Feature Requests
Elemental Forums
These are a few things that are essentially new feature requests that I didn't feel fit with my UI Suggestions post. These would probably take more work.
- More graphics options. There is a mod that replaces a few of the trees with sprites. I would like the option to replace all the trees with sprites. I can't tell the difference between the sprites and the 3D models for trees, but my GPU can. Reduced particles instead of turning them off completely, so I can at least still see that something's happening. Instant camera centering on things instead of scrolling across the map (it gets choppy on my computers). Things that help the game run on lower-end systems (or, in my case, reduce the heat my computer puts out, especially the laptop). Option to remove the clouds/haze and sunstreaks.
- Add a button (and/or hotkey) that moves all your units that already have destinations, like it does at end of turn, but this would allow you to make it happen without ending your turn, thus allowing you to deal with anything that happens from that movement, and continuing to use units that didn't exhaust their movement. It also helps you determine which units do not have set destinations yet. Do NOT make them automatically move at the beginning of the turn (or some random point during) like Civilization does, though. Only when the button/hotkey is pressed.
- A scrollable text log of what has happened. From what I understand of other games, this might take a lot of work, but you already have something similar to it in place with the Event List, so it might not. Having the names of cities, units, buildings, and whatnot highlighted would be good, too. You could click on those highlights to go to that unit or city, or a Hiergamenon article. Maybe have different tabs for the different categories from the Event List (plus one that's everything). Make it have a button to minimize it to the edge of the screen.
Update 1/27 (because I had an idea): Color code the names of things like cities colored green, units colored red, etc, with a black border on the text. Then, for those things that are owned by a faction, change the background color of the text (just for that name) to match that faction. This way you can start getting an idea of what you're looking at before you start reading. It's all about efficiency.
- Ability to put more than one thing on the negotiating table, such as putting up both a Non-Aggression Treaty and a Tech Treaty. If they're going to give me gildars for the Non-Aggression Treaty and I have to give them gildars for the Tech Treaty, why not save a step and put both treaties on the table at once? In the end, this doesn't really impact gameplay, it just makes negotiations easier.
- Cloud saves. I play the game on two computers at two different locations, and both have Internet access, so it would be nice if I could save my games on the cloud. I think Steam provides this functionality. Or at least let me specify where my save files go so I can save them to my Google Drive folder, which syncs automatically.
- The tutorial should be longer, in that it should cover more material, especially RPG elements that are adapted for an empire building game (like shared mana).
- Add an option to customize the hotkeys.
- New 2/14: Add a framerate limiter. I really don't need this game to run at 60 FPS. If I run it at 30 FPS, my computer will heat up less and use less electricity (both lowering my electric bill and allowing me to play longer on a laptop running on battery). Honestly, with this game, I'd probably set it even lower. More games are starting to use these.
