Suggestion: Micros UI and Improvements

[Eloquen]

I want to start by saying that I have absolutely adored playing this game, and that as a fan of Reus 1 this game represents a significant improvement in essentially every aspect of the original.

I'd like to discuss the current way that Micros play in the game. I have a few problems which I'd like to outline, and then a few suggestions to improve the play experience sorted from least to most significant change.

Right now, in my play experience, micros serve two roles. First, they are the engine that powers the final phase of the game where you "squeeze blood from a stone" using micros near the end of era 3 to try to stretch to your final goals. Second, micros are a toolbox for stretching to achieve a goal by, say, adding 20 food to get one more population or adding one biodiversity to stretch and add one more apex bioticum.

Here are my problems. In the "blood from a stone" phase, the user interface makes locating places to put new micros unnecessarily difficult. It is hard to tell which biotica have open slots, which biotica have high values to boost with a +50%, etc. This causes this phase to be slow and sometimes frustrating. This is made all the worse by my second problem: when you are trying to use the micros as a toolbox, sometimes you just *have* to roll the toadstool to get more biodiversity. If you don't draw it on an early roll, then you have to spend away your micros on a giant so you don't lose them. This thrusts you, willing or not, directly into the blood from a stone phase until you can dump all these micros, which is a real pace killer.

Suggestions:

1. Show open micro slots in the part of the UI where you click the little eyeball at the top of the screen and it shows you the icons. Just make little dark circles for empty slots and fill those circles in with the micro pictures when they're filled.
2. When you click a micro to place it, highlight the valid biotica to place it on, i.e. for a animal-only guy, highlight animals, etc.
3. (More radical change) Let me spend an entire micro charge to buy a single micro so that I can use the toolbox better and I don't have to go gambling and slow my game down.
4. (Very Radical Change) Significantly reduce the "blood from a stone" phase and increase the importance of micros by having the micro charges from each era get wiped away as you move to the next one (use it or lose it!)

Thank you again for making such a great game. Anyone else should feel free to chime in with their take on the micros system. What do you like? What would you change?

[Will]

I added your suggestions 1 and 2 to the following document:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3267834699
This document is a living list of QoL suggestions made by the community.

You can find these suggestions in the "Suggestion: Implement bugged wooden fence for Micros" and the "Suggestion: Only show Biotica that benefit when placing Micros" sections, respectively.

[Eloquen]

Thank you for all your hard work on this living document, it's amazing! Vis-a-vis the wooden fence - a little sprite is nice (and I actually had no idea it was in the game because of the bug lol) but I really advocate for a stronger visual indicator. I understand making your suggestions as lightweight as possible, though. And great work on that mockup!!

[Will]

Originally posted by Eloquen:

I really advocate for a stronger visual indicator.

Using your circle idea, are either of these options more what you were looking for:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3283577981
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3283584145

I did not show placed Micros (multiple circles for a Biotica take up too much space).

[jet800]

Please, no fences. However count me in for circles, but I'd prefer to see multiple circles not xN. like this. And we could actually display in those circles what micro is placed(if any) otherwise circle stay empty.
o
oo
ooo

Reason: fence are ugly and when there is lot them planet looks bad. Circles visible only with detailed mode but provide at-a-glance overview of micros state