Some suggestions based on 0.3.16+ [rev 4112]

[Zireael]

I'd love to see the following things done:

· Readme/instruction with the game (maybe the QuickStart from the Wiki)
· Some way to improve mining on all planets like it can be done with food/industry
· Put the 9999 turns/9999 RP stuff (like Death Ray) at the end of the tree, so that they don’t get in the way
· Compiled .exes of nightly builds to download
· Why are the buildings I can’t build on a given planet/I’ve already built displayed under ‘Available’ heading?
· Delete autosaves or set max saves number / or put a shortcut to the save folder in the game folder (it's hard to find the save folder under Win 7, for example)

Thanks in advance,
Zi

[eleazar]

· The colony ship is too costly (maybe halve the cost?)

· Compiled .exes of nightly builds to download

The colony pod component now costs 25% of what you are seeing.

It's not nightly, but you can get more recent windows versions,

[Geoff the Medio]

· Compiled .exes of nightly builds to download

If you want builds more quickly than the thread eleazar linked, you can probably make them yourself on Windows. Everything you need should be available at no (additional) cost. See the wiki Compile page.

· Why are the buildings I can’t build on a given planet/I’ve already built displayed under ‘Available’ heading?

The producable items list is not filtered according to the selected production location. Missing feature.

· Delete autosaves or set max saves number

You can turn off autosaves in the options (effectively setting the max number to 0).

put a shortcut to the save folder in the game folder (it's hard to find the save folder under Win 7, for example)

Each user on a system has their own directory of saves, so there's no reasonable way to put a single link to the save directory. If you want such a link, you can easily make it for yourself...

[Zireael]

I tried to make the game save to the save folder I created in the freeorion folder, it didn't work. If FreeOrion is in D:/games/freeorion, I typed D:/games/freeorion/save.

On Win7, the saves are on C:/Users/UserName/AppData/Roaming/FreeOrion/save.
Any other sample paths for other systems? What's the path for Win XP/Win Vista/any other systems people use?

I ask because I'd put the sample paths into the FAQ section of the wiki or into the Quick Start, which I intend to make into a readme for the game.

[Geoff the Medio]

I tried to make the game save to the save folder I created in the freeorion folder, it didn't work. If FreeOrion is in D:/games/freeorion, I typed D:/games/freeorion/save.

Didn't work how? Perhaps you need to create that directory first?

Any other sample paths for other systems? What's the path for Win XP/Win Vista/any other systems people use?

Saves are put in the "save" directory within the directory that contains config.xml.

[Zireael]

I tried to make the game save to the save folder I created in the freeorion folder, it didn't work. If FreeOrion is in D:/games/freeorion, I typed D:/games/freeorion/save.

Didn't work how? Perhaps you need to create that directory first?

The directory was created first. The path I typed was written in red and nothing happened. If I tried to change the drive manually, by going up one step until I had the disks, clicking on [D:] brought up Windows Explorer instead of allowing me to see the folders...

Any other sample paths for other systems? What's the path for Win XP/Win Vista/any other systems people use?

Saves are put in the "save" directory within the directory that contains config.xml.

Thanks - that part should be put into the FAQ. And possibly the Quick Start Guide.

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EDIT: More suggestions:
- why does the presence of an enemy (meaning not-mine) ship at one of my systems halt all the supply lines and the entire production? if it's intentional and has some explanation, why doesn't it affect research?
- lower the cost of Sentient Automation and other techs costing over 1.00k RP and make those techs give people some benefit immediately. Otherwise they're just annoying as h**l prereqs.
- have a way of differentiating between a colony and an outpost, as some stuff can't be built at an outpost
- the habitability for a given race toggle mentioned in another thread
- the SitRep window not appearing if nothing happened
- the toggle which would allow me to have the fog of war enabled / disabled
- the toggle whether I want monsters or not (they're annoying because of the thing at the top of the list)

P.S. Does the systems toggle at the start refer to the number of planets, or the number of stars?

[eleazar]

answering what i can....

- why does the presence of an enemy (meaning not-mine) ship at one of my systems halt all the supply lines and the entire production? if it's intentional and has some explanation, why doesn't it affect research?

It's called a blockade. The abstracted supply ships are stopped by the presence of a war ship. You don't need transport ships to share research, knowledge can be shared by the ubiquitous, implied FTL communication system.

- the toggle whether I want monsters or not (they're annoying because of the thing at the top of the list)

"life-forms" includes monsters, so decrease that setting for fewer.

P.S. Does the systems toggle at the start refer to the number of planets, or the number of stars?

stars

[Zireael]

"life-forms" includes monsters, so decrease that setting for fewer.

I set the lifeforms to the few. It's still annoying. So I'd like a separate toggle for the monsters. Or make the monsters an exception to the blockade you mentioned.

[Bigjoe5]

"life-forms" includes monsters, so decrease that setting for fewer.

I set the lifeforms to the few. It's still annoying. So I'd like a separate toggle for the monsters. Or make the monsters an exception to the blockade you mentioned.

There are supposed to be challenges and obstructions to developing your empire. Overcoming those challenges is what's supposed to be the fun part. Since the enemy AIs offer no challenge to speak of, space monsters are effectively your main opponent at this point.

[Geoff the Medio]

If FreeOrion is in D:/games/freeorion, I typed D:/games/freeorion/save.
[...]
The path I typed was written in red and nothing happened.

Try D:\games\freeorion

If I tried to change the drive manually, by going up one step until I had the disks, clicking on [D:] brought up Windows Explorer instead of allowing me to see the folders...

That makes no sense; browsing directories in FreeOrion should never open up an operating system directory window.

If you want to disable monsters without disabling natives, you can delete all the entries in space_monsters.txt.

[Zireael]

"life-forms" includes monsters, so decrease that setting for fewer.

I set the lifeforms to the few. It's still annoying. So I'd like a separate toggle for the monsters. Or make the monsters an exception to the blockade you mentioned.

There are supposed to be challenges and obstructions to developing your empire. Overcoming those challenges is what's supposed to be the fun part. Since the enemy AIs offer no challenge to speak of, space monsters are effectively your main opponent at this point.

I get it, but why do they blockade my planets? I can see the enemy fleet doing that, but not some random monsters...

@ Geoff - thanks, will try. About changing the disk - well, it did.

[Geoff the Medio]

I get it, but why do [monsters] blockade my planets? I can see the enemy fleet doing that, but not some random monsters...

Imagine they're attacking any freighters your empire tries to send to and from the planets in the system.

Re: Windows Explorer. If it opened up, it wasn't because of anything FreeOrion was doing. Maybe accessing a CD drive caused it to spin up, and autoplay kicked in, and the OS showed a directory window?

Navigating the directory tree from the popup dialog works fine for me, including flash memory cards and CDs. Entering any existing directory in the text field works fine for me with / or \ separators. Whatever issue you're having, I can't replicate.

[Zireael]

It opened the hard disk drive I was trying to open. So I don't think it's a coincidence...


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Regardless: what about the other suggestions?

[Bigjoe5]

- lower the cost of Sentient Automation and other techs costing over 1.00k RP and make those techs give people some benefit immediately. Otherwise they're just annoying as h**l prereqs.

Yeah, I don't like theories at all, and would eventually like the system to be more like MoO2 - not in terms of linearness and total separation of categories, but in terms of mutual exclusivity of techs in a category - i.e. you have to choose one, which augments espionage, diplomacy and replay value (even if you think it makes research itself somehow less fun). But anyhow, if you want to make any changes to the tech tree, feel free to go in and mod the content files.

- have a way of differentiating between a colony and an outpost, as some stuff can't be built at an outpost

The only difference is target population. If a good planet is colonized with an outpost ship, it's still considered a colony because it has adequate target population to become a colony. This is something that will be changed in the future.