Frustrating user interface
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Stardock Forums
Stardock Forums
Played my first couple of games yesterday. I've been banging my head over some of the game aspects:
1. On the planet production screen, is there any way to tell where the bonuses come from? I mean, I see like +5, but no breakdown of how this number was derived. Is it due to Civ bonuses, technology, starbases, or what? I try to sum up the known factors myself and don't some up with the same numbers.
2. Tactical map. I could swear I pressed SOMETHING and got a neat small tactical map. I can't reproduce it, it's not documented anywhere, and I can't find it again.
3. On my expesnses column, I have a negative (!) amount of tribute expenses. I've done very little diplomacy (enemy AI set to sub-normal), and as far as I know I'm not paying anyone nor am I being payed by anyone. What is negative tribute expense, how do you know where is it going to/coming from?
4. The starbases sector abilities are someone un-intuitive. The starbase bonuses have no effect on the planet two "tiles" away (parsecs? light-years? anyway, I mean like ship-movement tiles) because it is across an imaginary sector line, but has a great effect on a remote planet at the opposite side of the sector. Also, you can't really tell what the bonuses do or don't do.
5. Selecting galaxy size apparently has little effect on the number of STARS in the galaxy. I don't mean habitable planets, I mean stars in general. I've once gotten a large galaxy with so few stars that most of the sectors were empty. Is this intentional?
6. How do you repair ships/starbases? I've not seen this explained anywhere. Does it help to put them in orbit? To garrison them at a starbase? Can constructors be used to repair starbases? All I've been able to do so far was watch the numbers crawl upward in an agonizingly slow rate.
7. Do the guarding or sentry options add a defensive bonus?
8. The aliens would come to me and say "We want to trade technology". Fine with me. I say "OK", then they proceed to let me do the trading. I thought they were going to offer something?
9. When talking to the aliens, after you've made a successful (or unsuccessful) transaction, the "send" button is still available. Press it again and again for some bizzare communication. I've gotten some really funny conversations with aliens just by pressing send when there is nothing to send. It appears to actually do something, game-wise. Try it just after you've rejected a threat, agreed to something, etc.
1. On the planet production screen, is there any way to tell where the bonuses come from? I mean, I see like +5, but no breakdown of how this number was derived. Is it due to Civ bonuses, technology, starbases, or what? I try to sum up the known factors myself and don't some up with the same numbers.
2. Tactical map. I could swear I pressed SOMETHING and got a neat small tactical map. I can't reproduce it, it's not documented anywhere, and I can't find it again.
3. On my expesnses column, I have a negative (!) amount of tribute expenses. I've done very little diplomacy (enemy AI set to sub-normal), and as far as I know I'm not paying anyone nor am I being payed by anyone. What is negative tribute expense, how do you know where is it going to/coming from?
4. The starbases sector abilities are someone un-intuitive. The starbase bonuses have no effect on the planet two "tiles" away (parsecs? light-years? anyway, I mean like ship-movement tiles) because it is across an imaginary sector line, but has a great effect on a remote planet at the opposite side of the sector. Also, you can't really tell what the bonuses do or don't do.
5. Selecting galaxy size apparently has little effect on the number of STARS in the galaxy. I don't mean habitable planets, I mean stars in general. I've once gotten a large galaxy with so few stars that most of the sectors were empty. Is this intentional?
6. How do you repair ships/starbases? I've not seen this explained anywhere. Does it help to put them in orbit? To garrison them at a starbase? Can constructors be used to repair starbases? All I've been able to do so far was watch the numbers crawl upward in an agonizingly slow rate.
7. Do the guarding or sentry options add a defensive bonus?
8. The aliens would come to me and say "We want to trade technology". Fine with me. I say "OK", then they proceed to let me do the trading. I thought they were going to offer something?
9. When talking to the aliens, after you've made a successful (or unsuccessful) transaction, the "send" button is still available. Press it again and again for some bizzare communication. I've gotten some really funny conversations with aliens just by pressing send when there is nothing to send. It appears to actually do something, game-wise. Try it just after you've rejected a threat, agreed to something, etc.
