[.86] Suggestion - More apparent land viability

from Elemental Forums

Ok, so I know that this is supposed to be a ruined world and all that, but after several playthroughs one of the things that has really stuck out to me (aside from the stuff we all know and SD has acknowledged) is that it is REALLY difficult with some locations to not only expand, but to even know where you CAN expand.

 

So, yes, we can't see which areas produce food/materials unless we have a pioneer out. It's a poor system, as we should have a strategic overlay for that information available to us at all times. Still, I "get it" and if it has to be this way, then fine.

 

What really bugs me is that there is not even any visual indication of if an area might possibly be settleable.

While doing initial exploring and you find a cluster of gold mine, scenic outlook, and a shrine. All nestled up to a forest with some tufts of grass outside. Great! Let's break out the hiking boots and get some contractors over there. 12 turns of production and moving later... Ummm.... Can't build? Why? Is it the hill? The trees? This area looks not one jot different from the place that my starting city was founded except for the better resources.

 

To this end, we REALLY need several things to make the strategic expansion aspect of this game make sense.

* First off, there needs to be a clearly visible indicator either of where CAN be settled or where CANNOT. Additionally, there are areas of the world where these few settleable pockets are very few and far between (considering the 8 tile moratorium on additional construction). That means there is a random crapshoot before turn one which will have a massive impact on the ability of the player to be competetive with the computer, which will not be clearly apparent for a good 50-100 turns.

* Second, there are WAY too many resources out in places where they can't be settled and are VERY difficult to protect. I'm all good with that, but is it even worth loading things that wouldn't be worth the trouble? Iron ore in the middle of a desert 14 tiles from your nearest city? That is a pioneer, 10 turns, and then another 7 turns to get there to protect it for a measly 1 metal/turn. Alternately, you can station two units there and waste 4 gold/turn. Please either scale resource value so that if they are hard to protect they are worth getting (remember those old ventri mines?). Otherwise, these are things that are almost always ignored as not worth the time/trouble to gather and therefore really dont have any place in the game.

* Third, Please give us a strategic overlay for tile output that can be turned on and off so we can plan our empires without scouting with a pioneer.

10,736 views 13 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

 

* Third, Please give us a strategic overlay for tile output that can be turned on and off so we can plan our empires without scouting with a pioneer.
End of quote

 

Look in the top right corner when you are out exploring with a hero, there is a button to reveal those stats.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

More places that could be settled would be great.  Even if places like deserts only provided minimal food and resources, like 2/2 would be better than not being able to use large portions of land.

Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

I agree with more transperency, while "Leo in WI" is right, that seems to be much of a hazzle to scour a big desert for the best spot, Also I would like if it showed those resources (when hovering over the settle button, or clicking on a possible future filter) in areas out of line of sight, but scouted earlier, so I dont have to run back and forth for 2 years to figure where or how to settle my new city ^^.


Sincerely
~ Kongdej

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

I prefer to only allow outposts in the desert. It makes the strategic level more interesting to have unsettled land.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting seanw3, reply 4
I prefer to only allow outposts in the desert. It makes the strategic level more interesting to have unsettled land.
End of seanw3's quote

 

Absolutely. I'm totally down with this as well. Just saying that there are tiles that look like desert that cant be settled and those than can and you can't always tell the difference.

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

I concur with only outposts in the desert.

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

I concur on outposts in deserts too, I would wish for some easier way to defend my outposts though.

Right now, due to the low cost of pioneers I usually keep a few pioneers fresh to rebuild lost outposts, and have a few roaming groups of knights depending on size (usually 1 group actually) to bash random invaders.

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top


It is positively painful when all those grain/material values disappear in the fog or war.  Particularly if you have a several day break in playing the game.  A fix for this is sorely needed. 

Perhaps the values could be bracketed to show that they represent the numbers as they were when they were last not in the fog of war?  (I presume that the figures could change with terrain modification in tiles whilst they are in the fog or war.)

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Leo, reply 1
 


* Third, Please give us a strategic overlay for tile output that can be turned on and off so we can plan our empires without scouting with a pioneer.

 

Look in the top right corner when you are out exploring with a hero, there is a button to reveal those stats.
End of Leo's quote

 

That button needs to be there all the time.

I thought something was wrong when I couldn't find it anymore.

So you need to have the hero active to see the button?

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

I prefer less land to settle on not more... I get tired of mopping up worthless AI cities.  If they were to make city buildings really interesting and city specialization something worth doing, then maybe I wouldn't mind more cities.  For now, less is more.

Reply #11 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting kapeman, reply 9
That button needs to be there all the time.

I thought something was wrong when I couldn't find it anymore.

So you need to have the hero active to see the button?
End of kapeman's quote

 

Button seems to be there all the time for me. Don't seem to need a hero active to use it. But I think you definitely need a unit near the area you are looking at, meaning I don't think you can see any stats for areas under the fog of war, even previously looked at areas.

Reply #12 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Leo, reply 11

Button seems to be there all the time for me. Don't seem to need a hero active to use it. But I think you definitely need a unit near the area you are looking at, meaning I don't think you can see any stats for areas under the fog of war, even previously looked at areas.
End of Leo's quote

 

Which is incredibly silly unless we have a means of changing those values.

Reply #13 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Malsqueek, reply 12
Which is incredibly silly unless we have a means of changing those values.
End of Malsqueek's quote

Yeah, I agree with you there. I have no problem not seeing them before you have scouted. But they probably shouldn't go into hiding once you have seen them once.