Stormtempter
12-26-2010, 11:25 PM
CivCity Rome is a pretty fun game for me. One area I am running into frustration with is inventory managment though. Civilization proper had a pretty good system for micromanagement options.
I could control building and unit queues, production/culture/money/great person focus, manually select which improvements or citizens a city should use and even dictate production speed in various ways. This could be done per city. However, should I choose I could relinquish control of things in various ways and let the computer pick the best solution, freeing me to focus on expansion and interaction with other cultures, etc.
I would suggest a system like that for CivCity - pertaining mostly to Granaries and Warehouses. Too often a storage building would fill up with whatever was closest. The current tools of 'gating' which materials enter and leave the storehouse and transfering of goods to other storehouses are very clunky and somewhat dense for ease of use for a player. I could never tell after clicking on the advanced options and clicking another warehouse, clicking beds and 20 if the order would ever be carried out - feedback was lacking. I could also never tell if those commands persisted into infinity or if it was a one time deal. Also didn't know if the number I clicked was the maximum sent, the amount the storehouse would wait for until a shipment was sent or what. If it was possible to send multiple items or send them to multiple other storehouses was also unclear.
I would propose that a revamped inventory mananament system be considered. You could have multiple colors for the arrows to denote what goods get sent to what other storehouse. You could add feedback by having players select a good, select a quanity, have them specify if this is recurring or not, and then have them click accept to setup the shipment. An extra info box denoting existing shipments (color coded) would let the player know which goods are going where and allow them to cancel the shipments at will. This would allow players to continually funnel goods from outlier storehouses to ones closer to the needed shops or residences without too much pain and suffering in micromanaging the flow constantly.
Speaking of which, tools for automation would also be useful. Perhaps a dialog box with options to equallize various goods amongst all storehouse, with further options to limit it to finished goods or raw materials. Additionally, you could add options that would eliminate gating requirements significantly, as an example a set of buttons to tell a warehouse to pull in goods used by hovels only, insular only, or villa only. The computer could then automatically transport amongst the warehouses the goods to where they are requested.
Not to get off topic too far but suggestions for structure/unit and research also came up in this. A research option for upgrading warehouse/granary capacity would be a nifty feature.
A unit/structure of something like a teamster or courier would be a nice addition. This courier could have their own building - similar to a trade station - but whose sole purpose is to expedite the movement of goods within the city, instead of manually hauling or using a wheel barrow to haul produce to shops and refined goods from shops to storehouses (and moving goods from one storehouse to another) they could use small mule driven carts. They would be faster than the field workers and shopkeepers and would free those workers up to do a bit more work at their jobs. You could add requirements like the Courier station needing wood for the carts and either mules from a trade station or they could be procured from the horse trainer if you wished.
Another research option tied to the Courier station could be an upgrade from mule to horse, or reinforced carts or better wheels, something to denote that they can pick up and transport goods in greater quanities, faster, or both.
From the sounds of other posts I've seen both here and on other forums, this game seems to be for the most part abandoned from further refinement and patches from official sources. Still, on the off-chance that someone dedicated to the game, or an official with some clout sees this, I hope it at the least can inspire thoughts along the direction of multiple levels of player control and micromangement through automation and user feedback options.
Thank you for your time, cheers!
I could control building and unit queues, production/culture/money/great person focus, manually select which improvements or citizens a city should use and even dictate production speed in various ways. This could be done per city. However, should I choose I could relinquish control of things in various ways and let the computer pick the best solution, freeing me to focus on expansion and interaction with other cultures, etc.
I would suggest a system like that for CivCity - pertaining mostly to Granaries and Warehouses. Too often a storage building would fill up with whatever was closest. The current tools of 'gating' which materials enter and leave the storehouse and transfering of goods to other storehouses are very clunky and somewhat dense for ease of use for a player. I could never tell after clicking on the advanced options and clicking another warehouse, clicking beds and 20 if the order would ever be carried out - feedback was lacking. I could also never tell if those commands persisted into infinity or if it was a one time deal. Also didn't know if the number I clicked was the maximum sent, the amount the storehouse would wait for until a shipment was sent or what. If it was possible to send multiple items or send them to multiple other storehouses was also unclear.
I would propose that a revamped inventory mananament system be considered. You could have multiple colors for the arrows to denote what goods get sent to what other storehouse. You could add feedback by having players select a good, select a quanity, have them specify if this is recurring or not, and then have them click accept to setup the shipment. An extra info box denoting existing shipments (color coded) would let the player know which goods are going where and allow them to cancel the shipments at will. This would allow players to continually funnel goods from outlier storehouses to ones closer to the needed shops or residences without too much pain and suffering in micromanaging the flow constantly.
Speaking of which, tools for automation would also be useful. Perhaps a dialog box with options to equallize various goods amongst all storehouse, with further options to limit it to finished goods or raw materials. Additionally, you could add options that would eliminate gating requirements significantly, as an example a set of buttons to tell a warehouse to pull in goods used by hovels only, insular only, or villa only. The computer could then automatically transport amongst the warehouses the goods to where they are requested.
Not to get off topic too far but suggestions for structure/unit and research also came up in this. A research option for upgrading warehouse/granary capacity would be a nifty feature.
A unit/structure of something like a teamster or courier would be a nice addition. This courier could have their own building - similar to a trade station - but whose sole purpose is to expedite the movement of goods within the city, instead of manually hauling or using a wheel barrow to haul produce to shops and refined goods from shops to storehouses (and moving goods from one storehouse to another) they could use small mule driven carts. They would be faster than the field workers and shopkeepers and would free those workers up to do a bit more work at their jobs. You could add requirements like the Courier station needing wood for the carts and either mules from a trade station or they could be procured from the horse trainer if you wished.
Another research option tied to the Courier station could be an upgrade from mule to horse, or reinforced carts or better wheels, something to denote that they can pick up and transport goods in greater quanities, faster, or both.
From the sounds of other posts I've seen both here and on other forums, this game seems to be for the most part abandoned from further refinement and patches from official sources. Still, on the off-chance that someone dedicated to the game, or an official with some clout sees this, I hope it at the least can inspire thoughts along the direction of multiple levels of player control and micromangement through automation and user feedback options.
Thank you for your time, cheers!