I'm planning on using this post as a dumping ground for all the things I notice as I play through my first couple of games. I just purchased GC2 and started playing it seriously tonight, so I thought it would be useful to have my fresh opinions recorded. Some are suggestions, some are opinions, some are bugs (or what I'm assuming are bugs), some may be good, some may be terrible. I've watched the tutorial videos, read the quick start guide, and I'm reasonably experienced with tbs games. Away we go!
3/5/06
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The "Next" and "Previous" planet buttons on the planet detail button should probably be down where the "Summary" and "Details" buttons are currently - I use next and previous far more frequently, along with the done button, but the Summary and Details buttons, which are used much less frequently, are in an easier to use location. It'd also be nice if the arrow keys and the mousewheel changed planets.
On the Research screen, MUCH more information is needed on the individual techs, and the full tech matrix view could greatly use tooltips (either from hovering, or by right clicking on a technology). Knowing what a tech allows me to build doesn't help me much if I don't know what that thing actually does.
A 'send colony ship' button on the Planets screen would be nice
The Planets/Ships screen doesn't remember my last set of filters, it resets to default each time it is opened
Pressing F1 or F2 a second time should close the opened Planets/Ships window
Doubleclicking a module in the Ship Design screen should remove it (currently does nothing, you have to select it, then click remove)
"Do you wish to upgrade this Starbase" pops up when a Constructor arrives at a Starbase... except it doesn't recenter the screen, so I have no idea WHICH Starbase. Should probably both center the screen and alert you as to what type of SB it is, anything more than simply popping up the message without showing you where the upgrade is occuring, or what it is upgrading
During the intial phase of establishing trade routes, it can be annoying to remember how many Freighters you've sent out vs how many maximum trade routes you can establish, and where you are sending them, should you discover a potentially better trade route while an existing Freighter is in transit to establish a route. While you can sort of figure out where they are going to establish trade routes by moving the screen over the various alien planets and looking for the pulsing 'inbound' autopilot marker, it would be nice if right clicking on a planet with a freighter set up a 'ghost' trade route, that could be filtered as a 'Pending Trade Route' in the Trade screen, and shows up on the galactic map as a dimmed (grey?) line, indicating that you are sending a freighter to establish a trade route, but that it has not yet arrived or been established. This would let you quickly change freighter destinations should you spot a better candidate, and let you get through the initial setup of trade routes more easily.
A "Maximum Credits" option when trading items for alien credits would be great, I'm kind of surprised it isn't already there. Basically, when selling a pile of Techs (or Ships, or whatever), I just want to get the maximum amount the alien will pay, right now I have to drag until the trade turns red, then fiddle with the number sliders until I get the maximum possible number of credits for the trade. It'd be nice to just click max credits and have it fill in the trade with the amount they are willing to pay for your offer.
When trying to purchase a Laser III tech from the Terrans, clicking on the Credits button on my side of the trade table and dragging the slider (or just adjusting the amount) caused the trade to go green, but when I finalized the number of credits offered (any amount, as they weren't actually willing to sell it), the trade went red again.
At an espionage level of Low, for multiple races, getting a report that indicated the various factors contributing to their relations with me etc, it also mentioned a random tidbit about their ships "We know about their scout ship blah blah heading towards" and then the line was ".. with no actual destination listed, this was true for several races which I had achieved Low espionage
Mouse wheel scrolling is inconsistent, sometimes it works, some windows it does not
The "Follow Auto Pilot Ships' interface option probably shouldn't follow freighters on their trade routes
Various windows with text input fields aren't 'comfortable' (notably the Ship Design and Rally Point naming windows). They don't respond to shift-end to select all of the text, nor can you drag to erase it all. They should probably blank out when you click on them, to eliminate the need to slowly delete the text every time you want to rename something.
When dragging the view, the Sector indicator at the top of the screen does not update until the mouse button is released
Double clicking on a GNN report should probably have the same effect as the Go To button
Clicking on Trade routes in the Trade window should probably highlight that route and it's destination planet in the minimap
If you happen to (apparently foolishly) create a Starbase in the spot next to a planet where new ships emerge, when a new ship comes out, it stacks and tries to form a fleet. There doesn't seem to be any way to order ships in a stack like that to either go to a rally point (via the little I button in the normal interface, seemingly missing here), or to construct or add to a starbase in the same spot if it is a Constructor. Additionally, if you move the ship off the spot with the Starbase, the Starbase remains selected
I didn't see any easy way to remove a rally point placed on a Starbase - clicking on the spot just brings up info on the Starbase, and I couldn't find a way to remove the rally point (I gave it the same name as another rally point nearby, wanted to change it)
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That's all for today, I stayed up way too late playing this
Earth just declared war on me due to a random diplomatic event... curses.
