Some suggestions for Ship Designer

from GalCiv3 Forums

Hi guys. I've bought this game a couple months ago and I'm really enjoying it. Now i'm trying the Ship Designer to create my own ships and I noticed a couple things Stardock could do to improve it.

 

Basically, I noticed a couple of "problems" that increase the time and work you must put on the ship (and I'm sure many of you already pointed out at them):

1) when you attach the various pieces, it's the mouse pointer (attached to one of the surfaces) that determine where the two pieces will join. This could be a problem with some pieces: for example, if you want to attach a trapezoid-shaped piece (let's say a wing part) by its long base and the pointer is attached to the short base you have to attach it then rotate it and use "Offset" to put it in the right position;

2) after you have placed various parts, hookpoints tend to overlap and/or gather together, so it becomes difficult to place correctly other pieces (and you ends up placing them in the nearest hookpoint then use "Offset" for positioning).

 

To solve these "problems" I think there are a couple of simple solutions:

1) the mouse pointer could be placed in the center of the piece and the two pieces will join by the closest hookpoints of both (to use my previous example, you can rotate the wing and then attach it as you see fit);

2) after you place the part, you can use a keyboard combination (for example, while the piece is selected, hold "Alt" button the use directional keys) to "move" the piece from hookpoint to hookpoint until you place it where you want.

 

I don't know if there solutions were already suggested by someone else, but I think they could be a good starting point.

8,600 views 2 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I found another thing that Stardoc could do to improve the Ship Designer (although this one looks a bit difficult to implement).

One of the main problems I have while creating a new ship is the fact I'm not sure if the ship's size is correct compared the the type of hull I chose, somehow I always end up thinking that maybe my ship is smaller than the standard units.

I think this dilemma could be solved by adding a sort of "Showcase Mode" that allow you to see your ship in a side-by-side comparison with a default unit of the same size. That could be a great help, especially if you're creating a Cargo Hull ship (since this category contains both large units, like the colony ships, and small ones, like the constructors), so you won't end up creating a microscopic Transport or a gargantuan Constructor. :)