Hey guys, thanks for making the second part of the lovely ES series!

I really wanted to ask if there are any planned interface improvements for battle screens?

- Let's skip to action

I find myself clicking "Skip to action" every single time, perhaps this means that the initial fleets positioning animation is ways too long and boring. 

An option to have this always on would be nice

- What is going on with my ships?

I find myself clicking display of ships HP data every single time.

Because in ES1 we had this awesome statistic overview on the bottom fo the screen where we could see the ships health and how it changes over the phases.

So, uh, an option to have this always on would also be nice.

- What battle phase is this?

I find myself wondering what battle phase I am in right now.

Again, in ES1 we had this clear notification when phases go from Long to Medium into Melee.

An option to have the battle phase displays would be cool.

Thanks in advance if anything of this makes into the game at some point.

Cheers!

Asuzu wrote:

Hey guys, thanks for making the second part of the lovely ES series!

I really wanted to ask if there are any planned interface improvements for battle screens?

- Let's skip to action

I find myself clicking "Skip to action" every single time, perhaps this means that the initial fleets positioning animation is ways too long and boring. 

An option to have this always on would be nice

Yes.

- What is going on with my ships?

I find myself clicking display of ships HP data every single time.

Because in ES1 we had this awesome statistic overview on the bottom fo the screen where we could see the ships health and how it changes over the phases.

So, uh, an option to have this always on would also be nice.

Also yes.

- What battle phase is this?

I find myself wondering what battle phase I am in right now.

Again, in ES1 we had this clear notification when phases go from Long to Medium into Melee.

An option to have the battle phase displays would be cool.

Thanks in advance if anything of this makes into the game at some point.

Cheers!

If I'm not mistaken, there aren't actual phases anymore (Someone with access to the XMLs feel free to correct me though). The ships simply start far away and may or may not get closer as the battle goes on. There are ranges to the weapons, but the actual phases I believe are gone now.

All good points OP.  +1 to them.

I'll add a few more ;)

#1 - The overall pace and speed of combat is just too slow and plodding. 

• It isn't really exciting in the least.  The pre-combat fly-by's could be just a 2-4 second dramatic entry sequence for each side - not the much longer ships flying alone in space thing we have now.  
• Likewise, the combat rounds themselves (I still think combat is processed over three phases/rounds) need to be a lot more dramatic IMHO to be interesting. As part of revising the combat, I'd consider shortening the overall engagement distances, the amount of visual maneuvering ships make, and most importantly the volume of shots and special effect impact.  Each combat phase could be about 10 seconds long max - have it the pace be much faster.  
• You could add controls (if feasible) to speed up or slow down the pace of animation.

mezmorki wrote:

• You could add controls (if feasible) to speed up or slow down the pace of animation.

You can already speed up / slow down the pace of animation during combats using the + / - keys on your numpad

Julot wrote:

mezmorki wrote:

• You could add controls (if feasible) to speed up or slow down the pace of animation.

You can already speed up / slow down the pace of animation during combats using the + / - keys on your numpad

There are also + /- controls over the circle in the inferior part of the screen that allow you to do this with your mouse.

Shows what I know!  Thanks ;)