So as I am sure Brad is aware the UI isn't exactly up to task. That, and I am a huge whiner! So if possible lets get some Low points, and things that need improvement out there.
- The Cities - as you even said yourself, they could use some serious UI/easyofuse work.
- When you select a city, you don't actually see much about the real state of affairs. Nothing is transparent(no, not see through; but obvious) or easily accessable
- There needs to be a much better and more obvious city substructure pane. Would display:
- Food - and a breakdown by set of producers/consumers/modifiers
- Population - male/female ratio, number of houses, max inhabitants
- Money - from structures/caravans/specials/mods
- Research
- Arcanistry
- Special Resources
- Fortifications/defenses
- Production/unit modifiers - also what the city can build
- Enchants on the city - both positive and negative and their effects
- The build queues - You need to express the city modifiers here as well. Names can get a bit confusing, even when you custom name your cities... Unless you name them like 'foodpeople1', and 'moneycars2'. Also a 2nd view with 'what do we have here' would be a tremendous quickcard help.
- THE SPELLBOOK - sorry Brad... but the current spell UI makes my eyes bleed from the sheer bad. Please save me. Tabs or subdivisions please.
- The sovereign/champions -
- I don't know if you have removed Champion/Sovereign 'Jobs' from the list, but even if you haven't the current levelup screen is not at all detailed enough, nor does it contain reasonably verbose tooltips. I can understand not having all the tooltips in for frequent builds, but please make sure they are there.
- The bottom bar suboptions... not very verbose.
- The bottom bar spell casting... unreadable at high res w/ lots of spells
- The bottom bar purchase option... the shop... it hurts... give it tabs by armor/weapon/item types.
- The bottom bar... NEEDS TABS! AoWs ui was fairly easy to manage because of the large number of tabs for its UI. There is no shame in taking a great idea and making it better.
This is all for now... sure i will think of something else as I play. Throw down idea for UI improvements you think would rock.
