Matrix Games Forums

I have been thinking a bit about the information we actually need on the UI. And I think the current display way (current, change) could work - if we just had 3 more pieces of information.

This information can only be gathered during economic processing, but gathering it should be trivial. Indeed I think 1 boolean value for each of the 3 is enough.

The 3 pieces of information we need are:
If storage hit 0 during Economics processing
The way the Economic process runs, we can be hitting 0 - wich means a serious inability to supply parts - without seeing that next turn.

If I have 200 in Storage, Produce 200 but need 400, then I end up with 200. And the change will read +/-0. I do not even know that I am 200 short of the production target.
That simple information that I "hit Zero" is worth a ton

If I hit storage maximum, but could still sell
For some reasource it does not mater if I hit storage maximum and sold the excess. Water on any rainy planet, for example.
But there are plenty of limited resources where it does mater. Fuel I can sell, but usually do not want to sell. This is a resource I do not want to dig up to much off.

If I hit the storage maximum, but could not sell
Basically the information taht stuff was "lost due to storage cap" rather then "sold to Zone traders".

For a full overview, we propably need a lot more values:
- Current storage
- Last turns storage (the previous current)
- Value after Consumption
- Value after Production
- Predicted Consumption for next turn (ignore Logistics and Worker shortages for that. Just give me a proper information of what is needed).

But for the main UI, the current, the change + those 3 pieces of information mater.

+1 Commenting for support.

I agree. I would also like to see a consolidated resource balance. Each zone has some stocks of its own, and the SHQ doesn't show the mutations there. Per zone you can see a balance and mutations, but then you have to mentally accumulate that when cycling through your zones.

Your first point can usually be detected by glancing the Asset Management screen - with its extension - looking for yellow and red numbers. That is where there is pain. With a consolidated version of that screen (the sum of all zones) you could better judge your position in a certain resource, because now you don't see reassuring production numbers in your SHQ panel when depleted stocks everywhere are being replenished. That is, I find it hard to judge when I have adequately repaired an existing production deficit.

With overflowing storage, your SHQ commander should automatically try to sell the excess. He can do that, because I have seen cases where he sold stuff to pay for wages when there was no more cash.

This doesn't solve everything, but it is a little helpful: