PLAYER INTERFACE (ver 2.0) Hosted by Frank Moore

[mindlace]

If you look at the city report screen in SMAC (F4, i think) all your cities with 'we love the leader' (popboom) have a (!) next to them.

[Theben]

Check out my June 30th suggestion. This would allow players to see the city's condition from the main map.

[meriadoc]

With the exception of the City Window missing from Civ CTP, I have very little interface complaints. Here are two very useful ideas for making micromanagement easier, especially for people with short memories.

Bookmark:
A useful tool for those with short memories (me). You place bookmarks on the map in places you want to go back to later, even labelling the bookmark if you want. These bookmarks then can be controlled from both a "next bookmark" button or a window displaying a list of all of the bookmarks and their map locations (i.e. section A-7). The window would also display a small world map, divided into sections, with dots for each bookmark.

Notepad:
Just a simple text editor like the Windows notepad allowing you to electronically scribble a quick note such as "bomb England" that you want to remember but know you won't.

[Lord Maxwell]

Ok, this has been a major issue with me for a while.

Please stop separating the build que from the current object built. Having to set first the current object, then click ok, and then set the que and then click another ok is a bugger. It's just as simple and for more elegant and easy to use a straight que all the way. (I have up to 100 cities in the end game in smac, hurts fiddling with all those ques.

The ctp idea of being able to save a que is great.

also add terraform ques for builders. You could say "irrigate this square, then that square, then build these roads" and the comp should NOT assign multiple units to the same task. (Automated fungus removal in smac is an example of how NOT to do it. Seeing 6 formers doing the same square is just plain silly.)

[The Joker]

I really agree with that last comment. I have never realized why such brilliant people as the Firaxians could have made such a flaw. It isn't a big thing, just another little annoying feature. Generally I think CTP's queue had some advantages, like the Save queue option. But this should be done from the city window, not from that odd city list I don't think anybody ever used for much.

I also think that for the Unit Workshop either copy that of the game "Warzone 2100" or have none. SMAC's was just an annoying waste of time.

[Rahvin]

I think the city-view should be given more detail, and the finished buildings could be shown during hop to city. this option could be set on disable for players with lots of cities, but it would give the game back some of its beauty.

Another thing i think is important is the ability to customize the interface and autmation level.
this includes build and infrastructure queues.
the autosettler behaviour should be costimizable, like:
road first, than if low food irrigation or if not railroad.
especially railroad construction in between of cities should be automized, because all of a sudden you send half your turn connecting your cities with railroad tracks...

[SlowThinker]

Number of turns needed to finish irrigation (mining, fortress...) should be shown (regardless irrigation started or didn't start yet).
<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>[This message has been edited by SlowThinker (edited January 01, 2001).]</font>

[SlowThinker]

<center><table width=80%><tr><td><font color=000080 face="Verdana" size=2><font size="1">quote:
<img src="/images/blue1.gif" width=100% height=1>
</font><font size=1>Originally posted by Ecce Homo on 07-18-1999 09:22 AM</font>
Civ 3 should have the fog of war from CtP. Before you have Map Making, everything you cannot see should be dark.
<img src="/images/blue1.gif" width=100% height=1></font></td></tr></table></center>Civ2 has fog of war yet! Squares aren't greyed, but you don't know any changes until you move a unit near to square you are interested on.


<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>[This message has been edited by SlowThinker (edited January 01, 2001).]</font>

[SlowThinker]

this is related to "item 2" and "item 3"
<center><table width=80%><tr><td><font color=000080 face="Verdana" size=2><font size="1">quote:
<img src="/images/blue1.gif" width=100% height=1>
</font>Each city should have a notepad, certain occurences should be automatically recorded (e.g. when improvements are built, civil disorder, etc.) and the player would also be able to add his/her notes to the notepad.
<img src="/images/blue1.gif" width=100% height=1></font></td></tr></table></center>In this post, my intention is to manage my future plans when playing Civilization only. I don't suppose automated records of the past.
<hr>
Motives for my suggestions:
<table COLS=1 WIDTH="100%" ><tr><td ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH="5%"></td><td><FONT SIZE="2" FACE="Verdana">I decided to build a settler at Lyon: I plan that he will go to Paris when built, Paris will be set as his supporting city, then he will move to hill near Paris to mine it, then he will buid a city at specifyied square. Later in the game, I want to be allowed to get a view with all settler, city, hill and a square for new city highlighted and I want to be reminded to my plan.
I plan to lower food production when Delhi reaches size 5.
I plan to interrupt irrigating 900BC since I want to use accumulated work of a settler for quick erection of a fortress.
I plan to swith to explorer production in Berlin when seafaring will be discovered.
I want to be able to inspect all my settlers (diplomats...) together (those in production included ). </td></tr></table>AND: I want to be alerted when theses events occur.
<hr>
This is my conception:
1. Bookmark and notepad (memo field) are combined into one thing: Every bookmark has his own notepad (memo). Any item (there are 4 types of items: unit, city, square, all civilization) has one bookmark/memo (it may be empty). Memo collects my future aims (plans) related to the item.
2. The aim is a combination of an event (year 900BC occured; seafaring was discovered; city reached size 5 (size 5 will be reached in n turns respectively); production finished (will be finished in n turns); irrigation finished(will be finished ...)) and action (set tax rate; irrigate square, set home city; lower production, go to...).
3. Every bookmark can be in one of following status of view: hidden, shown, shown and flashing, shown with a memo opened.
4. Moving items (units) represent a little bit of complication: Aims recorded in their memos must be copied into memos of related squares and cities. There must be available a special view where all bookmarks in the relation (bookmark of the unit and bookmarks of related squares/cities) are activated together.
5. Two kinds of implementation are possible. For simple implementation, all aims are inserted manually. For extended implementation, the system must be able to classify all aims and to monitor them. Extended implementation has two advantages:
a) Point 4 may be solved automatically
b) System knows that event occured (for simple implementation, system can monitor game years only)
5. There may be two kind of answer of a system to an event: Warning (bookmark flashing...), or automated action or both (warning with an offer of automated answer).
6. There are filters of view implemented. It is possible to turn on/off all units or all settlers (all catapults, all attack units, all sea units). It is possible to turn on just production (shields needed to finish production, food production...) in cities (I mean the production status is shown at the square of the city. It is better than F1-key: F1 doesn't give you placement of the production directly, it is harder for your brain). It is possible to choose the kind of view (look point 2 supra) of bookmarks of showed units, of bookmarks of showed units + cities, of bookmarks of all squares...
<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>[This message has been edited by SlowThinker (edited January 01, 2001).]</font>

[Aredhran]

BUILD QUEUES

I like the idea of having build queues, which can reduce micromanagement. However, the way they were implemented in SMAC was too limiting, and I ended up (almost) not using them.

What I have in mind (improvements from SMAC's queue model):
- The first item in the Q is the one being produced (to avoid the problem in SMAC where one is often switching back and forth between current production and queued items)
- buttons to move items up/down the Q
- load/save Q templates
- treat all items (buildings, units, wonders) in the same way (ie. when the last one is produced, switch to stockpile energy, also for units)

[Lord Maxwell]

I really, really, really like how you can customise a random world in FreeCiv. You can say that there should be half as many big continents as players total, and that each human should share his continent with 1 and only 1 ai fraction, and that there should be half again as many smaller islands (3-4 cities?) as big continents.

The way I would like this to work:

Deciding how many major landbodies there should be. This could either be a fixed number or a number based on num players. (Both options should exist!)

Deciding on how many civs share each major body, and if there should be empty major bodies to encourage early exploration. Also stating whether or not human controlled civs get to share starting continent.

Decision on the amount of smaller islands, and the size variation of those.

You might want to have two different mp setup pages, one basic and one advanced. The basic can look like SMAC for all I care, as long as there is an advanced one that is atleast as refined as FreeCivs setup. In multiplayer controlling the world parameters is essential to a good and fair game. We often have to restart smac mp games, as 2 players end up landing together on a small continent, when a more warlike player ends up the only human on a big continent with potential slaves all around...