UI Glitches

Fyron · #1 February 22nd, 2003, 11:02 PM

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In order to get a good game going, you need to select the AI opponents from the TDM, etc that you know will offer the best challenge.

Then go move all of the AI races you do not want to have in games from the Pictures\Races folder (under TDM if using that mod). This will fix that "problem" very nicely.

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I dunno. I'm not so sure I'd want to come back to the planet and find that I'd been wasting the resources building a nonexistent Mineral Miner for the past several turns. (Unless that's a bug they've fixed. It used to be that the game would continue building facilities even after there was no more space available.)

Then you just need to pay attention when using Repeat Build orders. Clearing the Queue should not ever clear Repeat Build, as the 2 have nothing to do with each other.

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Ahhh... the time honored defense of the lazy programmer. It's not a bug. It's a feature!

Of course this is not a bug. Again, the two have 0 correlation, and should not ever be linked up to each other. Clearing one should not affect the other.

Gryphin:

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Re: Getting good random AI for oponents
It must be possible to mod the stock AI. I wonder if anyone has done it.

Folks? have they?

Yes, TDM has modded several of the stock AIs. Check the readme or credits to see which ones.

[ February 22, 2003, 21:03: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Graeme Dice · #2 February 23rd, 2003, 02:19 AM

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Originally posted by raynor:
Ahhh... the time honored defense of the lazy programmer. It's not a bug. It's a feature!

There is no inherent reason to restrict spaceports to one per planet, and to do so would cause vast problems for those modders who might want to create a facility that has multiple abilities including spaceports. You left the queue on repeat build, and it functioned exactly as it was supposed to. It built another of the top items.

raynor · #3 February 23rd, 2003, 02:41 AM

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Originally posted by capnq:

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the time honored defense of the lazy programmer. It's not a bug. It's a feature!

The time-honored defense of the careless user. "Why can't the program read my mind and do what I want, rather than what I tell it to?"

It is possible to create, for example, a word processing program that doesn't prompt you to save when you exit the program. Then, when a person loses a ten page document, you can easily say that they were careless not to save their document before exiting.

But... if that is a fair comparision, then I place the burder of proof on you to point out just one word processing program that wouldn't prompt you to save your document before exiting.

If you can name just one, then you were right, "careless user" is appropriate. If not, then "careless programmer" is appropriate.

Fyron · #4 February 23rd, 2003, 02:52 AM

That is an extremely flawed analogy Raynor. There is absolutely no basis of comparison between saving upon exiting from a word processor and clearing the repeat build orders from the build queue when hitting "Clear Queue". For an analogy to work, there has to be some basis of comparison. In this case, there is none.

The Clear Queue and Repeat Build system is not flawed in any way. Your analogy does not show it to be flawed.

Suicide Junkie · #5 February 23rd, 2003, 02:52 AM

That is a laughable comparison!

Se4 does ask to be sure if you want to exit when you go to the trouble of opening the menu and clicking close.

This situation is much more like that same word processing program popping up a message box asking if you really wanted to repeat the same letter twice in a row.

raynor · #6 February 23rd, 2003, 02:53 AM

Let me give you a better example of a UI problem: Ship Design.

An escort size vessel can only have one bridge.

IMHO, a well thought-out UI would either remove or gray out the bridge component after you have added one to the ship. SEIV does neither of these. Instead, it tells you that you have too many.

You might call that a UI choice. I would call it a UI bug.

Did someone say that it makes sense for 'Repeat Build' to repeat build the first item--even if the queue contains ten items? IMHO, if the queue contains more than one item, the program should warn you that the second item will never be built. Similarly, if the 'Repeat Build' option is selected, then the program should not allow you to add another item to the build queue.

Let's face it. The game just doesn't have a very polished user interface, and because Malfador is just one programmer, no one cares. They would rather have better support for modding and new features like drones than a good UI.

[ February 23, 2003, 00:54: Message edited by: raynor ]

Fyron · #7 February 23rd, 2003, 02:55 AM

A bug is an unintended feature, or when something functions differently than originally planned. MM fully intended the bridge to not be greyed out when one is added (or it would be greyed out as you suggested). So, it can not possibly be a bug.

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Did someone say that it makes sense for 'Repeat Build' to repeat build the first item--even if the queue contains ten items?

Yes, it does make sense, because that is what the Repeat Build function was designed to do. Repeatedly building a lot of different items in the list would be a function like "Cycle Build Queue", not "Repeat Build". It would be nice if both functions were available, but "Repeat Build" should only repeat the top item.

[ February 23, 2003, 00:58: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]