UI Feedback

from GalCiv4 Forums

I've mentioned in my indepth thread some concerns about the UI. For a more productive discussion, here are some the specifics. Apologies as this will be more of a stream of consciousness and not as well organized as some of my previous posts.

This is for version 1.0

  • Currently the "rearrange" queues where I can slide buildings or units around to change their order is so cumbersome I actually consider it a bug. I will often have to redrag and drop 4,5,6 times before the system will accept my new order.
  • There is no easy way to determine which of my many starbases is missing a "core module", ie the mining/culture/military core ones.
  • To change an asteroid base to a new owner, I have to click each and every single asteroid, click a button, and find the planet and click on it.
  • Often the system won't let me click on something until I greatly zoom in on it, adding more tedium.
  • There is no easy way to determine which civ has which resource for trade, so I have to click each and every one until I find it.
  • Rally Point Creation: I have to go to the stardock, click the rally point, click a new rally point, then tell teh system that is the rally point I want. But...if I want to rename the rally point I have to go to the rally point, click on it, then rename it.
  • I would like to see the adjacency boosts for special buildings in their screen, as opposed to only seeing it when I build it. For example, the legal offices building doesn't look at that great, honestly barely worth the effort at its base. Then...you realize it gets a -5% crime per adjacency, hold the phone, now this thing is great! However, if I had never bothered to check it, thinking it was "worthless", I would have missed out on a great building.
  • A ship with a survey module can't be told to autoexplore
  • All of my fleet functions are there when I click on it....except decommissioning, where I have to double click on the ship. I don't mind a warning screen here but I should be able to do everything from the same general area.
  • The only place to see the cost of a tech is when you select it, and it appears in the lower screen with details. No reason I shouldn't be able to see the cost on the main list of techs.
  • There is no means to organize my research path. For example, in Old World I can select techs for priority. On the research screen, there will be a little icon under a tech that tells me "this tech will get you closer to your priorities". Right now I have to keep checking the navigator.
  • Techs that are in the same grouping have different colors. All techs in the colonization area (aka ones that could come up if I prioritize colonization techs) should be the same color.
  • With so many resources in the top bar, it can hard to remember what you don't have. All resources should be present, with a 0 for the number, instead of it removed from the bar entirely.
  • I can only rush one unit/building a time, forcing me to come back to the planet over and over again for multiple rushes. No issue with only 1 rush unit coming out a turn, but I should be able to rush more than one.
  • When I build a terraforming upgrade that gives me a usable tile, I want to be able to assign a building to it before its done. Otherwise I have to come back to the planet again when its finished, more tedium.
  • It would be nice if Trade Ships had some color differentiation on planets when you click on them, to show planets you already have trade with. This can save you a lot of time if you send a ship to a planet just to find out you are already trading there.
  • Would be nice to have a buy 10/sell 10 option at the market.
  • Diplomatic Credits should be able to "auto fill" to complete a deal just like credits.
  • When I add 3 of X resource to a deal, and want to remove it, the only way is to click down all 3 to 0. There should just be a remove option.
  • Commonly I will have a planet's stardock just make supply ships and send it to itself, to speed up construction. It would be nice if there was a button for this, as right now I have to set the ships, make the rally point, set it up infinitely, etc etc.
  • There is no create a fleet button. Sometimes I have to awkwardly move ships around to get fleets set.
  • The faction screen highlights the key traits for a leader when they are placed there, it would be nice if ministers did the same.
  • It would be nice on the colonies screen if the colonies with a special resource were highlighted in some ways, instead of forcing me to look at each one to see which ones have special resources for colony modules.
  • When a planet is culture flipping, I would like to see a number of turns for the flip to complete (similar to how invasions work). The "3x culture" is not really that helpful.
  • When I click on a colony world's core resource (like research) and I see the bonus from a colony, I want a breakdown of where I'm losing yields from that colony. Pollution/Crime/Approval/Decay, etc.
galactic civilizations iv galciv iv feedback
7,916 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

Thank you for the feedback provided, I will pass it along to the team.

Reply #2 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

    • When I click on a colony world's core resource (like research) and I see the bonus from a colony, I want a breakdown of where I'm losing yields from that colony. Pollution/Crime/Approval/Decay, etc.

Great post. Maybe I can give one useful hint though. Pollution/Crime/Approval do not influence a colony. Those factors only matter at Core Worlds (crime of a colony is transported to its core world but it does not influence the wealth of the colony itself).

Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

Some really good points there, most of which I haven't encountered just yet. My biggest desire right now is the one involving shipyards. In GC3, you could disable the notification about the shipyard being idle if you just didn't want it producing anything. This should be a standard feature in GC4 as well. Instead of continuously manufacturing SOMETHING just to allow you to advance to the next turn, you should be allowed to let it idle if you want. You should be able to advance your turn with a warning popup for anything. Ships not moved, no research, whatever, as long as you click "Yes, I am sure" then you should be allowed to shoot yourself in the foot.

Reply #4 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

Quoting SAMarcus, reply 3
Instead of continuously manufacturing SOMETHING just to allow you to advance to the next turn, you should be allowed to let it idle if you want.

I see the new supply ships as a better option than idling. It would be different if we could see/adjust the ratio of shipyard vs. planetary production, but to my casual eye it looks like you'd be wasting production by idling a shipyard.

Then again, I haven't gotten into extensive playing with 4. I'm a massive-map, long-game player way back to the original Windows version. The current UI in 4 looks even more heavily designed to suit short, small games than the previous versions. The lack of a table-like view of colonies and another for open worlds slows me down immensely.

I'm also part of the crowd who want to be able to set rally points without having map focus pulled back to a shipyard. The current design assumes that the only thing you'd use a rally point for is collecting ships or dumping supplies on a colony. I've always also used them to 'make notes' on the map, e.g. marking pirate or space monster presence.

Reply #5 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

There is never a reason not to build something in a shipyard.  At the very least a treasure mission.

Reply #6 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

A few new ones:

  • Plains and Forest planet tiles have the same color, making it hard to notice that one also provides a bonus to research.
  • Pirates/Iridium/Bartak all have the samish white color, I can never tell their ships apart at first look.
Reply #7 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

Just highlighting how important being able to always see level bonuses BEFORE you build the buildings. Beacon of Babylon, considering its +3 to research adjacencies, I assumed the play was always to surround it with research buildings.

HOWEVER, the building itself gives +.2 RAW science and +1 influence per level, and considering culture districts offer a +2 level bonus, suddenly you can really rock your science AND influence with culture instead. Never would have known that if I hadn't misclicked and built a culture district by mistake in a game.