suggestion box - CW edition

[ixnay]

Let's use this thread as a feedback channel for the CW moderators to improve the game experience...

SUGGESTION:

Add more information to the ship/colony selection box. Using just the S/C number means you need to go back and forth to make sure you're dealing with the right one. Display the S/C name, type, location, or whatever else to make it more clear.

[ixnay]

SUGGESTION:

Move "Target S/C" box over next to "Source S/C" box (and move the main order-writing box to the right) to make it follow a clear direction when you need to write complex orders.

[ixnay]

SUGGESTION:

When displaying a colony, show the current requirements for population given current production infrastructure. So if your colony is running 1m factories, 1m mines, and 1m laboratories, show a stat prominently that states "5m professionals and 7m unskilled laborers (or their equivalent in automation) required for full production"

Same with Life Support requirements!

[Pool Boy]

I love all of the above suggestions. I completely agree!

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I want a rulebook and tutorials to download.

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It would be great to issue orders far more simply. Say 'Make 10 scout ships.'. There should be default ship types, open colony types, and orbiting colony types that people can just use - right off the bat. New ones should be automatically available based on your own technology improvements.

I know it is probably hard to code for, and the idea is to have a complex game where you control all of the details, but this can get ugly real fast.

Think of the line of Civilization games for the computer. They have amazing complexity if you want to play them like that, but most of the time, you want far simpler decisions.

[ixnay]

Make it so ship/colony designs don't need to have the structural units on top -- or that the tool automatically puts those lines on top.

[ixnay]

Allow rulers to move food and consumer goods BEFORE the population grabs them for stockpiling. Maybe food/cngd *consumption* can happen when it does, but put *stockpiling* further back in the turn sequence, so rulers will have a chance to work with their supplies first.

[Darth Pedro]

Let's use this thread as a feedback channel for the CW moderators to improve the game experience...

SUGGESTION:

Add more information to the ship/colony selection box. Using just the S/C number means you need to go back and forth to make sure you're dealing with the right one. Display the S/C name, type, location, or whatever else to make it more clear.

Darth:
I will endeavor to add some additional detail regarding the suggestions.

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SUGGESTION:

Move "Target S/C" box over next to "Source S/C" box (and move the main order-writing box to the right) to make it follow a clear direction when you need to write complex orders.

This would be a simple cosmetic change adding some intuitive raltionship to the order writer and I agree.

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SUGGESTION:

When displaying a colony, show the current requirements for population given current production infrastructure. So if your colony is running 1m factories, 1m mines, and 1m laboratories, show a stat prominently that states "5m professionals and 7m unskilled laborers (or their equivalent in automation) required for full production"

Same with Life Support requirements!

This suggestion would require adding extensive automated analysis capability to the Central Command client. A great idea which has been suggested by others to one extreme or the other. It would be nice to have a ship design tool, for example, which mapped directly to the inventory and capacities of the constructing S/C and kept account of consumption from other orders written to that point, etc. VERY complex to program relative to what we now have as a simple data reporting tool with order statement concatenator (my term).

I and others have and are developing tools in MS Excel and/or MS Access to perform some of that functionality BUT it is no small task. I do it for fun when I get the urge and have a set of evolving tools. The current database structure has had some tables split so it is taking some effort to update the old stuff I have just for myself. Some players have murmured complaint that the game is easier to play if you have better computer skills and that is probably true. Some more experienced players don't want to learn those skills and so are stuck with doing it the hard way. Back in the old days I used to get my new turn as a fan-fold green-bar paper report and would spend hours just perusing it and using several colored highlighters to simplify the simple task of locating relevant information. Paper, pencil and a six-digit LED display calculator was the best we had, unless you worked in a university or laboratory with spare computer time and the knowledge to program it. Order writing was done by hand or typewriter and then mailed hard copy which SOMEONE then had to type back into the computer input file for processing. It really has come a long way and Empyrean Challenge really was the first 4X game and the most complex game in existence. Maybe it still is the most complex?

[ixnay]

EC is right up there, in terms of complexity. What's remarkable is that this complexity emerges from relatively simple mechanics. Mine raw materials, grow food, run factories, build ships from a small array of stock components -- it's all pretty straightforward, and random luck plays a minimal role in the game.

As for updating the user-interface, I suggest that you and Vern consider opening up at least part of the platform for open source development. For instance, if I had an unlocked copy of the database, I could build some new reporting screens. These would have no impact on the core functionality -- they'd just display data in different ways. This would not only free Vern up to focus on the core code, it would lead to surprising innovations from players and probably accelerate game development.

Any thoughts?

[Darth Pedro]

EC is right up there, in terms of complexity. What's remarkable is that this complexity emerges from relatively simple mechanics. Mine raw materials, grow food, run factories, build ships from a small array of stock components -- it's all pretty straightforward, and random luck plays a minimal role in the game.

As for updating the user-interface, I suggest that you and Vern consider opening up at least part of the platform for open source development. For instance, if I had an unlocked copy of the database, I could build some new reporting screens. These would have no impact on the core functionality -- they'd just display data in different ways. This would not only free Vern up to focus on the core code, it would lead to surprising innovations from players and probably accelerate game development.

Any thoughts?

I actually have several tools including an MS Access application which is linked to every table in the game database. The MDB file is NOT locked but you can screw it up. Make a copy of it somewhere else and try linking to it with MS Access or ODBC to whatever development tool you are using. I would share some of what I have been doing in the last few days but it would not be wise to disclose my details to other players.

For example, I have a simple "Inventory" report I can run which can be filtered to identify where anything can be found and their quantities. Another report just for habitability and another for just unlimited mining deposits surveyed. Such relatively brief reports are very useful for maintaining focus on objectives. There are several other reports which I have been refining too.

The suggestion to add more information to the Actor and Target selection boxes is something I had suggested too. It would basically turn the list boxes into more complex sub-reports that are selectable.

Once I get a little further along in updating my reporting tool I will apply it to the database for a sandbox game that Vern and I played over a year ago. Then I'll publish some PDF's of those reports for feedback, etc.

[ixnay]

I will see if I can get a copy of MS Access on my home computer. (Don't want to use my work computer for this.) If I manage that, then I'll try to pry open the CW files and see if I can build some alternative reports.