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Interface Changes / Trade Routes... |
Faustus Marshal Palestar
Joined: May 29, 2001 Posts: 2748 From: Austin, Texas
| Posted: 2004-02-10 16:49  
Firstly, I've made some interface changes...
- Cleaned up the planets screen (F3). Structures and Units are now displayed by default. The build/factory queues are now only available by clicking on the structure you want to control. I know some people are going to complain about this, but quite frankly I ran out of screen space for an 800x600 display. Trade route interface has been removed as well. (see below)
- Moved the ships status display (energy, signature) back down the the lower left part of the screen. If you remember this is where is use to be located, and it works much better in that location.
- Trade routes are now fully automatic, based on supply/demand for resources on the planets. Frankly, I was not happy with the interface for trade routes, just too damn complex to use... until I have time to make a drag-drop interface for trade routes they will stay automatic.
-Richard
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TAZ Cadet
Joined: July 04, 2002 Posts: 143 From: U.S.A.
| Posted: 2004-02-10 17:14  
AAAhhhh!!! Automatic shipping.....I love the idea! No more n00bs messing up the supply routes and leaving you with no resources when you need them most....ie....when your home system is under attack!!
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Hitman23 Grand Admiral
Joined: March 22, 2002 Posts: 585 From: WoW
| Posted: 2004-02-10 17:21  
Damn!! I just figured out the new interface and you scrap it!! j/k
I just hope that they deliver them to the planets in a timely fashion.
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Doran Chief Marshal Galactic Navy
Joined: March 29, 2003 Posts: 4032 From: The Gideon Unit
| Posted: 2004-02-10 17:57  
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On 2004-02-10 16:49, Faustus wrote:
- Moved the ships status display (energy, signature) back down the the lower left part of the screen. If you remember this is where is use to be located, and it works much better in that location.
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think theres enough stuff down there as is, what with systems, heading, speed, cargo, repair, and all
stuff thats there now easily takes up just as much space as the ship status stuff, especialy for the larger ships with lots of systems
maybe put em on movables like the chat and profile windoes so users can slide em around to where they like?
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Vinco Fleet Admiral Galactic Navy
Joined: August 31, 2001 Posts: 939 From: Too Close for Comfort
| Posted: 2004-02-10 17:57  
I have a request: Allow a "priority" setting for planets. That way players can prepare high-production planets in advance, instead of waiting on automated shipments alone. The priority setting would ensure that the high-priority planets received a greater portion of resources than other planets.
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Vinco
In Another Place
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Bigwolfe Fleet Admiral
Joined: October 16, 2003 Posts: 156 From: Bland County
| Posted: 2004-02-10 21:03  
what about metal, to a planet that isn't build, but only has a hub and starport, will that mean that important urd from a planet could be shiped to this nobody planet like in FA or Halos?
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Raiders Cadet
Joined: December 28, 2001 Posts: 353 From: Cali
| Posted: 2004-02-10 21:11  
Completly agree with Vinco some sort of priority settings are needed for mod planets and shipyards at least.
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philll Admiral
Joined: September 13, 2003 Posts: 268
| Posted: 2004-02-10 21:23  
faustus maybe u could add a fighter vs fighter option so that u can send fighters of ur own to attack enemy fighters
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Tbone Grand Admiral
Joined: July 21, 2001 Posts: 1756 From: Vancouver
| Posted: 2004-02-10 22:26  
Phill, did you even read what this post was about?
Secondly, I suggest you browse around, as that question has alreayd been answered.
Thirdly, yes, please a priority system.
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Rocki Grand Admiral
Joined: August 13, 2002 Posts: 1029
| Posted: 2004-02-11 03:13  
May I ask how the priority of a planet is determined? Based on population, tech level, structures?
If you ask me, a planet without factories or shipyards (so a normal planet) should ship all resources to mod planets, keeping a few thousand metals, few hundred urdanium, hypermatter and darkmatter (if tech level allows solars/dictor/shield) for themselves. Ditto with mod planets (with factory[ies], no shipyard) but larger amounts, and keep all resources. Any excess resources are then sent to the shipyards planet(s).
Downside of this may be that shipyard planets get their resources fairly late in a scenario game, but the good side is that in MV all mod planets are stocked, and the rest piles up at the shipyard. And since this patch is meant to encourage MV play, this isnt a bad idea if you ask me
My € 0.02
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Beast Cadet Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: May 27, 2002 Posts: 345 From: Wouldnt you like to know
| Posted: 2004-02-11 05:11  
I actualy dont want the priority planet feature it would help get the player base more involved with actual trading of goods {Actually running there factions economy} while defending/invading as well.
wasnt that what the DEV had in mind in the first place???
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Barthezzz Fleet Admiral
Joined: May 31, 2001 Posts: 5630 From: The Netherlands
| Posted: 2004-02-11 05:20  
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On 2004-02-11 05:11, The Beast wrote:
I actualy dont want the priority planet feature it would help get the player base more involved with actual trading of goods {Actually running there factions economy} while defending/invading as well.
wasnt that what the DEV had in mind in the first place??? |
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I agree. However! Resource prices would have to be changed so people could actually make profit out of this.
Theres no point in forcing people to lose money just so they can get a ship
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AtomicChuck Admiral
Joined: February 02, 2003 Posts: 10 From: KS, US Central Time Zone, GMT-5
| Posted: 2004-02-11 07:12  
Interesting ideas. On that note, I finally cast my vote. Unsure if its feasible to implement, but what about a combination of the 2.
Premise: Obviously, mod planets and shipyards have a higher resource demand. Say for instance we establish resource priority levels for planets based on the facilities for production on said planet.
Each factory establishes a priority level of 5. And each shipyard, a level of 50. The total resource priority level for a planet is the sum of its production priority levels.
Ex. Planet with 4 factories has a res. priority level of 20. Planet with shipyard and 4 factories, RP level 70.
Now, say the automated system will only cover say 50% of demand, so in order to maintain 100% production capacity, players will be "encouraged" by the system to make transport runs for raw materials to their production planets.
Herein, lies the dilema to make tranny runs appealing. Simple, use the RP level of the receiving planet as a bonus modifier for the sale of goods.
Ex. Player has resources for sale, RP level 20 planet gives a 20% bonus to prices received. RP level 70, 70% bonus.
Granted, everyone will sell to the larger bonus planets, for the most creds.
Until some level of resources are reached, based on the RP level for the planet, at which time bonuses are no longer paid.
Ex. Resources cap levels for planets could be set to (RP level x 5000) so that when the cap level is met, bonus will no longer be paid out for that resource.
The quantity of goods delivered by the automated system could be adjusted once actual involvement level of people running trade routes is established, as could be the cap levels.
I believe this would be an interesting compromise of the 2 ideas that would actually encourage players to get involved with the economy of their faction. In addition, it opens up the possibility to blockade an evemy factions supply lines.
In addition, the percentage of "usefullness" of the automated system could be variable based on the number of planets each faction controls to simulate the effects of shorter and longer supply lines.
Just a little something that popped into my head.
What do you think?
-AC out-
Edited spelling and supply line length idea.
[ This Message was edited by: AtomicChuck on 2004-02-11 08:30 ]
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Faustus Marshal Palestar
Joined: May 29, 2001 Posts: 2748 From: Austin, Texas
| Posted: 2004-02-11 10:02  
Here is the code that calculates the demand for each resource for a planet..
// update the demand for a resource
for(j=0;j{
// how many resources does the planet currently have
float fAmount = m_Resources[ j ];
if ( fAmount < 1.0f )
fAmount = 1.0f;
float fDemand = 1.0f +
(PLANET_STRUCTURE_DEMAND * structureCount()) +
(PLANET_UNIT_DEMAND * friendlyUnitCount()) +
(PLANET_POPULATION_DEMAND * m_nPopulation);
if ( (flags() & FLAG_HAS_SHIPYARD) != 0 )
fDemand += PLANET_SHIPYARD_DEMAND;
float fWant = PLANET_RESOURCE_DEMAND[ j ] * fDemand;
m_ResourceDemand[ j ] = fWant / fAmount;
}
Basically, demand for a certain resource is based off the planets population, number of structures, number of ground units, and lastly if the planet has a shipyard it's demand is really increased (x10 currently).
Obviously, we will be tweaking this code some more until we get it working well. Your input in BETA when this code goes up later today will be appreciated.
-Richard
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MrSparkle Marshal
Joined: August 13, 2001 Posts: 1912 From: mrsparkle
| Posted: 2004-02-11 10:08  
I dont think automatic trading is working. Just now I had Dawn and Mycopia fully built both with starports (only two planets I built) and no resources ever traded between them.
And, how can we as players control what planet gets what resource now? I can see quite a few times where that much-need hypermatter from my planet gets sent to the wrong planet rather than the one I need it to go to. Or if when building Boonie II you need Lesser Boonie or Azuk to trade to Boonie II exclusively for a while, and it won't do it now.
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