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Author Topic:   Minor Patch Ideas

Shining1 posted 02-22-99 08:44 PM ET
Nothing major here, but the following small tweaks could help a bit:
* Terrain square resource readout
This DOES NOT show the true value of adding a farm to the square. Instead I get:
Nutrients: 1
With Farm: 1

- which is not correct (as you get 2 with a farm). Please fix this.
* City Screen:
Distinguish secret projects from ordinary tech (do in yellow, and have at the top of the improvement list). Make ordinary improvements white, and Project/faction improvements grey.
* Lab/Econ imbalance
I find the imbalance penalties are too harsh, and using anything other than 40E 10P 50L is a bit pointless. This is especially important at the start of the game, where Labs are of necessity the main concern (to get the essential Gene Splicing or Secrets of Human Brain techs), yet they effectively cannot be altered. Please either charge 5%,10% or delay the imbalance charge until 30E 70L.

!Pointless whinging!
* Battle odds counter
This is very useful, but the final odds need to be rounded (suggest max range of 100-1). Getting results of 3205 to 2456 may be mathematically accurate, but it's a bit more info than you need to know.
* Capturing cities
Please change the 'First City Captured' date on the monument to be the first city captured and HELD. (This usually turns out to be is a size 1 city, which dies on entry). It just doesn't feel quite right. Or make a reference to first city destroyed .
* Ugly Librarian
Two things - the Librarian is 1 - Damn ugly and 2 - not female. Accurate or not, an average looking female librarian would fit in a lot better.
/!Pointless Whinging!

Shining1 posted 02-25-99 06:24 PM ET
Also:
Have some kind of acknowledgement that you have in fact clicked the end turn button. With the computer sometimes taking 1-2 mins to finish all 6 other factions, it often looks as if the game has just 'hung'.
JaimeWolf posted 02-25-99 07:26 PM ET
Only one comment here ... the penalties for having Econ & Labs different are lessened the higher your efficiency rating. If you have +4 Effic (I think, maybe +5) there is no penalty at all - kind of corresponds to the old Max % assigned in any one area under different gov't types in Civ.
Shining1 posted 02-25-99 08:20 PM ET
JWolf: Thanks. I think I have already encountered this, finding that the penalties had been halved for some reason later in the game. Cheers for the explaination.
Shining1 posted 02-25-99 08:24 PM ET
Mouse clicking:
Change the mouse system so that automaticially highlights the border of the square underneath the cursor. This way, you can see the terrain values and units present without having to point and click on every square (similar to what happens when you press 'v', but permanently on, and with the mouse pointer active).
This would also help in aiming units at their target, as the square would be highlighted. This saves the trouble of either flattening the terrain, or else missing due to the slope of the hill.
NuWav posted 02-25-99 08:39 PM ET
Some more whining:
- a way to copy queue contents from one city to others
- I liked the little colored square in the bottom corner in CivII so I knew who's turn it was, to let me know how the turn is progressing
- bigger version of the powergraph in the HQ section: often times my faction line is so far above the others that the rest of them are clumped together in one little overlapping line on that small graph, same thing with the bar graph. Makes it very hard to see which computer player is ahead of the others.
- When I was playing the demo, I was hoping that the black color of the Spartans would be changed to a color that could be seen more clearly over the black background...
Shining1 posted 02-25-99 09:28 PM ET
Also, it would be nice to add the best little RTS feature of all - numbered units.
Initally, this would probably work best with cities. It would be great to be able to designate a city '1' or '2', and then be able to jump inside that city from any location on the map (suggest first key press jumps to location, second opens city, third closes it).
A unit group interface, similar to that in Warlords, would also be great. The current one works, but not as well as it could.
Pudz posted 02-26-99 01:08 AM ET
still hoping for an in game clock, with date attached
WildFire posted 02-26-99 05:36 AM ET
NuWav,
The queue copying feature is already there...
1) Right-click the queue box of the city you want to copy
2) Select save contents & name the queue list
3) Go to the next city, right click the queue box and select load the list you previously saved
4) VOILA !!
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Author	Topic: Minor Patch Ideas
Shining1	posted 02-22-99 08:44 PM ET Nothing major here, but the following small tweaks could help a bit: * Terrain square resource readout This DOES NOT show the true value of adding a farm to the square. Instead I get: Nutrients: 1 With Farm: 1 - which is not correct (as you get 2 with a farm). Please fix this. * City Screen: Distinguish secret projects from ordinary tech (do in yellow, and have at the top of the improvement list). Make ordinary improvements white, and Project/faction improvements grey. * Lab/Econ imbalance I find the imbalance penalties are too harsh, and using anything other than 40E 10P 50L is a bit pointless. This is especially important at the start of the game, where Labs are of necessity the main concern (to get the essential Gene Splicing or Secrets of Human Brain techs), yet they effectively cannot be altered. Please either charge 5%,10% or delay the imbalance charge until 30E 70L. !Pointless whinging! * Battle odds counter This is very useful, but the final odds need to be rounded (suggest max range of 100-1). Getting results of 3205 to 2456 may be mathematically accurate, but it's a bit more info than you need to know. * Capturing cities Please change the 'First City Captured' date on the monument to be the first city captured and HELD. (This usually turns out to be is a size 1 city, which dies on entry). It just doesn't feel quite right. Or make a reference to first city destroyed . * Ugly Librarian Two things - the Librarian is 1 - Damn ugly and 2 - not female. Accurate or not, an average looking female librarian would fit in a lot better. /!Pointless Whinging!
Shining1	posted 02-25-99 06:24 PM ET Also: Have some kind of acknowledgement that you have in fact clicked the end turn button. With the computer sometimes taking 1-2 mins to finish all 6 other factions, it often looks as if the game has just 'hung'.
JaimeWolf	posted 02-25-99 07:26 PM ET Only one comment here ... the penalties for having Econ & Labs different are lessened the higher your efficiency rating. If you have +4 Effic (I think, maybe +5) there is no penalty at all - kind of corresponds to the old Max % assigned in any one area under different gov't types in Civ.
Shining1	posted 02-25-99 08:20 PM ET JWolf: Thanks. I think I have already encountered this, finding that the penalties had been halved for some reason later in the game. Cheers for the explaination.
Shining1	posted 02-25-99 08:24 PM ET Mouse clicking: Change the mouse system so that automaticially highlights the border of the square underneath the cursor. This way, you can see the terrain values and units present without having to point and click on every square (similar to what happens when you press 'v', but permanently on, and with the mouse pointer active). This would also help in aiming units at their target, as the square would be highlighted. This saves the trouble of either flattening the terrain, or else missing due to the slope of the hill.
NuWav	posted 02-25-99 08:39 PM ET Some more whining: - a way to copy queue contents from one city to others - I liked the little colored square in the bottom corner in CivII so I knew who's turn it was, to let me know how the turn is progressing - bigger version of the powergraph in the HQ section: often times my faction line is so far above the others that the rest of them are clumped together in one little overlapping line on that small graph, same thing with the bar graph. Makes it very hard to see which computer player is ahead of the others. - When I was playing the demo, I was hoping that the black color of the Spartans would be changed to a color that could be seen more clearly over the black background...
Shining1	posted 02-25-99 09:28 PM ET Also, it would be nice to add the best little RTS feature of all - numbered units. Initally, this would probably work best with cities. It would be great to be able to designate a city '1' or '2', and then be able to jump inside that city from any location on the map (suggest first key press jumps to location, second opens city, third closes it). A unit group interface, similar to that in Warlords, would also be great. The current one works, but not as well as it could.
Pudz	posted 02-26-99 01:08 AM ET still hoping for an in game clock, with date attached
WildFire	posted 02-26-99 05:36 AM ET NuWav, The queue copying feature is already there... 1) Right-click the queue box of the city you want to copy 2) Select save contents & name the queue list 3) Go to the next city, right click the queue box and select load the list you previously saved 4) VOILA !!