Battle UI

[Istoric]

I know some like the small icons because they seem less intrusive but I really like seeing banners over my units, just makes it a bit more authentic in my opinion. The small icons from the demos look too simple and cartoony to me and I think that's why many are saying battles look like a mobile game. Would be nice if we had an option available, whoever wants banners checks that, whoever wants small icons checks that. Doesn't sound too hard to implement.
Also give the UI some style CA! These ink smudges around the unit cards and the mini map look really low effort, you have chineese history at your fingertips, one of the richest in the world and you go for some ink spills!
I don't know about anyone else but personally I would like to be able to customize the mini map location.
- in Shogun and Medieval it's in the top left,
- in Rome and Medieval 2 it's in the bottom left,
- in Shogun 2 it's in the top right,
- in Empire it's in the bottom left again,
- in Napoleon it went back to the top right,
- in Rome 2 it went to the bottom right,
- in Attila, the Warhammer series and Thrones of Britannia it's in the top right again.
Now in Three Kingdoms it's going to be in the bottom right again? This is getting frustrating, especially since people still play the older games! Is it so hard to settle on a default place for the mini map or at least give us an option to customize it? A mod is always an option but this should be something already available by default in my opinion! You've tried all corners and bottom left and top right worked best, so why change it again?

[Too Much Salt]

Not saying the Battle UI is perfect but there are definitely some improvements that can be done. It is still development in progress and hopefully we will see a more polished UI and textures in 2019.

[Istoric]

Yes, hopefully we do!

[THEDOSSBOSS]

Originally posted by Too Much Salt:

Not saying the Battle UI is perfect but there are definitely some improvements that can be done. It is still development in progress and hopefully we will see a more polished UI and textures in 2019.

I don't know... the demos showcased some major concerns that won't go away with simple visual changes. A UI style choice like this cannot be fixed with polishing and added textures, the entire design style needs to be changed. CA are going for a modernized style that is all about efficiency, not about quality of life. From the unit cards featuring 3d models shrouded in smoke with only the distinguishing weapons being visible, the stacked and much smaller unit cards rather than the traditional single file and by default large unit cards (except those start out large, but the battle UI size can be decreased. These cards are small by default), the smaller circular unit icons for the units which is reminiscent of Attila's horrible squares (really, shogun 2's and Rome 2's icons were a lot better), the drag-move visual showing simply a box, etc etc etc

CA have focused on the art of all the non-essential UI visuals (like oversized character pictures, animated black ink that the cards are placed on, etc), rather than the UI visuals that we are actually going to use and care about. Unit cards are important, we are going to look at them a lot, so make them interesting otherwise they may as well just be the unit name. Same goes for circlular unit icons. The non-essential UI visuals are all going to become invisible as the player is either looking at the battle, or the UI features they need to use. No one is going to look at black ink backround while a battle is taking place. That kind of stuff can be saved for the campaign map.

In order to fix this, CA would have to do a complete redesign on their style, which is extremely unrealistic to expect. CA made their style, made their UI, and 'development in progress' doesn't mean they are going to redesign it, simply that there may be tweaks and quality of life improvements. Same goes for everything else about the game I hated in the demos. Those issues aren't going to go away as they are a core part of the engine or a design style, and so they are only going to get tweaked, not chamged into something better

[Istoric]

I also share your concerns and although there is a chance that things could change it really is a stretch to think that they will given what we are seeing with these demos. It is shaping up to be a missed opportunity to have a unique style that uses chineese period themes. I too wasn't impressed by the unit cards, they look as you said vague and uninteresting, which is a shame.

[Too Much Salt]

I think CA purposely made the unit cards underwhelming is to put an emphasis on the heroes as they dont want the unit cards to steal the spotlight lol.

I am not too picky on the unit cards tho but the simplified battle UI is a bit disappointing. I wish it was slightly more complex & more militaristic like showing the Character's ranks, noble titles and since they are sub-commanders in the army, they should have icons to indicate who are the sub-commanders and who is the supreme commander.

Since it is China we talking about here, there are many elements they could have used such as Military tally (This is serious stuff here, if you hold this, you can mobilize the army regardless of the rank). The ink is great but should be a small part of the UI element, I wish it was more sophisticated than the current simplified version.

Certainly, some things cannot be changed but there are plenty of things they can add to make it look better.