[SUGGESTION] Shortcuts, Speed, Resource Management etc.

[Zalumon]

In the late endgame of Planetbase, for me it is all about remodelling my base and observe how the changes work out. The clicking and waiting is a bummer.

Shortcuts:

• ENTER instead of forcing me to click the yes button (btw, windows users expect the confirm button to be on the left of the cancel button. I can't remember how many times i clicked cancel by mistake).
  
• Double click a building to enter the "edit structures mode" (PLEASE)
  
• Enable/Disable selected building
  
• High/Low priority for selected building
  
• Enable/Disable selected machine
  
• Building: C(anteen), D(orm), B(iodome), S(torage), O(xygen), etc. for all buildings. sacrifice WASD for building shortcuts (mouse/arrows is just fine for moving)
  
• Toggle Yellow Alert
  
• Toggle Red Alert
  
• Of course customizable shortcuts would be nice, but sensible defaults should be much faster to implement.

Game speed:

• Allow me to speed up 8x, 16x, MAX CPU SPEED. I bought a fast computer for this reason. Higher speeds should be the rewards for the absolute dominion achievement. Because what else is left to do after that point than watch your base?
  
• Setting to disable automatic game speed reset when intruders are detected or when a disaster hits.

UI:

• Base and resource info should both be visible at all times (tired of toggling with T).
  
• All resource icons should be visible at all times with constant locations on screen, even if 0 resources are currently available. Right now my eyes always have to reorient whenever I glance at the resources because of all the hiding and showing.
  
• Do not count resources which are on construction sites or loaded in machines. I think this is confusing to many players. Or even better: show both numbers (one in brackets).
  
• Speed up the animation to leave the "edit structure mode" of buildings. Or even better give me a setting to disable this animation all together. When restructuring a base, this is one of the main slow-downs.
  
• When holding SHIFT to add structures, please do not make me lose the structure selection when I accidentally click on an illegal (red) position. This is most annoying when placing beds in dorms. Obviously I want to place another bed when I hold SHIFT, so please do not make me click on the bed selection again.

Resource Management:

• Manufacturing limits for all resources
  
• Storage: I would like to dedicate certain storage facilities to specific resources. Like e.g. one storage that is exclusively for metal or bioplastic. This would open new possibilities for optimizing base layouts.

Game mechanics:

• You indicated that you want to slow down colonist arrival in the next release. Please don't do that. Please speed it up. One of the fun things to do late in the game is to provoke disasters, watch the colony almost die and then nurture it back to health. But this takes literally HOURS. Once a colony has reached 350 colonist at least once, the arrival speed should like triple and then stay constant, independant of current population. Trust us to know what we're doing at this point when we enable colonist arrival.
  
• Others have asked for it before: I would like to be able to flatten terrain. Or if that is too difficult, provide at least one set of coordinates for each planet where there is an abundance of flat space.

Cheers! Great game - I love it!

[Symatrix Hill]

GAME MECHANICS:

I do not wanne have speed upp colonist arrivel and i agree whit the devl to slow it down.
If it was upp to me i like this speed we got now.

I understand how you thinking about speed it upp; Is a but here mate and it goes like this :
- When we got more speed the game gonne be much more easy.
- When they slow it down the game gonne take longer time and this way they make game harder.

Exsample : Here i do some wrong calculation and now i need to pay for my mistake (everyones do some mistake from time to time) to repair my mistake i order much more worker to help out in 2 new processing plant - nex second i got 20 new worker on a duty.

Exsample : My food bar goes down and my food storages goes down to fast becasue of a mistake i do.
I build 1 bio dom and 2 lab. Before this building are finish i got 30 biologist to help whit my food problem.
Or they araivel my base in a short time.

Exsample:Nex second my colonist start to get sickness and i need much more medics to handel this disaster. Nex second ( i wanne spawn them in my base ) i got 10-20-30 new 1 and i do not get more truble here.


- If i do a mistake then i need to deal whit it for a long time(suffer slowly) , not spawn population in my base as a creative mod if you understand what i am talking about (sorry my english)

-If you wanne speed upp the colonist arivel just play on speed x4 and you get your arivel 4 time faster at the same time you speed upp the slowing game if that was the issue here ,-)

( you may get the colonist arivel 8-16 time faster if they make this speed)




GAME SPEED :

I do not need x8 x16 time speed because i cant play on it, sorry i am to slow mate.

My goal here is to make 300 population and if i adds x4 speed it going fast to get there if you play pretty perfect.

Speed x8 x16 is only for test, like running game or if you got a goal ho takes manny day in real life to get there because of the way the game is build upp.
If the game is build this way (not this game here) the devl knows about it and they let you speed upp the game.
Some type of game they got x 24 speed and you can not play on this 1 eigther, sorry agen mate.

- My suggestion here is to slow it down. x 4 speed is hard to play on to get to 300 population and you may need some luck to make it there whitout slow it down to normal mode for a second or 2.



//////// This line here is redigert \\ Whay not slow it down and play at speed x 0.9 / x 0.75 / x 0.50
I think it is much more easy to understand, sorry my redigering, \\\\\\\\



I may think normal speed is to hard if you not know the game ( not for everyones remember we are different individual ).

( like i told before sorry my english and from time to time i doing redigere only on my english)

[Symatrix Hill]

Ty for your nice suggestion and the easy way you make it Zalumon :-)

[[GK] King JaXm]

I agree with all of these suggestions. As OP stated - have these as options, some people prefer to play it on slow, others prefer to play it on high... No need to drag everyone down to the same level!

The shortcut keys are definetly a must! Plus, how many people are Mac users compared to windows? I have done the same clicking cancel!

[Symatrix Hill]

SHORTCUTS:

I do not know what you aim for here mate but i like it.Maybe i missunderstand anyway i make a suggestion here.

- Enable / Disable New Structure.

This way we can try to build in 1 area or some few building whitout the bot and population running and start to build it upp.

From time to time when i place out some few new structure (or 1) and i need to delite it and build another way to max out the area . Before i got time to delite this new structures i se 100 ( or 5) bot ho is on the way ,or they have start to build on it before i got time to delite them.


I try to explane , here is the suggestion on 3 mod in 1 pack :

1:
- I wanne have a line (order) there i can choose my population and bot to build al new structure i place out. ( like it is at this stages)
If i place out 10 structures and they are free to pick what building they want.

2:
- And i wanne have a line ( order ) there my population and bot can not start to build on new structure i place out (or 50 new 1 ).
To start whit a new structure on this 1 i need to turn stages 1 on.

3:
-Here I place out 10 new structure but here i need to confirme each structure in this order i want.
Like 1-2-3-4... Remember they can only do what i tell them to do and they are not free to do build as they want before i turn of this mod and turn back to 1 of this 2 other mod.

Is hard for me to exsplane on english but i hopes you understand.I try my best.

[korac]

There are some really excellent & very useful suggestions here, well worth consideration. You've clearly put a lot of careful thought into this so might I suggest posting it to the game's own forum so it doesn't just get swallowed by the spam here?

http://planetbase.madrugaworks.com/board/index.php

[Zalumon]

@korac: Ah I wasn't even aware of the "official" forum, so thanks for that pointer. I believe the developer monitors this forum as well, though.

@edrog-ha: relax, i was only suggesting the speed-up option once you reach absolute dominion. Or only enable it for those colonies that have reached a certain population threshold at least once (400, 500, 600? I don't care). Really this is just for the end game so you can do some experimenting when there is nothing else left to do.

[Symatrix Hill]

Hi Korac ty but i am happy whit this. It take me forevher to writhe this 2 post down and i hopes the devlopers monitor this forum like Zalum say.

Hi Zalum :- )
I take it easy mate. I just wanne angel it from another standpoint.I never se devlopers slow down a game 1 times.They only speed it upp and it is impossible to play on at this high speed.Like i say high speed is only for running the time faster / se how stuff works.

Maybe the devl wanne slow the game speed down ( for the first time in the history ) and i think it gonne bennefit much more users at least everyones ho by and start to play this game at the first time ,-)

I be happy to slow it down and play at speed x0.50 x0.75 ( x0.75 = 3/4 almoust normal speed ) and do some thinking whitout any misstake for a short time and speed it upp agen.
This way i have play much faster whitout destroy building and move them to ofthen.
From time to time i have been happy to play at speed x0.90 ( almoust normal speed) and take it litle more easy.

If we are lucky they may speed it down and upp at the same time but if they need to choose i prefer to speed it down.

Zalumon if you going to the http://planetbase.madrugaworks.com/board/index.php i do not follow you there.
That is to much work so i be happy if you look at the stuff i writhe and maybe take some info whit you.

You know verry well how to short down line ,-)

[Symatrix Hill]

GAME MECANICH :

I se Zalumon have a post whit: be able to flatten terrain , verry nice mate.

I start the second planet and i spawn in the corner on a verry smal place whit mounten around me.
This is the bad place to start the game and the challenges make it verry hard ( nice ) whit only 1 path out.


I start to thinking about what Zalumon whrite , maybe this is a bad ide but i gonne tel :

-If you make it possible to remove terrain like Salumon ask for whay not make us to build some type of a truck factory- and we need to build some type of a truck and have repair station like the bot.
This truck factory may need to be a part of the techs. And we also need it to get acsess to another area to on the planet.

Think we need a line here ho show us where we can travel or not and we may need this line at the stages we play in now.

[Symatrix Hill]

MORE SUGGESTION.


Because of bad my english i have make exsample here and this way i hopes you understand bether.
I may also do some redigering on my english ( i always try to do my best before i make a new post.


So far i got 7 post i may adds more in this post lather, this way i got every new idea in 1 places but i let you know in the line bellow.


Adding new post: 8 and 9




1
- Need a way to choose what type of population i wanne allow to work in my mine / single mine/ every mine. This is 2 different functiona.l
Exsampel :- This mine here the worker can not work in only bot. -I do not allow any worker to work on al my mine.


2
- Need a way to choose what type of colonist /bot i want to pick and place item on different places.
Sometimes i do not wont any population but only carrier bot to do this work and if i mess upp here i need to pay for it, thats the way.
This way i can force the population to work only on building work place and this they are not free to do what they want.

3
- When i build a sick bay whit medicl cabinet the population-bot need to go to my storages and pick upp my medical supplies and place then into my medical cabinet.
( They do not do that , they only pick upp medical supplies from the work bench )
( the same they need to do whit gunn armory, make it work the same way like the meal
box )


4
- I wanne have high priority to - pick upp 1 or more item i got afther destoying building.
Exsample : Click on 1 item choose to pick it upp( Many times this 1 take to long time)


5
- Tracking system on my different colonist and bot.
Exsample : Click on my drill bot - high light it and i se easy where they are and what they are doing.

6
- Need sick bay alarm. Here i do not wonne let my medics travel in the other direction far away from the sick bay only to to pick up 1 medical supplies when i got madical supplies in my cabinet.
( my carrier bot can do that or population ) Take a look at post 2

7
- Here the colonist and bot need to take the shortest whay ( oxsygen path , i gonne try to exsplane )
Eksample : Your map is a square and i stay in the midt. Left side is west/ right side is east / upp is north / down is south.

I goes down to the south and here i make a oxsygen path almoust upp to the north of the map.
/ I go down to the south agen and connect 1 air lock to the west on this oxsygen path.
/ Down on the south i got a storages to the east ( near this oxsygen path ) but this storages is not connected on this oxsygen path from the south almoust at the topp of the north.
From my storage i got a air lock ho is aiming at me down on the south.
/ Then i goest to the midt of the map and connect 1 new air lock from my oxsygen path to the east.

Now my carrier bot gonne do some work and they gonne start from the south in my oxsygen path.
There they gonne transport item to my storages on the east ( Outside my base ) and to do that they need to travel upp in the midth of my map and use my airlock on the east side then goes down to my other airlock ho is connected to my storages. Then they need to go back the same way and pick upp more item and do the same agen.

Here is the problem : They do not wanne do that hmm lol
They do like this : Pick upp some item down in the south on my oxsygen path
/ they use my nearest air lock to the west
/ then they travel outside my base al the way upp to the north and then down al the way to the south.
/ there they use my air lock into my storages.
/when they going back to the south and pick more item they use the airlock in the midt.
/ and when they gonne transport new item they do the same- go out to the west al the way upp to the north and down to the south there i got my storages and to the midt air lock then down to the south agen and agen.


They need to think about oxsygen path and travel distance not like this. And i want them to keep the ability to splitt upp and use 2-3-4 air lock when they need it like it is now :- )


8.--------------- This post is added.
Population or bot need to take meal from the storage to the meal maker if we got space for this item.
They do not wanne do that.

9. ---------------This post is added.
In the canteen we can place out video screen but only some special places. This circel is bigg .
If we place 3 meal maker and 1 drinking fountain in 1 of this square we should still be abel to place video screen everyplaces in this circel.
( is look like the Drinking fountain and the Decroative plant block the path for the video screen )

[martiño]

Hi there.

Thank you for your suggestions.

We are currently implementing customizable shortcuts for version 1.1:
http://planetbase.madrugaworks.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1096

There are many valid points in this thread, we are always listening to to the community and try to prioritize improvements that make more sense.

The main issue with higher game speeds is that it could break the game and cause bugs, this would require a ton of testing, we currenly have up to 8x in debug mode.

[Zalumon]

Perfect - thanks for listening and for taking the time to reply! Much appreciated.

(8x would be nice, tell us the debug flag?)

[Benzin]

Originally posted by Zalumon:

• Do not count resources which are on construction sites or loaded in machines. I think this is confusing to many players. Or even better: show both numbers (one in brackets).

This!
Please Devs, consider changing this asap.

Like i said before, i bet if you would change this, 90% of the "The AI is broken/garbage/useless" complains would dissapear.

The way it is now, those counters are next to useless. Because who knows how many of the listed resources are really available.
... and this is why many, many people (including myself) got frustrated when starting the game, watching "my engineer is not making spares! even though i have 25 plastic and 25 metal!!" and went to blaim the AI.
well, thats because that counter LIES, you only really have 1 metal and no plastic.

[Symatrix Hill]

Ty for making a comment on this thread Martino. :- )

This way we know you monitor this pages and ouers suggestion is not a waste of time.

Have a nice day and good luck whit the game improvment Martino ,- )

[Zalumon]

@Benzin: Indeed, thanks for adding weight to this. I also think that this is probably one of the main reasons why beginners get frustrated and start to feel like the AI was broken (happened to me as well). It's not so important to me anymore, since I know about it now. But for the general reception of the game it could prove very important. And the best thing about this change is that those numbers already seem to be available inside the game engine (see trade window), so this change should be reasonably fast to implement and at the same time have a big impact.

[Benzin]

Originally posted by Zalumon:

@Benzin: Indeed, thanks for adding weight to this. I also think that this is probably one of the main reasons why beginners get frustrated and start to feel like the AI was broken (happened to me as well). It's not so important to me anymore, since I know about it now. But for the general reception of the game it could prove very important. And the best thing about this change is that those numbers already seem to be available inside the game engine (see trade window), so this change should be reasonably fast to implement and at the same time have a big impact.

Yes, my toughts exactly.
The logic behind the (correct) counters is allready there, it should only be a matter of updating the labels to show this data instead of the useless ahem! i mean "current" data. :)

I too get by now that i know about this problem, but still would have an easier time if i was provided with an accurate number of how many resources i have.
A lot of times im planning to build some things, but i worry about leaving important machines without metal (e.g. spares machines!), so i literally go all arround the base, looking at storage rooms, the spares machines (to see if they are loaded), etc. To decide if i go ahead and build.

It would be a LOT easier to just see the real count of resources. :)