This is an email I sent to MM yesterday. Not all of it is interface but most of it is.
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First the bugs:
I did some testing of Culture modifiers today and discovered that the
Production and Space Combat modifiers doesn't work. Easily reproduceable
by making a culture with a high bonus in those areas and check the
results compared to the neutral culture. (That's what I did, 50%)
In simultaneous move games self destructing of mines and satellites
doesn't work. Scrapping satellites doesn't work either but scrapping
fighters work. Please fix it so scrapping satellites work too. And if
possible scrap of units in cargo so weapon platforms and troops can be
scrapped.
And now the ideas:
Put Enveloping Acid Globules in the same weapons family as Acid Globules
and Hyper Plasma Bolts in the same weapon family as Plasma Charges so
they upgrade properly.
It's a pain to launch units in simultaneous move games since it can only
be done with the remote launch orders. Please make the launch/recover
button available so units and cargo is handled the same way.
It's kind of annoying having to restart the game all the time after
ending a turn in a sim move game or canceling a load game from the main
menu. Please make it exit to the main menu and only quite the game at
quit game command.
When playing simultaneous move games over pbem it's very annoying that
it's not possible to save the game during the turn or opening up the
turn again to give new orders. Which can sometimes be necessary after
some diplomacy discussion over email. Please make the game read the .plr
file if available when loading a turn.
In the Scrap/Analyze/Mothball window please add a button to filter out
anything that's in a fleet and another to filter out anything that
already has orders.
In the main window ship list it would be very good if ships with orders
had that little eye symbol beside them out to the right so you can see
at a glance if a ship has orders or not when selecting a sector. The way
ship on sentry has that shield beside them, let other orders get their
symbol there as well. Or at least the eye.
In the construction queue window there are filters for ships, planets,
ship SY and planet SY but the ship filter doesn't seem to do anything. I
think it would be better if space yard ships where filtered under ships
instead of under ship sy so base space yards and ship space yards are in
different places. It would make queue handling easier.
In the Planets window it would be nice to have a toggle like the No Sys
To Avoid but for Only Claimed Systems instead. That way all the planets
in the galaxy won't be clogging up the window when sending out colony
ships. Only the ones in the systems claimed.
I and many others find it very annoying that all information of a system
is lost once you leave it. It is very tedious having to write down
information about other players colonies, bases, satellites and other
stationary objects just because the game doesn't remember what was there
once you leave. It would be very helpful if the game could remember the
location of everything that can't move (and you can see) on it's own. If
you have presence in a system that could be indicated next to the system
name with green text saying "Current" and if not "Information is x.x
years old" in red. Please?
When selecting another players ship it would be good if there was a
little text on the detail tab that say if it's an unknown design, known
design but not in scanner range (but you can view the design of the ship
right there and then without going to Designs but you can't see any
damage or cargo), known design in scanner range, known/unknown design
but scanner blocked. Not all that important but would save players alot
of clicking getting in and out of the Designs window. Also, when seeing
an enemy's ship with a scanner, please put the little wrench that
indicates damage next to damaged ships. It's such a paing going through
70+ ships to see which ones are damaged.
Oh, and about enemy designs, it would be very nice to know the date the
design was discovered when viewing the design.
And finally an idea to make it easier for AI modders to control what the
AI builds:
The top of AI_DesignCreation.txt:
Name := Attack Ship
Design Type := Attack Ship
Vehicle Type := Ship
An entry from AI_Construction_Vehicles.txt:
Entry 2 Type := Attack Ship
Entry 2 Planet Per Item := 100
Entry 2 Must Have At Least := 1
What about adding a line to Entries in AI_Construction_Vehicles.txt for
Name? Then modders could do this:
Name := Missile Boat
Design Type := Attack Ship
Vehicle Type := Ship
Entry 2 Name := Missile Boat
Entry 2 Type := Attack Ship
Entry 2 Planet Per Item := 100
Entry 2 Must Have At Least := 1
With that change it would be possible to tell the AI exactly what design
to build and how many of that design.
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Sorry about the no interface things but I'm too lazy to edit them out.
19 User Interface Problems
Linear Mode
