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Please leave your feedback regarding the following user interface improvements here:

 

1. Improved colony management (including Bulk movement of population!)
2. Improved Empire level management (including: rush buy support)
3. Improved overall visual feedback (specially for AI movements)
4. Improved tactical UX (including hold position!)

Bulk movements works, but why do I have to press ctrl? It would be more convenient to just pick up every homogenous (meaning race, moral effect and assimilation) pop right of the cursor as well

 

Empire list was tidied up, good. Production sorting is still wrong. The really interesting thing is the product; remaining production time is just an order criteria among same production.

Look at MoO 2 colony list sorting. There are groups of output already (for the build list), stuff usually interests me in this order:

Either bottom up, ships by class, biggest first, civilian last, then stationary defenses, ...

Or by planet upgrade as in the build list, ships last

Think it  through. When I'm e.g. at war, I want to see my ship queue, what I invest in defenses, ... When I'm expanding I want to see what my colonies are at...

UI improvements huh. Oh dear, where do I start... Let's see...

These suggestions come from a major fan of MOO1 and 2; a fan who has been playing both of them regularly (and heavily) since their release back in the nineties all the way up to this day. I am trying to be as constructive as possible and provide solutions to the issues where I can.

Numbered by order of importance;

 

1. The game needs more zoom levels in galaxy view. Especially irritating is the fact that when you are at the second smallest zoom-out mode, and try to zoom out just that one bit more, the game shows you that level that you want to go to for just a half of a second (kind of "nudges" the camera out a little bit), but then returns to the level you started with, and you're left with a feeling that you just got made fun of by the game (as in, "Ha-ha, I got this zoom level right here, see, but you can't have it!). Proposed solutions to this issue:

 

1b. Check section 2b.

 

2. Zooming in and out works at different speeds, which, accompanied with the issue of too few zoom levels, confuses the player and causes constant accidental zoom-outs and -ins. And sometimes makes him slightly dizzy as well =( Can't even think how epileptics feel... Proposed solutions to this issue:

 

2b. Make zooming work at equal speeds regardless of which direction the player is zooming to and add more zoom levels at equal intervals (obvious, isn't it ).

 

 

3. The game constantly forces the player to go away from his desired zoom level to the closest zoom level there is. Check the next sections for details;

 

3a. When the minimum (furthest away) zoom level is in use, clicking on a planet in order to view details about it the game automagically decides to zoom in to the maximum zoomed in view level. It should be possible to get the same detail window about planets no matter what zoom level you are at (just like you get with fleets at the moment).

 

3b. Fleets can not be told to move when the minimum (furthest away) zoom level is in use - even though clicking on their icons shows details about them.

 

3c. Turn messages regarding colonies: After processing a turn, if an event notification (in the right side of the screen) concerns a colony that - for example - finished production, the player can click on the notification to have the game open the colony details screen of the colony in question. But before that - Yet again! - the game forces the player's view to the maximum zoomed in level and leaves it there even after the player closes the colony details screen. Why? A better solution for this would be to leave the current zoom level alone (whatever the player has chosen to use) and only center the view on the colony in question and have some kind of an indicator highlight it for him (a reticle, square, triangle or something surround it or perhaps an arrow that points to it).

 

3d. Turn messages regarding other things: After processing a turn, if an event notification (in the right side of the screen) concerns for example a fleet that needs orders or a new discovery in space, the player can click on the notification to have the game take him to the item in question. But it also - Yet again! - forces his view to the furthest zoomed in level. Why? A better solution for this would be to leave the current zoom level alone (whatever the player has chosen to use) and only center the view on the item in question and have some kind of an indicator highlight it for him (a reticle, square, triangle or something surround it or perhaps an arrow that points to it).

 

 

4. Everything that is possible to do in the colony screen should be possible to do in the Empire screen. With large empires managing colonies becomes a major annoyance due to this, accompanied with the UI animation issues mentioned in section 5. Proposed solutions to this issue:

 

4a. Make the Empire screen work like the Colonies screen in Master of Orion 2. You shouldn't be trying to reinvent the wheel here, everything needed for this has already been done in MOO2.

 

5. There are too many animations in the UI that slow the game down. They make you wait before you can continue playing. User interface animations are fine only when they are in the background and do not interfere with its use or gameplay smoothness. For example; in the science screen you have the animation of a scientist of your race, but it doesn't affect how long it takes for the screen to open or any other usage of the screen, it's just there for the sake of immersion and the player can either choose to look at it in awe and wonder - or not at all.

When the game has progressed to the stage where you have a big empire that needs lots of managing, a single animation on every opening of - for example - a colony screen, battle screen or build queue screen really stacks up and gets on the player's nerves. Proposed solutions to this issue (from best to worst):

 

5a. Have a global option for disabling all animations.

 

5b. Have a global option for disabling all UI animations (almost as good).

 

5c. Have a completely separate "hardcore" mode where all animations and advisors are disabled, and some other options are set, like having all "advanced" options automatically on (eg. always show build queue without having to tick the option for it).

 

5d. Have at least the possibility to skip the animation that is currently playing by pressing a mouse button (absolutely the worst option but better than nothing).

 

6. In-game windows are too transparent and therefore hard to read and make out - especially the build queue screen, and especially for people like me who has some squint in their eyes. Proposed solutions to this issue:

 

6a. Make window borders more clearly defined so they are easier to see, and;

 

6b. Have a global option for disabling window transparency everywhere in the UI, or;

 

6c. Have a global option for adjusting window transparency.

 

 

7. Some in-game windows are too small. Especially the build queue screen (the one that opens when clicking the amber + sign from inside the colony screen). Proposed solutions to this issue:

 

7a. The player should have the option of resizing and moving all in-game windows (I see absolutely no reason why this is not already implemented. Even Microsoft learned this lesson in their operating systems eventually when they moved on from Windows XP to Vista and 7.).

 

7b. Adjust the size of the items that in-game windows contain so that more fit inside the current window sizes (not a very good option).

 

 

8. Merging of fleets is confusing and unintuitive - right now two fleets in the same space merge when they are both set to idle using the Sleep command. Proposed solutions to this issue:

 

8b. Make fleet merging completely manual by adding commands to join and separate ships from fleets. Newly built ships would always create new fleets automatically.

 

8c. Make fleets work like they did in Master of Orion 2: All ships at the same spot in space would always create a single fleet automatically unless moving into opposite directions, or unless the other ships were moving and others not. Newly built ships would always join the single fleet in orbit at the colony or facility that built them.

 

 

I spent a lot of time thinking about these things. I also read on the Master of Orion North America forums about many of the same issues people were describing, so developers, I hope my message gets through to you. Thanks.

 

 

Edited by Kohkelxon, 16 July 2016 - 01:48 AM.