I know this would be gui stuff, but still. On the building menu in comm view I want a little counter next to buildings that show how many of said buildings you have. To be honest, what I really want is something that tells me the turret/wall limit, but having counters for the other stuff could be useful. I mean there is a bunch of blank space next to them, so it wouldn't be hard to fit, and it wouldn't clutter the main view any further than it currently is.
Progress bar? Don't get me wrong, it'd be nifty, but hardly a much needed feature. What should be one however, is the ability for com to setup auto research chains from the get-go, as to minimise amount of time spent in this godawful menu.
I would understand this viewpoint if the research menu wasn't an unspeakable abomination that must be sent back to the realm from whence it came. Seriously, if the Empires GUI was the enemy in a RPG, the research menu would be the final boss. For the sake of continuing this analogy, the Spawn Select would be the equivalent of the level 1 slime you have to keep slaying over and over again, and the class select menu is that enemy that appears in both early and later stages of the game except later it has a different sprite color and some elemental attributes or some shit. If the research menu was properly navigable then it makes perfect sense to not allow any form of research queue.
What is so hard about navigating the research menu? It takes like a second to change the research menu, but it isn't that bad. If anything, I would like to be able to open it while it is researching something. I've seen the point somewhere, by having the commander actually open the menu to research it makes for a valid tactic of harassing the enemy commander so they can't stop for a second to research. Personally I don't care. Some maps I have to do a lot as commander, others I do almost nothing. I really don't mind that extra second or two it takes to open the menu and get something going. But seriously, can I get a counter for buildings? At least a turret counter?
Or how about viewing the entire thing? THAT would be orgasmic. Maybe you and I memorized the tree long ago, but noobs have no way of knowing what they are researching. That's one if the reasons noobs always go straight for mediums and heavies. It's obvious what they are.
Oh, that. Yeah, not knowing what is in the research tree does make learning commander even more difficult. So yeah, at some point having either the ability to see whats further in the tree or just the whole thing would be a bit nice for new people.
Yeah, I think there's a minor gui redo in the works, so I'm hoping that Beerdude & Friends are just scraping the goofy hexagonal research interface for a simpler one-page scrolling tree like civ5.
... Why not have it auto chain? As in, you can go into each sub menu regardless if its researched. If you select an end item and it will research all the needed items to get to it. Presto... com research made easy.
Some people don't want to make it auto research. Doing that would mean the commander wouldn't have to open the menu for like 4-8 minutes, depending on what you getting. I like the hexagonal research thing, I think it looks neat.
Handling the res menu almost feels like a side game for the com. Waiting for the 4+ seconds, that you have to sit through to get to the stuff you want, while your teammates are shouting for targets is fucking annoying. Making it more auto would also make it possible to have it disply on teams, hud, therefore reducing the "hurr durr faggot, what are we getting after UGL?1one" clutter, which seemed to be at least 50% of all voice chat ever. Whatever your opinion is making it more auto, get rid of the rage inducing animation. Instant transition does'nt look fancy, but it doesnt screw your team over either.
Yeah, it looks neat. It looks like concept art. But anything that pushes you through multiple screens is pretty shitty. Another bonus to a civ5-style research interface is the ease of hybrid research. It's instantly clear that you need Mathematics & Construction to get Engineering. It's next to impossible to elegantly communicate that in Empires' hexagonal interface.
I know its supposed to be like that, but rockets being a modern invention, being able to get satellites without computers and calling antibiotics and other medicinal drugs just "penicilin" makes me bang my head against the desk.
To be fair, empires doesn't have anything that requires multiple trees. I'm not talking about decent meds, just individual things. The only reason I not super excited about seeing the entire tree is that it looks like it takes your whole screen, if you want it to communicate meaningful information at a glance. With how quick empires battlefields can change, I don't like the idea of not seeing my minimap or the general scene I'm looking at.
You're absolutely right. I only meant that in addition to its many other benefits, a one-page research interface would allow for elegant expansion in that direction if that's the right way to go. I think that there are transparent HUDs lying around somewhere. And besides, I wouldn't be surprised if any interface must fit inside the borders of the existing one. It would probably make certain things easier, but it would also maintain Empires' low res compatibility. I think it can go down to like 640x480 or something ridiculous. So the concerns of a screen full of research are moot.
