Lets say you are flying around colonizing planets. Your good cold war neighbors decide to wander over to an outpost of yours and sit a fleet on top of it. A few turns go by and you finally notice they are squatting on your planets, but you don't see anything so you think nothing of it. Another turn goes by and you wonder what is going on. Zoom in one level, then oh... The health bar appears and they are halfway to conquering your little outpost.



I'm hoping the devs are adding visual cues like an invasion to the planets, as that would help.



But why not just keep the health bar to scale with the zoom levels. I understand clearing the clutter when you zoom out, but I'd like something! A turn announcement of an invasion, or a health bar that stays on multiple levels, or little explosions on the planet.



Something more than the planet looking normal when zooming out, then impending doom when zoomed in.

Well, if they kept the bars when you zoom out, like you said the screen would just get very cluttered. I like the way the zoom level work right now, but I think we should at least get a notification of some kind when an enemy fleet starts invading one of your systems.

The stuff becomes invisible *way* too quickly at 1920x1080. I'd at least like an option to make it "cluttered."

I agree I found I stoped zooming out because I don't see any of the necessary game info if I zoom the star map out. why does zooming out lose the influence borders too? Currently I don't find that my planets really work any differently when happy or striking, but if happiness gains a larger affect on gameplay I should have way to see this without leaving the star map.



Another thing I'd like to see is a indaction of moon exploration status, currently there is no easy way to see that a planet's moon has been explored short of going all the way into the planet window. This is a real pain once you have a large empire there needs to be some way to check this outside the planet window. That said it would be cool to be able to do more stuff with moons

AlpsStranger wrote:
The stuff becomes invisible *way* too quickly at 1920x1080. I'd at least like an option to make it "cluttered."

Overall, though, that the makes the game look rather ugly, which is something no dev wants. I've read plenty of review that criticize a game for cluttered and clunky UIs and displays that serve no purpose.The problem really would just be solved if the game notifies us when a system is under attack.



And I play on 1920x1080 as well, and really have yet to have a problem. I've never had a system invaded without the empire first declaring war on me, and when that happens, it's a simple matter to send some fleets to the borders to blockade the enemy from getting by.

The problem really would just be solved if the game notifies us when a system is under attack.

Agree for the most part.

Another thing I'd like to have adressed is there currently is no easy way to see that a planet's moon has been explored short of going all the way into the planet window. This is a real pain once you have a large empire there needs to be some way to check this outside the planet window

Agree!!



So glad you mentioned this, I too find it a frustration in moon management. I'd suggest they add an indicator to the moon when it's been explored either by shading it or putting a colored dot on it or... whatever in the system view to indicate that it's been explored.

I'm a little surprised that fully zoomed out makes everything disappear? Why do I need a picture of a galaxy with nothing else when I zoom all the way out? Shouldn't it maybe show at least who owns what still!

planetcore wrote:
Another thing I'd like to see is a indaction of moon exploration status, currently there is no easy way to see that a planet's moon has been explored short of going all the way into the planet window. This is a real pain once you have a large empire there needs to be some way to check this outside the planet window. That said it would be cool to be able to do more stuff with moons

Yes, this definitely would be nice. I'm drawing a blank on what the devs could do (I'd suggest a marker of some kind, but I have no idea where it could go). But i would like something that keeps me from my current method, which is once I get the tech to survey moons, going through each system and checking every planet off right away...And hoping I remember to check new systems as I get them.

planetcore wrote:
I'm a little surprised that fully zoomed out makes everything disappear? Why do I need a picture of a galaxy with nothing else when I zoom all the way out? Shouldn't it maybe show at least who owns what still!

What you don't like the pretty picture of the galaxy at full zoom out /jk



While that zoom level might be helpful to get an idea of where some unexplored system might be I can't argue that some empire shading at full zoom wouldn't be useful.

FinalStrigon wrote:
Overall, though, that the makes the game look rather ugly, which is something no dev wants. I've read plenty of review that criticize a game for cluttered and clunky UIs and displays that serve no purpose.The problem really would just be solved if the game notifies us when a system is under attack.



And I play on 1920x1080 as well, and really have yet to have a problem. I've never had a system invaded without the empire first declaring war on me, and when that happens, it's a simple matter to send some fleets to the borders to blockade the enemy from getting by.

Ok, so they can bury it in an INI file. That way you'll only get it if you want it.

Level of detail lost when you zoom is just too much. Am I trying to manage a civilization or look at pretty pictures? :P



I play at a low res (1366x720) so maybe I have to zoom out more to see more planets? I am always zooming out then back in. Which is very nice with the mouse wheel and pointer btw.