The Future of Space Empires IV

[Artaud]

Ironmanbc said:
there are quite a few of us the STILL play SE IV (I for one still bug ya all for any update to mods)

Last week I started a new DN4.7 game, and this evening I'm going to begin a new Star Trek Mod game.

I am still trying to decide which version of the STM I want to play.

After playing the demo of SEV I decided to stay with SEIV. For me, SEIV is far from dead.

[Urendi Maleldil]

SE5 has serious usability problems. Not only that, but the eye candy that makes it so hard to use looks circa 1999.

[Fyron]

What eye candy makes SE5 hard to use? SE4 wastes as much screen space in its report screens as SE5 does (due to poor scaling to larger resolutions). Certainly the excessive clicking and poor button panel layouts harm usability, but that's not "eye candy."

[Urendi Maleldil]

I'm referring to both the interface and the 3d hex-based map. Strategy 1st seriously needs to hire a usability expert.

[Azselendor]

Urendi Maleldil said:
I'm referring to both the interface and the 3d hex-based map. Strategy 1st seriously needs to hire a usability expert.

*ducks in case Aaron chucks a coffee cup at Urendi*

[Kana]

Urendi Maleldil said:
I'm referring to both the interface and the 3d hex-based map. Strategy 1st seriously needs to hire a usability expert.

Hexes good. Interface bad. Ship layout bad. Modibility good.

[Black_Knyght]

[quote]
Fyron said:

I guess some Adamant patches don't count. Combat Wombat put out an update for Invasion! a few weeks back. Doom and gloom is much more fun, however.

Apparently not as much fun as sniping at people without fully reading what was said, or trying to actually understanding it.

I didn't criticize anyone's efforts, nor did I imply they weren't valued. What I said was "No one else seems to be seriously adding to or developing anything else for it.", indicating that not much else NEW is being done, beyond occasionally updating existing Mods.

Both AT and Urendi Maleldil are, and seemingly have been solely, developing NEW mods for SE4, not updates.

While updates are terrific and always welcome, they do only improve on what's already has been done, and don't actually break any new ground.

[Fyron]

Urendi Maleldil said:
I'm referring to both the interface and the 3d hex-based map. Strategy 1st seriously needs to hire a usability expert.

What is wrong with the hex map? It provides much better geometry than a square grid, eliminating the issues with diagonal movements covering greater distances than horizontal and vertical ones.

[capnq]

Fyron said:

What is wrong with the hex map? It provides much better geometry than a square grid, eliminating the issues with diagonal movements covering greater distances than horizontal and vertical ones.

The hexes aren't the problem, the 3D implementation is the problem. You constantly have to rotate the map to either find the selected object or figure out which hex you need to click to select it. Trying to get around this by switching to the 2D overhead map doesn't help, because the scale and orientation changes between views, so you've got to scroll around and search for the object again every time you switch between the two. The flags and status icons are sized such that you can either set them to be readable, or to not block other labels, but not both.

[BlueTemplar]

Exactly.

Also there is a workaround for the square grid : diagonal movement should cost you not 1 point but 1.5 points (which is pretty close to sqrt(2)=1.44...). I wonder why Aaron never thought of it...

Hexes are still better though.