Stupid interface

[Just_Matt]

Tutorial??!?!

[Dis]

yes, civ4 has a tutorial done by Sid Meier himself. Or it's his voice I believe.

[Brizey]

I just click on the end turn button.

So, you guys are saying it is ok to issue 1000 worker orders, move troops 1500 times, select 250 buildings to build, pick 100 techs and go through 30 negotiation screens but you can't press the enter key a few times?

Trust me, you'll get used to it.

I am finding that I never take my hand off the mouse with this game. I zoom out with the wheel click and zoom in to move fast or hit the mini-map. I also have been right click moving since the new display is so much better. Plus when zoomed in it is hard to get the wrong square.

In fact, the only key I use is the escape key occasionally.

My new computer is fairly decent, though (Asus A8N-SLI, AMD 3700+ overclocked to 2.4 GHz, 1 gig RAM, eVGA 6800 video card), so I see no slowdown anywhere, anytime with all the zooming.

[Caligula 37 AD]

Originally posted by Brizey
I am finding that I never take my hand off the mouse with this game.

You don't shift-click, alt-click or crtl-click to queue production?
Or shift-click, alt-click or crtl-click to group/ungroup units?

Is there a way to do this with the mouse? (assuming standard two-button mouse with scroll-wheel).
It'd be nice if there is.

[Blake]

I definitely always use manual end of turn.

I've ranted on the topic of "stealth invasions" before. IMO enemy troops should be surrounded with a nasty obnoxious glowing red circle (or halo or something), because they are you know... doing nasty and obnoxious things.

[Spaced Cowboy]

I've got the option turned off, tires of hitting enter in the early game, but I ususally have at least one active unit, so not a problem.

What does bug me however, is the keep switching back to that active unit even though I want to reactivate units in the area of the invasion.

[Caligula 37 AD]

Originally posted by Blake
I've ranted on the topic of "stealth invasions" before. IMO enemy troops should be surrounded with a nasty obnoxious glowing red circle (or halo or something), because they are you know... doing nasty and obnoxious things.

Especially if you are invaded by German choppers. Those buggers are damned right impossible to spot. And Germanys grey colour blend to well with most terrain, so the flag is invisible too.

Tip: At the end of each turn I zoom out and turn on the "military-something-button", and scroll every inch of the surroundings. Then they can run but they can't hide.

Originally posted by Spaced Cowboy
What does bug me however, is the keep switching back to that active unit even though I want to reactivate units in the area of the invasion.

Nasty feature, this is. If you don't want to command your "trigger unit" to anything that turn, but still want him to be the last one you put to sleep before the next turn. Command "wait" will hold it for a while, but not till the end.
-But, sir. If you keep scrolling from that unit to the front, several times each turn, wouldn't it be easier to set the game to "manually end turn" while at war?

The end turn routine for me is a complicated affair.
When all active units are commanded I:
1. Save game
2. Scroll all cities to MM/rush buy (not always, but often)
3. Check for foreign presence (at least when I'm at war)
4. Adjust units (airlift is great to newly conquered cities)
5. Check stats and victory conditions
6. Check foreign cities that hold my spies
7. Save game again (paranoid...)
8. Go get another cup of coffee (or beer if it is weekend)
9. Press enter
(Man..! no wonder why my games take forever... )

- Cal

[Brizey]

Originally posted by Caligula 37 AD

You don't shift-click, alt-click or crtl-click to queue production?
Or shift-click, alt-click or crtl-click to group/ungroup units?

Is there a way to do this with the mouse? (assuming standard two-button mouse with scroll-wheel).
It'd be nice if there is.

I never queue production. I like to re-evaluate what I am doing after everything is produced.

You can doubleclick to select all units on a non city square. One can also doubleclick on the icons at the bottom to select all of a particular type of unit.

Every once an a while I shift click to divide up an army when facing catapults.

[Martin the Dane]

This wonderfull 3D interface is probably the worst I have seen so far, all eye-candy and no real benefits. When I switched from Civ2 to ToT I was frustrated to learn that the main "improvement" was to make the interface harder to read. And since then all firaxis has done in that respect is to make the interface even harder to read. When I play strategy games I want to have instant overview, and accessability. I defenetely do NOT want to spend my time looking for units, resources, etc.

[Brizey]

You got to admit the new F1 screen rocks (oops, that's another key press I make a lot!!! ). I love being able to instantly sort my cities and analyze which one needs attention.

[Ari]

As far as the F1 key screen, I'd call it ok at best. I seem to recall Master of Orion 2 having at least as nice a screen, and for that matter, SMAC's overall interface was way easier to use, with most of that info being present on that one city planning screen (AND you could toggle between military units, specialists and happiness), and the rest easily accessable.

As far as other random interface gripes, it took me almost a minute at one point to figure out *how many beakers* my civ was producing. You'd think this would be accessable by hovering over the research bar, or that the TOTALS would be listed at the bottom of the F1 screen. Also, although you can sort cities by beaker production, you can't sort them by (or even see) their $$$ production (the coin symbol refers to commerce, not money). Annoying when trying to find a good place for Wall St. and the "coin" city already has two national wonders.

Not to mention that it kills me that in ANY other screen besides the F1 screen, all of the "buttons" disappear to access the other screens.

Referring back to my original post, I've decided to switch over from promptless turns to prompted end-turns around turn 50 or so, at which point, most turns actually consist of something other than scouts moving around.

On the other hand, yet *again* I've had a war declared on me, and the next turn a stack of units suddenly attacks one of my cities. This lack of feedback is simply evil. The game whispers in the softest of tones, "there's some enemies right next to your city," when if there's one thing that should clear all the "Moses was born in Boston" spam, it should be *that* Grrr.

[Dis]

it is in red after all. I pay attention to red messages.

[Brizey]

It is in red and also has the "circle pionter" pointing at the unit if it happens to be off your screen.