Demo Bugs / Problems

[Solver]

I strongly recommend you do something to your PC so that the Sims 3 would not run on it

[Nikolai]

I'm not sure I want to hurt my PC, she's my baby.

The dll is present btw. I have both .Net 2.0 and 3.5 or what the last one is called. So I guess it must be the 64-bit that is the problem. Tell me if there's something I could do. Im no wizard, but if there's something I could test, just scream.

[Solver]

Thanks for the info. Nothing you can do now, but when a bugfix update is released, kindly try that. I'll try and persuade it that 64 bits is a good thing

[Solver]

I'm happy to report that progress on a bugfix update is coming along nicely. Several of the reported bugs have been fixed, along with implementing some of the simple suggestions that have been mentioned. Vel's computer crash likely means that the update will be pushed back a few days and won't be released this weekend, but it should be a small delay only.

[El_Cid]

cool news on the update

I got a few more things that came up during play:

1. another slightly misplaced 'ownership' icon(the one the AI uses) on the game map, this time in 'Vestford'(the other one was in 'Brom'). I mean when an AI owns a province they have that coloured 'pin'/circle that helps you know who controls the province, those appear outside the actual territory they are meant to represent in the two above.

2. Upkeep of units - what is it, how is it done? maybe a way to control the excess gold you could look at upkeep costs? Of course the whole excess gold thing currently could be in part because there is not much to spend it on currently - as things get added maybe that gold will dry up quicker? so more a 'as in the demo currently' thing.

And on that theme do you have an 'over view' economic screen planned? a place to see an overview of your provinces and armies and their production, costs etc?

3. The border detecting is strange around Brom and Hlo'Hass - i tried to seige Brom but ended up in Hlo'Hass(which i won after a few turns), but couldn't move into Brom with my second army, no intercession events were shown, just my army wouldn't move into Brom? Infact my two armies once they had taken Hlo'Hass and Brom(yeah one went into it after a turn or two) seemed to have lots of trouble getting out.

I'll attatch my save(FuryTurn214).

hmmm is it maybe due to them being in a mountainous province area?(so kind of working like a -1 move event? as it feels the same, like the controls aren't quite working properly!) If so how about a pop-up when a player tries to move but his unit appears to be stuck, just to remind them why they can't move("Sorry Sire, we can't move this turn/quickly in the mountains" or something?).

[Velociryx]

Taking a brief break from moving before unhooking the computer.

You are right about the relatively special status of Brom. The only way to access that province is thru Hlo'Haas, and I agree with the suggestion that we put some sort of "inaccessible" message if you try to enter from some other direction.

IIRC, there's a similar situation in Elynthia, but those are the only two that come to mind.

Upkeep is 10% of unit cost, deducted at the start of each turn. We can certainly look at bumping the costs higher, but before we do that, let's see what the addition of more buildings and stuff does. If we still need to leech gold out of the system after that, I'm all for it!

-=Vel=-
(back to heavy stuffs)

[Kinjiru]

Bug merging armies past 1000?

Hey Vel,

Been away from polly for a bit, I hate the new forum look.

Did check in though and see that CB has a demo version. Awesome!

After playing for about an hour I hit my first bug. Sorry if this has already been reported...

two saves are attached. The error occurred after I move three armies in a province then attempted to merge then on the following turn. The new combined size would be 1100, so I wonder if the merge past 1000 is too blame?

Anyway, liking what I am seeing so far. Music is great, graphics are great (though I wish the overall size (or at least the army guys) were bigger). Looking forward to playing some more and getting into some of the strategery elements.

Cheers,
Kinjy

[Solver]

A quick note about bugfixes. The current plan is to release an update with bug fixes and small additions tomorrow.

[Velociryx]

Hail, Brother Kinjy and I'm glad you made you way back to our little corner of the 'net universe! Also glad that you're liking the game thus far, and do check out the patch Solver referenced...it'll solve many of the issues you're likely to face.

Happy hunting!

-=Vel=-

[El_Cid]

Playing with new update

1. 'deadzone' around the spell/espionage icons for downward scrolling is great - but on the espionage icon you still scroll to the right! ;-)

2. I have attached a save as i think i hit some kind of bug while doing an 'army combine' action. I've not seen this one reported yet, but after i clicked 'merge' it took me back to the combine army 'window'(but with no troops listed in the box to merge, as it had already done that) instead of the game map as it used to. The bug was that after that I seem to pass 2 years instead of the normal 1 when i hit 'end turn'. And things are a bit more 'sticky' as in menu screens seem to lag a bit from time to time, as if catching up on something?

Other than those it seems good so far(playing as Castilla this time, new game started).

[Velociryx]

Hey El Cid, and sorry for the delay...I thought I had already responded to this...would have sworn to it, actually. Hmmm....ah well.

At any rate, good catch on both the dead zone and the strange shenanigans with the army combine screen. We're lookin' into it.

-=Vel=-

[LDiCesare]

Just downloaded the demo.
The comments will probably sound harsh, but these were written as I discovered the game. As such, they are first reactions to the game and should be taken this way: Some things one can get accustomed to, others will just turn off people. Some get boring as time advances.
I may also have missed out some functionalities, which may or may not be coded.

First comments on the documentation:
Typo on page 3 of the documentation (even instead of event).
The documentation should show probably show an image of the whole map in the "The Map" section. The screenshot we see afterwards shows part of a world, but a holistic view of Candle'Bre before would be nice.
It's a bit surprising to see the % left of the figure when the gold etc. icons are on the right of the figures.
Selecting an item and clicking view sounds complicated. Why not just clicking the item, like an hyperlink? The Clear button isn't explained in the doc but shows on the screenshot.
The Exit button isn't explained either, although it looks obvious. The buttons above Save and Exit are also mysterious.
On Honour pag 17. I suppose it's the province's loyalty aboce 80 or below 30, not province honor?

On the game itself (ran OpenGL rendering -you're using Ogre3D?- windowed mode under Wondows Vista):
The ok button in the select faction screen is not obvious.
Lack of a view of the whole map of Candle'Bre is really annoying.
Scrolling is a bit hard. Definitely too slow with arrows. Neither mouse wheel nor pageup/down allowed for any zooming.
Automatic scrolling when trying to reach the % button is painful. Maybe you should tie scrolling to the borders of the window rather than those of the map.
Arrow scrolling doesn't allow diagonal moves.
There is no indication fo who I am on the main screen. Since I picked a leader at random (note I do so 90% of times in Civ), I don't know who I am.
When clicking info on a province, I get an additional bar in the task bar and one more process. This looks a bit ugly.
The population screen needs some formatting (at least a table layout for the figures)
There is no Nation Overview screen which could provide me with an overview of the current figures in every province (if you know the game Dominions, you should do at least as well).
Science slider: There is no "lock", so no way to effectively control what you're doing. You start with 100% income, but if you touch it, you can't get it back higher than 91%. Unfortunately, there is no Cancel button. When you release the slider, the figures move 1 more %. There is also no way to just type what you want. This is a mostly unusable widget.
It is possible to see icons of factions and armies in the bar on the left of the map. They should not be drawn or be drawn below it. Alternately, the big bar to the left could just disappear since it doesn't seem to serve any purpose.
It would be nice to be able to rename armies.
I don't really know why I can see other armies, even though I have zero info about their contents.
The military screen is hard to read. I don't understand what's supposed to go in the white window. I pressed troops and saw an army with 1 infantry and 600 infantry written in the same window. Is it one or 600? Come to think of it, there are places in the documentation where you speak of 100 infantry (page 15). Is it 100 units (which you'd need 33 turns to train at 3/turn in a province) or something different? Checking more closely, I can read '100 infantry, total 100 men'. But there's one infantry unit. You should never use 1 infantry and 100 infantry in different places to refer to the same thing. Use 1 infantry and 100 infantrymen if you must, but right now this is too confusing.
When moving a unit which can't move, it should revert back where it was. Right now, ir reverts to a place near the province counter/center, which, in the case of Ascaaphol, looks like it's outside the province.
After having an event grant me some influence, the influence tooltip disappears from the icon.
Where on earth can I see my Honour?
The View button doesn't seem to show events from previous turns (I got Favorite of the Clergy + Corruption, then held 2 festivals, and the first two events didn't do anything when I clicked View).
Is the map going all white a symbol for winter or something?
Coming back to the military screen. Merge closes the window. I need an OK buttonto do that in case I wasn't finished.
Province screen: Number of turns left should be shown: It can be hidden in the right by another part of the window. First time I saw it, I thought the number was the fracion (which I don't know the meaniong of) before the Turns left. It would be nice to be able to browse to the next/previous province from this screen, too.
Save button: Maybe it doesn't do anything yet?
Is there any kind of diplomacy in the game? I see Mystics took a province. I would like to talk to them, can I do that? Will I be able to do it?
I don't like the Clear button at all. I'd like to log all events into a history log that doesn't clutter the main screen and go back to it later if needed. Right now, I see many lines and just want to get rid of them, but then I remember something happened and I cleared ot so too bad.
When I press 100 men, the population doesn't diminish!
Is there no way other than spells to remove extortion?
I want to raise troops n Ascaaphol. I'm unable to and the user interface doesn't let me know why. I simply can't click on the arrow button to add anything to the army, but in the neighboring province, I can raise armies. Ascaaphol has higher loyalty. An explanation in the user interface why I can't would be great.
Got an error when trying to build some troops. Log attached at the end (error message partly in French but you have the stack).
Exit didn't exit the program gracefully. It refused to respond so I killed it through task manager.
Looks like save/load work. Asking for a save name would be appreciated.
I got lots of Access violated in the shell window. I wanted to copy/paste it but couldn't. I tried to use Properties to change the settings so I could cut and paste, but the program adamantly refused by crashing.
Reloaded, now using Direct3D.
Got yet another crash, without stack. Quit playing.
Right clicks on a province to give orders and then move on next province to give orders still display previous province popup but new province orders.
It is sometimes hard to select the province instead of the army.
It is sometimes hard to select an army.
I have no idea about the size of armies on the map.

Overall comments:
Game is very unstable.
Interface is almost unusable. Although it's far from the most user friendly user interface, Dominions 3 has a much better UI than CB. I suggest looking at the way other province based games manage their UI to get something usable. At the minimum, you should provide zoom-in, some clear information on the size of enemy armies (even a box which grows with the army size, or a figure, a power circle, whatever). Such zoom in would even allow to put some icons on the map to know which buildings are where, which would be great. Also, right clicks and selection to give orders are hard. Moving armies around is easy, but it doesn't seem to be possibel to attack from two provinces at once because the resolution is instantaneous.
I think the interface issues can be tended one way or another, but if even I think it's difficult to use, it's meaningful. I mean, I think vi is ergonomic!
I had some espionage points so I used them but there was zero fun doing it. I almost fell compelled to do it because I had points, other people were extorting me and I had no way of removing the extortion so I extorted back. What about counter espionage?
The lack of diplomacy at this stage is a pain. It wouldn't be a problem in a 1 vs 1 scenario, but 5 free for all makes it really needed.
I couldn't go far enough to have technology have any effect on the game.
Events are quite cool.
The military system doesn't give me much idea why I should be using archers/skirmishers/cavalry rather than plain infantry. It feels very flavorless.
An indication of time of year would be nice.
Selecting a target province for actions like spying should be done by picking on the map rather than picking from a list.
I realise I didn't comment the art till now. It's beautiful. Mind you, I love roguelikes, so I don't really care about the art in general, but this one is very well done.

Conclusion:
Interface needs lots of work to increase visibility and clarity. I mean, Dominions 3 user interface is more user-friendly! Download the demo if you don't know the game and pick ideas there.
Lack of flavor/gameplay depth at this stage, in particular in the spying department, but I may not have played long enough.


************** Texte de l'exception **************
System.AccessViolationException: Tentative de lecture ou d'écriture de mémoire protégée. Cela indique souvent qu'une autre mémoire est endommagée.
à IrrlichtNETCP.GUIElement.GuiElem_SetText(IntPtr elem, String text)
à IrrlichtNETCP.GUIElement.set_Text(String value)
à CandleBre.GameGUI.UpdateUnitInfoBox(UnitGroup ug)
à CandleBre.GameGUI.UpdateAllInfoBoxes()
à CandleBre.Province.ChangeTraining(UnitQueue uq)
à CandleBre.ProvinceTrainWindowForm.OkButton_Click(O bject sender, EventArgs e)
à System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
à System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
à System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventAr gs mevent)
à System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
à System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
à System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
à System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
à System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.O nMessage(Message& m)
à System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.W ndProc(Message& m)
à System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Assemblys chargés **************
mscorlib
Version de l'assembly*: 2.0.0.0
Version Win32*: 2.0.50727.3074 (QFE.050727-3000)
CodeBase*: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
CandleBre
Version de l'assembly*: 1.0.0.0
Version Win32*: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase*: file:///D:/Jeux/candlebre-release1/CandleBre.exe
----------------------------------------
Irrlicht.NET
Version de l'assembly*: 0.8.3236.30223
Version Win32*: 0.8.3236.30223
CodeBase*: file:///D:/Jeux/candlebre-release1/Irrlicht.NET.DLL
----------------------------------------
System
Version de l'assembly*: 2.0.0.0
Version Win32*: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
CodeBase*: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
Version de l'assembly*: 2.0.0.0
Version Win32*: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
CodeBase*: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
Version de l'assembly*: 2.0.0.0
Version Win32*: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
CodeBase*: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
irrKlang.NET
Version de l'assembly*: 1.1.3.0
Version Win32*: 1, 1, 0, 0
CodeBase*: file:///D:/Jeux/candlebre-release1/irrKlang.NET.DLL
----------------------------------------
System.Xml
Version de l'assembly*: 2.0.0.0
Version Win32*: 2.0.50727.3074 (QFE.050727-3000)
CodeBase*: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll
----------------------------------------
mscorlib.resources
Version de l'assembly*: 2.0.0.0
Version Win32*: 2.0.50727.3074 (QFE.050727-3000)
CodeBase*: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing.resources
Version de l'assembly*: 2.0.0.0
Version Win32*: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
CodeBase*: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing.resources/2.0.0.0_fr_b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.resources.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms.resources
Version de l'assembly*: 2.0.0.0
Version Win32*: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
CodeBase*: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms.resources/2.0.0.0_fr_b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.resources.dll

[Velociryx]

Good comments all around, LDiCesare, and thank you for them!

At this early stage, you're quite right, there are lots of things about the game that are missing or in a state of extreme flux (diplomacy is something that's planned to be introduced in the longer term, but you are quite correct that its conspicuous absence dramatically alters the dynamic of the game)

Overview screens and such are coming, and some are planned for the next release, so we're thinking alike there.

Likewise, we're constantly working to tweak things like the army/province selection and movement to make them operate more smoothly. From your description, it sounds like we're prolly not there yet, and that's okay. That's good! Feedback like this is precisely why we wanted to get a demo out there.

I know that Solver's working on a reply to this too, and his will likely address the more technical issues you referenced, but I'm glad you took the time to try us out, and appreciate the comments, both positive and negative!

We'll work on eliminating the reasons for the negative comments, and I'm glad you found stuff to like about our effort thus far!

Watch the threads if you're interested in following our progress...in coming days I'll be starting up a thread about the next build and what changes you can expect to see in it. I think you will be both pleased and intrigued!

-=Vel=-

[Solver]

Thanks for the comments! While some are harsh, those are definitely fair points you're making. I'd like to go over some details, though.

The documentation should show probably show an image of the whole map in the "The Map" section. The screenshot we see afterwards shows part of a world, but a holistic view of Candle'Bre before would be nice.

It's a good idea, though I'm not sure if the map would like decent at all in the documentation due to its size. But that can be attempted.

Selecting an item and clicking view sounds complicated. Why not just clicking the item, like an hyperlink?

That can be done. I'm not sure what people prefer for the most part.

On the game itself (ran OpenGL rendering -you're using Ogre3D?- windowed mode under Wondows Vista):

No, it's a different engine. I would like to switch over to Ogre eventually, though, but that's not a certain thing.

The ok button in the select faction screen is not obvious.

How would you like to make it more obvious?

Lack of a view of the whole map of Candle'Bre is really annoying.

I'm not sure as to how you'd use that map. It wouldn't fit on your screen obviously, and a decreased size version would be good for what?

Scrolling is a bit hard. Definitely too slow with arrows. Neither mouse wheel nor pageup/down allowed for any zooming.

Perhaps we should add an option to customize scrolling speed? It is indeed constant now, so if you find it too slow there's not much you can do.

Zooming doesn't exist in the game, our art system being what it is. What would you use it for? I suppose I can see uses for zooming out to the point where you see the entire map, to see who controls what, but would you want to zoom in? And what for?

There is no indication fo who I am on the main screen. Since I picked a leader at random (note I do so 90% of times in Civ), I don't know who I am.

The bottom left info panel specifies your faction.

When clicking info on a province, I get an additional bar in the task bar and one more process. This looks a bit ugly.

Numerous windows are handled that way... nothing that can be done about it for now.

There is no Nation Overview screen which could provide me with an overview of the current figures in every province (if you know the game Dominions, you should do at least as well).

That screen is coming in the next version. A very rough version is currently in the game (press F4) but there's a good reason why we don't even mention it.

Science slider: There is no "lock", so no way to effectively control what you're doing. You start with 100% income, but if you touch it, you can't get it back higher than 91%. Unfortunately, there is no Cancel button. When you release the slider, the figures move 1 more %. There is also no way to just type what you want. This is a mostly unusable widget.

Fair point... that widget is in a very immature state. We'll make at least some improvements for the next version.

It is possible to see icons of factions and armies in the bar on the left of the map. They should not be drawn or be drawn below it.

Yes, that's a known issue right now.

It would be nice to be able to rename armies.

Coming in the next version.

I don't really know why I can see other armies, even though I have zero info about their contents.

The idea is that you'd be aware of what other factions do with their armies overall, but not what they are. Currently, you'll only see their contents if they invade an army controlled by you. The next version adds some intelligence-gathering options that would also allow you to see information on an enemy army.

The military screen is hard to read. I don't understand what's supposed to go in the white window. I pressed troops and saw an army with 1 infantry and 600 infantry written in the same window. Is it one or 600? Come to think of it, there are places in the documentation where you speak of 100 infantry (page 15). Is it 100 units (which you'd need 33 turns to train at 3/turn in a province) or something different? Checking more closely, I can read '100 infantry, total 100 men'. But there's one infantry unit. You should never use 1 infantry and 100 infantry in different places to refer to the same thing. Use 1 infantry and 100 infantrymen if you must, but right now this is too confusing.

This is definitely my fault. I keep thinking of units in ones and twos, because I am used to that from Civ and because they're such single entities in the code. In Vel's design, though, that one unit represents 100 men... and I sometimes forget to use that terminology.

Where on earth can I see my Honour?

Bottom-left panel, same where it displays your faction.

The View button doesn't seem to show events from previous turns (I got Favorite of the Clergy + Corruption, then held 2 festivals, and the first two events didn't do anything when I clicked View)

This is something we never even thought about, I believe. Yes, for events the View button will do nothing, although it will react to other stuff, like those festivals.

Is the map going all white a symbol for winter or something?

Winter indeed.

Coming back to the military screen. Merge closes the window. I need an OK buttonto do that in case I wasn't finished.

This is one of those harder situations. Other players might feel annoyed by having to click OK every time after merging. For now though, I don't see why the window shouldn't close, there's nothing else you really can do in it after you've merged. Did you want to do anything specific there?

Province screen: Number of turns left should be shown: It can be hidden in the right by another part of the window. First time I saw it, I thought the number was the fracion (which I don't know the meaniong of) before the Turns left.

Hmmm. The "fraction" shows your progress towards building. Like 180/300 means it costs 300 and you've accumulated 180. I thought it shouldn't create confusion because strategy games generally display it that way.

Is there any kind of diplomacy in the game? I see Mystics took a province. I would like to talk to them, can I do that? Will I be able to do it?

It's currently free-for-all.

I don't like the Clear button at all. I'd like to log all events into a history log that doesn't clutter the main screen and go back to it later if needed. Right now, I see many lines and just want to get rid of them, but then I remember something happened and I cleared ot so too bad.

So you'd like a separate button somewhere that would let you access everything that has happened?

When I press 100 men, the population doesn't diminish!

That's true for pressing and regular troop training indeed. The next version will diminish population as you get troops.

Is there no way other than spells to remove extortion?

Only Purging currently does that.

I want to raise troops n Ascaaphol. I'm unable to and the user interface doesn't let me know why. I simply can't click on the arrow button to add anything to the army, but in the neighboring province, I can raise armies. Ascaaphol has higher loyalty. An explanation in the user interface why I can't would be great.

Good comment. I guess you were already training some troops there and in that case the game doesn't tell you anything.

It is sometimes hard to select the province instead of the army.
It is sometimes hard to select an army.

How's that, at the same time? In my experience, the province always selects fine if you just don't click near the army marker.

I have no idea about the size of armies on the map.

As mentioned, that is by design.

-------------------

Overall note on stability... to be honest, I am not sure as to what's happening exactly. I can tell you that some PCs get a big amount of essentially the same errors, others do not. For example, Vel and I hadn't experienced crashes in a long while... some machines get those crashes where engine code is on top of the stack and, frankly, I have no idea as to what's happening there, at least presently.


On the interface. We sure will try to improve, it's quite amazing how many things we missed that other people immediately noticed. I will readily confess that interface creation is absolutely a weak spot of mine. I'm just unable to design convenient interfaces most of the time. Vel, obviously, is extremely familiar with the game, and that way between the two of us we miss quite a lot of even simple things. I'd be happy with making the game run in ASCII mode, but I don't think many would like that

it doesn't seem to be possibel to attack from two provinces at once because the resolution is instantaneous.

I believe that to be by design.

An indication of time of year would be nice.

Is the map changing not obvious enough? Granted, we can add text indicating the current season somewhere, but is that really needed?

Selecting a target province for actions like spying should be done by picking on the map rather than picking from a list.

There's a shortcut menu, hold down Control and right-click the province. I believe it's mentioned in the documentation, too. The list isn't of course intended to be your primary way of using effects.


Thanks again for writing the comments... you mentioned some things that we hadn't even noticed, this kind of feedback really is important.

[LDiCesare]

It's a good idea, though I'm not sure if the map would like decent at all in the documentation due to its size. But that can be attempted.

Since seeing the whole map is more a question of flavour than anything else, you may use a simplified view - e.g. not all provinces, but show a barren map (no province borders/names) with only the starting province locations highlighted.

How would you like to make it more obvious?

You could either explain it in the documentation or put an ok/close/end turn text on it. Documentation could be enough.

Zooming

Zooming out means you don't need that much scrolling, and can see what's happening far away (if you have intelligence there). It could help selection. It would also provide an overall vie that I feel is missing right now.
Zooming in would make army/province selection easier.

The bottom left info panel specifies your faction.

Noted, but that was not obvious to me. Maybe add an icon/flag/something?

That screen is coming in the next version.

Great.

Bottom-left panel, same where it displays your faction.

Damn panel. It needs more advertising in the documentation!

merged. Did you want to do anything specific there?

I wanted to merge some armies. For instance if I have 6 armies made of 1 unit each and want to merge 3 of them only. I suppose maybe there should be 3 lines? The Merge all can close the window, but Merge I'm not sure if I selected everything or only a part of the army.

The "fraction" shows your progress towards building

Problem would be moot if I had been able to see the whole line, but the end didn't fit the window.

So you'd like a separate button somewhere that would let you access everything that has happened?

Yes, but I'd probably like to filter out Festivals, since I've been holding so many of them, they just clutter the screen.

The next version will diminish population as you get troops.

Great.

How's that, at the same time? In my experience, the province always selects fine if you just don't click near the army marker

Most of the times, I select near an army and get the province instead. For enemy armies if I want to check whose army it is and whether I have any info about it (it's not obvious whose army it is by looking at the main screen), I have some trouble getting it. I think the comment eventually comes down to everything being too small for my taste, which brings back the zoom-in feature.

it's quite amazing how many things we missed that other people immediately noticed.

Hell, no, it's quite natural that you'd miss many things. That's what early releases are for.

attack from two provinces at once (...)

I believe that to be by design.

I thought so, just wanted to be sure.

Is the map changing not obvious enough?

It's obvious, but too brutal. A year is 60 turns if I read the documentation well. Changes should be progressive.I'd suggest looking for screenshots of Birth of America, which did this quite well. You also have a vine up there in the upper left corner standing doing nothing, you could change it to show the season.

There's a shortcut menu, hold down Control and right-click the province. I believe it's mentioned in the documentation, too.

Good, didn't see it.