what the hell?

[Wicky]

how would any human entity take some years to understand this picture??

[lordxorn]

See the icon of a galaxy next to the planet?

That is a map of the galaxy that allows you to filter information, the main screen your screenshot references is just that a main screen. I mainly use sector view to get a better picture.

The triangles are military ships,
circles are civilians
the blue shaded area are active sensors
the dotted lines are trade routes

[Kamonrius]

Its not hard to understand? your empire is surrounded on all sides by smaller empires,, you trade extensively with the with the empire that seemingly holds you in the cusps of its hands(the same one that literally dominates half the Galaxy) and the more distant northern and southern empires.

[Tree Dog]

Also, what the hell ?
Pirates everywhere ?
Just go and destroy their damn base.

[Wicky]

Well, your responses didn't make me anymore clever. I thought that with millions of credits spent, I could expect an official report on the status of my galaxy.
(not just an icon thousands of pixels east and north of the Sy Myrth Expanse)

[Gertjan]

Interesting game you have going here. Good luck! How many colonies do you have? What's your ranking?

[ASHBERY76]

Zoom in.

[Wicky]

ORIGINAL: Gertjan

Interesting game you have going here. Good luck! How many colonies do you have? What's your ranking?

Eh well I played 8 games so far. The first 7 ones I just lost for some reason. Then I put ALL autmation OFF.
Right now I'm advancing on the 8th rapidly, but not so well as I thought. There are the Slukan Empire, who have always been 1st. I'm number 2 in a galaxy of 20+ alien races.
I really lost immersion when my empire grew more and more. At the time of the screenshot I had already turned everything into full automation, except diplomacy and ship construction. Yep, my primary goal was to decide which ships I construct myself (not a single excort/frigate, just destroyers! What the hell am I going to do with 120 size escorts anway? At the moment I have scrapped all destroyers and ordered 40 cruisers and plan to engage in a war against Slukan.)
So I posted this screenshot when I stopped playing. This is all too much for me! I just decide whom to wage war on and build the military ships myself?? What else can I do? Imho the AI should support me instead of taking all decisions away from me. The AI should be my friend, not my enemy, not like disable the AI for everything just to get things done right.

[FirstPappy]

All we need is the flt#, heading and altitude next to all those and it would like like the Northeast TRACON. [:D]

[Wicky]

I'd suggest that at different zoom levels information is represented accordingly to it's importance:

1) Close zoom: Freighters, military ships, colony etc.
Zoom out-
2) Trade routes, military power, resource importance
Zoom out even more-
3) Trade ports, scan range, fleets
Zoom to galaxy map-
4) Race territory, unique planets, diplomacy chart relations like trade allys, enemys, wars..

Do I really need to see 1700 freighters scattered over the map when I'm zoomed out at galaxy level? No, I only want information which is important...

[Grotius]

Gee, I think it's kinda cool-looking. As someone said, the galaxy button lets you filter stuff, no?

[ASHBERY76]

Another new feature could be to turn of different icons on the main map.Freighters are the main reason for clutter.

[lordxorn]

Like I said open up the Galaxy Map Icon and you will be amazed.

[rickbdotcom]

Just play with 100 stars and no automation. Trust me, it's much more fun that way.

[JonathanStrange]

Presented like that, the map does appear overwhelming. I've seen, however, other views more manageable and no doubt by now, so have you. I do think if one automates too much or too little - and that would vary by preference - I can easily see one losing the thread of "the story".

[Wade1000]

I think it's beautiful. It's a grand map full of strategic choices to be made. Pause and contemplate in detail. Superb. I do suggest a filter of various assets...especially the freighters and other civilian ships.

[Mestor]

ORIGINAL: lordxorn

Like I said open up the Galaxy Map Icon and you will be amazed.

The trouble I have with the galaxy map screen is that on my laptops native resolution it is way too small to be very useful. If those filters existed on the main screen it would be very beneficial.

[Flaviusx]

My Quameno game looks like that. 120 colonies...getting real hard to keep up my free trade pacts with the little powers as I spread over the galaxy like a disease...
 
 
 
 
 
 

[taltamir]

how would any human entity take some years to understand this picture??

... is there a question in there?
did you mean to say "how would any human entity could understand this mess, it could take years to understand this picture?" (because this seems to be the interpretations other have given to what you said).
or did you mean to say "how could anyone be so silly as to waste years analyzing and understanding every tiny nuance of this picture" (this is what you actually said, but it doesn't make sense to make such a statement unless you are specifically making fun of someone who said the first interpretation).

If you meant that you do not understand it:
right side up triangle is a military ship
circle is a civilian ship
triangle pointing down is a fleet composed of multiple military ships.
A 'halo' around a star (empty circle) shows it is colonized.
each of those is color coded to the faction who owns them.

[drillerman]

Well I think it looks fantastic!!!!!!! You are right it looks soooooo complicated but I have a lot of fun trying to understand it!!!