Ship combat notification

Currently I don't like the way the ship combat notification is handled. When the AI attacks my ships, a window pops and I have no clue on the map which or where the combat is on the map. The only option I'm presented with is to fight? Imagine on a ludicrous map where there's more than 10 battles to resolve? Also, why can't my ships make a run for it? If my ships are faster and tougher than the opponents ships, I should be able to take some of the damage and escape?

So I prefer to have the ship combat notifications on top so we can visit it and resolve it when we want to by clicking on it. And please have an option to escape battle with consequences. Sometimes I prefer to take my chances of salvaging a ship rather than a fleet battle. What does everyone think bout this?

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I think there would be issues having the defender resolve fights at their discretion. For example, to move and attack with your ships means it's your turn. You wouldn't want your turn delayed due to the defender deciding to handle the battle at a later time even though he is not the current priority in the turn order.

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I think your misunderstanding what I mean, have you played this game? I'm not saying to resolve a battle at a later turn, all I'm saying is to have it in the notification panel and return to it after I complete other tasks like planet management etc.. in the same turn.

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Yes, I have played this game. The example I gave was from the attacker's perspective. What you are asking for is that when you, the defender, is attacked, you wish to put that attack on hold while you can complete other tasks such as planet management and then resolve the attack afterwards at your discretion. The issue with that is that it isn't your turn, and you are effectively delaying the attacker's turn. There is a turn order in the game, which is a series of individual turns in a single round, or as the game showcases it as a galactic week. When it is a player's turn during that week, they can perform certain actions like purchasing asteroid mines or moving their ships. These actions can only be done on their turn during this galactic week, and they essentially have the turn priority. Actions like planet management, however, can be done even when it isn't your turn. So in short, you are asking for the ability to delay other player's turns whether they be human or AI so you can perform a secondary action while the turns cycle through the galactic week. However, regardless of all of that, this issue that you are presenting can also be easily solved by simply performing all planet management tasks during your turn while you have the priority such as moving your ships. This way when the AI performs actions such as attacking your ships you will not be interrupted as all your actions will have been already done.

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Well then you read my mind, I'm trying to find a solution to it. Cause I just find it annoying to get a message pop up where I'm frozen and have only 1 option to press "start combat" or "quick combat" , the most annoying part of it is half the time I don't know where the fight is and with which fleet I'm going to combat with?

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lyssailcor

Join Date 02/2004

+28

When you are attacked you have to resolve the attack here and now since it's the attackers turn and they may move and attack somewhere else if they win in their same turn.

But I agree it would be better to at least see where the attack is taking place (your fleet composition you see in the popup window, that is not the problem). That could be solved by putting the notification window at the top or right top of the screen and show the map centered on the attack location underneath it.

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No solution comes to mind to the first issue because it's not your turn and you shouldn't be able to delay another person's turn for something that can wait until your turn. The system you have issue with is literally just the AI taking its turn and attacking you. In just about any other 4X game this wouldn't be a problem because unlike Gal Civ they restrict all of the players actions to their turn only instead of the wonderful feature of having secondary actions like planet management be available regardless of the turn order. It's like a pseudo simultaneous turn system without the issue of who clicks the enemy army the fastest. As for your other issue you mention, it wouldn't be difficult to implement a system to help the player know where the fight is. One way would be panning the camera over the battle in question and having a much smaller window showcasing the base details and allowing further options. Below is a link of a very crude version of what it might look like. I apologize for the color scheme.

http://imgur.com/a/EXfxm

So in this crude example, I circled two "enemy" ships as the contenders in a fight with yellow, of which you can see is a 6 vs 1. In theory, a line would pull away from both fleets and end with a small box showcasing the base stats of the fleet such as total beam power, point defense, and such. This is the total fleet power, and not a breakdown of individual ships. Below those two boxes is a larger box allowing three options. "Watch Fight" means you watch the battle as normal, "Auto Resolve" is the quick combat (I'm not sure why I didn't just type quick combat instead), and "Expand" will open the full details of the fight, showing you the window that you have issue with. With this, the player can expand that massive screen window showing all the individual ships that are partaking in the fight if they so desire.

Some other notes is that the player cannot pan the camera away from the fight when this event pops up, but that can mouse wheel scroll, allowing them to zoom out and see where in the galaxy the fight is taking place in case the local area doesn't seem familiar to them. Additionally, instead of an ugly yellow circle surrounding the two opposing fleets, there would be a highlight of some kind that clearly indicates the two tiles in question, so in the event of having multiple fleets adjacent to each other the player will clearly know which two tiles/fleets are fighting.

Again, this is a crude example, but maybe that concept would make it easier for you to know where fights are happening and allowing you the options to know the finer details of the battle, or simply auto resolve and continue on. In theory, this concept would be less jarring as the players don't have this massive black screen of the fleet details just popping in front of their face, which makes it easier to stay immersed on the galactic map.

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