Requests for new components (and features)

[Caesium]

Maybe you could add Wondermovies in Multiplayer for BTS as an option to BUG.

 

[Willem]

I just added a request in your tracker but I'll repeat it here. I find it very annoying when I'm running a specific type of specialist in a city and the governor will add on a Spy or a Priest etc. and screwing up my odds. I'd really like to see a check box or something that will allow me to select which specialist the governor should not build in a city so I can have more control over that aspect.

 

[EmperorFool]

This would be a good idea for a BUG DLL. The way that the governor assigns citizens cannot be changed from Python without disabling the governor entirely. However, those rules are in the DLL (my assumption, but it makes sense) and could be improved.

 

[Willem]

This would be a good idea for a BUG DLL. The way that the governor assigns citizens cannot be changed from Python without disabling the governor entirely. However, those rules are in the DLL (my assumption, but it makes sense) and could be improved.

Oh. Well I guess it's too late to change my vote I suppose. If using a DLL will accomplish that, I'm all for it. That's been an irritant of mine since the game came out.

BTW, I'd still like to see johny smith's screens added to BUG. The city screen in particular. It only shows the actual religions/corporations that have been established instead of all the icons. He made a MainInterface file for version 3 but it no longer works. And for some reason the unit naming didn't work anymore using that. Maybe you could have a look at it and get to work properly with 3.5?

 

[EmperorFool]

Maybe you could have a look at it and get to work properly with 3.5?

Do you have a link to his 3.0 version? I can diff it against 3.0 and see about including it now.

 

[Dresden]

Try this one from post #460: http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=191070&d=1223733495

 

[Willem]

I'm not sure if that's his first or second version. The first one didn't work all that well, but his second version only caused a problem with the unit naming function. You can it get here, along with his scolling screens. They're all bundled together. His scrolling screens would also make a very nice addition to BUG and he has several versions, including one that only shows what's actually been founded like his city screen.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=260697

It would be great if you could add it in, it would open alot of doors for expanding the Corporations system.

 

[Caesium]

Please don't also change the whole dll, because every sdk mod also changes the files and merging will be scary...

 

[Dresden]

Once again, it must be noted that an SDK component would be completely optional and would only provide additional features that simply aren't possible any other way.

 

[Caesium]

A scrolling scoreboard along with multiple views (sets of columns) are both in the pipeline. Will be after the release, though.

I saw this thread by johny smith, maybe he found an easy way for you

 

[Willem]

I saw this thread by johny smith, maybe he found an easy way for you

While you're at it, how about a scrolling unit stack menu so we can finally see all the units an enemy civ has piled up against you? It's a bit annoying thinking you can manage that SoD that's headed your way only to discover there were a whole bunch of units in it that didn't even appear on the screen when you looked. It makes it a real crap shoot trying to figure out what you need in order to defend yourself.

BTW, I managed to merge the Crossroads of the World mod city corporations menu, which leaves room for 4 more Corporations, with your 3.5 MainInterface file. If you're interested I could upload it. Though I'd rather see johny smith's version that only shows religions/corporations that have actually been established.

 

[EmperorFool]

While you're at it, how about a scrolling unit stack menu so we can finally see all the units an enemy civ has piled up against you?

Since this information isn't available in the normal game (you gotta put a spy onto that square to see the unit icons in the Plot List), would this venture into Altered Gameplay territory?

I agree it would be minimally AG, and I suspect the original designers would have made the option available had they thought of it or had the desire, but those arguments don't fly with the hard-core UG players.

 

[Willem]

Since this information isn't available in the normal game (you gotta put a spy onto that square to see the unit icons in the Plot List), would this venture into Altered Gameplay territory?

I didn't realize you could see the units with a spy. I'll have to keep that in mind. Since having only some of the untis displayed has been in the game since the beginning, before the current spy system, I just figured it was a UI oversight on the developer's part.

 

[EmperorFool]

I didn't realize you could see the units with a spy.

I should clarify this. You can see all foreign units in the Plot List (icons above the action buttons in the bottom-center of the map) if you can place one of your own units onto the plot. If it's an enemy's SoD you want to see, a spy is the only unit I can think of that can move onto the plot.

I just figured it was a UI oversight on the developer's part.

I think that's the case. While I'm sure it came up during testing--they must have seen a SoD large enough to go past the top of the screen--I think they just figured it was not worth the effort to make the list scroll.

For one thing, the list is displayed when you hover over the stack, so if it scrolled, how would you scroll it since moving your mouse over to a scrollbar or arrows would hide the list? I think at that point they punted.

Given that using a larger screen or smaller font allows you to see more units in the list, I feel it's a strictly poor UI issue and not a gameplay one. Why should I get less information because I have poor eyesight and play at 1024x768?

How I would love to see it solved would be to have the ability to click on any stack and see the units in the Plot List, even if you don't have any units on that plot. This might be tricky, possibly requiring you to click a button first and then click on a plot to see the units.

 

[Willem]

If it's an enemy's SoD you want to see, a spy is the only unit I can think of that can move onto the plot.

Yeah, I just never thought of using a Spy that way before. As far as I was concerned the only way to get that info was to mouse over the stack.

For one thing, the list is displayed when you hover over the stack, so if it scrolled, how would you scroll it since moving your mouse over to a scrollbar or arrows would hide the list? I think at that point they punted.

Well they could have done away with the list altogether and just have it display the units the same way that you do with your own stack, only faded out as it is now. Or instead of individual units, just list them once and have a number beside them to let you how many of each there are. But now that we have Spies, that's also a workable solution. Thanks for the tip. I got blindsided by Julius a short while ago thinking he only brought a few Catapults/Trebuchet with him when he actually had a whole bunch. It would have been good to know that beforehand. Though it probably wouldn't have done me any good anyway. That city was history, and so was my game.

BTW, having a bar on the side isn't the only way to scroll a list. You can put the controls at the top and bottom so you wouldn't have to leave it.

 

[ruff_hi]

the hover actually changed in BtS (or it could have been warlords). The original just scrolled right off the screen. Now you see something like ...

Catapults (8)

... to signify 8 other units that are all catapults. If they have different promotions you get that information too (number with combat 1, etc).

 

[Dresden]

And now for something completely different....

I've been screwing around with increasing the size of the Customizable Domestic Advisor because it's just too damned small on my preferred resolutions (1440x900 when windowed or 1680x1050 fullscreen). Before I commit changes to BUG, I have some questions.

1) Should the bigger size be an actual option that can be toggled or just a straight change?

2) How much space should be left at the bottom? Just enough to get to the production & governor buttons (~140px) or enough to see the bottom row of unit icons too (~180px)? Current CDA does the latter (177px).

3) How much space (minimum) should be left at the top? Just enough to see the turnclock & treasury/era (~25px), or enough to get to the other advisor buttons too (~55px)? Current CDA does the former (29px).

4) Also, when there's extra real estate, should the space at the top be expanded so you can reach all the sliders (~110px)?

 

[EmperorFool]

I play at 1024x768 and won't be able to take advantage of these changes, so take this with a grain of salt.

1. My gut reaction is to say mandatory. There's a point where you have too many options. However, nothing says you can't add an option and leave it off the options screen. But really, who would want a smaller window?

2. Given that you have more space, I would say leave the same amount of room. The units in the city may be important to someone, and you're likely to have only a few unless it's a staging area.

3 and 4. If the sliders work while that screen is up, this would be very handy. I hate having to slide, open, close, slide, open, close, slide, open ... until I find the right level of culture to deal with WW.

Heck, this might get me to switch to a higher resolution. I suppose I can always increase the size of my font.

 

[Dresden]

Good, that's pretty much what my thoughts were.

Leaving room for the sliders makes plenty of sense at high res but it might be too drastic to have that much space on lower res. Currently, the CDA is only guaranteed to leave 29 px at the top. Dropping that to 55ish to expose the other advisor buttons won't mess with 1024x768 res too much, but if we made it always leave enough room for the sliders then we'd have something like a 1024x479 advisor screen at that res which gets even smaller on the view with the specialists. Is the convenience of slider access worth that size reduction?

I was thinking of slightly reducing the minimum size from its current 562 height to 538 height (exposing the advisor buttons but not the sliders at 1024x768 res) but then increasing that space to accomodate the sliders if the res is higher. Of course once I get it all finalized, these border settings can be tweaked fairly easily later since it'd just be a single variable change.

 

[EmperorFool]

I would rather not leave room for the advisor buttons at all -- in fact pushing the screen as close to the top as possible to make more room at lower resolutions.

One thing to verify is that changing the sliders causes the CDA to redraw. If not, then exposing them doesn't make sense until that is changed.