Wanted features:
 

Just thought I'd share my "wish list" for upgrades to SE IV. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif This is really a list of User Interface ideas more than major game features. I'll have to make a seperate list of things I would like added to enhance the interest of game play.

* Seperate auto-move and auto-fire options in combat.

Isn't it really tedious to have to manually manage a planet full of WPs in combat? Or just a large fleet of ships, for that matter. Clicking all those weapon icons get's old fast. But, if you click that "auto" button, your ships will move in all sorts of crazy ways that get them in trouble. I usually find that auto-targetting is smart enough to be let alone, but auto-movement is NOT. Would be nice to be able to allow one but not the other, like in SE3.

* Global on/off switch for weapons.

This would help with managing large Groups of weapons in combat. Just click it and all the weapons on a ship, base, planet, satgroup, whatever would be flicked on or off.

* Ability to use self-destruct component in combat.

What if you're the bitter type and you don't want to sit there and watch your ship get pounded for five more turns, knowing it's going to get destroyed anyway? Blow it up yourself! http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif Besides, you may want to avoid capture.

* Ability to drop troops from multiple ships simultaneously onto one target.

This problem has been hammered on quite a bit in this forum. A planet full of 8 billion or more population is just too big for troops from a single transport to conquer. We need simultaeous drop somehow or other.

* Allow recovery of fighters in combat.

What if my fighters are getting slaughtered by enemy PDC? I can't do anything about it? Yeesh.

* Some way to "escape" over the border of the combat box.

Yep, the old retreat problem. I'd sure like to see some way to get out of combat if I'm three times faster than the pursuing ships, but instead I have to bump against the invisible box until they catch up and slaughter me. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon9.gif

* A "Move Ten" button in the cargo transfer/unit launch windows.

Just a small help with managing large amounts of cargo and units.

* The same level of control in the Jettison Cargo window as you get in the transfer cargo or deploy units window.

"All or none' of each cargo type is very crude.

* Filter out ships that don't have cargo capacity or unit launch bays from the cargo transfer and unit launch windows.

'Nuff said. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

* Some way to turn OFF remote mining so planets and asteroids are not accidently stripped while a traveling ship stops in transit.

Yeah, remote mining is automatic. If your ship stops over a nice planet that you want to colonizelater, it will strip the planet for that turn and reduce its value. NOT good.

* And my all-time favorite, the ability to at least scrap, or even retrofit, units in a planetary cargo area.

Only satellites and weapon platforms really need to be retrofittable. If troops, fighters, and mines are only scrappable, that's fine.

* A "Show Latest Only" option for the component and facility lists in the help.

Isn't it tedious to see all those "I/II/III" Versions of everything? Wouldn't just the latest be enough?

* A Last-saved check to warn you about quitting a game when turns have been executed since Last save.

'Nuff said!

* Option to use 'enter' and 'escape' for default button/cancel in most dialogues.

Why can't the game use standard Windows services, anyway? SE3 did.

* Some sort of warning in Empire setup when no SHIP NAMES file has been chosen.

Just a small tweak for the absent minded. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif


[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 17 November 2000).]

Re: Wanted features:
 

Some interface tweaks would be nice.

- Planet/Colonization screen: Why does the window close automatically after sending *1* colony ship? If you're building/sending multiple pods, this gets a bit silly.

Also, ISTR that the 'Colonizable' screen lists planets of any type you have the *tech* for, but not necessarily the *pod*. Once you have more than one colony tech this gets annoying.

- Planet viewing from the planet queue-editing screen: it'd be nice to be able to right-click a particular facility and scrap it, rather than leave queue menu, select planet, scrap menu, then re-enter queue menu. Mostly useful if you've gotten a batch of AI colonies and want to replace facilities w/ urban pacification, monolith or what-have-you.

- Since at the beginning of tactical combat you can see all the units anyway (examining ship/planet cargo), it shouldn't hurt to list units on the 'tactical or strategic combat' screen. I find myself always picking tactical versus planets, because whether or not there are WPs or sats makes a difference as to whether I have to micro-manage movement or not.

- It would be useful if the 'Minefield at location BLAH has been triggered' message listed how many mines were detonated, and how many are left, mostly to warn you if one of your minefields is about to be breached.

- It might be good to include the +1 movement point from the Propulsion Experts trait in the ship design screen, although newbies will figure it out soon enough...

- I don't recall a 'Show Idle/Empty Construction Queue' option, but if there isn't, it might be nice.


Possible bug(s): [1.02, full]

- The Time weapon that does 4x to shields, 1x to normal, might be broken (namely the 1x doesn't seem to be happening); unless AI accuracy was extremely poor (unlikely; for most of the game the AIs had better sensors than I had ECM) I had ships with downed shields getting attacked many times with it, and not taking armor/hull damage.

- (?) A Partnered AI, unhappy that I was partnered with an enemy of his, somehow stopped sharing his "view" (i.e. showing info where his ships/planets were) as if the treaty were over, but was still listed as having a Partnership.

- A ship ordered to return for resupply shouldn't burn its dwindling fuel going back-and-forth next to an occupied enemy warp point; in general, if a ship would make a cycle during one turn on automatic path finding, something is wrong. Should be detectable quickly since a path on a single turn is normally short (even with Quantum Engines, Solar Sail III, and Propulsion Experts a BC or below can only go 13 squares/turn, so even a naive N^2 algorithm shouldn't cost too much time...).

Either it should find another path, or cancel the order so that the player can tell his wayward DN to go attack the puny CA and *then* go through the warp point.

Misc foo --

- AI seems a less clued about mines than in the demo (?). ISTR in the demo that AI minefields at warp points and planets were common, and AIs running repeatedly into minefields wasn't, and I was using the same AI settings then. Unless they don't go mining until war breaks out... (w/ the demo I usually was far more warlike early due to the turn limit).

- Should a surrendered foe hand over its star charts and other intelligence data? Might be a bit much (pins an "Attack me!" sign on the back of Ancient races, for starters...).

- AIs still seem very reluctant to make tech trades or counter-offers. Hrrrrrm.

- AI on defense, w/ both mobile and immobile forces, should be more reluctant to separate the two. That is, with a fleet, stations, WPs and sats defending a planet, the fleet should probably not charge ahead unless the player is actually a threat when out of range of the stations, WPs and sats.


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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

Re: Wanted features:
 

Another thing I'd like to see is the ability to add 1, 5 or 10 componets to ships as well, I mean sometimes you might want a lot of missles http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Or if your tweaking the game like me, adding large amounts of something gets to be a pain http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Wanted features:
 

I would also like to see three additional Facilities Added, which would lead to three additional contruction queues.

A planetary Contractors Facility: this would than add a planetary construction queue. that would allow the sperate construction of all Other Facilies.

A military Industrial complex Facility:
This would Add The querue For building Satellites, Weapons Platforms and fighters

A military base Facility: This would Add a Queue for building Troops.

I would also like it if, MM would Get off this Idea of one Space ship yard per planet.
During the Second world war if the U.S.
Had only one ship yard for constructing ships with, I dare say we would still be fighting A war in the pacific and I doubt the Normany Invasion would have taken place any time soon. One ship yard per planet of 9 Billion people is A bit unreal. and has no real basis in histrocial realitly

For each one of the above mention queues,A button could be created next to the Construction button for that planet. There looks to be enough room for them.

As far as dealing with mulitible Construction queues on A planet. You could just duplicate it The way it is in the Empire construction queues (The wrench on the main menu Planel).

I would Also like to see, going back to ship building as it was in se3. it is far better than what is happening in se4

It would be nice if you put the replace Components buttons back in, too. gets tiring having to remove all the componenets just to place 1 more component further back and than put all the components back on and than go "darn I forgot to add that other component again." and than have to remove all the components again.and than put them all back on again. Heck, I don't know if I was coming or going after awhile.

Finally to agree with what has already Been posted here. please put retreat back into the game. Ships diengage from combat. Thats the way it has been in history, that is what is going to happen in space. Any other Idea about it is strange thinking. When ships of one side of a combat have had enough they diengage from that battle one way or another.




[This message has been edited by Rover (edited 19 November 2000).]

Re: Wanted features:
 

Minister tweaks that would be nice:

- The one that controls population shuttling (Transports?) should not add a population that does NOT breathe a planet's atmosphere if there are already colonists who DO.

It possibly should never mix colonists who don't breathe the same atmosphere regardless.


- Mines/satellites: It would be nice to have a slider to specify requested size of a minefield, or alternately if it tended to be a bit less obsessed about particular warp points when others are perfectly good candidates for mining. I've a game where the AI cheerfully placed ~16% of my mines at one warp point -- over 450 -- which, um, is a bit excessive, considering that an enemy ship tries to pass there only every few turns, and my Kaboom!(R) mines are of the 2x300 variety...

I think I'd be perfectly happy with 100-200 mines per field, for now, which should be enough to destroy even a small group of sweepers. Idle minelayers would then replenish these fields as needed, lay new ones (mostly at border warp points, but also at planets and intraempire warp points), or simply wait for more mines to be produced or the empire to expand.

Actually, a "Place Minefield [button/hotkey] / Which Mine Design [menu]/ How Many [slider]" interface which would grab a sweeper or two and queue up the orders for picking up and dropping mines would be even cooler for the flexibility, but probably much more coding.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night