Does the UI for technology need to be better

[imperial.]

Playing through the 2.01 patch for the first time there is so many improvements that quality of play for me is enjoyable!

That being said, one element that has taken a step back is the User interface for Technology,
just to clear any confusion not the technology or variance etc ( since i believe there is a thread related to this recently posted)

UI for technology needs to be better, i'd like to know everyone's opinion.

Here is my take, i have noticed that when first clicking on a tech tree path not all are displayed on screen, people therefore assume that those are the options. it is clunky, once finding out that there was a hidden path to the right it was a constant issue trying to scroll.

i think the traditions UI tree is a example as to what the UI could of been like, with the planner

VS

Edit: due to a great point by TheDarkMaster

''tooltips are clunky and don't highlight important information well especially when there's new laws or buildings unlocked.''

A tool tip should have at least 3 core clearly defined elements which I see is inconsistent throughout this game,

1) Descriptions/Lore
2) Conditions / Reasons (can this be applicable if not why) or ( why your pops are unhappy)
3) Effects / Purpose ( it will make your pops happy by xyz%)

 

[TheDarkMaster]

• There's no reason for the invention trees area to be blank when you open the technology screen.
• Center click being the only way to move the screen around is clunky and unintuitive.
• The search function does not help the player very well. The highlight is very easy to miss and it doesn't do anything to point to where in the tree(s) you need to look.
• The tooltips are clunky and don't highlight important information well, especially when there's new laws or buildings unlocked.
• Keystone inventions can be missing important information if you're playing as a tribal government.

 

[Nostalgium]

Agreed. I pretty much discovered the siege and naval parts of the Military techs by accident. Something like the Traditions tree art above, with sick art for each of the sub-trees would be nice.

 

[imperial.]

I'm happy to see a positive response in the thread to what would be really a key improvement to paradox games. One add on to the Traditions layout for technology is that each tile can be a technology path IE ( civic path 1) ( civic path 2 ) , (Religion Path 1) (Religion Path 2) you could even have 4 tiles for each technology type Military, Oratory, Civic, Religion.. if we wanted more ideas or 2 for each if we wanted less.

that's one idea.

 

[Lord Lambert]

Center click being the only way to move the screen around is clunky and unintuitive.

it was legit the first thing I tried, but then I am enlightened enough to know that the only true way of moving the map around is middle mouse click and drag. Down with WASD!

 

[Birdos]

I think the inventios UI is not that pretty, but is a very functional skeleton given the sheer number of techs. I prefer this to the other way around.

The traditions UI looks good, but if you scale it to all the techs it would become very cluttered witout adding any functionality.

Planning mode is nice, but the highlight is barely visible. It would also be nice to "block off" certain techs that you're def not interested in.

Techs that provide certain key elements should be highlighted more, techs that provide instant bonuses should also be highlighted in their own way, as timing is crucial for these.

Panning with normal mouse button should be possible (is nobody going to think of those poor laptop users?!)

I think my main issue is that techs are not streamlined & balanced enough: I absolutely get that there have to be weaker "gateway" on the way to keystone techs as a way to balance that 1 tech cost across the board. But some of those gateway techs are actually quite powerfull, while others are absolutely forgetable. Also, some bonuses are randomly all over the place while others are nicely put in line.

 

[Rabid]

As well as the above (some of which I agree with more than others) the tech UI absolutely needs to deal with culture specific inventions better. At the moment it's easy to overlook that they even exist, especially if you're playing as a culture which hasn't been blessed with them.

Ideally there would be a toggle to display inventions from cultures which you currently don't have access to, to allow the player to plan ahead if they're going to integrate some cultures.

Also, I have seen it suggested elsewhere that the tech researcher positions should be moved from the research window to the offices window. This would allow more space for the actual invention UI.

 

[Martocticvs]

Relatively simple improvements that could be made are:

• Restrict panning so that you can't send the tree 'off-screen'
• Restrict zooming so that it doesn't become uselessly tiny

I mouse-wheel click&drag for moving around the map, so navigating the tech tree was a natural thing for me. However I have tried playing 1.5 on a laptop with a mouse that stupidly had no mouse-wheel, and it wasn't a fun experience!

 

[turokhalo]

I agree with most of the people here. I find the new tree system good, but it needs some improvement. The search option works quite good, but please highlight the hits a lot more. Right now it is quite hard to see. Also it would be nice if the trees, where the inventions you searched for are in, are highlighted as well.

I guess I will soon have memorized where all the really interesting stuff is, but for newer players it might be nice to have to possibility to save your planned inventions and open them in different runs, as there are only minor differences between the inventions for different countries.

 

[imperial.]

I think the inventios UI is not that pretty, but is a very functional skeleton given the sheer number of techs. I prefer this to the other way around.

The traditions UI looks good, but if you scale it to all the techs it would become very cluttered witout adding any functionality.

Planning mode is nice, but the highlight is barely visible. It would also be nice to "block off" certain techs that you're def not interested in.

I think my main issue is that techs are not streamlined & balanced enough: I absolutely get that there have to be weaker "gateway" on the way to keystone techs as a way to balance that 1 tech cost across the board. But some of those gateway techs are actually quite powerfull, while others are absolutely forgetable. Also, some bonuses are randomly all over the place while others are nicely put in line.

yes those are also good points about balancing the techs.

I think my main issue is that inventions UI in its current state is very cluttered with inventions popping off to the peripheries of the window as well as the issues that have been mentioned above. My suggestion is merely taking each of those invention trees with the good looking Tradition UI and compartmentalizing.

That being said, i may not be good with specifics so that's my hope in making threads for you guys to add that input and any other awesome ideas.

 

[TheDarkMaster]

One thing that the new tech tree reminds me a lot of is the passive skill tree from Path of Exile. It's a massive thing, so I won't link it here but you can find it very easy with a Google search. Each node gives some kind of bonus, some really basic stat boost and others unlock new mechanics or give critical boosts. I do think that IR actually gets away with this better thanks to giving the player 4 innovations around the same time, allowing them to do 'custom' level ups and usually get to another keystone with each new advancement. Because of the sheer size of the thing, there needs to be some work put into making it a better experience to use.

For one, it could help a lot to make it a full screen interface. That would make it a lot easier to absorb what's present.

As I said before, more options for moving the screen around. It's fine to have middle mouse click, but there's so little the interface needs access to so it would make a lot of sense to have as many different scrolling options as possible. Many other games use different scrolling systems for these sorts of screens and the player is always going to be thrown when moving from one game to another. Options for scrolling can include center click drag, left click drag, edge scrolling, scroll bars, etc. I generally think that right click should be reserved as a quick way to close the screen.

General tech re-balance would be good, but I don't think that the innovations are in a terrible state right now. As I said before, you get four at once. Not compared to the military traditions, as an example. Those range from incredible to meh in a bad way.