You are implying that a simple system as proposed by Geoff is boring - that is however not necessarily true. Especially at such an early point, where we don't have any prototype to play with, it is quite a statement. Strategy will arise from other aspects of combat than shields and health.IConrad wrote: [...]So we don't want to make it too boring. [...]
Keep in mind, that the user interface should not try to fix things that are poorly done on the game design level. It's best to prevent such things to happen in the first place.IConrad wrote:That, I feel, is what the reporting icons are meant to be for. We obviously need to limit the number of these icons and color-code them for ease of review.Krikkitone wrote:However, where each item has its own individual hp seems to get too complicated, since you would need to know what systems were damaged to what degree.
I feel that - as a player - having to keep track of individual sub systems and being presented with all this information will be quite a pain(even with just a handful of ships). The simple system proposed by Geoff seems to be a nice trade-off and actually sounds like fun.
Think about it this way: As an emperor you don't want to know all the details of your ships, you are working on a macro level, giving rough instructions(positions, formations, securing supply, etc).
In addition, having ships basically fully functional to the end(but doing less damage) will also be easier on the AI programmers, because ships don't have to be judged by the AI on what components are working.