Fix the Faction Creation, Map Setup and -Generation

[CrUsHeR]

1) Map Setup:

Unlike AOW3, this game never saves any of the settings during the map setup. This is infuriating after so many restarted custom maps. Player Number and -Distance, Magic Victory, Resurgence, etc. Everything has to be redone even when selecting a saved custom map.

It even resets everything whenever you jump between categories; example changing anything in the actual map settings removes the players, while editing or deleting factions seems to reset the player distance and for some reason prompts to select your faction again even though you already selected all factions.




2) Selecting / Editing factions:


2.a) If i edit a faction with the exact same race and ruler name, i do NOT want another copy of the faction. Having to delete so many duplicates just because i chose a different Tome or Eyecolor of a ruler gets extremely tedious. Which is relatively harmless compared to:


2.b) Selecting a faction with the same main color has the game asking wether you want to "continue with a different color". Same like AOW3?

Well, no - choosing "Yes" will send you to the "Finalize" tab of the faction creation screen. You can select "Confirm" there, though this will not even change the color, but only create yet another duplicate faction.


2.c) Maybe this wasn't so bad if the game had more than like 9 faction colors to choose from?
Please make this function exactly like it worked in AOW3 (the player with duplicate color gets a random one assigned).

Also add at least 48 more colors to choose from. And remove the unnecessary forced color themes for the secondary faction color, as the provided selection is pretty horrible to begin with and the allowed combinations look mostly goofy.

AOW3 also did this so much better because every main color had a matching darker version, and no restrictions for the combinations. Allowing both for harmonious mono-color schemes as well as contrasting ones.


2.d) Why is there no sorting for (custom) factions? Example by form, affinity, last saved or whatever else.

Also could the game simply take note of switching to the Custom Faction tab? This is yet another click having to switch to the custom factions every time when filling the player slots. AOW3 did remember this choice after selecting one ruler.



3) Map Generation:


3.a) Just started a map with "Far" distance. Turn 7 - meeting an underground AI player. Honestly this is even worse than in Planetfall. Give us back the space to explore the world.

We can already turn off the Magic Victory, so there is zero reason to force players into this cramped uncomfortable chaos with player spawns being barely 1-2 screens from each other.


3.b) I could write entire paragraphs about how good the AOW3 map generation was. So many settings to get different results, like moving the Water slider just a few clicks resulted in completely different shapes. Both the Continents and Island map types were viable.

Now in AOW4, the island map type is complete garbage. The islands are always extremely tiny, with barely enough space for 2 cities. And then you need to spend a ton of Imperium even just to have your floating scouts able to traverse the water.

And even if there is an underworld passage as possible exit, going there isn't helpful because of how poor the whole underworld is at any rate (a topic of its own).

Continents are likewise no comparison to AOW3. There just seems to be no end for a single continent, there always are several players on it and way too close. in other words they are too large with no discernible function of the oceans (creating space and strategic obstacles).