UI Comments - Questions

[jreid]

First, looks like a great game! I'm having a lot of fun with the demo. Some UI comments/questions:

1. Upgrading - How do you upgrade individual units? Perhaps add an Upgrade Button to the unit window that appears when you double click on a unit. And/or add a right click menu to the unit list on the left for units that can be upgraded. This menu would contain an Upgrade menu choice. I might have 3units that are eligible to be upgraded, but only have enough money or want to upgrade 1 or 2. I'd like to choose which ones to upgrade (e.g. front line units as opposed to back line sentries).

Also, I have one class 1 infantry that I can't seem to upgrade.

2. Orders List - Add an orders list to the unit window. The map shows a unit's orders, but it's not always clear when there is a lot of stuff on the map. I'd like to make sure that my infantry, for example, is going to disembark from a transport and then march to a resource and then march to a city.

3. Allow production, research, national sumary, unit, etc. windows to expand in the same way that the Tech tree window expands.

4. Add a city tab to the National Summary window, displaying various info, including current production order and next production order. Double click on the city name to display the city production window. I sometimes have trouble on the map clicking on a city with units in it. The unit window appears when I want the city window.

5. Add a "Killed" or "Destroyed" column to National Summary - Unit Tab to display enemy units destroyed. I'd like to know how many enemy destroyed vs. how many of my units have been destroyed.

6. How does combat work exactly? Sorry if I missed it in the manual.

[Brit]

1. Upgrading - How do you upgrade individual units? Perhaps add an Upgrade Button to the unit window that appears when you double click on a unit. And/or add a right click menu to the unit list on the left for units that can be upgraded. This menu would contain an Upgrade menu choice. I might have 3units that are eligible to be upgraded, but only have enough money or want to upgrade 1 or 2. I'd like to choose which ones to upgrade (e.g. front line units as opposed to back line sentries).

To upgrade an individual unit, select it and press the [blue up-arrow] that appears just above the map window. It's a few items to the right of the "field orders".

Also, I have one class 1 infantry that I can't seem to upgrade.

Units have to be in a city to upgrade.

2. Orders List - Add an orders list to the unit window. The map shows a unit's orders, but it's not always clear when there is a lot of stuff on the map. I'd like to make sure that my infantry, for example, is going to disembark from a transport and then march to a resource and then march to a city.

You mean a section that gives you a list of the unit's orders when you select it, like:

- Disembark from Transport

- Capture Oil Field

?

3. Allow production, research, national sumary, unit, etc. windows to expand in the same way that the Tech tree window expands.

I'm not quite sure what you mean.

4. Add a city tab to the National Summary window, displaying various info, including current production order and next production order.

A list that looks something like:

City Production Complete

London Infantry (Class 1) Turn 3.0

Paris Artillery (Class 1) Turn 4.0

?

Double click on the city name to display the city production window. I sometimes have trouble on the map clicking on a city with units in it. The unit window appears when I want the city window.

One useful thing might be to single-click or click and drag to select everything in an area. Once it is selected, it will appear in the unit-bar above the map. You can double-click stuff in the unit-bar.

6. How does combat work exactly? Sorry if I missed it in the manual.

All units are categorized into a combat type (aircraft, missile, soft). All units have an attack value against each combat type. All units also have a defense value (which gets augmented by things like terrain, entrenched, etc). So, when two units fight, the numbers might look like this:

Infantry: Attack Vs Tank: 3, Defense: 2, HP: 1

Tank: Attack Vs Infantry: 5, Defense: 4, HP: 2

(These are not the actual combat numbers, btw, just an example.)

Over the course of a turn, we calculate a small time-period of combat. You can think of these attack and defense numbers as numerator and denominator. The Infantry tries to hit the tank using an attack of 3 and a defense of 4 (the tanks defense) = 3/4. Then, the tank attacks back using an attack of 5 and a defense of 2 = 5/2. Those numbers determine the odds of a hit within a turn. If a hit happens, then the unit being hit loses a HP. If both units have high defense values and low attack values, then combat can last several turns with no hits on either side.

[ChrisND]

I'm not quite sure what you mean.

I believe he is referring to how you can drag/expand the tech tree window to make it larger by dragging from the corner.

[jreid]

Thanks for the answers.

You mean a section that gives you a list of the unit's orders when you select it, like:

- Disembark from Transport

- Capture Oil Field

?

Yes, something like that. Move to X,Y, etc. I think the City screen below would be more helpful, though.

I'm not quite sure what you mean.

Maximize the window. For example, the tech tree window has minimize, maximize and close buttons in the upper right of the window.

A list that looks something like:

City Production Complete

London Infantry (Class 1) Turn 3.0

Paris Artillery (Class 1) Turn 4.0

?

Yes, something like (I just use dots here to line up columns):

City.....Production.....Size.....Complete.....Port?.....Factory?.....Barracks? Seaport?

London.Infantry.........12.......3 turns.......Y...........Y...............N...............Y

Paris....Artillery..........10.......4 turns.......N...........N...............N................-

So, I know Paris doesn't have a Factory, so I might want to build one.

Paris isn't a port, so I can't build a Seaport.

Sortable columns would eventually be cool. So, I could sort on the Factory column and all of the cities without Factories would be at the top of the list.

You could abbreviate the column names if there are too many buildings to fit.