Gossip is a mess

[Namaspamus]

I love gossip but it feels like it's in beta. A ton of infos, not always useful, sent in disorder, not hierarchized by importance. Quite uncomfortable to the eye as well, with the choice of colors.

A war declared between two Civs and a barb camp cleared by Cleopatra don't have the same importance, they shouldn't have the same presentation.

The last promotion Cesar picked for his horseman... isn't very relevant info. Civ is an info-heavy game, so making it digestible should be a priority.

...symbols please

I think they should mostly making them readable at a glance, and it's very doable with symbols.

So... Cleopoatra cleared a barb camp? One the left of the label, there could be her sweet face, a barb camp symbol, and possibly the little warrrior she used. First times you still read the label, but very soon you only read the symbols and get info at a glance.

China is trading with England? Both leader's face, a hand-shaking symbol between them.

Declaration of war between AIs? Leader's faces, crossed swords, and I think pressing "Enter" should be needed to pass these ones, for peace as well.

And so on, for wonders, for districts built, for any gossip. Also you can play on the aspect of the windows, shape, colors, whatever.



What do you think? And how would you like it displayed?

 

[Ryika]

My humble, but objectively correct opinion: Completely remove nonsense like Promotions*, cleared Barbarian Nests* and all the other stuff that has no real value in 99.9831% of all cases, and add toggle-options for minor stuff like trade deals. Denouncements, Friendships etc. should just be symbols in the side bar and not be part of the Gossip system in the first place.

*In before somebody tells me they actually need that information and that it's useful for them all the time.

 

[grizlob]

Agreed on all points with OP, except for hitting enter to confirm war/peace. these info's are on your notifications on the right as well and have to be confirmed there, so no need for more attention to them. i really like the symbols idea, colour coding would also add a layer of info to the brown scrolls of boredom

 

[Namaspamus]

Completely remove nonsense like Promotions*, cleared Barbarian Nests* and all the other stuff that has no real value in 99.9831% of all cases, and add toggle-options for minor stuff like trade deals. Denouncements, Friendships etc. should just be symbols in the side bar and not be part of the Gossip system in the first place.

Promotions and Barb camps notifs I would trash too.

I think I just like to have the newspapers midscreen each turn. If they're not filled with nonsense and have smart info display, that is. At 4 AM after just one more 300 turns my brain can struggle (way before in fact)

Agreed on all points with OP, except for hitting enter to confirm war/peace. these info's are on your notifications on the right as well and have to be confirmed there, so no need for more attention to them. i really like the symbols idea, colour coding would also add a layer of info to the brown scrolls of boredom

"brown scrolls of boredom" has a nice sound to it.

Pressing "enter" for War and Peace deals would be too much, you're right. Use of different colors I agree, also scrolls shape.

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Another thing that annoys me: "Our delegate heard Russia just received a delegation. It appears it came from China"
No kidding. I'm China. So the delegate sure must have heard about his own mission, yes. Sounds right.

Or "Civ A attacked Civ B" and right after "Civ B was attacked by Civ A" Those are details sure, but that's beta-ish.

Another thing, more tricky to implement: when a declaration of war triggers others through defensive pacts, plus often pulling several City-States into the mess, you sometimes end up reading infos reaaal closely to get an idea of how things happened. It wasn't better in Civ V.
It should be displayed more clearly, but I don't know how exactly yet. I'll keep a couple neurons on it as I play and will try to shape thoughts.

 

[grizlob]

I don't wanted to be too harsh, since I think the Devs made it to look like you are getting messages from your envoys, who are supposed to be human diplomats hence the names and the swollen diction. maybe that's even the reason for the brownish look, like the real papyrus scrolls sent to you, sometimes with blood and tears on them for the drama...
But civ is a game of interesting decision making and for me, diplomacy and international relations make a huge part of the fun. unfortunately my decisions ate right now dependent on reading every old brown banner every turn and filter out the spam. this is tedious and reminds me of work too much. instead there should be a 'digest mode' where i can get all the relevant info quick, sorted by nation or importance in a tidy and pleasant presentation. even if that's cutting on the immersion side of the game a bit.

 

[Namaspamus]

You didn't sound harsh at all, and... our ideas just are more clear when we straightly rant about what bugs us

Devs made it to look like you are getting messages from your envoys, who are supposed to be human diplomats hence the names and the swollen diction. maybe that's even the reason for the brownish look, like the real papyrus scrolls sent to you, sometimes with blood and tears on them for the drama...

I love windows with a physical aspect like papyrus too. Also the "our trader heard that" when you have an international trade route. I think as you said they could make it more readable without taking out the flavor.

Diplomacy and international relations are a great part of my fun too, and I sometimes feel they released a really unfinished job
here. Like if someone wanted to make a human-looking android, and made a good skeleton and muscles (needing tuning but still good), and then didn't bother to place a decent skin on it. Like when a leader who hates your guts calls you "my friend". The whole diplo isn't bad at all, but could be made much more lively for cheap.