Brain.....hurts

Khan Singh · March 20, 2001, 15:09

Ok, I've played Empires in Arms---all the way through. I've played Scorched Earth through mid 1942. I've even tried to play Second Front. Monster games don't scare me.

But EU....oh man. The game is huge, complicated, multilayed and a complete ergonomic nightmare. And there is no information filtering at all. I'm playing Sweden in the Northern War and the game sends me pop-up messages about pirates in the Molucca Strait. I don't even know where the Molucca Strait is, but I know it isn't in the Baltic. I get ten messages like that every week in a game that can last 500 years!

Just to get rid of the pop-ups I need one hand for the left side of the keyboard, one for the right side and one for the mouse. Oh, and did I mention that some idiot decided to use the '+' and '-' buttons for both the map and time controls. So i have to hit the control button to speed up or slow down time, which I need to do a lot?

Somebody please tell me this game gets easier to play. Or that it's worth the effort. I like the map. I like the historical context. I like the sheer scale. But the micromanagement is just insane and the interface gives you no help at all. Should I expend the effort to learn this game or just return it?

[This message has been edited by Khan Singh (edited March 20, 2001).]

Allemand · March 20, 2001, 16:36

If you return it, you'll have to admit you failed. In a week it should be much easier.

You can turn off the pirate notification messages by going into the options/messaging menu and turning off the pop-up option for those. Then the messages will just appear in the log. Sweden probably won't need to know about pirates, anyhow, so if you miss seeing them in the log it's no big deal. I agree, there can be too many pop-up messages and I only ask for the ones I think are important.

Victor Galis · March 20, 2001, 17:43

Yeah, right click on message boxes, you will get options like: Display in log, display in box, pause game... etc. You can turn off notification. I personally see no reason to slow or speed up time. You can always pause to do what you're doing with the Pause button.

Zkribbler · March 22, 2001, 01:17

quote:

I don't even know where the Molucca Strait is

Near Singapore, just a little southeast of Sweden.