything) - shouldn't the tooltip of my attack fleet show it? Values from this one and the above one should be easily comparable, eg. the way it is in BotF , or you could show their comparison in a similar percentage probability of success as in fleet engagements.

I see no way of discerning compositions of enemy fleets - ideally there should be a screen similar as in seeing composition of your own fleets but with details depending on your scan strength and enemy stealth abilities.

In the Diplomatic Menu-Race Information window there is a nice rectangle (to the left of it is the rectangle with minors' details as name, home system, relationship, acceptance; to the right of it is the bar that shows their opinion of us) that is not used (as far as I know) for any purposes - there should be shown icons of minors' unique buildings (ships could be nice too) with tooltips revealing details. As it is now they are only shown on the screen when you meet a minor for the first time so you don't know what they are unless you acquire the minor or use some external tools which is far from perfect.

It's a very long shot, I know, but it could be nice if in the long run AI is made slightly more unpredictable with their fleets - it's very nice that they form their invasion fleets but against a player they are much, much too stationary and eg. they often persistently try to conquer a minor without any reaction to me (or any major) conquering their own systems even bordering with their homesystem and even with me having inferior fleet. BTW, they are often so persistent that they rather bomb a minor to extinction than defend themselves from major invasion and it doesn't seem right even for Cartare.

Generally, very nice work, though (the praise is for all involved) - the game is very stable (still no crashes in 3 games on impossible each for about 200 turns), bugs are almost not noticeable (it's actually difficult to find bugs here ), and AI almost challenging (and I consider myself a very good player in 4X)- I wish every game was in such a good condition even just after release, not to mention your alpha state. Keep it up, please.

Edit3: Anonymissimus, brilliant work with the System Manager !!! It's not perfect but I would say that this single system elevates the game on the entire different level. I feel like I can't praise enough and I am not easy to be pleased.

Edit4: As for a future multiplayer module I would strongly suggest to add a PBEM option, there. Even better if it would be possible to start a multipayer game as in BotF with an option to change it to PBEM in the late game when doing turns is starting to take very long. It's possible to improve PBEM even further - eg. look how it was done by the community in case of PBW for Space Empires 4/5 https://pbw.spaceempires.net/

Edit5: All above is based on windows version 0.6.80 - I've just realized that it's a bit outdated, sorry

[blotunga]

Yes, I know I can cycle this way. However, when cycling I would prefer to see screens that have much more information, that is the build or production screen, and I would like to see a small icon there (at least on the production screen) to notify me whether or not the SM is on without visiting the SM screen just to know it. (Edit: or perhaps just a different colour of those population bars when the SM is on)

Different color is doable.

BTW, it would be nice to see on the production screen the same info about the max size of the system population that is on the build screen. Actually, there should be two max sizes: the current one and the all terraformed one (3 values in a similar way as on the build screen: current population/current max population/total max population).

We have the "Expansion" menu for that, I think it provides a better overview. The info on the Production screen is there just that you can easily plan how many buildings of each type to build without overbuilding and without going back/forth from the galaxy map.

I am going to have more suggestions so bear with me, please

Suggestions are always welcome .

I can't find a way to display enemy system defenses even being in their system (all seen is the number of troops not their quality) and I don't even know how fiercely their population will fight (not even how fiercely my population will fight) unless I attack and even then I only know they were sufficiently (or not) strong to repel it without any details - it could be nice to see details of enemy system defenses depending on our scan strength (either on tooltip or on the right side selected system screen).

I see no easy way to evaluate how strong my system attack is (unless I laboriously count everything) - shouldn't the tooltip of my attack fleet show it? Values from this one and the above one should be easily comparable, eg. the way it is in BotF , or you could show their comparison in a similar percentage probability of success as in fleet engagements.

I don't know why this feature was never added, you do have a point, however maybe some things should remain with a hint of unknown. Population fights by numbers. Every 10bn pop roughly equals a troop with 10 defense.

I see no way of discerning compositions of enemy fleets - ideally there should be a screen similar as in seeing composition of your own fleets but with details depending on your scan strength and enemy stealth abilities.

I'm not sure if I'd want to do that, too much information for the player, just as above. The original creator, SirPustekuchen from what I understood wanted to have a bit of mystery left in things, that's why for example on the research screen we don't show the exact amount of RP needed for a new discovery.

In the Diplomatic Menu-Race Information window there is a nice rectangle (to the left of it is the rectangle with minors' details as name, home system, relationship, acceptance; to the right of it is the bar that shows their opinion of us) that is not used (as far as I know) for any purposes - there should be shown icons of minors' unique buildings (ships could be nice too) with tooltips revealing details. As it is now they are only shown on the screen when you meet a minor for the first time so you don't know what they are unless you acquire the minor or use some external tools which is far from perfect.

Some minors have 4-5 buildings/ships, it would get a bit crowded and I'd have no space for the names of the buildings. Though I have to agree that it would be nice to somehow be able to see the Minor's buildings/ships on the diplo screen. And probably the bottom of the screen would be a much better fit for that since when on the info screen afaik there is never anything else show except "No diplomatic news" and when you cancel a treaty the name of the treaty that is cancelled. So probably I could put there the buildings when no treaty is being cancelled

It's a very long shot, I know, but it could be nice if in the long run AI is made slightly more unpredictable with their fleets - it's very nice that they form their invasion fleets but against a player they are much, much too stationary and eg. they often persistently try to conquer a minor without any reaction to me (or any major) conquering their own systems even bordering with their homesystem and even with me having inferior fleet. BTW, they are often so persistent that they rather bomb a minor to extinction than defend themselves from major invasion and it doesn't seem right even for Cartare.

I agree, the AI might need some tweaks, though it should be better because I've found some bugs. So please try the newer versions.

Edit4: As for a future multiplayer module I would strongly suggest to add a PBEM option, there. Even better if it would be possible to start a multipayer game as in BotF with an option to change it to PBEM in the late game when doing turns is starting to take very long. It's possible to improve PBEM even further - eg. look how it was done by the community in case of PBW for Space Empires 4/5 https://pbw.spaceempires.net/

Hmm, PBEM could be implemented, no question about it, I haven't really had time to confront myself with multiplayer yet.

Edit5: All above is based on windows version 0.6.80 - I've just realized that it's a bit outdated, sorry

Please update, btw a new update will be probably out probably next week also. On the PC I don't have any autoupdater built-in so you have to do it manually. However I try to keep savegames always compatible so updating shouldn't cause trouble.

[blotunga]

I meant there should be two values: the one that already is (total damage/min - at least I think it's per minute based on Wiki), and the other one that should be: damage per full salvo (or even better: first frontal salvo because some launchers are at the back)

Now that I came to think about it, does it really make sense? I mean a torpedo's damage is dependant on so many things. Penetrating, double hull, ignore shields, etc have all sorts of different effects. So I'm not sure if this number would be relevant. Also if I still decide to show it, maybe i shold factor in accuracy, because otherwise it might be that the torpedo simply misses.

[blotunga]

Yes, I know I can cycle this way. However, when cycling I would prefer to see screens that have much more information, that is the build or production screen, and I would like to see a small icon there (at least on the production screen) to notify me whether or not the SM is on without visiting the SM screen just to know it. (Edit: or perhaps just a different colour of those population bars when the SM is on)

How about this? The M turns green when the manager is active...
Or with text "Manager on/off"

[Darkness]

Now that I came to think about it, does it really make sense? I mean a torpedo's damage is dependant on so many things. Penetrating, double hull, ignore shields, etc have all sorts of different effects. So I'm not sure if this number would be relevant. Also if I still decide to show it, maybe i shold factor in accuracy, because otherwise it might be that the torpedo simply misses.

Even with many different effects the basic dmg is relevant in the most cases.

If I want to know how strong a ship is, I will look first at the basic dmg of my ship, then on special abilitys, then on basic defense, then on special defense abilitys. So basic dmg >>> everything else

And accuracy should be shown but shouldn't be integrated in the number of dmg I see.
You have a point that the accuracy decide weather the dmg is x or 0 but it also falsify extreme the result I wanna know if I watch the dmg number.

Its totally ok if I can see the dmg and seperated the accuracy to see the chance with which the dmg occurs.

[blotunga]

Now that I came to think about it, does it really make sense? I mean a torpedo's damage is dependant on so many things. Penetrating, double hull, ignore shields, etc have all sorts of different effects. So I'm not sure if this number would be relevant. Also if I still decide to show it, maybe i shold factor in accuracy, because otherwise it might be that the torpedo simply misses.

Even with many different effects the basic dmg is relevant in the most cases.

If I want to know how strong a ship is, I will look first at the basic dmg of my ship, then on special abilitys, then on basic defense, then on special defense abilitys. So basic dmg >>> everything else

And accuracy should be shown but shouldn't be integrated in the number of dmg I see.
You have a point that the accuracy decide weather the dmg is x or 0 but it also falsify extreme the result I wanna know if I watch the dmg number.

Its totally ok if I can see the dmg and seperated the accuracy to see the chance with which the dmg occurs.

So then I should add a "Damage per salvo" or something similar?

[Darkness]

Your suggestion would be the easiest way. (except let it be like it is ^^)

But dmg per salvo is only needed to calculating very short battles. More important is the dmg+recharge that we actually have with our dmg/min screen and the accuracy of the torpedos to understand how much impact they can have and with what chance.

Maybe we should discuss a bit more about this part before you invest much work in something where it is unclear how it would work the best way.

[blotunga]

Your suggestion would be the easiest way. (except let it be like it is ^^)

But dmg per salvo is only needed to calculating very short battles. More important is the dmg+recharge that we actually have with our dmg/min screen and the accuracy of the torpedos to understand how much impact they can have and with what chance.

Maybe we should discuss a bit more about this part before you invest much work in something where it is unclear how it would work the best way.

I agree, and I haven't done anything except looking into it .

Btw. what is your opinion about the Manager on/off display? Should I release it like one of those screenshots?

[Darkness]

A small information about the status of the manager is a good idea.

For new players it makes more sense to see the full name so they can understand what it means.
For old ones the M would be enough cause they already know what it means and should prefer a screen that isn't overfilled with informations.

Another question, why do you write it beside the population (not enough place?).
The Manager have nothing to do with the population so in my opinion it should be seperated.

So for me a M centered in the left or right upper corner would be enough to show the information.

[blotunga]

A small information about the status of the manager is a good idea.

For new players it makes more sense to see the full name so they can understand what it means.
For old ones the M would be enough cause they already know what it means and should prefer a screen that isn't overfilled with informations.

Another question, why do you write it beside the population (not enough place?).
The Manager have nothing to do with the population so in my opinion it should be seperated.

So for me a M centered in the left or right upper corner would be enough to show the information.

I know, but I have to think about newbies too. And I really have no idea where I could cram more information .

[blotunga]

.

How about here? Only with the Omega it looks a bit crappy, the rest is pretty ok. I've attached the crappiest of course

[Pawleus]

Both of your proposals are nice and I would say the manager has much to do with the population: it rearranges its workforce. It would be even nicer if it's clickable on/off - it would reduce some unnecessary micromanagement by saving me 2 clicks each time I just want to set it on/off without other adjustments. In a long game having a large empire it's a lot of unnecessary clicks. So it's a general suggestion as well: it you could save some clicks in many places for players then the game will become much more playerfriendly.

Edit:However, it's much more needed on the production screen, not the build one.

We have the "Expansion" menu for that, I think it provides a better overview. The info on the Production screen is there just that you can easily plan how many buildings of each type to build without overbuilding and without going back/forth from the galaxy map.

Yes, I know about the Expansion list and I will have some suggestions about it as well. The info is actually on the build screen not the production one and it should be on both because quite often (at least for me) I wouldn't have to go to the build screen if I had it there too. Once again it reduces unnecessary micromanagement and it doesn't overload the screen more than on the build screen.

I don't know why this feature was never added, you do have a point, however maybe some things should remain with a hint of unknown. Population fights by numbers. Every 10bn pop roughly equals a troop with 10 defense.

That's right - hint of unknown is good but not total lack of information. From my observations the population fights with different force for different species and warlike species fight usually much more fiercely, eg. playing as Heyoun I could usually conquer a minor system up to 50bln with just 4 somewhat experienced Spiders but Kreatumir reliably defeated more than twice that amount having only half population (about 25bln). I've seen even more contrasts playing as Khaoron. So, a sufficiently experienced player will know anyway how many troops should be used but it heavily punishes not experienced enough - such mechanics shouldn't be promoted in a game for multiplayer purposes as inexperienced players are always handicapped enough by things that cannot be avoided.

We have the probability of success shown in case of fleet engagements (even if sometimes enemy ships are complete unknown) - why there is no similar display in case of attacks on systems? Simple percentages would be nice but such a screen as in fleet engagements would be much better.

I'm not sure if I'd want to do that, too much information for the player, just as above. The original creator, SirPustekuchen from what I understood wanted to have a bit of mystery left in things, that's why for example on the research screen we don't show the exact amount of RP needed for a new discovery.

I love mystery but it should be achieved differently. As I said the amount of details a player sees should depend on his sensor strength in the sector and enemy stealth abilities, eg. with sufficiently low sensor strength he shouldn't be able to see cloaked ships at all hidden within an enemy fleet, with more strength he should be able to see that there are some unknown ships, with even more - size of ships, etc. It could be even arranged this way that there is only a certain probability of having details revealed. There are many, many ways that are much more interesting for players than almost complete lack of information about the fleet composition no matter what your sensor coverage is.

BTW, with time I would suggest to overhaul anomalies. They should be another way of providing the mystery, eg.
- many of them should have an obscuration ability and provide stealth for ships (even outposts and starbases - undetected they shouldn't show territory claimed to opponents) hiding there
- science ships should provide substantial scientific bonuses (one time gains only, perhaps) entering such sectors for the first time giving players reasons to risk entering them even if the ship might be destroyed.
- events could happen as a result of entering such sectors even if it's not the first time (eg. subspace rift shouldn't always destroy ships but only sometimes and there should be a probability that some dangerous aliens will appear there with probability of positive events too)
- I wish there was a way to create waypoints for ships(I see how it could be difficult with touchscreens) because eg. sometimes I just desperately need to take a shortcut through a dangerous anomaly and the game doesn't allow me to do so.

BTW2, the idea of creating waypoints is much more needed for directing ships constructed as to automatically go to a certain sector (or even to a certain fleet) - such a mechanic reduces unnecessary micromanagement greatly and it was even implemented in MoO1 20 years ago. They could be implemented in a similar way as trade/resource routes are.

Some minors have 4-5 buildings/ships, it would get a bit crowded and I'd have no space for the names of the buildings. Though I have to agree that it would be nice to somehow be able to see the Minor's buildings/ships on the diplo screen. And probably the bottom of the screen would be a much better fit for that since when on the info screen afaik there is never anything else show except "No diplomatic news" and when you cancel a treaty the name of the treaty that is cancelled. So probably I could put there the buildings when no treaty is being cancelled

We don't need names, just small icons - the description (and name) could be shown in a tooltip.

I agree, the AI might need some tweaks, though it should be better because I've found some bugs. So please try the newer versions.
...
Please update, btw a new update will be probably out probably next week also. On the PC I don't have any autoupdater built-in so you have to do it manually. However I try to keep savegames always compatible so updating shouldn't cause trouble.

I had it installed almost the moment I realized there is a new version

Edit: As for torpedoes, I gave you the important (from the gameplay perspective) reason why there should be 2 values - isn't it important enough for you? I don't see why they shouldn't take into account the accuracy of a launcher - as I mentioned they could provide average damage (average/min and average/full salvo - in a ship tooltip it should show average/frontal salvo, or lateral if there are main lauchers)

[Wo he hiv]

aber ich fände eine (meinetwegen niedrigere) Untergrenze für andere Minors auch sinnvoll.

Ich kann es nicht lassen noch einmal darauf zurückzukommen. Ich hatte schon wieder einen Minor mit einem 9,9 Milliarden System. Das ist natürlich nicht annähernd so schlimm, wie ein System mit 1,3 Milliarden. Aber ich finde das für ein Minorsystem einfach zu wenig.