Additional Notes

[jamaine10]

After playing for a few hours, reading posts, etc. I think I'm catching onto the learning curve. Here are some other things I've noticed:

1. Save/Load - as noted in another thread, Saving is clunky. If you select Save, you should get a pop-up screen that lets you enter your save name, and/or a list of previously saved games. When I selected Load it took me to the auto-save files. I know another thread mentioned where the save files are, but I forgot to write it down and didn't feel like hunting for the right directory. I loaded an auto-save file with no problem.
2. Unit info - when looking at the Unit screen, there is a "?" which I assume is "Help"? When you click on it nothing happens.
3. Former - please, please, please make hot keys for the Former units (i.e., R for build road, F for build farm, etc.). It's not hard to click the buttons on the Former's screen, but once you get a lot of Formers (which you'll need for Pollution) having hot buttons would make things go quicker.
4. Former building - I've noticed that everything a Former does (build road, build farm, clean pollution, etc.) takes 3 turns. This isn't realistic. How many turns a Former needs to do something should be dictated by the terrain. Building a mine in hills (3 turns?) won't take as long as building a mine in mountains (5 turns?). Building a farm on plains should only take 2 turns, while building a farm in hills would take longer (3 turns? 4 turns?). I've noticed that sometimes you can build a farm on a mountain. That has to be a bug, right?
5. Map Zoom - when you zoom all the way out, the map turns very hazy. Kind of makes zooming out worthless. When you zoom all the way in, the view is nice but very limited in scope.
6. Mini Map - since this is a beta, are there plans to improve the mini map? The resolution is poor (even on my HD screen) so it's not very useful right now.
7. Spotting - seems like most units have a spotting range of 1. That's okay, but if a unit moves onto a hill or a mountain, their spotting range should be increased (maybe to 2 for a hill and 3 for a mountain?).
8. Unit combat - I really think that if one of your units is attacked, the map should center on that battle. I'm at a point in the game where several of my units were attacked, but I have no idea who, or what, attacked them.
9. Disappearing Units - I lost some units to combat, but I think I lost some other units due to lack of funds or resources. If a unit is lost due to lack of funds or resources I think there should be a message stating "unit disbanded due to lack of funds/resources". Right now all the game says is, "Unit lost". Not very informative.
10. Renaming Units - I still think it would be a really cool idea to allow players to rename units they customize (I made it, I named it!). I think it would make the players feel more in touch with their units, not to mention making it easier to tell which type of unit is which. Instead of seeing an Avenger tank, it could be the Human Buzzsaw. In multi-player games, I can see players trying to come up with the most inventive names to impress their friends.