I'm not a fan;

1. I really dislike how the unusable surface area is monochromatic. We're not retarded Stardock, we know what is usable and what isn't.

2. The picture of the Earth and Luna should be removed, it's just visual clutter and is in all but one case inaccurate

3. Continents shouldn't be outlined in teal, it makes it look cheap and it's unnecessary.

4. The borders of the screen should have half and quarter hexes to make the planet view a rectangle, right now it looks messy and awful, showing a background that is visually boring.

 5 The "Projects" and their header should be removed and be placed alongside the top bar with "Improvements" and "Old. That space could be used better by displaying something more useful.

6. Cued improvements should have a name, or shortened name underneath them.

I dont really like the visual representation of manufacturing/research/wealth. It's almost impossible to, at a glance, convert the visual representation to the numeric one. You also would have a problem where something like 49 would look really long visually (4x10, 5x1, 1x4), but 51 would be shorter (1x50, 1x1). This gives a really odd visual where 'less is more' in terms of length. I do like the representation of other items in that bottom bar though very clean and makes sense.

I think you could just do manufacturing/research/weatth as on 'cell' and the other 2 cells coudl be used for more information?

Not sure if this is a good idea visually, but what if you put available projects on the left, then bthe build queue on the right?

I like the grayed out tiles. It provides a very nice contrast to the entire map. Good job there Stardock. The colored sections really point your eyes to the important tiles.

I wonder if a rectangle planet view would be a better, look. Since you are graying out and using green hex tiles to represent important tiles. Currently, the jagged outlines are providing a visual distraction.

--- Just read the other replies, guess there are few that don't like the grayscale version of the earth as the non-important tiles.

I like the header separator, between projects, and improvements. I would like a couple sort options (if possible, wish-list) to sort by improvement type. (culture, population, influence, etc.), cost to build, name... these are a few. I'm sure there are others that may be useful.

I like the background picture. Its rather nice.

As to the que with just icons, I'm assuming here that you just highlight the picture and you get the tool-tip telling us exactly what the thing that is being built at the time. When you highlight the que, will it also highlight the location on the planet that is associated with that item in the que?

Question: How will the planet terraforming hexes appear in this format. Would they just be grayed out and when you terraform you get new tiles that you didn't before (prevent planet planning), or will they also appear in color with a yellow hue?

edit: I also notice that you have written Bread Bosket... shouldn't it be Bread Basket?

Now that you've contradicted literally everything I've said, I'll never get my way!

Parrotmath! I'll have to beat you up now!

I think the new screen is much prettier, but I have lost a lot of my ability to gain useful info at a glance.

1) All the information I want is on the bottom, which is counter intuitive for me. My eye is strongly drawn to the map, which gives little useful info.

2) I like the icons for production, but including 50's and 5's makes if very hard to read, just do 100s, 10s and 1s

3) It feels to me like the production queue should have the next thing built on the far left rather than right, though old top to bottom was clearer still.

4)The grayed out backdrop adds clarity at the expense of immersion, I'm neutral on this, but do agree it makes it feel like you are looking at a map, while the old map felt like you were looking down on your planet.

5) Production time of upcoming projects is important info, and don't I want to have to mouse-over to see it.

6) Would it be possible to get a mini production disc on this screen? Click on it to get the larger window where you can change it, but be able to see at a glance where you have it set. I plan on managing each of my planets individually and without this feature, I will be opening the "govern planet" window every time I open this window.

7) It would be nice to have a visual representation of adjacency bonuses, (initial thought would be little arrows perpendicular to tile borders in the color of the bonus given, with more or bigger arrows for bigger bonuses) if for no other reason than to be a gratifying reminder when you set up a planet well.

Thanks for listening to my feedback!

 Edit: I am inexplicably tickled by "Trait: Bread Bosket" makes me smile every time I look at it.

who did that? Lol.

I think it's looking much better and unlike ParagonRenegade  I am a fan of the monochrome non-usable areas which I assume change as tech allows you to open up more of the planet..

If that makes me retarded I can live with that

My two cents:

1. If the Manufacturing Queue section is at the lower part of the screen, then they should reverse its two subsections. The "Now Building" subsection, which is currently on the right side, should be put on the left. This seems more logical to me.

2. The hammers, flasks and coins icons don’t give new information, but they occupy too much space on the screen. If I want immediate info on research, manufacturing, etc., text and numbers can give that info immediately. These icons are a nice visual addition, but cannot give me info on the state of my production at a glance. They are not really useful, they are mainly eye candy only, which is not a bad thing, just the proportions are not right for me somehow.  

3. I don't like the greyed out surface tiles at all.

4. Oceans are currently not indicated on the surface screen. Where water is present, it should be indicated visually (colour blue, some art) on the corresponding tiles.

5. I don’t like the jagged edges of the screen. They feel weird, distracting.

6. I also miss that part of the GUI where info was given on Selected Tile etc. (see Reply #7 of EvilMaxWar).

I have mixed feelings on this new Planet Screen. There are improvements, but in many aspects it is a step back for me.

Some minor things:

7. It would be good if the header (All, Improvements, Projects, Old) under "Available Projects" in the right upper part of the screen was a bit bigger. I use a 24" full HD monitor and this header is quite small on it, it is a bit inconvenient to click on it.

8. It would be good if the two arrows next to the name of the planet at the top of the screen were a bit more „robust”, a bit more emphasized, separated from the background, like a "real" on-screen button, so that it can be a bit more obvious where to click. Admittedly, for me this is more of a mental thing only, I probably miss the feeling of clicking on something.  

Casspir

On (1) just don't see why the left would be more logical than the right or indeed the other way around.

On (2) I can see you're point but text and numbers would not look as good while giving as you say more accurate information I think they need to find a way to do both e.g. a visual representation that can be easily read with a degree of accuracy with numbers in a tooltip when you mouse over it.

(3) and (4) are releated there is water but since you can't build on it, it's greyed out. I kind of disagree here I like the idea of having the unusable part of the surface monochrome like this and watching it slowly be revealed in colour as I get the tech to make more tiles usable. People seem to be a bit split on this generally so I think despite the fact I like it they should explore other possibilities as well see if they can find something that has a stronger positive concencus from the community.

(5) Agreed but generally the Hex grid is useful so maybe they just need to fuzzout the edge of the map so we don't see the irregular outline. Personally though this is no biggy for me and I wouldn't be to bothered if they left it.

(6) I hadn't really missed this, but now that you mention it I do think it should come back in some form. Although it does add to the clutter.

On your other points I have no strong feelings one way or another, they weren't an issue for me but I have a smaller screen.

P.S - Having read through some of the comments above - I also lean in favour of separating the projects from the build queue - as in the picture. I'd actually meant to add that to my "likes" list.

You see the reason it probably doesn't bother me is that I don't see the colony view as a direct photo of the planet from space rather as a digital display I'm looking at as the leader a sort of augmented reality display with graphics overlay (if not all the buildings on our planet are hudge). As a result making the productive and activley usable areas of the planet full color and fading the rest to grey makes sense. It also shows me graphicly how little or much of my planet is open for active use at the moment.

For this reason it doesn't impact immersion for me.

off-topic

I didnt have time to see and Judge the img to detail but i think its great to see the amount of reactions and contra opinions here.

The layout is mostly look and feel. Personaly im more intrested in the general gameplay.

on-topic

ofcourse i did have a sneakpeak.

1: if this layout stays does this mean a planet can have up to 2 traits max? and the homeplanet 1 besides being home planet?

2: whats the point of the multiple production icons from large to small? its just visual waste

3: I still am hoping for better, more fancy buildings. would love a more natural build where neighbouring structures blend in - fade over

4: drop the hex edges. make the map fit the screen.  ony put in the hex for usable/ researchable tiles

5: build que missing a 'total' counter for when everything wil be finished and/ or after how many turns each wil be done  (small counter on each icon will do fine)

6: please define the 'old' filter vs the other options

spontaniouse idea

7: make building available via drag and drop. that makes it les clicking and easier to manage

8: make projects and strucures have set windows both scrollable individualy. with collapse and expand option? aspecially when a colony is 'finished' i dont like having to scroll down to the projects

9: put in a 'upgrade' button (pending on how you solve the auto-upgrade issues mentioned in other topics wich i hope will be in the settings options) When active we simply single click the tiles we want to upgrade. Better yet make it a du button. one as described  second 'upgrade all'.