Contacts Screen Customization
1. Use Case: There is a lot of information that's been added across expansions and some of it is hard to find and some of it would be very useful to be able to display as an additional column in Contacts and to sort on. As an example, with Overlord, Vassals are a big deal (see Overlord suggestions, below) and it would be nice to be able to display a column that indicates my vassals, the vassals of others and any pledges of secret fealty to me, and overlords. That way we could sort: independent, my vassals, others' vassals with secret fealty to me, others vassals, and other overlords, so I could easily see independents that I might want to target for subjugation, etc.
Possible implementation: I'm envisioning a pull-down menu button in the Contacts that lets you have sets of custom column combinations. The Default would look just like the present one, so users would not have to adapt if they don't want to use it. Then there would be several presets like "Overlord/Vassals", above, "Espionage", and "Edit preset views". (The latter would let you add/remove columns from a custom view, rename the view, and create new views.) Column options would include things like overlords/vassals, espionage/intelligence levels operations, etc. Once you have created at least on custom view, the Contacts icon in the left UI bar would pop up a menu of custom views if you click-and-hold. So out-of-the-box you would see no difference, but once you have created custom views you could get to them with one click and a menu selection.
These columns could be interactive. For example, if you had a column that showed border controls with each empire and you could get a pop-up menu to change it, this would make it much easier to make mass changes -- such as when you're about to open an L-gate and while you've generally had open borders and lots of friends, you don't want your friends to take the L-system from you.
2. Use case: You're looking at the Contacts screen and drill down to an empire's details. You want to do some things with multiple empires. You drill down on the first empire and when you're done you close the empire's details, and you don't get the Contacts screen back and have to click on it again and possibly scroll in it, remember your place, etc.
Possible implementation: In the upper part of the Contacts (and potentially others) screen have a pin icon that "pins" the Contacts screen. When you drill down to another screen, the Contacts disappears, but when you close that screen, Contacts reappears exactly as it was when you drilled down, and potentially with the drilled-down empire highlighted. For bonus points, have the pin be independent for each custom view so some are pinned and some are not.
3. Several other QoL improvements. Have a way to do the camera target go to the system in galaxy view as well as the system view. Often I end up clicking, then immediately zooming out to Galaxy view. Also, provide a shortcut to cause a screen to temporarily disappear without closing. Often I end up trying to move the windowed peer around it at the galaxy view to get some context. It would also be nice to be able to watch a system for status changes. Playing as a MegaCorp, I'd love to know when another empire's colony is established so I can get a jump on opening a branch office there -- to serve the brave pioneers of that planet, of course.
Overlord
1. Use case: The vassal mechanism needs some tweaking. I've had several games recently where there were no Federations at all, only Vassal blobs. Overlord's enhancements to vassalage mean it's not game-over if you are visualized -- and even provides for origins where you are a vassal -- but there is now a race to vassalize and if you're a pacifist who has lost that race, you won't be able to compete with the couple of huge Overlords.
Possible implementation: I don't know the underlying mechanisms so can't say for sure, but the goal should be to: a) balance out AI creation/participation in Federations with Vassalization, and b) give more mechanisms to shake up Overlord blobs. (The latter may just be my lack of experience in the game, since I have less than 200 hours so far.)
2. Use case: It's hard to prioritize empires and to see independents that might be subjugated. Right now, I just have to mouse over each empire's icon in the Contacts Screen and read the hover-over menu to see which are independent, which are vassals, and which are overlords (extra negative approval of subjugation).
Possible Implementation: As mentioned in the Contacts Screen Customization, above, a column indicating Subjugation/Overlord status that's sortable would be extremely helpful.
Nemesis
I like the espionage and find it useful, but a lot of people don't like it. I have a couple of ideas to make it a more attractive option. Obviously one would be to power the current operations up a bit, but additionally...
1. Use case: It's really hard to see the state of your espionage efforts, statuses, etc. For example, I'd like to be acquiring assets until 90% infiltration on all empires I have spy masters in. I'd like to quickly see where I have spy masters and where not, and also where I have both spy masters and envoys improving relations.
Possible implementation: Take advantage of the Contacts Screen Customizations, above, to provide espionage-oriented columns such as: Spymaster, current infiltration level, current operations, current espionage strength versus the target, etc. With the pinned option, you could quickly manage your operations, getting an overview, then drilling into each empire and when you're done coming back to the overview.
2. Use case: there are a lot of pieces of information that I can't see but I would like to. For example, which MegaCorp has a branch on a planet, or which planets does a MegaCorp have branches in? Or it might be interesting to see what market purchases another empire is making, who a mercenary enclave has rented its fleet to, what traditions an empire has taken, or how far an empire is in L-gate research. I don't want you to hide currently-available information behind a paywall (Nemesis), of course.
Possible implementation: Once certain infilltration/intel levels are reached, additional information shows up in (customized) Contacts columns or in hover-overs. For example, once I have 80% intel on a MegaCorp, I can see what planets it has branches on. Once I have 80% intel on a non-MegaCorp, I can see which MegaCorp has a branch on its planets. You could even have a little Nemesis icon to indicate things you could see if you had Nemesis. Again, not hiding current information behind a paywall, but rather encouraging folks who want to know more (like MegaCorps) to also have Nemesis.
3. Use case: I have one particular empire I'd like to focus my attention on, but espionage is spread out.
Possible implementation: Allow more than one envoy to be applied as a spy master, strengthening the operations against that empire. It could be that most things stay the same, except each spy ring has its own infiltration level -- and your intel level on that empire is the max of all spy rings. One spy ring could survive even if another is compromised. Or maybe a spy ring could specialize in particular kinds of operations. Or maybe you only have one spy ring, but it gets stronger with multiple dedicated envoys: a) success of an operation more likely, infiltration increases faster, or b) stronger operations become available, etc. So maybe you really could focus four envoys on espionage in an empire and literally blow up an entire starbase. Also, the espionage tradition might make stronger operations available, so I'd have to dedicate four envoys and have the espionage tradition to blow up a starbase. (Or sabotage or even steal a fleet or cause a rebellion on a non-capital system.)
MegaCorp
1. Use case: deciding where to open my next branch offices. I got a GREAT tip in the Steam forums that you can hover over the "Break Commercial Agreement" for an empire to see the most profitable planets with no branches. So I do that, then type the name into search, except some empires have lots of names that are alike and evidently the same names for planets in different systems. And I have to repeat this for each empire.
Possible implementation: Customized Contacts (Trade Agreement column, most-profitable un-branched planets, etc) and pinning could help, but I'm thinking a Claims-like graphical display might help more. Show the galaxy and have check-boxes, like claims, but the check-boxes indicate branch status for a system: red X means all planets in the system have branches from competitors, green X means all my branches, yellow X is mixed, red empty checkbox indicates no trade agreement, etc. Hover over the system to see a graphical display of the planets/branches. (I.e. for each planet there are four boxes similarly coded indicating branch made (solid color), branch not possible (X), etc. As these are checked, details appear in a menu to the left -- just like claims, where you see costs and chosen systems, except it would indicate systems and planets.
2. Use case: I get a monolithic branch-office view on the right, but can't tell which office is in which empire, etc.
Possible implementation: have an icon indicating empire and hover-over to indicate details (which buildings built there, etc).
3. Use case: If I'm succeeding, I have a LOT of branches and I'd like to roll them up in the hierarchical view on the right of the GUI, but then it hides the yellow building icons that appear saying I can build new buildings.
Possible implementation: When the UI on the right has a section that's rolled up, have icons appear to indicate attention is necessary. (This would apply to almost everything that goes there, like fleet upgrades, starbase upgrades, etc, but is especially helpful for a MegaCorp.)
I may edit to add more. Hopefully they're helpful/practical/achievable.
1. Use Case: There is a lot of information that's been added across expansions and some of it is hard to find and some of it would be very useful to be able to display as an additional column in Contacts and to sort on. As an example, with Overlord, Vassals are a big deal (see Overlord suggestions, below) and it would be nice to be able to display a column that indicates my vassals, the vassals of others and any pledges of secret fealty to me, and overlords. That way we could sort: independent, my vassals, others' vassals with secret fealty to me, others vassals, and other overlords, so I could easily see independents that I might want to target for subjugation, etc.
Possible implementation: I'm envisioning a pull-down menu button in the Contacts that lets you have sets of custom column combinations. The Default would look just like the present one, so users would not have to adapt if they don't want to use it. Then there would be several presets like "Overlord/Vassals", above, "Espionage", and "Edit preset views". (The latter would let you add/remove columns from a custom view, rename the view, and create new views.) Column options would include things like overlords/vassals, espionage/intelligence levels operations, etc. Once you have created at least on custom view, the Contacts icon in the left UI bar would pop up a menu of custom views if you click-and-hold. So out-of-the-box you would see no difference, but once you have created custom views you could get to them with one click and a menu selection.
These columns could be interactive. For example, if you had a column that showed border controls with each empire and you could get a pop-up menu to change it, this would make it much easier to make mass changes -- such as when you're about to open an L-gate and while you've generally had open borders and lots of friends, you don't want your friends to take the L-system from you.
2. Use case: You're looking at the Contacts screen and drill down to an empire's details. You want to do some things with multiple empires. You drill down on the first empire and when you're done you close the empire's details, and you don't get the Contacts screen back and have to click on it again and possibly scroll in it, remember your place, etc.
Possible implementation: In the upper part of the Contacts (and potentially others) screen have a pin icon that "pins" the Contacts screen. When you drill down to another screen, the Contacts disappears, but when you close that screen, Contacts reappears exactly as it was when you drilled down, and potentially with the drilled-down empire highlighted. For bonus points, have the pin be independent for each custom view so some are pinned and some are not.
3. Several other QoL improvements. Have a way to do the camera target go to the system in galaxy view as well as the system view. Often I end up clicking, then immediately zooming out to Galaxy view. Also, provide a shortcut to cause a screen to temporarily disappear without closing. Often I end up trying to move the windowed peer around it at the galaxy view to get some context. It would also be nice to be able to watch a system for status changes. Playing as a MegaCorp, I'd love to know when another empire's colony is established so I can get a jump on opening a branch office there -- to serve the brave pioneers of that planet, of course.
Overlord
1. Use case: The vassal mechanism needs some tweaking. I've had several games recently where there were no Federations at all, only Vassal blobs. Overlord's enhancements to vassalage mean it's not game-over if you are visualized -- and even provides for origins where you are a vassal -- but there is now a race to vassalize and if you're a pacifist who has lost that race, you won't be able to compete with the couple of huge Overlords.
Possible implementation: I don't know the underlying mechanisms so can't say for sure, but the goal should be to: a) balance out AI creation/participation in Federations with Vassalization, and b) give more mechanisms to shake up Overlord blobs. (The latter may just be my lack of experience in the game, since I have less than 200 hours so far.)
2. Use case: It's hard to prioritize empires and to see independents that might be subjugated. Right now, I just have to mouse over each empire's icon in the Contacts Screen and read the hover-over menu to see which are independent, which are vassals, and which are overlords (extra negative approval of subjugation).
Possible Implementation: As mentioned in the Contacts Screen Customization, above, a column indicating Subjugation/Overlord status that's sortable would be extremely helpful.
Nemesis
I like the espionage and find it useful, but a lot of people don't like it. I have a couple of ideas to make it a more attractive option. Obviously one would be to power the current operations up a bit, but additionally...
1. Use case: It's really hard to see the state of your espionage efforts, statuses, etc. For example, I'd like to be acquiring assets until 90% infiltration on all empires I have spy masters in. I'd like to quickly see where I have spy masters and where not, and also where I have both spy masters and envoys improving relations.
Possible implementation: Take advantage of the Contacts Screen Customizations, above, to provide espionage-oriented columns such as: Spymaster, current infiltration level, current operations, current espionage strength versus the target, etc. With the pinned option, you could quickly manage your operations, getting an overview, then drilling into each empire and when you're done coming back to the overview.
2. Use case: there are a lot of pieces of information that I can't see but I would like to. For example, which MegaCorp has a branch on a planet, or which planets does a MegaCorp have branches in? Or it might be interesting to see what market purchases another empire is making, who a mercenary enclave has rented its fleet to, what traditions an empire has taken, or how far an empire is in L-gate research. I don't want you to hide currently-available information behind a paywall (Nemesis), of course.
Possible implementation: Once certain infilltration/intel levels are reached, additional information shows up in (customized) Contacts columns or in hover-overs. For example, once I have 80% intel on a MegaCorp, I can see what planets it has branches on. Once I have 80% intel on a non-MegaCorp, I can see which MegaCorp has a branch on its planets. You could even have a little Nemesis icon to indicate things you could see if you had Nemesis. Again, not hiding current information behind a paywall, but rather encouraging folks who want to know more (like MegaCorps) to also have Nemesis.
3. Use case: I have one particular empire I'd like to focus my attention on, but espionage is spread out.
Possible implementation: Allow more than one envoy to be applied as a spy master, strengthening the operations against that empire. It could be that most things stay the same, except each spy ring has its own infiltration level -- and your intel level on that empire is the max of all spy rings. One spy ring could survive even if another is compromised. Or maybe a spy ring could specialize in particular kinds of operations. Or maybe you only have one spy ring, but it gets stronger with multiple dedicated envoys: a) success of an operation more likely, infiltration increases faster, or b) stronger operations become available, etc. So maybe you really could focus four envoys on espionage in an empire and literally blow up an entire starbase. Also, the espionage tradition might make stronger operations available, so I'd have to dedicate four envoys and have the espionage tradition to blow up a starbase. (Or sabotage or even steal a fleet or cause a rebellion on a non-capital system.)
MegaCorp
1. Use case: deciding where to open my next branch offices. I got a GREAT tip in the Steam forums that you can hover over the "Break Commercial Agreement" for an empire to see the most profitable planets with no branches. So I do that, then type the name into search, except some empires have lots of names that are alike and evidently the same names for planets in different systems. And I have to repeat this for each empire.
Possible implementation: Customized Contacts (Trade Agreement column, most-profitable un-branched planets, etc) and pinning could help, but I'm thinking a Claims-like graphical display might help more. Show the galaxy and have check-boxes, like claims, but the check-boxes indicate branch status for a system: red X means all planets in the system have branches from competitors, green X means all my branches, yellow X is mixed, red empty checkbox indicates no trade agreement, etc. Hover over the system to see a graphical display of the planets/branches. (I.e. for each planet there are four boxes similarly coded indicating branch made (solid color), branch not possible (X), etc. As these are checked, details appear in a menu to the left -- just like claims, where you see costs and chosen systems, except it would indicate systems and planets.
2. Use case: I get a monolithic branch-office view on the right, but can't tell which office is in which empire, etc.
Possible implementation: have an icon indicating empire and hover-over to indicate details (which buildings built there, etc).
3. Use case: If I'm succeeding, I have a LOT of branches and I'd like to roll them up in the hierarchical view on the right of the GUI, but then it hides the yellow building icons that appear saying I can build new buildings.
Possible implementation: When the UI on the right has a section that's rolled up, have icons appear to indicate attention is necessary. (This would apply to almost everything that goes there, like fleet upgrades, starbase upgrades, etc, but is especially helpful for a MegaCorp.)
I may edit to add more. Hopefully they're helpful/practical/achievable.
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