snigaru
Chieftain
Over the last few days, as I've been playing Civ V and sucking up all the information on Beyond Earth I could find, I have come up with four features I would really like to see in Beyond Earth.
First, I think it would be really helpful to be able to minimize the diplomacy window. Occasionally, a foreign leader may offer me a deal of questionable expected value, leading me to want to consult some of my information panels. I would really like to see an option along the lines of a "Let me consult my advisors" button, moving the diplomatic offer to one of the drop-down buttons on the side of the screen, to be addressed when the player is better prepared. I understand that diplomacy occurs during the cpu's turn; how might delaying this decision to the human player's turn affect gameplay?
Second, have the developers considered making the random events carry associated costs? (E.g. For the earth plant outbreak decision, could the options be "Contain the outbreak"- Nearest worker becomes busy for 2 turns, or "Do Nothing"- No cost? This feature may further encourage/force players to follow an affinity path other than that which they set out to pursue at the start of the game.
Third, I would like to see mod developers be able to propose that their mods work with the Steam achievement system. I would like to use certain UI mods that do not affect the game balance without disqualifying me from unlocking the Steam achievements. For instance, in Civ V, a fleet of stealth bombers takes four forevers to attack a target 22 tiles away (While combat animations are enabled). The "Faster Aircraft Animations" mod by Gedemon significantly reduces this time while not affecting gameplay. Many mods should clearly not qualify. "American Domination" by Envoy is a ton of fun to play, however even the most novice player should be able to beat the game on deity with little effort. I know the achievements are hosted on the Steam network; does the Firaxis dev team have control over a feature like this? Would this need to be taken up with Steam developers?
Finally, I would really like to to see more numbers in Beyond Earth. I was disappointed with the availability of data in Civ V after the designers decided to clean up the user interface. In Civ IV BTS, a player could easily access the minutia of every factor, see where every hundredth of a coin came from, and perform very precise balancing throughout their empire. The Civ IV ending statistics broke down the game fantastically, probably the feature I miss the most. The "InfoAddict" mod by Rob K does a good job of bringing back some of the helpful information screens from Civ IV, but again, point three.
I sincerely hope this post leads to solid discussion and makes its way to the Beyond Earth developers (although I do understand it's a little close to the official release date).
First, I think it would be really helpful to be able to minimize the diplomacy window. Occasionally, a foreign leader may offer me a deal of questionable expected value, leading me to want to consult some of my information panels. I would really like to see an option along the lines of a "Let me consult my advisors" button, moving the diplomatic offer to one of the drop-down buttons on the side of the screen, to be addressed when the player is better prepared. I understand that diplomacy occurs during the cpu's turn; how might delaying this decision to the human player's turn affect gameplay?
Second, have the developers considered making the random events carry associated costs? (E.g. For the earth plant outbreak decision, could the options be "Contain the outbreak"- Nearest worker becomes busy for 2 turns, or "Do Nothing"- No cost? This feature may further encourage/force players to follow an affinity path other than that which they set out to pursue at the start of the game.
Third, I would like to see mod developers be able to propose that their mods work with the Steam achievement system. I would like to use certain UI mods that do not affect the game balance without disqualifying me from unlocking the Steam achievements. For instance, in Civ V, a fleet of stealth bombers takes four forevers to attack a target 22 tiles away (While combat animations are enabled). The "Faster Aircraft Animations" mod by Gedemon significantly reduces this time while not affecting gameplay. Many mods should clearly not qualify. "American Domination" by Envoy is a ton of fun to play, however even the most novice player should be able to beat the game on deity with little effort. I know the achievements are hosted on the Steam network; does the Firaxis dev team have control over a feature like this? Would this need to be taken up with Steam developers?
Finally, I would really like to to see more numbers in Beyond Earth. I was disappointed with the availability of data in Civ V after the designers decided to clean up the user interface. In Civ IV BTS, a player could easily access the minutia of every factor, see where every hundredth of a coin came from, and perform very precise balancing throughout their empire. The Civ IV ending statistics broke down the game fantastically, probably the feature I miss the most. The "InfoAddict" mod by Rob K does a good job of bringing back some of the helpful information screens from Civ IV, but again, point three.
I sincerely hope this post leads to solid discussion and makes its way to the Beyond Earth developers (although I do understand it's a little close to the official release date).
