Re: Whats so bad about the UI????
 

cumbersome is probably the most important word here.

-> agreed

Re: Whats so bad about the UI????
 

Now that I've gotten used to it, the UI isn't that bad.

The one main complaint I do have, however, is the ship design UI, it is much too tedious and I miss the simplicity of SEIV.

Re: Whats so bad about the UI????
 

One more vote for "overly cumbersome".

Plus it takes too many clicks.

My question is, what the **** was wrong with the SE4 interface, that it had to be changed? Why did all the KB shortcuts need to be changed?

It's the same ****ing game, people. It's just an updated version. There are no major changes which required a total rework of the UI.

And don't take the rampant asterisks to mean that I'm all upset. I'm not. I'm just profane by nature http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Whats so bad about the UI????
 

Considering the entire game is basically remade, I guess it's natural with a change in UI as well. Unfortunately, reinventing the wheel didn't lead to an improvement in this case.

As I see it though, the shortcomings of the UI unfortunately pales when compared to the other issues the game has right now.

Re: Whats so bad about the UI????
 

I agree with Raapys.

The UI is definately cumbersome, but it seems a minor issue compared to the other problems.

Re: Whats so bad about the UI????
 

Meh, people need to get their left thumbs out of whatever - Removed by Moderator - and start using it. Seriously, unless you are gimped from the neck down somehow there's no good reason not to use a PC with both hands unless you're - Removed by Moderator - busy cramming cheese powder coated salty fried nummies into your gullet. I've noticed this too among people who dislike RTS type games, calling them confusing clickfests, when in most RTS games there are hotkeys that can greatly ease the load off the mouse.

Most routine ship operations only take eihter 2 clicks, a hotkey and a click, or for cargo a short series of double clicks. Only the research and build lists need a whole lot of clicks, and the design screen needs upper, mid and lower hotkeys with an add item button.

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Re: Whats so bad about the UI????
 

*A series of double clicks*

Whereas, in SE4, you needed only single clicks.
Load, there, this. Drop, there, that. Repeat Orders. 7 clicks/keys total, if it is in the same system.

Whoever gave Aaron the idea that everything needs an "OK" confirmation for SE5 did a lot of damage.

Re: Whats so bad about the UI????
 

In all honesty, even as a long-time player of SEIV, I don't really have any major gripes with the SEV UI. This is not to say I don't have SOME gripes, but I don't consider them major.

• One part of the UI that annoys me is the ship design. It really needs to be able to switch "decks" easier, especially while currently holding a component.
• Another UI gripe I have is lists and moving items up and down in the lists. Every time I move an item up or down, it moves the display to the top of the list. This is one of my biggest gripes about the UI, actually.
• Lists also need "move to top" and "move to bottom" buttons.
• Finally, while I like the listings of colonies, fleets, etc and how you can pick and choose which columns to show, I hate that you can't widen the damn window to fit more columns in. The window is too damn narrow and I keep having to switch views in order to see enough information.

All of these are very specific gripes. Three of the four I suspect would take less than 2 hours total for Aaron to fix. But he currently has more important problems to solve, and I agree with his priorities, personally.

So, despite the above list of UI gripes, I don't really mind the SE V UI. It's certainly a lot more modern than the SE IV UI and I think with a few minor fixes (and one possibly semi-major one), it would be just fine.

My REAL gripe with SE V really doesn't have anything to do with the game, but with the lack of a modder's guide or at least clear documentation in the data files about what the fields do and what their possible values are. *shrug* Wrong thread for that one http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Whats so bad about the UI????
 

I'd add the following:

• Sluggish mouse cursor (especially painful during ship design).
• Hot-keys only exist for top level functions (none show for options within most dialogs) and SEV's "modeless" UI means you can't be sure which open window receives a keypress either (try naming a ship design using T during the tutorial for example).
• Many windows (ship design, colony details, planet/colony lists) would benefit from enlargement with higher screen resolutions.
• The right-click menu can have too many options and appear disorganised as a result - a radial menu could be one way around this.
• Switching between selectable items in a hex (ship, planet, warp point) is cumbersome - including an icon for each item type in place of the "go back" arrow would improve this.
• Presentation generally is wasteful of screen space - the headings (in gold) take up the same space as the data fields whether needed or not.
• The order box at bottom right requires too much mouse travel to use and takes up more space than needed (since many options are unavailable most of the time). Having it instead only appear alongside a selected item with only the valid options would both minimise travel and free up screen space.
• Replace the bars in the Weapons Report (the most useless graphical indicator I have ever come across) with line graphs for damage over distance and accuracy over distance.
• Every component/facility/weapon detail window should include a button linking to previous generations, making it easier to review the benefits gained from research.

Ship design would benefit from special attention:

• Remove the existing component menu (allowing for both ship statistics screens to be displayed instead) and instead have it appear as a floating menu alongside a selected A,I,O space (again minimising mouse travel).
• Add hotkeys for component selection, e.g. E could bring up a listing of available engines with a letter for each item. Assuming there are 26 or fewer possible choices this should work well, but more than 26 could be accommodated with numeric prefixes, 1A..1Z then 2A..2Z, etc.
• Use cursor keys to move around a ship level and changing decks (e.g. Ctrl-Up and Ctrl-Down to go up/down a deck).
• Add a hotkey for jumping to the next available A, O or I section.
• Add a "condensed" display along the bottom just showing the components added and their number (like that in SEIV) making it easier to review total component usage across all decks.

Re: Whats so bad about the UI????
 

Right now the main issue with the game are the game bugs and thankfully Aaron is hard at work resolving them. Hopefully after the new year, and many if not all of the bugs have been addressed by updates, perhaps then Aaron can begin to address the UI and upgrade/enhance it.

The ship design system is indeed extremely time consuming and impraticle. A much more simplified system must be adopted and implamented.

I suggested a while back that a pre-designated slot system be implamented. This way a player need only click on a component to add it to the design. The game would automatically add that component to a pre-designated slot in the hull. The drag and drop system would still be present and usable, especially if you wanted to move something. But having pre-designated spots for everything would be far more efficient. Armor to the outside, weapons to the out side forward, other components like cargo, supply, and such fill up the center section, with spots in the center for the bridge, crew quarters, and such. Of course make this system completely moddable so players can adapt its use for mods and such.