Also, it's not an insult if it's merely an observation.  

I am not trying to insult you.  I am merely making the observation that microing as much as you claim you do while admitting that the AI can be beat without having to micro is a pointless exercise.  

Which is fine.  

And my idea is to keep them this way towards your (not very good) idea.  

I believe I am succeeding.  

Well if planet production micro isn't something they care to improve soon, I am going to burn out on this game quickly. Not a threat, just a likelihood. If it's just me, then Stardock shouldn't worry. But even some of the devs say during the stream that planet production micro is pretty intense and want improvements, so I am confident I'm not alone. Not to mention the vocal folks in the forums.

Oh and I have found I need to micro to beat the Gifted AI. I'm not skilled enough to do it with the global wheel.

And yes, I do turn off auto-upgrading every time. That is not relevant to the discussion.

They should add control groups for planets so you don't have to micro each planet individually.

Absolutely agree, and I would probably be up at the 9 or 10 mark. It is not uncommon for me to spend upwards of 45 minutes PER TURN in the mid-late civ4 game. What I basically don't want (and have seen it much too often) is for the vocal people on forums to have something changed to the point that it is so dumbed down there isn't any point in even playing any more. If the AI makes every decision for you anyway, what is the point of playing? You may as well just code in a spectator mode, make some popcorn and sit down to watch the computer play against itself.

As I have already said, I am not adverse to having solutions presented for the vast majority that do not play the way I do, eg Macsen's idea of the quick set buttons. What I don't want to see is that REPLACE the ability to micro manage exact figures. If all the buttons did was move the selector to the appropriate place on the resource wheel that would be perfect. Those that want 50/50 just hit the appropriate 50/50 button and it moves the slider. Those that want 52/48 have the ability to move it manually.

 Macsen: Please don't feel that I am attacking you at all. I like your idea of the quick set buttons as I have said above. I just didn't like the "the resource wheel sucks and needs to burn in a fire" comment. You don't like it, and that's fine. A solution that gives us both what we want is the ideal one. I also like marigold's idea of being able to group colonies together to manage them in bulk easier (although I likely wouldn't utilise it as I like 100% control - it's still a great idea). 

Dumbing down is also a phrase that gets thrown around when depth is removed from the game rather than the UI being improved, which more or less sums up removing the wheel tbh.

All that's really required is grouping, and then you only need to set sliders 5-6 times in the whole game if you want to. But don't remove the option altogether.

Yes, exactly.  It's important to have a sense of humor about these things.  

Anyone who posts regularly on this forum is probably a little weird.  Accept it and move on.  

I do as well to an extent up to about maybe 10 planets but when you've got 20, 30, 50 planets the level of micro you have to do is beyond ridiculous even if you're pretty casual with it.  The scale of the game is too big for the existing system imo.

No don't think it does, I've noticed that too.

LOL, WOW that micro.  That's a prime example why certain things need to be better represented in the game or streamlined because people will go to crazy lengths and waste their time and ultimately become frustrated with the game if Stardock don't.  (I haven't done that but I've done some stupid levels of micro as well because of the games flaws)

Good.  Glad you got the message.