[0.952] UI issues, moving towards Beta 5

All of these would be great fixes. I tend to not mind a terrible UI problem, but other players will definitely care. Just think how much of an advantage I will have in tactical battles when only I know how to calculate the chance of a resist. I would be unstoppable. Wait, maybe keep this issue until the expansion. I might need the advantage. 

Also, when we have enough traits for a scrollbar, just half the size of the traits, id much rather see 100 small circles than scrolling through a big weird list of circles that doesn't make sense anyways.

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

The track for pathing needs to have markers at the end of each turn's move; we should be able to look at the move track for each unit and see how many turns it will take to get there, and where they'll be at the end of each turn.

Also, a second bar underneath units that shows whether there's movement left to that unit or army (ie, a 3/5 full bar if the unit has 3 moves left out of 5) would be welcome, so you can see at a glance what units can still be moved on the current turn.  It would be great to look at the left bar and know what you have left to do that turn; who needs to move, any cities without build queues, and any quest actions that need to happen.

Totally agree Heavenfall. 

spot on.

Something I would like to see, although it might feel gamey, is a timer on monster lairs that level up. If monster lairs near my civilization are going to magically transform from weak to strong over a turn, I would like to have a heads up. When selecting such a monster lair, a timer could be shown over the UI piece at bottom left screen.

If an exact timer breaks immersion too much, I would settle for a "soon, any time now, much later" or other descriptive terms to be shown instead.

Although this would change the game mechanics so I don't want to put it in the OP.

I agree with much of the above, but would make one change to the suggestion of organizing the skills and traits of champions.

• First, there should be a larger medallion on the left side of the skills bar that houses the "Class" medallion. It should be blank or non-existent when below level 4.
• After that, the next should be bloodline trait (most fundamental)
• Then Spells
• Then other abilities, grouped by type; Defensive, Offensive, Active

So what happens when you have 2 classes?

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

Show both, one above one under.

I like the idea of a timer for monster lairs. It would be a feature that sets the gameplay mechanisms of FE apart from other 4Xs.

I want all of the above suggestions, as in my opinion they could help to push fe to 'addictive  can not stop playing to go to work in-spite of no sleep for three days' that the first civ was for me back in the eighties.

harpo

Another thing, the hiergamenon should probably be updated to follow the new improvement changes. For example the Grocer doesn't really show what comes before and after that particular building, nor does it show it needs a town. That makes using the Improvements section in the Hiergamenon pretty much useless.

All excellent points.  I'm assuming this is what development teams refer to as the cosmetic stuff, and it typically gets left until last.  I hope none of it gets missed in the final push towards better balance and bug swatting.

That's beta 5, right?

Right.  I recall Brad mentioning that in one of the last beta threads.

Can't wait till I see a new UI.

Can't wait, can't wait. I probably should go play a mod soon though
But what to choose... >_<

Heaven you should remember to ask for upgrades for the Sovereign creation UI and faction creation UI

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

I did, I asked for what was missing from an un-modded game - to see the traits of the faction while making a custom sov.

Hm I still feels its quite clonky though, meaby I should

Sicnerely
~ Kongdej

This deserves some attention, these are pretty universally teriffic ideas and changes.

Not sold on the lair timer, but everything else is certainly positive.

I have been trying to think of some UI changes, but I don't really have much opinion on it as long as it functions well. I can't seem to think of how to make that happen and since I can't test mod UI yet, I don't want to make ridiculous suggestions about it. One thing I have been bothered by is the level of complexity of monsters, with no feedback in the UI to let us know what is going on. Most everyone looks at a monster's level when deciding how tough it is. In fact, the spawn rating of the monster is much more significant. 

I would like to see the spawn rating translated into the monster details screen so that we can check there and see why this bear or dragon or mercenary is so much more powerful than the level 4 one we killed a few turns ago. You might even want to cover up the spawn rating name with something more intuitive, like Potency or Monster Strength. Put that on the list after everything else UI related. It took me a few years just to figure out what the hell spawn ratings were in the first place. Users need to know.

I'm not convinced those things are things the player needs to know seanw3. I think it is easier to simply note in the tutorial that monsters grow in strength, and that summoning units with higher levels makes them more powerful.

Ideally, there would be no difference at all between spawnrating (milestone) and current level, but that's not the way they decided to go with monster values.

The UI is moddable, but since we can't extend its use with scripts there is very little need to. We can't do calculations or display information that isn't already there. For the Goetia mod, you and I will have to mod it since the new universal unitstats will push some other informatoin out from certain places. What we will do then is simply make a few boxes with dynamic content larger. I did some similar stuff for After the War mod for E:wom where it was necessary.

Edit: An example before and after

I think my biggest lingering complaint is the city ledger screen, needs to show more useful info, and better sortable columns. I'd like to be able to sort my cities by research, production, mana output,  grain, materials, essence, etc. I want to be able to see which of my cities is best at any measurable metric with a couple clicks, so I know where to cast enchantments.

Also, how about when you enter the Build menu, have a second column to the right of the city improvements that lists all of the attached resource nodes & outposts and an upgrade button to either queue the resource upgrade or open the outpost upgrade window.

I might also like a toggle-able option that is sort of a reverse of the current resource connection line when a node/outpost is highlighted. Give me an option so that when I select a city, lines draw out to all of its connected outposts & nodes. You could draw red lines out to recently destroyed resources & recently captured outposts.

I just remembered this in another thread:

"One of the problems that I have assured many a person is the UI for units. In cities and on tiles we have a terrible, eye-burning interface. When I heard the hall of famers from GalCiv2 were coming over to the FE project I was sure we would at the very least get what we had for that game. Still we play with a far inferior system with far more bugs. There is still hope for the unit UI, but I guess I need to start bringing it to light."

This is by far the oldest complaint in the game. It's so old I had forgotten all about it. Remember those wonderful logistic screens from GalCiv2? I summon thee!

<GameModifier>
<ModType>UISummon</ModType>
<Attribute>SummonUIByClass</Attribute>
<Value>1</Value>
<Provides>+1 Superior and Usable User Interface</Provides>
<UnitClass>UI_Galactic_Civilizations_2_TA</UnitClass>
</GameModifier>

Even better than this - have blank little circles when cities have empty enchantment slots. Will help me remember to enchant my cities...

that is what the bites out of the top of the city name sigh is for, BUT you do have to zoom in enough to leave he clothmap mode to see it.

harpo