I've seen a couple ideas I really like, so I'll repeat them here...

1) The flag ship... I like the idea of having a flag ship, and it'd make for some cool fights as some empires could gun for the flagship to crush the enemy's spirit (much like crushing a capital and bring down a nation)

2) Along those lines...have a capital for the empire. Similar to above, the capital would enjoy bonuses for being the capital, but also could cause the empire morale penalties if it fell...

3) Stargates/Jump Points... on the huge maps, this would make life alot easier for the end-game mop up stage

4) Anomolies on the star maps

SeanB

One big U.I. fix for me: When sorting the planet list or fleet list, etc. you must click an arrow to advance to the next sort order. To make matters worse, there is a delay between clicking the arrow and when your next click will be recognized so you must click... wait... click... wait... click... wait... until you get to the sort option you want. It would be much nicer to have a drop down list and then quickly jump to the sort order you want.
Thanks for a great game.

Has any sort of multiplayer mode been ruled out? I would like to have a friend join the game and perhaps replace one of the major races.

I like the Jump Point Tech Idea, but perhaps it could be a special "Jump Ship". You would have to create a fleet of ships and there should be at least one jump ship included to jump the entire fleet. The number of ships in the fleet would determine how far the jump would be unless you added more jump ships to the fleet. The Jump Ships would have no weaponry or just minimal weaponry, and minimal defense so they would have to be defended. Along the same lines, if you build a starbase at a remote location and another near home, have a special "Worm Hole" mod between the two. If either gets destroyed or if resources are too low, then the gate wouldn't work.

Make it so that good races cannot steal and use evil technologies or vica versa. Currently an evil race can sack a good planet and acquire 'benevolence' or 'a better way'. Doesn't that seem a little bit odd?

Here is my wish list of items for the game:

- Have the ability of some time of ship be able to extend the range of other ships. This is really needed on the larger maps. Maybe it is a “refueling ship” or maybe the survey ships have this ability.

- The blue circles that indicate that a ship has a destination needs to provide more information when you mouse over the blue circle. For example, it needs to show the ship type and origination, i.e. BattleAxe from Sol or something like that.

- When a ship is the currently selected object, it needs to have an on-screen range indication in a different color, i.e. have a circle around the ship that shows the available moves for that turn. Perhaps right-clicking on the ship would toggle this on and off

- We need to be able to see how many turns it will take a ship to reach a destination, i.e. ETA 5 turns.

- Rally points and way points

- I’d like to see a “torpedo ship” that carries 5 or 10 (may be expandable with technologies) that fires a limited range anti-matter torpedo that can fire on planets and ships. The Torpedo Ship can reload at starbases or planets that have the appropriate module or improvement.

- How about a repair ship that repairs damage (5-10 points per turn)? Perhaps this ship can be improved by researching additional technology.

- More planetary defenses like ion cannons and missile launchers.

Keep up the great work!

I posted this under a suggestions header a while back but it appears to have been unstickied. :notsure:

Anyway, hope no one minds, here it is again....

Here's a few suggestions I've come up with so far, some of which may have already been mentioned....

1) All filter-lists (planet/ship/tech/etc.) should be made as a pull-down box rather than cycling through all the available options.

2) Tool-tips for those three buttons in diplomatic exchanges (minor, I know).

3) Some indication of how balanced a diplomatic exchange is...a la Europa Universalis 2. Basically, a displayed bar with a marker in the middle which markes a "fair" exchange and a line indicating the current level. One can then add items on either side until the line reaches the bar. A quick option to add cash to make up the difference. The balance line can even be offset to the left or right of the bar's centre so one can get an idea just how much of a tremendous diplomatic advantage (or disadvantage) we have. As a bonus there can also be a "grey area" around a fair trade in which one can ask for slightly more than what is fair. A roll is performed and if succesful you get what you want at the cost of a slight worsening in relations. On the converse one can offer a bargain to a civ (less than a fair deal) for a slight improvement in relations; but not as much as a freebie outright.

4) Include buttons for trade routes on the mini-map and trade by civ on the mini-map graph. Very useful for identifying which sectors can use boosts from starbase modules. As it stands now, one has to go into domestic affairs, then the trade tab to determine whether it's a good idea to put that new module that boosts trade on a particular starbase.

5) Need a description for the various auto commands when a ship is double clicked. Call me dense but I always forget the difference between "sentry" and "guard".

6) The ability to select a ship on auto and see it orders without inadvertently cancelling them.

7) Customizable empire icon. Customisable ship lists.

8) An indication somewhere of the number of trade routes free/left. I've lost track of how many times I've built a freighter only to have it stand idle outside a star because I'd already maxed out my alotted number of routes.

9) Info on the lenghth of outstanding leases/tributes, how much, and to who they are being paid. Good to plan when I'll be coming into some extra money

10) Keep influence by sector figures and sector influence colours on the mini-map hidden (represented by "??" perhaps), until your ship has actually visited that sector. As things stand right now one can get an idea of where the empires are, how widespread they are, and how well they are doing by using the sector influence button on the mini-map, or by playing "minesweeper" with the show influence button in a randomly chosen sector. And without even visiting those sectors. A quasi-cheat/bug if you will. If the figures/influence are hidden there's a greater incentive to explore.

11) Here's a bit of a weird one. I get very miffed when my ships get diverted from their path because of a non-hostile ship appearing in it's way. Especially as one is exploring space there's supposed to be a little thing we call the Z-axis present


Because of this, it's theoretically possible to blockade good systems from opponent colonization; or at least stall them; by placing ships around the star (could be wrong about this but I'm fairly certain) :notsure:

My suggestion is to remove collision detection for ALL stellar bodies (ships, stars, etc) for vessels on a pretermined route (auto command). One can rationalize it by saying the ship passed over (or under) the body in question. Note that if one right-clicks on a ship as the intended destination instead of empty spece your ship will attack as usual. "Hang on!", some may cry. What if one wants to attack an enemy vessel that is sharing the same space with an non-hostile (say a freighter?).

Simple, I say. Have a dialog box pop up asking for your desired target: the the stack of 5 starfighters, or the lowly cargo hauler? Pick one, the dialog closes and battle ensues. Hope these ideas get considered. Thanks!

1)A global social build command....for building 1 thing on all the planets....esp useful when terraforming comes up.

2)More depth in combat area. Needs clearer role definition all throughout. Perhaps different emphasis for capital ships. Battleships could be cheap, Dreadnoughts would be the most heavily armoured but no more powerful than a battleship, Rangers would be much faster and harder to detect with slightly more armor than a battleship and slightly more powerful, Avatars would have greater firepower;somewhat more hp ad def but easily detectable, and Overlords would have the best of all worlds but be expensive. That would give them clearly defined roles as ships and wouldn't necessarily make one ship type obsolete because a newer, better one came along.

Love the game, and am a newbie.. but here are my suggested improvements:

#1 - I like the concept of the United Planets (UP), however on gigantic maps I don't always find *all* of the major races until I get the propulsion techs. Shouldn't these races be in the UP if they have 'connections' with races I *do* know about? I guess I don't know the background story behind the UP... is it a human creation? I've had UP votes with only one alien race and me... it just doesn't seem right.

#2 - It would be neat if there was a 'president' of the UP. As president, you could assemble the UP and propose votes. Likewise, aliens could be president. Perhaps you 'elect' the president with a UP vote.

#3 - As people have mentioned, I'd like to see advanced notes of vote topics, and be given a chance to discuss the vote with my allies/foes.

#4 - How about a 'xenophobe' political party, that resists cultural influence, but gives a negative on deplomacy or something.

#5 - Zooming in/out of the main map would be great!

#6 - It would be neat to have the UI gradually shift graphically instead of the dramatic good/evil. When it shifted for me, I felt a little disoriented... but I think the shift is a really cool idea!

#7 - Icons for your ships look a little different graphically when you are good/evil.

#8 - I'd like espionage missions. Stealing tech, etc. This can be done with a unit that you can 'fly' to an enemy planet and 'attack' with... or via the foreign policy screen with buttons...

#9 - What about instead of treating them as 'population' they are broken out by race. For example, if the Yor's planet becomes mine.. isn't it different trying to govern a planet of machines vs a planet of humans?

#10 - In one campaign, I put colonists in a ship and 'disbanded' them to get rid of some population. Shouldn't this be considered 'evil'? Likewise, I would assume giving colony ships to aliens would be evil as well...

Thanks Brad for a great game! I bought it because of your commitment to support, and how active you are on the boards. I only have 10 improvement suggestions because I love it so much!

My turn! Gotta chime in while the landscape is neato!

UI Tweaks:

1) Drop down lists for all sortables, please

2) 'Cost' sortable on governor management screen and social build list

3) 'Role' sortable on military build list for differentiating non-combantant ships from fighting ships

4) Option in planet list to see habitable, un-colonised, explored planets.

5) Military Summary screen to replace or compliment current ship list... possibly with other information, like releative strength of military power distributed by sector, maybe lists of units based on ship type, cost, experience and locator on the mini-map

6) Additional pic images for ship types, to reflect different styles? Like maybe Default pics for Terran Ships, and then have alternate pics with different 'styles'... like 'smooth' for more rounded edges, or.. well you get the idea...

I'll post later with more in depth changes I'd like to see... in the meantime, keep up the amazing work, Brad and team!

-Ag

A significant change to the scientific victory path: Make it so that either a countdown must expire or a research total must be accumulated after acquiring Final Frontier in order to win the Beyond Human victory. During the countdown (or final research) the AI should be very interested in stopping the human from ascending.

I agree with the corvettes required to get to battleships. I was going to ask for some way to just remove a tech I think is useless from the list so it doesn't keep showing up every time. I usually research these just in case it will affect my score, and to get the off the list. However, making them prerequisites for more interesting techs would also prevent me from thinking they are useless.

Auto Explore for scouts and sensor drones. Doesn't the AI already have one set up? Not that I've ever seen the AI using scouts, come to think of it...
Alternately, a way to find unexplored territory on the mini-map so I can send my scouts there.
"What will you give me for this?" dialogue on diplomatic trading screen.
More good / evil options for planets - what ever happened to the 16th century society from OS/2?
Good civs can't aquire evil techs, and vice versa.
Other civs contact you when you build a trade good.
Minors build starbases in their home sector. As it is, they waste production on useless colony ships.
Galactic resources remain on the mini-map, even after a starbase is built on them. Switch symbol to "plus" instead of "x"

I think someone briefly mentioned this, but I like the idea of a repair ship. Increases the repair rate of all my ships in the same sector.

1. Repair ship - it takes *forever* to repair a damaged Dreadnaught.
2. A way to select a technology 'further along' and automatically sequence researching the prerequisites (a la Civ III)
3. Auto-explore for scouts
4. Show known alien starbase locations on the minimap.
5. Spy ships - can send to a specific system to destabilize it.

And now my unsolicited 2 cents regarding the above requests. Features by committee do not necessarily make for a better game. You have created something great and made some really good decisions along the way. Add the things *you* think will make the game play better. These may not be the things that most people are asking for. It is easy for us users to notice the little UI annoyances, not so easy to see the potential evolution of the game design.

So many suggestions already given

1) Against computer, I sent 8 task force's (6-7 dreadnaughts 2-3 combat transports each) to 8 of their planets. It took a while to set up the simultaneous attack. The computer should not let you do this...a screen should have come up from them asking me to immediately remove my fleets from their space.

2) Little stuff..like if I "gift" one race warships, there should be a chance -based on what, I'm not sure- that the other side discovers this and asks me not to give their enemies warships or else.

3) More random events...Like

-Some super-rich person/corporation gives you 1,000 credits

-An invasion of an outside force that attacks everybody..not strong enough to win, but they would attack the strongest of the players.

-Is the problem solved where one side asks for peace, then the next turn they come back and say "You are at war with our ally, so we must…that was getting old.

-how about a mid-late game research option for "uber-book keeping, allowing you to gleam 5-10% more profit from cutting out waste

I vote for a way to specify which of my own ships to follow (by class : e.g. auto-survey ships). I already know where my sector sweep, colony, and constructor ships are heading -- especially mid to late game.

~SDC~

The ability to create fleets and sbs from the top down. i.e. set "blueprints" for a sb, including all the modules you would like to see ther in the future, and the computer automatically tells the planets closest to it to start building contructors and sends them over there and builds a sb. Same thing with fleets and ships.

~SDC~

A few things I would like to see...:

-More UP issues and events integrated into the game
-more of the backstory put in, using above two methods and through some of the cutsecnes/descriptions
-some parts of the tech tree in the late game feel kind of lacking. I'd like for there to be new things to build socially and in my fleets towards in the late game, espically if I'm playing a game with tech win off
-also, for people who sometimes play games with tech win off, give final frontier some other bonus/goodie for going all the way up the tree
-and a scenario editor to top it off.

Once again, great work. It has been a blast!

Changable resolution would be great! not the standard 1024*768 since i can hardly play at it

wishlists are fine

rebalance atleast some of the starships: Battlehammer and frigates
=> my suggestion simply exchange the maintance cost of the two

Phoenix =>give them (please) a much higher attack value 2x or some thing else...

Star Hawk? => "nobody" use them right now

Ranger => awesome ship if you get it for free but "nobody" builds them .

Dreadnoughts => perhaps double (triple) the research costs. At the moment they come within a very few turns after battleships (making them obsolete) if you make them much harder to research you would prolong the shelflife of battelship on the one hand on the other hand deciding to research them would imply a real setback in other research fields.

1) Info on a star system's worth from the diplomatic screen. When the Drengin demand Wardell, I'd like to be able to tell if has just a class 15 planet or 3 20+ planets.

2) The ability to alter the spending ratios on a planetary level. That way you could have planets close to the front cranking out military vessels while more secure systems can focus on social programs or research.

One other suggestion - replace the Drengin (sp?) diplomacy screen music! The rest of the game music is so mellow that this just seems too jarring when I go in there.

In fact, I replaced that file with one of the minor races' music so that I wouldn't have to listen to it...

Extra votes for already presented stuff:
1) Fleet bonus
2) trade/build/research/governor queues really should have hyperlinks to the tech/planet data.
3) Sliders are too small/inconvenient on many UI screens
4) MP3-player bites with jarring song loop/switch

I would love to see:
-Uber constructors
-Ability to declare war and see war declared against you (sometimes I haven't realised war was declared!)
-Starhawk much earlier
-scout auto-explore
-UP President voted on every 5-10 years or so (which gives a bonus like Alpha Centauri)
-lock resource allocation tabs
-ability to see a discovered starbase
-more diplomatic options
-an offensive starbase which has a zone of control
Thanks for a fantastic game!

What I would like to see:


Ships from conquered civilizations shouldn't just disappear. Half of them should turn immediately into pirates and begin causing random acts of mayhem. The other half should offer their services to a similiarly aligned influential, or militarily powerful Civ for a mercenary cost.


For instance: In a sudden blitzkrieg, I manage to knock out the last Drengin planet while they still have about 20 Avatars floating around several sectors away. As soon as the Drengin regime falls, 10 Avatars go rogue and begin ripping up the trade lanes. The other 10 send me a message that for 2500 they'll join in my fight.

Also, in a related way, starbases should not disappear. They should default ownership over to the conquering hero.

Other ideas:

1) Mines. . proximity/seeking. Drop a mine object into a square, set it to sentry. Any enemy ship comes into sensor range of the mine, it begins moving towards it. Set movement of 1 +tech bonuses.

2) Repair ships. Already mentioned, but bear mentioning again. I'd even be satisfied with repair ships having finite resources. (Ship is decommissioned when "empty")

3) Supply ships. Again, an idea already mentioned. Could also be a finite resource. Adds +X movement to stacked ships for Y number of turns. 0 Att/Def

4) Scout auto-explore. This one can't be mentioned enough.

5) Better icons for random minor races. The whole question mark thing is unworthy of this game.