posted 04-04-99 05:20 AM ET        

1) Make the faction leader customization parameter of gender a dropdown or radio list. Similarly, if I want to be a Male Spartan, do like Civ2 did and change the picture to a male one.

2)Fix the sound jumps. I have a 300 MHz K6 with 32 MB of RAM (way above P133 and 16MB minimum), and it still stutters all the time. Do I need a SCSI drive to make it stop? It is really annoying to hear "God does no... zz not play dice" and such.

3) Automatically arrange viable (not obsolete) units in the workshop and colony screens. It would be great to have them by general type (all colony pods, then all formers, all probes, supply, transports, infantry, speeder, hovertank, foil, cruiser, needlejet, choper, gravship, missle, and finally native fauna in the production screen), then within type by cost (low to high). It was so easy in Civ2 to have units with similar gross features grouped. It would be easier to manage bases this way, as well as showing you quickly what kind of speeders or foils you have at the ready. Should be easy to do, too.

4) The Planetary Datalinks are useless, especially when a faction or two have been killed off early like I often do. Maybe the limit could be dropped to two other factions having the tech or it could drop dynamically to two when 5 or fewer factions survive. As it is, in my games everyone else has to have a tech before I get it via the links.

5) I am not red/green blind, but it is awefully tricky to see moist areas that are rocky on the current bland color scheme. If the green were brightened it would help. Also, Believing Mindworms look a lot like wild Mondworms since they are both mainly red-flagged.

6) Change the former AI to prefer fixing up the home base on auto mode by giving hometown upgrades a little boost in the decision algorhythm(sp? who cares). Give the Headquarters a tiny boost, too, so HQ hometown formers are even more likely to stay there on unlimited auto mode and other formers are a little drawn there.

7) Let me shut off the auto-goto and pop-up when forest expands in an option menu.

8) In diplomacy and relations, let me declare Vendetta in the Comms. Have it so I don't break a treaty so long as there is one turn between the declaration of war and the first attack/incurrsion into enemy territory. This warning would make me still honorable because there was no sneak attack or espionage, but also at war with my enemy. At least make building a base that has a radius that overlaps one of mine a valid reason to attack honorably. If Iran built a city inside Iraq, there would be violence and it would be Iran's fault.

9) At the endgame, let us replay that little map that shows territory over the ages. It isn't easy to wach the whole map at once and think "I took that over when..." as it stands. Actually, as it stands it is a pretty useless feature.

10) Let me put a colony pod on a missle. The Honeymooners "Pow, Zoom, Right to the Moon, Alice!" threat should be real. Make it a 21st Century (or 22nd or 23rd or...) Australia where I could just load drones from several cities on a rocket and launch it to a remote area and then nerve staple the lot of them while they build a punnishment sphere. Sure it would rack up my attrocities, but it would be fun.

All of the above, with the excetion of the sound, should be easy to do. Tweaking the Former AI is just adding two tiny variables to an equasion. Sorting the units (also, sort formers by chassis, and so on for all non-military units) would be a simple method called when a new design was introduced, changed, or obsoleted, just like the update method currently called that puts them in numeric slot order. Adding new bio photos, adding one new popup warning option, adjusting colors, changing Datalinks, and replaying the endgame map are all minor feature adjustments. Changing the diplomacy would be a little more involved, but it is just one more option.

Finally, ignore #10. That was just to see if you were still paying attention. Also, forgive the rambling and spelling, but this text box is SMALL!