Low impact suggestions for the game.

Well, I was going to do another one of my long lists of bugs from my notes, but I noticed that all but two of the entries were game balance or UI improvment suggestions rather than bugs. So, I thought that I should seperate the suggestions and not post them in the bug threads.

So, here's my notes on things I'd like to see, most of which are minor changes.

1) Sizemod issues: I really think that sizemod should be based on the base size of the hull, not the effective (post miniaturization) size. That eats into about half the benefit of miniaturization on a typical design of one of my ships. Personally, I think the scaling needs a rethink (it should affect cost, but there should be more benefit of using a larger hull), but I also think that it's too late for a significant change.

2) Can we get the PQ rating displayed on the colonization events screen(s)? There's many times that which option I take would depend on the size of the planet.

3) How about an abillity to ignore a specific type of GNN message. I'm mostly referring to specific improvements (I really don't care that I finished another trade center if I've already got 20 of them), i've had times that a batch of social improvements finishing drowned out a combat message for a combat that I missed. And lost, as it turned out.

4) I don't know if you were doing it before I suggested it, but I like that terraforming helps more on lower PQ planets, though the double-peak on the curve is a little odd. Also, you might want to consider mixing a few of the combinations rather than 1-1-1 or 2-2-2. PQ 8 planets get 1-1-1, so can upgrade to 10 usable tiles. PQ 7 planets get 2-2-2, so can upgrade to 12 usable tiles. maybe making PQ 7 get 2-1-2 might smooth out the transition.

5) When I'm initially laying out a colony, it's really annoying that the auto-advance-to-next-tile function keeps getting stuck on tiles that I don't want to specify yet. Having the program remember that I skipped it might be nice, but I think it might be simpler (don't know how you did it so I can't be sure) to have the auto-advance go through all the plain green tiles, then the bonus green tiles, then the yellow, then the orange, then the red. yes, I know that if a planet has bonus tiles you want to use that you'll usually want to specify them early, but I was paying attention to my patterns this weekend, and manufacturing bonuses were the only ones that got used early, and then only after I had a starport going.

6) I think the tech cost scaling needs a little tweaking, and maybe a minor change so that the scaling isn't linear. I say this because the early game on a gigantic map is a crawl, so maybe having the tech cost not affect the lower end techs as much might be a good idea. At the opposite end of the spectrum, I had a tiny-map game where the techs were flying faster than they were in gigantic map games. I'll admit that I owned 75% of the tiny map, and most people won't get that far on a tiny map, so it may not be much of an issue.

7) I still get bitten by the fact that the improvements list scrolls back to the top of the window when you place an improvement. I tend to lay things out 2-3 at a time, and double-clicking repeatedly has managed to give me thinks like manufacturing capitols on a class 5 planet and other such useful things.

Is there a non-technical reason it does this? I'll admit that I may be overlooking something worse that would happen if it didn't scoll.

8) If a player picks a logo that represents a certain minor race, could that race get a different logo if it spawns, or if it would spawn, spawn a different minor? I play a custom race, and I like to stick with the same logo. I don't like using one of the major race logos because I want to play against them all at one time or another. On the other hand, it's guaranteed that if I pick a minor race logo, that race will spawn just out of sensor range of my homeworld and lead to all sorts of interesting confusion.

9) How about another Rally Point type, corresponding to automatically going into sentry or guard mode? Some times what I want is a big stack of constructors, and I don't want to be bothered by them until I've got enough for whatever sick and twisted plan it is I have.

10) How about a different right-side dropdown icon for autolaunched ships? Either the same icon in a different color, or a similar icon, just so that I know I don't have to go there and launch the ship.

11) First (and easiest) of three things I'd like to see added to the trade window: I want to be able to talk AI player X into declaring a trade embargo on AI player Y

There's just times I want to slow someone down or express my displeasure, but I don't need to go so far as getting anyone killed.

12) Second trade window idea: auto-negotiate for BC and/or influence. I've heard that this is coming, and if it is, I'd just like to say thanks, and if it isn't, I'd just like to give you the Puss-in-Boots eyes.

13) Third trade window idea, this is the hard one: How about being able to specify durations on more stuff. Say for trade goods, peace treaties, declarations of war, etc.

14) Getting back to stuff that's possible we might see, especially since it's an extension of something Frogboy already said he liked: A count of how many colonies are manufacturing each ship on the governor window, how many ships are going to each RP, and how many colonies are auto-dispatching to each RP. Bonus points for not displaying any entry on the left with a count of 0, since picking it wouldn't have any affect anyway. Or at least an "All" category for those times when I get attacked when I have no military and need to change direction rapidly.

15) One more place a little bit of information might help: Could it be possible on the Rally Point selection to get some information on how far each rally point is from the current ship/colony?

That's all that I can remember right now, and it's probably a good thing too.

ideas

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