{The List} General User Interface

[Frozzy]

This post is an entire fill in. Will be done tommorow (I hope)

[Kuciwalker]

Get rid of the end-turn button (or AT LEAST make it pop up a confirmation). It's too easy to hit, and it's not like pressing enter is all that difficult.

[Frozzy]

Make a drop-down menu like in CtP. (basically above the minimap there was a button. Click on it and a menu appears. Click on the same button and it minimises. Saves space

[Trifna]

Or, instead, it could maybe be arrange with a little animation taking half a second, after which you need to click again. In the later days, it could be one of these emergency buttons protected by a cover than you must lift.

Maybe that in the Middle Ages it would be a full helmet (engraved "end turn" on it) with the button as a scroll (written "end turn") once you lift the "nose" of the helmet

[Frozzy]

Annoying...

[Fosse]

Just having the end turn button not so close to all of those other buttons solves the problem. No thirty second pauses, no popups... Yuck.

Remember the dozens of information screens you could get in SMAC? Let's make that the minimum amount of information at our fingertips in Civ 4. And get those advisors off of the screens: they "cartoon" the place up without actually providing anything, especially advice.

[wrylachlan]

Have a little box in the corners, top +bottom + and sides that contains more detailed information about the tiles surrounding your current unit.

These info boxes would be context sensitive:
If your current unit is a settler, the box could display the total potential shields, commerce, food if you settle there.

If your current unit is a military unit, it would give you a rough idea of your chances versus an enemy unit in that tile. The assessment could be based on your level of intelligence, the better your intelligence, the more accurate the assessment.

Also included could be:
Movement cost
Defense bonus
Any special info like "Quicksand - takes away1 hp from your unit"

[DarkCloud]

Basically, have sidebars and topbars instead of CTP's bottom bars... those were hard to access and since most games have sidebars- people are used to them.

[wrylachlan]

Originally posted by DarkCloud
Basically, have sidebars and topbars instead of CTP's bottom bars... those were hard to access and since most games have sidebars- people are used to them.

Um no... that's not quite what I was saying. I was talking about 8 boxes, one at each of the compass directions.

[DarkCloud]

I think you misunderstood me- I was merely making my suggestion independent of yours

As for your idea; I only partially support it- we don't want to clutter the screen. Basically I would like to perhaps see a little box on the right side stating the Unit data and the terrain data but I don't think we need hundreds of windows.

[wrylachlan]

I'm also against a lot of windows, but at the same time I would like more information easily available, and in an easy to understand (preferably graph) representation...

What about semi-transparent overlays that you could toggle between Military, Economic, etc. and off?

The military overlay would look like a speach bubble eminating out from any tile surrounding your unit that has an enemy unit. That Bubble would contain basic info like the breakdown of Foot vs. Horse vs. Artillery and what your chances are of taking the tile if you attacked. This would also allow your military advisor to have a little more personality - if you have multiple targets, the one your military advisor thinks is the best move could contain a comment like "The enemy is weak, strike here!"

An economic overlay might show potential output of tiles. It could also show proposed roads or other improvements that the economic advisor thinks you should build - maybe with a speach bubble from the most important one with an advisor comment.

Switching between Overlays would be as simple as clicking a button next to the Advisor head - maybe a graphic of the advisor studying a map...

[hexagonian]

Either set up the City Screen so it does not block out the MainMap (with a series of tabbed bars) or...

The overview map on the City Screen should actually be the working map that's in Mainmap screen, rather than a static map, so you can scroll to borders to see unit deployment while you purchase.

City Worker placement on tiles within your city radius can be handled on a small inset map

[DarkCloud]

Toggleable semi-transparent overlays might just work.

As long as the player could turn off the blasted things in the Options section and it was made VERY clear that the player could do so... Highlighted information about each unit could be very useful to some players. But generally, all that's really needed is a list of how many stacked units are in a pile and their health bars (for more advanced casual players)

[Shogun Gunner]

I would like to have a little bit more control over the zoom feature of Civ. In MP games, this is really bad...where the game focuses you on one area to show you something, but zips away so fast before you can really see what's happening.

Conversely, the MP game is good that if you are playing turn-based, you can click on your cities, advisors, etc. even if you have finished your turn. That's useful to organize thoughts, strategies, etc.

I hate just sitting there in SP games with the computer cheating, I mean thinking, about it's turn. You can't do anything but sit! I read a magazine usually. Sometimes I try to browse Poly in a very small window, but I hate missing things on the screen.

[DarkCloud]

I would like to have a little bit more control over the zoom feature of Civ. In MP games, this is really bad...where the game focuses you on one area to show you something, but zips away so fast before you can really see what's happening.

Maybe a 'Pause' hotkey that pauses the game for 5 seconds at a time?

I hate just sitting there in SP games with the computer cheating, I mean thinking, about it's turn. You can't do anything but sit! I read a magazine usually. Sometimes I try to browse Poly in a very small window, but I hate missing things on the screen.

that's probably because of the increased # of civs in Civ III, things like that rarely happened in civ II... especially since you could turn off viewing enemy moves (I think...)

[Agathon]

The interface of the Civ series has been quite poor.

Surprise surprise I favour a menu at the top of the screen (just like the Macintosh Menubar) which contains tabs to flip between screens. Having these at the edge of the screen makes for easier capture.

Other than that menubar (which has the date and other info on the right of the menubar, where the Mac's clock used to be before the advent of the users menu) there should be no clutter at all in the main game view. Right clicking on a unit or city should bring up a contextual menu with access to most used commands.

Those stupid buttons should go. No one uses them and they can easily be replaced by contextual menus and the keyboard.

There simply isn't any real need to clutter up the game screen. And the menubar and other items should be a slightly mottled beige - no flourishes or anything else. Form should follow function.

[DarkCloud]

I agree with having a backgroundish-interface so that the player can see and use the buttons easily.

I also hope that the interface uses a lot of text. I would rather not memorize 50 little symbols... but if symbols can't be avoided, then the interface should have highlightable overlays that ALWAYS (unless turned off) tell the player what a button does.

[marcthornton]

Too eliminate some late game micromanagement why is there not a way to select multiple workers or military personnel and give them the same orders. i.e. all 10 of you go to the North-East end of the continent.

It's kind of like an Army but no defensive benefit. I don't think it should tie to game logic, just beats micromanagement.

Unles of course you want the ability to train a worker into a militray leader for a small bonus, no where near the bonus of a Leader. I just don't want to make this totally an Army game.

marc.

[Q Classic]

i miss a menu-driven interface. i dislike the current civ3 interface because you have to root around the manual and quickstart sheets to find the shortcut keys; then you have to memorize them. you also have all those annoying task buttons at the bottom: irrigate, road, all of that? it gets in the way of my seeing the map. i'd like to see those disappear.

bring back the minimal interface of civ1 or civ2. just the map, the minimap, and the info window. stick everything else into menus, be they rightclick or at the top.

[Shogun Gunner]

Originally posted by marcthornton
Too eliminate some late game micromanagement why is there not a way to select multiple workers or military personnel and give them the same orders. i.e. all 10 of you go to the North-East end of the continent.

It's kind of like an Army but no defensive benefit. I don't think it should tie to game logic, just beats micromanagement.

This is already part of the game. You can select a group of nonsimiliar units or only one type of units (archers for example) and send them to the exact tile you specify.

[Jamski]

What I'd REALLY like to see is an integrated e-mail client, for sending and getting PBEM turns only. Simple to do, you open the game, the turn is there, you end it and press send, and it sends it from your own e-mail account. It could even store a small address list.

-Jam

[Shogun Gunner]

Originally posted by Jamski
What I'd REALLY like to see is an integrated e-mail client, for sending and getting PBEM turns only. Simple to do, you open the game, the turn is there, you end it and press send, and it sends it from your own e-mail account. It could even store a small address list.

-Jam

This idea makes so much sense that I will be deeply disappointed if I don't see it in Civ4.

[hexagonian]

Originally posted by Shogun Gunner
This is already part of the game. You can select a group of nonsimiliar units or only one type of units (archers for example) and send them to the exact tile you specify.

But say you have the following units in a single stack...
- 20 Infantry
- 20 Tanks
- 10 Arty

Can I easily subgroup the units in that stack for future movement purposes and keep them on the same tile into the following setup...

Army 1
- 10 Tanks
- 10 Infantry

Army 2
- 10 Tanks
- 5 Infantry
- 5 Arty

Army 3
- 5 Infantry
- 5 Arty

...or is it that I can only send that full stack 20 Inf/20 Tanks/10 Arty to a particular destination with one click? This is not a huge improvement over earlier unit movement options in civ3 (mass moving the same unit type) because sub-dividing your stacks based on need is still a huge chore.

Let's just put it this way - I want the ability to maintain subgrouped stacks of units on a single tile, since as it stands now, there is no limit on the number of units on a tile which makes keeping your units in big stacks as the preferred strategy.

[Kramsib]

FROM THE SPANISH COMMUNITY LIST

19. More info in the advisors’ windows. The domestic or the commercial advisor could show info about the costs per city or per kind of building, which civ we are reciving money from, which civ we are sending money, …
20. Use continuous percentages instead of intervals of tens in the tax / luxuries slide.
21. Include an indicator of the quantity of gold accumulated and the gold left to get an advance.
22. Include more leaderheads per civ, wonder movies and animations for conquest of cities, victories, civil disorders, “we love the leader days”, advisors, …

23. Allow to edit EVENTS for a game or scenario.
24. Allow the editor to modify savegames / use savegames to create scenarios.

[ardwick]

One idea I have in the user interface that I'd like to see is a production screen where you can pick one thing to build and then check of which cities you'd like to have build that unit or building. It would be much easier to do this than to have to cycle through all the cities and switch them from Wealth to the unit/building. Also it would be a little bit more robust during a mobilization attempt. Suppose you need 50 tanks real quick. Just go to the screen, pick tank and then click a checkbox for each city you want to switch production to the tank. Would be much easier and quicker to do this.

Also, on this screen, it would be nice to have an option to rush each job as well. Perhaps an interface like this:

***Drop down unit/building list***

CITY CURRENT PROJECT RUSH COST (for new unit)

[ ] Washington Research Lab O Rush 260 gold
[ ] New York Wealth O Rush 260 gold
[ ] Boston Nuclear Plant O Rush 260 gold
[ ] Cleveland Wealth O Rush 260 gold

[Naokaukodem]

Map and radar map better zoom features.

The main map should have
- several zoom levels (2 is good, but is already implemented )
- net and playable representations (civ3 large view is ugly, and what about to auto round-circle every unit when on this view).
I use civ3 large view mainly for bombing missions and naval moves. But i guess that a "order/all units/of the same type" serious feature could replace the zoom for the first one.

The radar map use is to access quickly too far units without having to scroll the map. The scrolling can always be improved, but a radar map auto zoom feature could adjust the radar map to include every points troops of one civilization would be deployed, no less, no more.

[Bleyn]

One very simple interface change I'd like to see is the unit current hit point/total hit point numbers shown in the same info box that displays their stats and movment points. Even with the standard game(and no mods) it can occasionally be hard to properly read exactly how many hits a unit has without accessing the right-click menu.

One other major change I'd like is on the diplo screens. They should go back to the Civ2 style mostly text screens. When you are playing a standard or small game with eight or less civs, the Civ3 diplo screen with the pretty pictures and all the lines works ok. But when your in a huge game with as many civs as you can cram in there, it just sucks. Its one of those cases where a simple text screen gives you the needed info about empire relations better than any amount of pictures.

[grap1705]

- the isometric mapping is justified so as to fit in a standard 4/3 screen with about as much squares vertically as horizontally. This isometry gives the impression of moving faster and further horizontally than vertically, when in fact it's the same. May be we could consider a non isometric map (don't know if it would be ugly or not, but shouldn't be too different), with normal squares or hexes, and use the available space on the side for an integrated command/information zone with all the relevant command knobs and information on unnits, terrain, etc... But don't cancel command knobs, I don't want to learn by heart all the keybord shorcuts for all the various situations and actions.

- include more zoom levels so that we can get more height and get a more global view of a given area.

- diplomacy dispatch is OK for 8 civs but sucks as soon as you go above that. Why not just mkae those bumheads smaller and have much more civs around the UN round table? Of course, there'll always be a limit, but might be 25 instead of 8, and that would already be a significant progress.
But an alternative presentation when there are more civs is welcome for those of us who have very mighty computers and like playing with a huge number of opponents or partners...

- In diplomatic negotiations, in order to adjust money amounts, it would be better to be able to have real time advice while clicking on arrows to increase or decrease the amount rather than have to enter an amount, see the advice, cancel it and enter a new one, and again and again until we find the point of equilibrium.

- the city listing appearing in the diplomatic negotiation screen should have some kind of order: either alphabetic or by size, or ideally according to our choice. As it is, it is a mess and a bother when searching for a given city to give away in a list of 50 or 60.

- When we activate the displaying of the grid, it would be quite handy that this also triggers displaying the 21 square zone of the cities. And settlers should also have as surrounding zone, the 21 squares, and not this completely useless mixture of 8 surrounding square and border extension to neighboring cities. Implanting cities requires optimizing land allocation, and the present display features are of no help in making this easy to see at a glance.

[Max Sinister]

Yes, the isometric mapping was a problem in Civ2... on the map of europe f.e. the biggest distance from N to S in France was more than 1.5 times bigger than the biggest W-E distance, while in reality they're about equal. I made an improved map of europe which you can find @ http://www.sinister.de/rest/civ2/europa.zip .
At the first glance, the W-E distances look a bit too big, but they're realistic.

[Tassadar500]

Frozzy, shouldn't you be finishing this up?