Interface improvement suggestions for patch

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

I'm pretty new at this game,so there might be a way to do some of these already that is not in the manual,but I'd like to see the following:
1.Unless I'm upgrading designs don't show ship names already in use so I don't get a you can't use this name message.
2.Allow retrofits from the Ships/Fleets screen.
3.Show some type of indication what the other empires might like to trade for or what they have that I need.

These are more setup than interface-

4.Allow a random 2000/3000/5000 empire to be given to me as it already does for the computer.
5.Allow me to save a favorite type of game setup.
6.After I choose my empire and game setup and begin the game, allow a reroll of the map only, without making me start a whole new game if my starting position is horrid

[Atrocities]

I agree, these are great suggestions.

[God Emperor]

Barnacle Bill - I too agree with your suggestions (particularly 3 and 4).

Must admit though that I've never had enough ships for pts 1 and 2 to be a major problem (I tend to play in small or medium galaxies).

[Barnacle Bill]

quote:

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Originally posted by God Emperor:
Must admit though that I've never had enough ships for pts 1 and 2 to be a major problem (I tend to play in small or medium galaxies).

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I play in huge galaxies and mothball rather than scrap ships I can’t afford to maintain. I also build lots of space yard bases, usually keeping one on permanent “repeat build” of more of its own type. So I end up with lots of ships, especially at the space yards where all those space yard bases and mothballed ships pile up.

BTW, there is no need to ever stop production of new ships because you are resource strapped. Just keep building and, if everything but your current production class is already mothballed, mothball those brand new ships the turn they are completed. If they stay mothballed for just a few turns, the cost to de-mothball is less than what the maintenance would have been during those turns, and they can be de-mothballed much faster & cheaper than building new ships (instantly, if you have the resources). So, you have a 0 maintenance reserve that can rapidly be brought up to replace battle casualties or (at the expense of construction because of the increased maintenance) expand the fleet temporarily for a war.

As to the ones that get obsolete while in mothballs, you can scrap mothballed ships without de-mothballing, so they are a form of resource storage. Remember, if your storage facilities are full any unused resources go to waste. So, keep building at all your shipyards all the time if you can afford it & mothball what you can’t afford to maintain. BTW, the same strategy works for satellites but they have to be in space at a planet with a shipyard to scrap them. This will let the non-shipyard planets get in the resource storage act, but you’ll need to send transports around to collect them. You can then scrap all those obsolete satellites & mothballed ships at need to get resources for de-mothballing your modern ships in a crisis.

[henk brouwer]

There should be some kind of drawback to mothballing, it's to easy to mass huge backup fleets now.

Ships that are mothballed for too long should receive some random damage, (no maintenance so it actually makes sense) or at least should need a short repair time before they can be used in action after being unmothballed ( maybe no actual "repair" but it should take a turn or two before the ships can be used again).

[raynor]

quote:

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Originally posted by Lloyd Heilbrunn:
3.Show some type of indication what the other empires might like to trade for or what they have that I need.

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This is a good suggestion. But only if the empires have a trade alliance already, right?

It would be very helpful to know that a hostile empire is running low on a particular resource.

[WhiteHojo]

I second Raynor's idea, again (brought this up in another thread somewhere)...

Also, THUMBWHEEL capabilities... I've b/c so used to using that little device on my mouse that being w/o it's abilities drives me crazy.

more suggestions:

1) Sort ability in production screen by what's bein built like in MOO2

2) Ability to limit the systems that will show colonizable/special planets in the planet screen to a limited selection. If you want a mind numbing experience, set a trait advantage of Ancient and then try to find the best planets to colonize using the planet screen. YOU CAN'T!! It literally shows every stinkin planet in the game that you can colonize.

3) in the game setup, when you select an existing empire to add, the default setting is Human control. Some way to toggle that to be default of Computer would be better. I tend to add any AI races that I want to be in the game via the add existing race option instead of letting the computer set them randomly and having to edit each race to be under AI control after I add them is a tedious process.

4) maybe some way to sort ship lists by ship status would be nice - one list shows all mothballed ships, one shows all ships under some standby order (maybe the sentry order), one shows only ships assigned to a fleet, etc

I tend to have lot's of ideas while playin but forget to write em down - guess I need to start doin that

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