UI improvement probably only in Civ6

[hclass]

They always claim they have improved user interface, graphical design etc on every new CIV release but the fact is besides better look of map or graphical display, newer and more powerful display card is required.

Where else simple and handy feature has never been introduced:

1. I want a city max radious outliner. E.g. I could ctrl+double-click a city and its max radious will be shown, something like a settler is in focus when he stands in the center of a city, that shows you clearly what is the scope of workable tiles after your city has fully developed. (The outliner stays until I ctrl+double-click again)

2. Be able to change player's color. That changes the territory outliner color, unit flag and footing indicator color.

3. A in game pop-up city workforce planner. I mean one which works like a calculator. Civ4 has good automation buttons in the right bottom corner of city view. However it seriously lacks one crucial feature: it does not display the result side by side to those buttons. I mean, if I emphasize gold (when the gold button is toggled), I want to see what is the effect to total income, turns to complete current tech, turns to complete current production, the no of cottage worked etc. It shouldn't required me to look somewhere else for the statistics.

I also want max button which tells me max gold (or production or science) output with just enough food to support just enough populations to work on all tiles. The button should tell you exactly how much you can gear a city to max out certain kind of output.

Firaxis, do the above three first, before you claim again you have improved Civ UI in the future.

 

[Delgar]

[1] It might be in the game, but they just haven't mentioned it yet. Play the game/demo first to find out.

[2] Imho, this is a very cosmetic change that you are asking for and it is hardly indicative of a UI that hasn't been improved.

[3] This is actually a good suggestion and I support this.

[General] Regarding your last sentence, I have 1 comment: there are other improvements to the UI besides the ones you highlighted above.

 

[Robovski]

If anything the past several iterations of Civ has shown us, it's that there will be more to come. I like suggestion 3 too, here's hoping for a future change.

 

[stealth_nsk]

I hate to say this, but since UI is completely in Lua now, you could implement point 3 in any way you wish.

 

[Zhahz]

Firaxis, do the above three first, before you claim again you have improved Civ UI in the future.

The UI is drastically improved even if your pet desires aren't included.

They can't please everyone - never will.

 

[Maniacal]

Luau?

Spoiler :

j/k I know what LUA is (sort of, its some easily modifiable coding language)

 

[hclass]

[2] Imho, this is a very cosmetic change that you are asking for and it is hardly indicative of a UI that hasn't been improved.

Haven't you come across cases like 2 Civs have very close color and become hard to differentiate one another? I don't care much about comestic.

 

[Maniacal]

That happens in most strategy games, it also has nothing to do with the GUI.

 

[hclass]

I hate to say this, but since UI is completely in Lua now, you could implement point 3 in any way you wish.

Ya, if Firaxis pay me good enough I will consider do those 3 for them.
Remember this, they are selling Civ, not Lua, otherwise they can simply provide you with an empty map, create the rest on your on.

 

[VikingMaekel]

I also want max button which tells me max gold (or production or science) output with just enough food to support just enough populations to work on all tiles. The button should tell you exactly how much you can gear a city to max out certain kind of output.

And then people will rant about how dumbed down Civ is.

 

[hclass]

And then people will rant about how dumbed down Civ is.

Are you talking about human being?
I suppose normal human being do not have that as "dumbed down" in their common sense.

 

[hclass]

That happens in most strategy games, it also has nothing to do with the GUI.

If the ability to change color representation of the game is not GUI, what else is?

 

[Lone Wolf]

2. Be able to change player's color. That changes the territory outliner color, unit flag and footing indicator color.

I do think that it would be a welcome addition. If you want to play a particular civ, but dislike its colour, why shouldn't you have that ability in-game? Of course, it's a minor thingy.

 

[Naokaukodem]

Firaxis, do the above three first, before you claim again you have improved Civ UI in the future.

Stop getting so hard on Firaxis... they got so many unfunded critics, no need to add one. As said above, Firaxis did wrong because they didn't fullfil your pet desires?Bahhh???

 

[City Builder]

Haven't you come across cases like 2 Civs have very close color and become hard to differentiate one another? I don't care much about comestic.

In Civ IV, I came up against this far too many times, and many of those times the 2 Civs were me and one of my closest neighbors. The only thing that saved my butt was the game asking me if I really do want to declare war on my neighbor by sending my worker over to a resource that I would swear was in my own boundries, but turned out to be that neighboring civ.

It would indeed be nice to be able to switch colors of the Civs for those games where it turns out one of my neighboring civs has a color that is so similar to my own civs that it's hard to tell the difference.

 

[Niniux]

For number 2, I've noticed that the borders are now two toned which, for me at least, makes it much easier to differentiate between similar nations. I agree that it would be a nice thing to have but I don't think it's really that important. At least not enough that it means they haven't improved their UI.

 

[VikingMaekel]

Are you talking about human being?
I suppose normal human being do not have that as "dumbed down" in their common sense.

I was referring to monkeys with monocles, top hats and cigars

And yes some human beings will see that as dumbed down. You take away something you have to manage at the micro level by giving it a big button. I am not saying I will, but some people definitely will.

By the way a city has the "Citizen Allocation Focus" menu where you can set said city's allocation, No Growth, Food, Production etc. So before you criticize a product you might as well use the product first.

 

[Delgar]

Haven't you come across cases like 2 Civs have very close color and become hard to differentiate one another? I don't care much about comestic.

Yah, I agree that it would be better if the colors were more differentiated, but what I was trying to say was that you cannot claim that the UI hasn't been improved just because the colors cannot be changed. My point is that there are changes besides the ones you are asking for.

Basically, don't make sweeping statements, that's all!

 

[hclass]

Stop getting so hard on Firaxis... they got so many unfunded critics, no need to add one. As said above, Firaxis did wrong because they didn't fullfil your pet desires?Bahhh???

Ha!
It is either they hard or I hard.

Those are features long requested by many, just give it a search... they are not only my sole desire.

By the way a city has the "Citizen Allocation Focus" menu where you can set said city's allocation, No Growth, Food, Production etc. So before you criticize a product you might as well use the product first.

Didn't I said those right bottom buttons are good, it just lack the result display side by side. Didn't I?
You should read carefully before you criticize my criticism.