So, I'm discovering the game, & I really love it, as much as I expected. And it's a lot !
I tried to write the points where I was a bit lost/had suggestions, to tell Vic where a beginner like me may have some issues, or what "things" could be handy to add/modify. Of course, if there's need to clarify, feel free to ask
And of course, all of this are only suggestions/thoughts !I watched a bit TortugaPower's serie while waiting release, and read the beginning of the manual. After that I launched the game and I'm trying to find in the manual things I don't get while playing.
And sorry if some things may have been said elsewhere !
1. When generating planet, some shadowy points for a beginner :
1.1 - City state start ?
1.2 - Number of "councils" ?
1.3 - What are "epochs" ?
2. In game interrogations/hard at beginning :
2.1 - "LIS points" is a an obscure acronym for beginner, and haven't found it on manual.
2.2 - How to reinforce independant units ?
2.3 - Is there a way to check if a specific "bonus" hexe/asset actually gives the bonus ? (for example "Wagner legion" who gives 300 recruits).
2.4 - I'm having difficulties to take the decisions of repartitions of council task priorities, because for now I don't always remember well which "priority" (& council) is doing what exactly. A tooltip would help.
2.5 - When a unit has lost integrity (= took casualties), how to know what it's lacking ?
2.6 - Replacement of units was a bit obscure at first.
2.7 - Can you "regroup"/fusion two units ?
2.8 - "Advanced" logistics isn't easy to fully grasp, but reading carefully the manual part about it will certainly help.
3. Suggestions/"issues"
3.1 - I don't see well when there is a stack of units on the map when they are only 2 on a hex : a stack of 2 units and a one single unit are graphically too similar with big counters.
3.2 - When a "mission/demand" tells you to protect hex (XX,YY), it would be nice to have a button to press to directly go to it (and eventually to highlight all the target hex ?).
3.3 - When a "mission/demand" asks you to reach amount X of value (like PP), it would be nice to see aside at which value you currently are, even in the REP menu.
3.4 - A pop-up asking to confirm end of turn if there are still decision(s) to take would be welcome
3.5 - Add possibility to speed up battles in "battle screen" (same speed as in advanced tactics ?).
3.6 - Add possibility to manually change color of HQ (like in advanced tactics).
3.7 - In MNG screen, a shortcut to upgrade the selected asset would be very handy. And another shortcut to show/go where the asset is on the map.
3.8 - A visual indication/word indicating if the asset has been set to mothball (or see the %age of production) would be nice (in a comparable way of the number of turn remaining before the end of construction of an asset : you don't have to click on it to have the info, so it would be easier to manage in a glimpse). [I noticed after that on top right of the asset, there is a little colored indicator which shows if the asset is functionning, mothball... but I find it not enough difference of colors between normal/mothball. And it would be nice to be able to filter assets to see only ones in mothball/etc.).
3.9 - More generally, why not permitting to upgrade an asset when you double click on it ? (in the popup of detailed information of this type of asset)
3.10 - On a hex, greyed values who shows an attack already occured, or additional movement costs, should be put over the counters, not under them (currently you have to hide the counters to see the values.. or even if there are some).
3.11 - On STRAT. window, it would be nice to clearly see when there are more than 4 cards (maybe show a glimpse of the next card at right of the 4th ?)
3.12 - On STRAT. window, it would be nice to see two raws of 4 cards instead of only one raw.
3.13 - It is often painful to attach priests etc. to a unit through the stratagem panel. Especially when you have several to attach. Could be nice that when the stratagem card is activated, stratagem window would reduce so that we could see the map to choose the unit.
[I finally found that you can apply a stratagem card to a unit easily !
Simply click on a unit of your choice on the map. On the area where you see its commander and his portray, click on "Strat" : this will enable to apply a Units stratagem card to the unit. Apply the stratagem, and you can immediately click again on the button "Strat" of the unit to choose & apply immediately another stratagem to the same unit ! fb.asp?m=4827839 ]
3.14 - Sometimes workers are leaving, but I don't know why. Afterwards I noticed for workers that it was simply because I haven't enough money to pay them... but it's not said in the tooltip explaining why they are leaving ! (on the map screen)
And for population hapiness (or population leaving), it's same, I still haven't understood why it's dropping so much sometimes !
3.15 - The budget overview is a bit hard to read, it would maybe need some bold text (for the totals ?)/red things (for costs?). And/or a summary table ? With only the total of each "part" ("Sales and income tax", "Public investment", etc... And the whole total of expenses, and revenues, and the net difference) to see everything in a glimpse. It could be nice too to see this summary table when putting mouse over the credits you have in the map screen (and/or that clicking on your amount of credits would lead to the budget overview).
3.16 - I often find hard to distinguish the HQ color on the counters, and to clearly see all the units who belongs to the same HQ when I click on a HQ/unit.
3.17 - I have some "difficulties" when designing models. An indication to show for which kind of unit a new innovation has been researched/is now available (or simply where there is a better tech, still not used in a model) would be helpful.
And when you choose one unit type to make a design, a little reminder of what weapon/armor/engine is used for each of your listed existing models of this type. That would be REALLY helpful. And this reminder of existing models (and "composition") for this unit type (like in the REP->Models Overview) should be accessible anytime while designing the new model. To help compare in a glance, and decide which techs to use.
4. Bugs ?
4.1 - When a unit is selected, if I click on the button "To HQ" to go to the associated HQ of a unit, if I'm at max zoom in level (close to map), it doesn't center well the map on the HQ : this works only at intermediate zoom level
4.2 - When clicking on "save" to save the game, the time it's saving (when I see the windows "loading" cursor), I hear briefly the main sreen music.
4.3 - If I select the unit I would like to target before going in the STRAT menu, it seems I can't execute the cards like "add priest". But if I first go in the STRAT menu and execute one of these cards (= add 1 priest), then I can select the unit and apply effect of the card on it.
4.4 - Sometimes when AI is playing we see briefly its road network while we shouldn't.
[Edit : numerated each point for easier reference, and added several points]
