Galactic Empire Planning Screen

Also, after a bit more of thought in how your idea is based on your last post (you really clarified for me a lot of things there) i just managed to think up on something:

Your idea, actually, is essential to the game. 

Why im saying this? 

Imagine, for example, an Exceptional galaxy size. 12 players, late game, Endless speed. This means there are about 3-2 players alive because most players died during the war that ravaged the galaxy. Now imagine the scene: How would 3-2 players maintain control over their time, having to look at over 100 systems each (i bet there are about 300 systems in Exceptional galaxy size, or something crazy like that) to define which is the best system to colonize, to not colonize, and to contest among other players? 

Excpetional galaxies are simply SO huge and they have so many systems in play that it is nearly impossible to simply "overlook the galaxy" in galaxy view and determine, for sure, wich is the best system for you to take, or contest. Because every time you move your screen a bit further, there is more of the galaxy to observe. More. More. MORE!!!  Its excepetional galaxy size we are talking either way. that is HUGE. So, imagine for example you on late game having to deal whit all that information , of a massive galaxy size that seemingly "never ends" whitout a simple system that whit a single click, you can actually find the best system for you to take whitout even looking at the galaxy itself and having to move the map around? 

Thinking over this angle, i have no choice but to upvote your idea. :D

Velorace wrote:

Imagine, for example, an Exceptional galaxy size. 12 players, late game, Endless speed. 

This is almost exactly the setup I regularly use to play, with 9 players (one for each race), on single player.  Just as you suppose, this can get to be quite a bit of informational overload.  That is precisely the reason I decided to ask those wonderful Devs, who are so helpful *coughbutterupcough*, to implement this tool to make things a bit easier.  Just take a look at my current game, playing as Vaulters, at turn 163 (zoomed almost all the way out I could not fit it all):

Thank you for the upvote!

Thanks for clarifying those points for me.

I just wanted to understand how i could use this new feature you plan implement to improve my experience in the game. I just coulden't understand how a screen whit information about the systems could help me develop my empire, because i thought i was unable to interact whit it and do nothing but stare on it, like Empire Summary, wich is a feature that is present in game that yet im not adapted to use... simply because i can't find a way to implement it in my play style. I only wanted to understand how that different play style could be usefull for me, because we play utilizing two different methods, and i wanted to understand how your method is about. But for example, i still dont understand what is the use of Empire Summary, because i can't find a utility for it yet... a way to use it. And that is what i asked you before, how could I utilize your idea in case it is implemented. ... But i think i understand it now.  Thanks for clarifying my questions. :) 

Velorace - Let me simplify some of the reasons why this would be helpful and what you would be doing with it with a few points.

What is it?

I want to try to make this very clear and avoid confusion.  Let me restate what I intend for this, from a GUI standpoint.  This new screen will NOT have the players colonized systems.  This new view will ONLY be systems, which you have discovered, that have no colony or enemy colonies in them.  The current Systems Management screen already shows YOUR colonies and this would not be changed (unless Amplitude wants to add features).  The way the navigation to this would look is similar to the Economy Screen under the Marketplace tab with the Purchasable Items view.

What can you do with it?

The most important feature of this additional screen is the ability to sort and filter information.  This ability would allow you to bring to the top of the list just the type of planet or system you wanted.  For instance, on a new game playing as the Vaulters, one of their prime strengths is not being tied to a single area of the galaxy but being rather decentralized in their geography.  As such, they can go for only those best systems that suit their needs.  So, as a Vaulter, if I was looking for my next system and I wanted to get the system with the most "Large" or "Huge" planets then I would sort first by planet size then group them and sort by largest system size.  The first sort would bring the largest planets to the top of the list and the second sort, while maintaining the first, would bring the systems with the highest number and largest planets to the top of the list.  In just a few clicks I would have the information I needed.

Why does that matter?

To do the simple search I just described above while playing today you have to scroll all around the visible galaxy and remember what you saw while comparing all the rest in your head.  And that is if I only had 2 criteria. Imagine if I wanted to sort by any additional info like resources or anomalies or whether or not the planet is colonizable?  To do that manually you would probably have to find the best systems first then go back and forth between to compare the two, and that assumes you don't get lost in all the scrolling (huge+ galaxies make this probable).  For your point about time being limited in multiplayer, just remember that fewer clicks and almost no scrolling to get a simple view of the desired information is going to be much faster.  In addition, if you have the ability (button at the end of the row) to automatically send the nearest colonizer (shows number of turns it would take in that column) then you just saved yourself a whole load of steps right there!

When would you use this?

At the start of the game, when you've explored a whole lot and have LOTS of colonization options, wouldn't it be easier to limit down your choices to just a select few with only a few clicks?  On the flip side, toward the end of the game, wouldn't it be nice to know, with just a few clicks, which ones are still available without having to visually scan the whole galaxy while scrolling everywhere?  Or when planning that impending war with.... anyone, how nice would it be to know the juiciest targets for your invasion fleet with just a few clicks of the mouse?

To sum up the reason for this screen in a word:  Simplicity.  Going to a single screen to determine your next target for conquest, expansion, etc. with only a few clicks and almost no memorization or having to think about it would make each turn go that much faster and allow us to do the other fun stuff.  On the other hand, having that much data in front of us would allow us to equally consume our time in planning and creating all sorts of paths to building the greatest empire in the galaxy.

Hope this answers your question.  Thanks for the feedback.

Dageki wrote:

Velorace wrote:

because if you zoom out the systems and look over the galaxy in a wide scale, you can see by the shape and colour of every planet that it is a lava planet, or a barren planet, or a gas planet over there. and because of this feature (you can see planet types before clicking in a system individually) i believe it makes colonizing other systems fairly easy.

To my knowledge, at this time the only way to see some of the information I am looking for (see my idea above for specifics) is by the "Galaxy View" when I am zoomed to "Economy Scan" level at the "highest" point.  

From this level, and closer, you can see the systems, the number of planets, colors of the planets denoting the type, and a size of the planet.  Unless I am much mistaken this is the only way to see some of the raw data what I am looking for but if that is incorrect I would very much appreciate being educated with a screenshot of what you are referring to and how you got there.  As such, if I am correct and this is the view that you are referring to then I am afraid I have to disagree with you that it is "fairly easy" to colonize the next best systems.  I'll explain why in just a bit.

Ok... looking at this picture i understand how chaotic late game might be. When i said that it is fairly easy  to colonize new systems, i thought primarily about my expereince whit early game, and i completely forgotten how late game might be chaotic. Looking at that screen where there are so many systems in play, i believe it might be necessary, at least in some point, to use the Empire Summary , at least, to keep track of all stuff you are planning to do in your empire. 

But still there are some points i can't seem to understand, i think you haven't explained well why it would not be fairly easy to colonize new systems as you said. You just explained that our play styles are different from each other, while i prefer to look into every single system and place the right buildings in it and simply forgot them for a while too. The problem is, i still can't understand why colonizing such systems can be simply so difficult in late game. If you look from above in the galaxy map, you can see basically all systems that are not colonized. and my method of colonizing new systems was just looking at the best systems i could find and simply sending a colonizer fleet into that system to colonize it. That's it. I believe i have more than the necessary information i need to colonize systems efficiently utilizing the current method of the endless space 2 has, but i believe you just managed to take into a point that makes your idea even more interesting... 

Dageki wrote:

Velorace wrote:

because if you zoom out the systems and look over the galaxy in a wide scale, you can see by the shape and colour of every planet that it is a lava planet, or a barren planet, or a gas planet over there. and because of this feature (you can see planet types before clicking in a system individually) i believe it makes colonizing other systems fairly easy.

To my knowledge, at this time the only way to see some of the information I am looking for (see my idea above for specifics) is by the "Galaxy View" when I am zoomed to "Economy Scan" level at the "highest" point.  

From this level, and closer, you can see the systems, the number of planets, colors of the planets denoting the type, and a size of the planet.  Unless I am much mistaken this is the only way to see *some* of the raw data what I am looking for but if that is incorrect I would very much appreciate being educated with a screenshot of what you are referring to and how you got there. 

As you can see, you took your idea by a very interesting aspect. you said that whenever you zoom out galaxy view you can only see *some*  essential information about systems in the galaxy. Then tell me, what is the exact information that that the Galaxy view misses, and that you believe it would be essential to make it clear in a singlesheet?

I believe that, whit this information, it might be possible to understand whit some extra ease in wich points your idea could help to improve the game. 

Dageki wrote:

Velorace wrote:

Also i can't see in wich point having conquest "paths" that could be created or found utilizing this list could have much use for the game. Dont you normally determine conquest paths based on the information you have about the galaxy?

I will concede this point.  It can be fairly easy to look at the enemy empire from the "Galaxy View" to see the best targets using all the information available there.  This particular idea was thrown in as a side note and not the main point so there is nothing lost if my idea is never used for this.

Please, dont concede at those points. I believe that in order to make your idea more unique, and better, you need to find a way to use this information you want to micromanage in your empire in a way you just don't sit and stare upon it. I believe that, if we could use this Galatic Planning screen better, if there where many buttons in it and the purpouse of it is not only filter information, but do something whit it, you might be able to make Galatic Planning Screen different from the empire summary, wich means it would have even more weight for the devs to consider. 

Then i ask you: Instead of creating a Galatic Planning Screen where you just see the information and stare to it and say. Hm. Cool!  whitout being able to do anything, i believe that if you made this information more usefull, by implementing as many tooltips as you can to interact whit all that information while you see it, you can actually make micromanaging into the game far much easier, because you will micromanage your whole empire from a single screen, or at least some key features that deserves your attention elswhere, reunited into a single place. i think that would help to make the game better. And this is why i defend you to create as many different ideas as possible for this galatic planning screen that helps you to interact whit this information you are attempting to present in a more consistent method. 

But even so, even after encouraging you to create more tooltips to interact whit the information of your idea, i can't really seem to understand what is the use of having a galatic planning screen whit the information treated , being specific systems stats in specific. What else do you plan to do whit all that information you are planning to present into the galatic planningf screen? I believe i still haven't got this point... In what you could use that information whit, specifically? 

I believe that, in order to make micromanagement easier, you could also plan to make different screens whit different kinds of information, that are not related to systems in specific, and create a screen where you can interact whit this information and coordenate its uses utilizing different forms of informations that is not related to galatic planning screen. Wich means, you could create another screens which shows different informations and use it to micromanage your empire. What about? :)

Dageki wrote:

Velorace wrote:

i barely use system management and i barely touch that empire screen when playing, unless if i want to know my relation whit other empires regarding my winning conditions. 

This just tells me that your play style is very different from mine.  I use the "Empire Summary" screen all the time.  I tend to be a bit more of a micromanager of my empire.  If I had to guess, you don't play that way and you use the "Policy" section to give your systems their direction then forget about them.  I rarely use that feature and am constantly in that screen seeing where I can send my heroes to boost a system not performing OR to see which of my systems is putting out the most Industry so I know where to build my ships OR to see which planet has the highest science so I can coordinate the right system enhancements OR a myriad of other purposes.

To me, this all just boils down to a difference in how we play.  For those people who don't micromanage as much, this would be just another rarely used window.  For players like myself, this new view would be well wore by use and feel warm and comfortable for all the time spent in it.

Interesting. its good to see you like to use Empire summary screen all the time, and this information about all the systems would help you to feel warm and comfortable. 

The primary reason i dont use those screens (empire summary for example) is because when i am into multiplayer, i have a turn timer always giving constant pressure in me. and i feel a bit forced to make decisions fast, and because of that, i have very few time to hang around in screens like galatic planning screen or empire summary. And i believe that, unless i can actually do something usefull  in those screens, like selecting a upgrade or building i desire, im simply wasting my very important time, because i could be using it to place a building i desire or simply remake my building queues in a pirticular system. 

And thats why i would like to see your idea to have some interesting tooltips to interact whit the information you are attempting to present. because if you did that, you would make your idea different from empire summary, and even make it possible to micromanage your empire better. 

Could you explain me why you use Empire Summary so often? i still haven't found a actual way to use it efficiently. 

Also, i barely knew the existence of Empire Summary until you mentioned it. i had to seek that in the game because... 

What the heck is a empire summary?  i just thought when i first saw your post xD 

dont worry, i answered it myself already. :) 

Dageki wrote:

Velorace wrote:

Isn't that information you request already presented into the game, but in a different form, that is already acessible by all players utilizing a easy method?

i still dont get why having one more list like System Management is necessary for the game.

Could you explain why this list would be necessary for the game?

Now I will explain the difference between that "Galaxy View" and what I have described.  Let's look at some of the main points I made in the original post:

• Single pane view of a whole LOT of information.
• Easily filtered and sorted to:
  • Filter - Only show those planets you want to see
  • Sort - Bring to the top of the list the best or worst available planets
• Provide very detailed information about each planet and system
• Only view those systems and planets that you have not colonized (colonized systems are in the "Empire Summary" screen)

The "Galaxy View" cannot do any of those points.  It certainly can show some of the information I am looking (planet types, size, system resource available) but it does so only when you are scrolling around and so cannot be considered a "single pane" of information.  Additionally that view cannot show helpful details like the default output of each planet, or the amount of special resources and on which planet and so is missing some very helpful information.  Finally, the "Galaxy View" has no way to sort or filter out any of the information it is presenting to you.

I hope this helps in understanding why I made this idea and what it would do for the player-base.

Intersting. But in what point you could use that information specifically? I understand it would bring a lot of extra information in the game and it would be easer to find and understand it. but i'd like to ask on what i could use this information whit. By enabling such information, in which point it could improve the game? 

Velorace wrote:

because if you zoom out the systems and look over the galaxy in a wide scale, you can see by the shape and colour of every planet that it is a lava planet, or a barren planet, or a gas planet over there. and because of this feature (you can see planet types before clicking in a system individually) i believe it makes colonizing other systems fairly easy.

To my knowledge, at this time the only way to see some of the information I am looking for (see my idea above for specifics) is by the "Galaxy View" when I am zoomed to "Economy Scan" level at the "highest" point.  

From this level, and closer, you can see the systems, the number of planets, colors of the planets denoting the type, and a size of the planet.  Unless I am much mistaken this is the only way to see some of the raw data what I am looking for but if that is incorrect I would very much appreciate being educated with a screenshot of what you are referring to and how you got there.  As such, if I am correct and this is the view that you are referring to then I am afraid I have to disagree with you that it is "fairly easy" to colonize the next best systems.  I'll explain why in just a bit.

Velorace wrote:

Also i can't see in wich point having conquest "paths" that could be created or found utilizing this list could have much use for the game. Dont you normally determine conquest paths based on the information you have about the galaxy?

I will concede this point.  It can be fairly easy to look at the enemy empire from the "Galaxy View" to see the best targets using all the information available there.  This particular idea was thrown in as a side note and not the main point so there is nothing lost if my idea is never used for this.

Velorace wrote:

i barely use system management and i barely touch that empire screen when playing, unless if i want to know my relation whit other empires regarding my winning conditions. 

This just tells me that your play style is very different from mine.  I use the "Empire Summary" screen all the time.  I tend to be a bit more of a micromanager of my empire.  If I had to guess, you don't play that way and you use the "Policy" section to give your systems their direction then forget about them.  I rarely use that feature and am constantly in that screen seeing where I can send my heroes to boost a system not performing OR to see which of my systems is putting out the most Industry so I know where to build my ships OR to see which planet has the highest science so I can coordinate the right system enhancements OR a myriad of other purposes.

To me, this all just boils down to a difference in how we play.  For those people who don't micromanage as much, this would be just another rarely used window.  For players like myself, this new view would be well wore by use and feel warm and comfortable for all the time spent in it.

Velorace wrote:

Isn't that information you request already presented into the game, but in a different form, that is already acessible by all players utilizing a easy method?

i still dont get why having one more list like System Management is necessary for the game.

Could you explain why this list would be necessary for the game?

Now I will explain the difference between that "Galaxy View" and what I have described.  Let's look at some of the main points I made in the original post:

• Single pane view of a whole LOT of information.
• Easily filtered and sorted to:
  • Filter - Only show those planets you want to see
  • Sort - Bring to the top of the list the best or worst available planets
• Provide very detailed information about each planet and system
• Only view those systems and planets that you have not colonized (colonized systems are in the "Empire Summary" screen)

The "Galaxy View" cannot do any of those points.  It certainly can show some of the information I am looking (planet types, size, system resource available) but it does so only when you are scrolling around and so cannot be considered a "single pane" of information.  Additionally that view cannot show helpful details like the default output of each planet, or the amount of special resources and on which planet and so is missing some very helpful information.  Finally, the "Galaxy View" has no way to sort or filter out any of the information it is presenting to you.

I hope this helps in understanding why I made this idea and what it would do for the player-base.