C# Suggestions

[Demetrious]

My humble suggestion: Make NPR's treat diplomatic ships as harmless. It's getting pretty frustrating that I can never do Diplomacy or even maintain diplomatic contact with a new NPR because they screech at my harmless, unarmed diplomatic station like it's a battleship or something.

[nuclearslurpee]

My humble suggestion: Make NPR's treat diplomatic ships as harmless. It's getting pretty frustrating that I can never do Diplomacy or even maintain diplomatic contact with a new NPR because they screech at my harmless, unarmed diplomatic station like it's a battleship or something.

Diplo ships in general need to be more obvious. I had an NPR parking their diplo ships on "my" jump points, which I thought were destroyers of some sort due to size and military engines. Since I did not have any diplo ships of my own, at no point did I gain any indication that these were in fact not armed vessels until I, um, accidentally destroyed them much later on.

[Demetrious]

My humble suggestion: Make NPR's treat diplomatic ships as harmless. It's getting pretty frustrating that I can never do Diplomacy or even maintain diplomatic contact with a new NPR because they screech at my harmless, unarmed diplomatic station like it's a battleship or something.

Diplo ships in general need to be more obvious. I had an NPR parking their diplo ships on "my" jump points, which I thought were destroyers of some sort due to size and military engines. Since I did not have any diplo ships of my own, at no point did I gain any indication that these were in fact not armed vessels until I, um, accidentally destroyed them much later on.

Indeed. NPR's will auto-flag a ship as a diplomatic vessel once it attempts communication while on-sensors. It would be useful for players if a custom event message (at the least) popped up indicating that a ship is a diplomatic ship, or perhaps an auto-flag for players, using the standard alien intelligence prefix flagging system.

Of course, having some NPRs with high xenophobia take a more... testy approach to even diplomatic ships and have less inclination towards sending diplomatic ships of their own is entirely possible, as well...

[Droll]

It would be useful for players if a custom event message (at the least) popped up indicating that a ship is a diplomatic ship...

I do get special events that mark alien ships as diplomatic vessels, the problem is that they don't have a visible marker on their contact info in the tactical view, which means you often forget which specific ship is diplomatic.

The problem is that both sides need sensor coverage for such communication to happen, which means that often you have to get uncomfortably close to identify the diplomats. I think its realistic since it shows how difficult it is to establish contact with an unknown alien force.

[Garfunkel]

Can search and destroy fighters and flak suppression be buffed? Currently they are kinda useless, I always wanted to crush a planet's ground forces with fighters but as it currently is, that is impossible to do.

Never in human history has airpower crushed ground armies completely or even driven them to surrender. Even the best possible case scenario, the Gulf War of 1991, required the Coalition to drive their ground forces into Kuwait and Irak, and that was a war where one side had complete control of the airspace, could bomb the enemy with total freedom, and had complete intelligence about the enemy's disposition and equipment. Plus both terrain and weather were on the side of the attacker.

If you don't want to wage a ground war, the only option is to nuke the planet and that's how it should be. It is ludicrous and impossible, regardless of technology, to be able to wipe out armed resistance on a planetary scale.

[QuakeIV]

Can search and destroy fighters and flak suppression be buffed? Currently they are kinda useless, I always wanted to crush a planet's ground forces with fighters but as it currently is, that is impossible to do.

Never in human history has airpower crushed ground armies completely or even driven them to surrender. Even the best possible case scenario, the Gulf War of 1991, required the Coalition to drive their ground forces into Kuwait and Irak, and that was a war where one side had complete control of the airspace, could bomb the enemy with total freedom, and had complete intelligence about the enemy's disposition and equipment. Plus both terrain and weather were on the side of the attacker.

If you don't want to wage a ground war, the only option is to nuke the planet and that's how it should be. It is ludicrous and impossible, regardless of technology, to be able to wipe out armed resistance on a planetary scale.

There were literally large numbers of infantry surrendering to helicopters.

[Garfunkel]

Not large numbers and it only happened twice and then afterwards got blown out of all proportion, just like the myth of Polish cavalry charging German tanks in 1939. In both cases it were vehicle crews surrendering after seeing their comrades getting blown up. And despite the publicity that the Highway of Death got, that massacre only happened after the advancing Coalition troops had routed the Iraqi troops who then fled in panic.

[Stryker]

Not large numbers and it only happened twice and then afterwards got blown out of all proportion, just like the myth of Polish cavalry charging German tanks in 1939. In both cases it were vehicle crews surrendering after seeing their comrades getting blown up. And despite the publicity that the Highway of Death got, that massacre only happened after the advancing Coalition troops had routed the Iraqi troops who then fled in panic.

The details may be wrong, but the point is valid.  During world war ii, the luftwaffe bombed the hell out of England.  They went into their bunkers, then, when the raid was over, they came back out and rebuilt.  You have to put boots on the ground.

[Stryker]

It would be nice if we could get a formation update button.  If you select you're infantry battalion, for example, then click the update button, the engine would look at the unit series, and replace on a one for one basis the units in that batallion with the ones at the top of the unit series.  This would save having to replace every element in a formation indivually.  Some adjustments may have to be made to the formation, but this is much easier than replacing every element by hand.

I'm referring to the formation template, not an existing formation.

[xenoscepter]

It would be nice if we could get a formation update button.  If you select you're infantry battalion, for example, then click the update button, the engine would look at the unit series, and replace on a one for one basis the units in that batallion with the ones at the top of the unit series.  This would save having to replace every element in a formation indivually.  Some adjustments may have to be made to the formation, but this is much easier than replacing every element by hand.

I'm referring to the formation template, not an existing formation.

 - I usually just update them by making a new template and then adding the same number of new units as the old, then hitting "Obsolete" on the old units and deleting the old template for sanity's sake. Not sure if you can delete a template while units still use it, but I'd assume you can... an "Obsolete Template" Button would be nice though.

[Stryker]

It would be nice if we could get a formation update button.  If you select you're infantry battalion, for example, then click the update button, the engine would look at the unit series, and replace on a one for one basis the units in that batallion with the ones at the top of the unit series.  This would save having to replace every element in a formation indivually.  Some adjustments may have to be made to the formation, but this is much easier than replacing every element by hand.

I'm referring to the formation template, not an existing formation.

 - I usually just update them by making a new template and then adding the same number of new units as the old, then hitting "Obsolete" on the old units and deleting the old template for sanity's sake. Not sure if you can delete a template while units still use it, but I'd assume you can... an "Obsolete Template" Button would be nice though.

But you still have to add everything manually.  Much easier if there was an update button.

[nuclearslurpee]

It would be nice if we could get a formation update button.  If you select you're infantry battalion, for example, then click the update button, the engine would look at the unit series, and replace on a one for one basis the units in that batallion with the ones at the top of the unit series.  This would save having to replace every element in a formation indivually.  Some adjustments may have to be made to the formation, but this is much easier than replacing every element by hand.

I'm referring to the formation template, not an existing formation.

This is a great and natural extension of the Series system.

[skoormit]

I would love to have a "Rename Fleet" order.

I use fleet names to indicate current assignment, and it would be great if I could, for example, have a freighter fleet rename itself after it unloads.

[QuakeIV]

That is a seriously interesting concept, I could have a fleet rename itself to 0Unloaded or something so that I see it at the top of the list.

[skoormit]

Append Template Orders To Current Orders

Right now, using an order template overwrites a fleet's current orders.
I suggest adding a way to append template orders to the end of the current orders list.

Perhaps a checkbox "Append Orders" next to the Create/Delete Template buttons?

If the box is checked, then double-clicking a template appends the orders.
Otherwise, double-clicking replaces the current orders (as it does now).