C# Aurora v0.x Suggestions

[Zincat]

Following the recent change to cost in civilian contracts, I would like to suggest a clearer, immediately viewable cost for trade contract.

Say that you order 10 mines to be moved from planet A to planet B, I think it would be nice to see the cost just as you give the order. Say, 300 wealth.

This would also be useful because it's kind of hard sometimes to remember the size of certain installations. Would also be nice to see how many trips it takes, which translates into how much time it will take.

[QuakeIV]

Traders tend to refuse to do long runs in vb6 unless there is no other option, I assume as a marginal cost thing.  Could we offer premium prices to get them to do long hauls?

[Steve Walmsley]

Traders tend to refuse to do long runs in vb6 unless there is no other option, I assume as a marginal cost thing.  Could we offer premium prices to get them to do long hauls?

Will be easier in C#. Long haul installation runs are now higher priority than short-haul trade runs for civilians. Bear in mind you are disrupting the economy though when you do this. Also, you are now paying a lot more for long-haul runs anyway.

[chrislocke2000]

In respect of task group training it would be good if there were some more options to accelerate the time required to get ships trained up such that they no longer get order delays etc in combat. My thought on this is whether military academies could be set to improve initial training rather than provide a bonus. Ie rather than get a 2% increase as a result of reducing rates of training could this be made a 20% bonus to TG training? Alternatively could we have another structure outside of academies that acts as a finishing facility (much in the same way we have land based “ships” such as HMS Collingwood) where we could train batches of crew to higher TG training before they get into a real ship?

[smoelf]

Posted on behalf of Reddit user Kazuar01 (since they seem to have trouble registering; https://www.reddit.com/r/aurora4x/comments/827ois/re_c_aurora_v0x_suggestions_official_board/):

In VB6 Aurora v7.1, the way empires are represented on the galaxy overview is completly dependent on how the empire in question has setup itself in the Race Details Window; due to random generation for AI empires, this leads to a situation where NPRs and spoilers can end up with confusing combinations e.g:

1) NPR A with an orange flag and a purple system color, and NPR B with a purple flag and an orange system color

2) A hostile NPR has green systems while an allied NPR has red systems

3) Two NPRs end up with very similiar tones of the same color e.g. one with RGB 27/208/228 and the other with RGB 24/220/231.

Furthermore, all NPRs use the same graphic for their fleet, meaning a player can't tell, from a glance, whether an NPR fleet belongs to an ally or an enemy.

Neither of these problems can be solved via SM mode, as that would require access to an NPRs Race Details Window.

While the random generation routines could be worked over to make more sensible "choices" (and to include fleet graphic), my suggestion for C# Aurora would be for the color and fleet graphic choosen in the Race Details Window to only apply to how the empire is represented on its own galaxy map; and for fleet graphics and system color of other empires to "simply" be an editable setting in the Intelligence Window.

[TMaekler]

In the event log there is one statement: Officer Update - which not only shows the progress an officer makes, but also if he retires. However, when I try to keep track of my officers the progress does not interest me, but if they retire. Could these two reports be separated in the log so I can filter out one and still see the other?

[TMaekler]

Pause Fleet Actions: sometimes it is necessary (e.g. civilian reloaction, fuel shortage) to pause a fleet in doing its cycled or preplanned actions. Having a button which does exactly that (so you don't have to recreate the whole list of fleet actions) would be nice.

[the obelisk]

While the random generation routines could be worked over to make more sensible "choices" (and to include fleet graphic), my suggestion for C# Aurora would be for the color and fleet graphic choosen in the Race Details Window to only apply to how the empire is represented on its own galaxy map; and for fleet graphics and system color of other empires to "simply" be an editable setting in the Intelligence Window.

Would probably be better if what's chosen by the race detail window is the defaultv and you're given the option to edit it if you want.  Otherwise in a multi-player-empire game you'd have to make set up the look for each empire multiple times.

[swarm_sadist]

If we go down that route, I think it would be ideal to have a way to specify which planets/colonies civilian freighters are allowed to consider when they're looking for where to acquire minerals, and maybe even the ability to designate which minerals they're allowed to take from which planets/colonies.

Like a source, destination or stable preset for minerals?

[the obelisk]

Like a source, destination or stable preset for minerals?

I'm thinking the colonies would have somewhere in the population/production window (probably in the civilian/ind tab) where you can choose what minerals can be exported from the planet by civilians (if any).  This is only because the initial suggestion seemed to be that supplying the minerals for civilian transport shouldn't be done with the normal civilian contract system (to reduce micromanage, I'd assume).

[TMaekler]

When working with a multi-faction game I found it to be useful, having an excel sheet open where I then save remarks as to what country has what open tasks, or I need to remind myself of later. This is especially helpful when I pause such a game and come back to it month later.

So why not having that in game? One more SLQ-Table to save yourself some notes on what is going on in your empire(s). Ideally of course, manually sortable (drag&drop) so you can prioritize etc. 

[Conscript Gary]

Bit of an out-there suggestion this time:

Remove the Duranium cost from building Infrastructure, have it purely consume time and money.

Since infrastructure can be created as a trade good, it's already possible to create it without spending resources besides time, technically. You could argue that the ability to prepare it on demand is worth the Duranium cost, but personally I always find myself wanting to take advantage of the 'free' trade good version because TNEs are a nonrenewable resource.

[Barkhorn]

Bit of an out-there suggestion this time:

Remove the Duranium cost from building Infrastructure, have it purely consume time and money.

Since infrastructure can be created as a trade good, it's already possible to create it without spending resources besides time, technically. You could argue that the ability to prepare it on demand is worth the Duranium cost, but personally I always find myself wanting to take advantage of the 'free' trade good version because TNEs are a nonrenewable resource.

Further, what about it is meant to be futuristic?  We could build dome or tunnel cities right now if we had the shipping to actually get to other planets.  Why does it need the high-tech materials if we could do it in real life?

[TCD]

Further, what about it is meant to be futuristic?  We could build dome or tunnel cities right now if we had the shipping to actually get to other planets.  Why does it need the high-tech materials if we could do it in real life?

That's a very slippery slope Barkhorn! Why should a financial center or a military academy need high-tech materials?

I think you can hand wave it all as saying that in a world of high-tech building materials then it would be considered backwards not to use them. Presumably the Martian settlers want the same mile-high towers, unsupported transport tubes, smart walls with holographic projection etc etc that they enjoyed on post-TN Earth.

[QuakeIV]

I disagree with the slippery slope thing, the idea of financial centers and military academies not needing them seems quasi reasonable to me, though less so.  You might need high tech materials to build high tech computers in order to run adequately advanced simulations for both the purposes of the academies and the financial centers.

The suggestion that its 'backwards' seems exceedingly iffy an excuse, I mean is that really a reason to stop all colonization ever until some duranium can be obtained?

I had mostly assumed it was just a vague attempt at balance, which was somewhat undermined by the free infrastructure the civilian market produces.