4 Things That Really Bug Me

[ReallyClang]

1) The AI always knows how much I'm making per turn but I can't see their income.

2) The AI always knows what I am researching and how many turns I have left until I complete that research. I don't have that information about them.

3) I have to contact each Civ individually to see the trades I currently have active and how many turns until they expire. Way too tedious.

4) If I lose a game, the program tells me "You have suffered a humiliating defeat" but it doesn't say how I lost (space race, UN vote, domination?). There doesn't seem to be any way to determine unless my score happens to be high enough to make the HOF.

I wonder if these things will be improved for PTW.

[Jaybe]

Well Stated!
... other than #2. How did you deduce that?

From what I have read, it is implied that #3 will be much improved and streamlined.

[Cyclotron]

Re: 4 Things That Really Bug Me

Originally posted by ReallyClang
1) The AI always knows how much I'm making per turn but I can't see their income.

Try talking to them in diplomacy and see how much they have, then check back next turn. Assuming they don't give or recieve money from another civ or hut that turn, it's easy to find out.

2) The AI always knows what I am researching and how many turns I have left until I complete that research. I don't have that information about them.

How do you know this?

3) I have to contact each Civ individually to see the trades I currently have active and how many turns until they expire. Way too tedious.

Perhaps... but that doesn't seem major. It's not too hard to bring up diplomacy, especially since you can do it through the info box and not the foreign advisor.

4) If I lose a game, the program tells me "You have suffered a humiliating defeat" but it doesn't say how I lost (space race, UN vote, domination?). There doesn't seem to be any way to determine unless my score happens to be high enough to make the HOF.

Good idea. I would like to know how I was defeated.

[Capt Dizle]

#2 Well, Soren said that the cost of buying tech is based in part on how many turns you have left to get it. If you are close to researching Flight for example, you will get it cheaper than if you are just starting or not researching it at all.

Conversely, this affects what the AI is willing to pay.

This may have been changed for v1.21.

[ReallyClang]

Originally posted by Jaybe
Well Stated!
... other than #2. How did you deduce that?

From what I have read, it is implied that #3 will be much improved and streamlined.

When you are behind in research and try to trade for it, the AI always offers a better deal for whatever you are researching and the deal improves more the closer you get to completing it.

[ReallyClang]

Re: Re: 4 Things That Really Bug Me

Originally posted by cyclotron7


Try talking to them in diplomacy and see how much they have, then check back next turn. Assuming they don't give or recieve money from another civ or hut that turn, it's easy to find out.




It's not too hard to bring up diplomacy, especially since you can do it through the info box and not the foreign advisor.

Having to bring up diplomacy for 7 different civs is a major pain as far as I'm concerned. And to try to figure out what each is making per turn is unreliable since they can change the rates from turn to turn. The interface should show the same info the AI has in my opinion. What they are researching and how many turns until complete, how much money they make per turn in addition to the amount of gold they have and also a summary of all open deals and how many turns remain for all civs would sure be helpful.

[Capt Dizle]

Yeah, try playing a 16 civ game and keep track of who is at war and peace, who has MPPs and ROPs and stuff like that.

Can anyone say user interface impaired?

Still, I can see the rationale for not showing some of the info that RC wants, but spying it should be available somehow.

[Ben Williams]

All these things are part of what I call a sloppy interface. I find myself looking for capitals to do spy missions, or as you say, going through a million civs to get simple trade info. One other thing that bugs me is inbetween turns when it goes over your cities to tell you what's happened it skips around, rather than just tell you what happened in one area and then moving on. Actually, what I would like to see is a turn summery rather than having to go everywhere to see what's going on. I'm a bit off topic here, sorry.

[Cyclotron]

jt, I understand that the foreign advisor screen can be complicated, but that is a function of the amount of civs more than an "impaired interface." I can't think of a better way to implement the FA screen... diplomacy is complicated, and the screen already simplifies well by allowing you to add/remove lines, etc.

Originally posted by Ben Williams
All these things are part of what I call a sloppy interface. I find myself looking for capitals to do spy missions,

Use the espionage button.

[YuMMz]

Well I definitely agree with some sort of trade window showing you your active trades. I typically get 2-3 luxuries and 600-900 gold per turn total from numerous civs. The problem with this is it is very hard to keep track of who is giving me how much money and when I can expect it to end. Also sometimes I pull up the active trade window and instead of it say "(13)130 gold per turn" it will just say "130 gold per turn". Now originally I assumed this meant that I was on the last turn of getting 130 gold from this civ. BUT the next turn it still had that trade there and it was still there 5 turns later. It did go away but I stopped checking so I am not sure exactly when. Please put in some kind of Active trade summary window!

[Cyclotron]

Originally posted by YuMMz
Also sometimes I pull up the active trade window and instead of it say "(13)130 gold per turn" it will just say "130 gold per turn". Now originally I assumed this meant that I was on the last turn of getting 130 gold from this civ. BUT the next turn it still had that trade there and it was still there 5 turns later. It did go away but I stopped checking so I am not sure exactly when. Please put in some kind of Active trade summary window!

When there is no number by a trade or treaty, it means the 20 turns has passed but the treaty is still active. Either person may cancel it with no penalty because the 20 turns has passed, but until it is cancelled it remains active.

[YuMMz]

If this is true how is it that I offered a tech for 130 gold per turn. Then when 20 turns passed the computer did not cancel this trade? That makes no sense, obviously since they already have recieved their tech they would cancel this tech ASAP and stop paying me money yet it went on for 5+ more turns?

[Theseus]

#2

The cost of researching a tech is driven by its diffusion. This is true for the AI civs as well as the player.

There is a misperception, I think, that the AI civs will sell techs to you for less when you have almost completed the research. I think it's just that the tech is widely known, and thus progressively less expensive.

[zulu9812]

Re: Re: 4 Things That Really Bug Me

Originally posted by cyclotron7
Try talking to them in diplomacy and see how much they have, then check back next turn. Assuming they don't give or recieve money from another civ or hut that turn, it's easy to find out.

Thing is, if you frequently contact the AI without actually trading with them, they get annoyed with you.

[alva]

Re: Re: Re: 4 Things That Really Bug Me

Originally posted by zulu9812


Thing is, if you frequently contact the AI without actually trading with them, they get annoyed with you.

i've noticed this too.

does anyone know for sure if this is true or not?