Matrix Games Forums

Councils are a important part of the game taht we see a lot of, so I had some ideas for Improovements:

1. The Add Council choice, should tell us what the council will do:
- wich feature (Model Discovery, Model Design) it unlocks
- at least how many, but ideally wich precise Strategems - including those unlocked via the Profile - this Council would generate. It would really get more people to use the Interior and Secret Service Council, if they realized just how much of their Profile power is behind it. Also, it would give the Staff Council a boost.
It is especially bad for councils without unlockable Strategems, as those will not even be on the radar of msot players (poor Foreign office).

2. All Budget items that are about Generating Strtegems should say so. With "Taxation", "Tariffs" and "Human Resource" I am thinking of passive bonuses, not Strategems! And with teh Foreign Council I asumed those were bonuses to rolls I was giving out, not Strategem Draw chances.
Also a list of wich precise stratgems each group had would help.

3. National Budget should show us the Leader of the council, so we know who we can upset with slashing their budget...

4. It would be nice if we could somehow include leaders that are already employed into the considerations for some councils. Something like a toggle. Maybe a way to earmark some guys for "this guy should go to Diplomacy Council, if I get one" or "this one should go into a Brigade, when I get one".
Or just a toggle "include already Employed leaders."
I prefer the earmarking, as that means I do not have to remember everyones skills.

5. It would be nice if cards that a "Normally played by Council X" would get a bonus when played by the right council. It would help if we knew just being in the Diplomatic Council would train the Council Leaders diplomacy, but this would give a imemdaite effect to have a guy(council dedicate to one job.
Make sure it is framed as a bonus, however. Even with the same numbers, that is somehow more palatable for the players

6. Some Councils have 4, rather then 2 Tasks. That is a issue, as during the National Budget I have to remind myself they need a "double share" because they split their stuff further.
Of course it might be best to just split the offending councils into 2 with 2 tasks each and/or integrate some council functions (particulary research).

7. The National budget needs a "equalize spending" button. Also keep in mind the part where some things need a "double share".

8. Some Council Budget Items, will transfer their BP another item if htey got nothing to do (like Discovery switching to Research or vice versa, if nothing is there to do for them). Please make sure they all have such a fallback and that they properly say they got this fallback, both in the report and during the budget assignment.

9. Apparently there is a cap on how much BP you can spend effectively on 1 Task (100 BP, I think). Consider a warning if a budget setting would put stuff over that.
Also a information if some task receives bonus points would be nice.

Addition to 1/usefull information during Council creation:
the highest suiteability for this council:
- in the entire leader pool
- the reserve pool only
Ideally that should be name and suitability in a clickable format. Kinda just a copy of the "non-Seleteced Leaders" thing when picking the council leader.

Leader Selection should in general include the capability. A unsuiteable person with a high capacity can still become very good. It is the difference between "current skills" and "skill potential".

Speaking of it, let us go over leader selection a bit. [:)]
Once you hit ~10 Leaders, it really becomes impossible to remember who you wanted where. Both picking the best leader for new councils, and making sure your councils do not miss out on a better leader. I can think of a few ways to improove it:

1. The human Information way:
There is a lot of information in the leaders, but it does come down to one thing really: Job Suiteability.
Right now I can only see a leader suiteability for their current job. And if they are in the reserve pool, for job in question. What I would want, is their suiteability for any specific job, ideally on Leader Management list:
What if there was a toggleable column for every job suiteability? I want to know who the best leader for the Staff Council is? I enable "Staff Council Suiteability" and sort by it. Done.
And if the top one is not the person in the job right now, I can quckly figure out if I want to fire and replace that person.

Altenatively or in addition, there may be some ways to automate this:
2. Include non-Reserve Pool members in Leader selection. A varaition of the previous Nr. 4 with more details.
This little change would - by default - include all Leaders already in a job as part of the leader candidates.
If you pick he person, he is directly transfering jobs. No Relieving, promising of a new job or the like - just a straight on transfer*.
If you do not want him, the option is not dismiss - but the cost free "keep in place"*.

*You can variate based on relative job prestige. People might dislike be pulled down or be rejected for a better job

3. Regular "is it is till the best?" checks.
Just because the leader was the most suiteable back in the old days, does not mean he is sitll best suited 20 turns later. Especially with recruitment or even other leaders leaving their jobs, who might be best for a job can change.
So every 20 turns or so, there will be a decision that is very similar to the original leader selection:
I get the current leader and all possible leaders that could replace him (and their job suiteability).
If I want to keep the leader, I just confirm him/her.
If not, I can hire the new guy right there and throw the current one out.

Please give us Stats with the rating:
It is a nice information that the Technical/Command/Interpersonal Rating shows us a leaders current skill. But without knowing the stat that is based on, we have no way to put it into context.
Right now a character with 100 Stat, 0 Skill will be counted as 0.
While one with 20 Stat, 5 Skill will be counted as 10.
Despite the first one propably being better 100% of the times, even with a worse capacity.

Please show us the stat (including any group wide bonuses like "+10 to all Charisma Rolls") in brackets, right next to the Ratings.