In short the goal of this thread is to post what UI problems you have in gal civ III and maybe give suggestion for things that could use changing. I recently played my first full game of gal civ III (never bothered to go on after I've "won") and kept track of what I couldn't find or things that I really needed in the UI at certain points. Here's what I've found:
And now last but not least some things I noticed in the ship designer:
I would like to hear other peoples idea's about the UI. I've lurked here for quite some time, I decided to post here after I read the post about the goals for the game in 2019. I would really like his game to be the best game it can be. It certainly is a lot more engaging then when it first came out, but there still are many bugs and things missing like some of the UI elements mentioned here. At first I wanted to make a thread about the strenghts and weaknesses of gal civ III compared to it's competition like Stellaris and Endless Space 2. I still may do that in the near future, I thought it would be best to start simple since I've never posted here before.
Hi BelgianBro,
11. In the diplomacy screen, it would be nice to have an overview of where all your diplomats are. The ones dispatched and the ones working for your government, without having to look for them.
12. All the tabs on the top could be redone to represent different branches of your government. Keeping track of what ships you have, how many, where they are, how to upgrade them (at once) was a lot easier in gal civ II from what I remember.
Both of these have been an ongoing gripe of mine since day one. The sorting methods in this game do not compare to GC2 in any positive way. In particular, I would like to be able to sort the Uncolonized planets separately from the Colonized planets. Those two lists should not be programmatically connected in any way-- it should have a separate sorting algorithm. It doesn't even need to be seen all the time. Have a button/keystroke to toggle it like GC2, for example.
14. An auto-upgrade button on the planet screen so I can turn off auto upgrades. The manual stated that there was one in the colony tab of the civilization menu but I couldn't find it there either.
I have been begging for this since it was introduced. I don't want to have to remember to turn that blame thing off each time I colonize a planet. (You can turn it off on each planet by going into the Governor's screen. What a pain that is. And heaven help you if you forget.)
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My Gripes
Someone on this forum mentioned that it would be nice if SD fixed things instead of adding more broken stuff and I couldn't agree more. (Microsoft needs to learn this lesson, as well.)
My list could get very long but I'll leave it at that for now.
Thanks for listening,
Richard
Most of my own "primary" gripes are gathered over here; https://forums.galciv3.com/492104/page/1/#3736635Check it out!
Hi
1. I really don't like repeating projects that caused so much micro management, but as an option it is acceptable.
2. Ive been suggesting main menu, and planet governor's since before the alpha was out. With a default main override. Allowing planets being able to override the main menu governors.
3. It wasn't nice when they allowed you to double click a tech to return to the main screen, but not the tech tree, because I only use the tech tree. Allow a double click on the tech tree to return to the main screen when you are picking a tech in the research screen to.
4. If I want to remove an item from the planetary build list I have to click on the item in the list then delete, or cancel it. Just let me double click it. Same thing in the shipyard.
Thanks for responding. I wanted to get a discussion going about small changes that would help to make the game easier to understand for newcomers and would make it beter manageable for veterans. It is undeniable that Gal Civ III has fierce competition and I believe it's important to think where and how the ui could be improved before or when there is going to be a big update.
I believe endless space 2 has a notification above the turn button to go through all ships that have movement points left.
The Tech progress bar is broken. The only way to truly know how many turns remain to complete a tech is to go to the Tech Tree. This is especially true if you happen upon an anomaly that gives a percentage tech bonus. I've seen it say "1 Turn Remaining", then change that value upwards on the next turn!
The Planet list no longer updates when values (morale, for example) change. It used to work in previous versions. Go to a planet, rush an Entertainment Center, and the Planet list will not have changed. The only way to know the current status is to click another tab, then go back to the Planets list for it to update properly. The same error exists with the Current Build progress bar.
I noticed some irregularities about these two but I forgot to take a note of it at the time.
A designated Designer button. I don't design ships that often but when I do, I don't want to have to travel through a Shipyard to get there. I'm sure those of you who use the Designer a lot are frustrated by all this extra, unnecessary clicking.
Couldn't agree more. You have to go to the designer so many times that this would definitely save a lot of time.
Get the Citizen actions all put under the Citizens tab. As it stands now, managing citizens is split between the Civilizations screen and the Citizens screen. Why? They are not Leaders, they are Citizens with a focus (eg, Social or Research). Maybe I'm missing something here.
This is a tough one because citizens are represented in a wide range of mechanics, you can already see what all of them do in this tab.
Someone on this forum mentioned that it would be nice if SD fixed things instead of adding more broken stuff and I couldn't agree more. (Microsoft needs to learn this lesson, as well.)My list could get very long but I'll leave it at that for now.
The same goes for me.
Oops, maybe I should have posted in this thread. I'll make future posts there so everything will be confined to a single thread.
ok right now I can't fix it I added two things to the quote. A couple of other interface ideas I added was.1. I really don't like repeating projects that caused so much micro management, but as an option it is acceptable.
This could be solved for the shipyard if the repeat button would also work for the missions.2. Ive been suggesting main menu, and planet governor's since before the alpha was out. With a default main override. Allowing planets being able to override the main menu governors.
For playing bigger galaxies this would be nice but I never play anything bigger than medium or large. I don't have the hardware to play any bigger but also the game remains the same, only the time it would take to mop up after you've already won just increases. I like the approach in stellaris better albeit the execution isn't that great. In stellaris the focus of the new planetary screen is to leave the bigger long term and more meaningful decisions to the player and let the planets grow on their own.3. It wasn't nice when they allowed you to double click a tech to return to the main screen, but not the tech tree, because I only use the tech tree. Allow a double click on the tech tree to return to the main screen when you are picking a tech in the research screen to.
This could be helpful. I only use the tech tree too, the tech screen is rather pointless because it doesn't provide an overview on how a tech is related to other techs.
Agreed. I would also like it if you could expand the build list so you can drag and drop in a larger list of things you want to build. Also some indicator as to where you will drop a construction would be really nice.
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