Given that I'm two for two so far I figured I'd toss out something else!
Management, management, management.
Playing Galactic Civilizations 2 I can attest to the fact that it got big and it got big fast. Especially on those particularly large maps. So I guess the question then becomes, both as a player and certainly for the developers: How do we make that information easy to manage? I've come up with something that seems to look good in my head.
One common tool is the ability to have a list of colonies that you can sort by their production in various fields. Like listing your colonies in order of Research output from most to least. Except this only re-ordered what was already a massive list of planets. Didn't make the list any less massive.
This takes us to an example problem I always had: Remembering how I wanted to specialize my colonies. In Galactic Civilizations there was always a pleasure in knowing that each world was unique, as opposed to cookie-cutter worlds. Except it wasn't easy to remember who was what. I could specialize my colonies and get them producing more of one thing than any other and then forget which did what. In a single session, or back-to-back sessions, this isn't and wasn't a problem. When you come back to a game after 48 hours? 72 hours? A week?
Things get a little harder to recall.
So what about this.
How about a page in Colony Management, likely much easier to add than many other things I've brought up, that allows you to split your colonies into three lists: Worlds that are producing more research than anything else on that world, worlds that are producing more manufacturing than anything else on that world, and worlds that are producing more commerce than anything else on that world.
Suddenly I don't need to name my planets "Industrial World 3" or "Research World 2" or "Commerce World 11". I have a list. And then I can sort that list by other things. What if I want to see which of my Commerce Worlds are producing the most Research or Manufacturing: Maybe I'm looking to repurpose one or specialize one even further? All valuable information for tasks I undertake regularly in games, especially if something unexpected happens (like one of my prime Industrial Worlds being lost, leaving me wanting for more).
I feel as though this gives the option to scale Galactic Civilizations really well. It gives you a new, intuitive, and less overwhelming way to manage your colonies and remember what does what without sacrificing the names of the stars and worlds that we ourselves--the Elite Founders--now get to contribute to.
At the same time, we all know how addicted this franchise is to scale (but so are we that's why we love it!) and how important it is that it scales well. That it stays fun.
I have to say that my biggest complaint about the previous title was the horrendous, horrendous user interface.
This would go a long way to fixing that.
The question is: Does anyone else here think that'd be a good addition? Or maybe they have their own UI additions or changes to put forth?
