Distant Worlds 2

[FarAway Sooner]

OJsDad, you probably already know this, but you can get a pretty good view of how many resources you have in stockpile, how many are headed towards a stockpile on a freighter, how many are reserved for something currently being built, and if/how large a deficit you have.  You can also look for the cost going up if supplies start to get too low.

However, a better UI would make that much more intuitive to navigate.  I also think reducing the number of resources by 6 or 8 (e.g. eliminate 3 Strategic and 3 Luxury resources) would make for a more intuitive game.

Honestly, if they just remade the game with a better UI and better AI, I'd pay full price for it.  I only say that about a handful of games ever, but DWU was that good!

[OJsDad]

Yep, in the expansion planner.  It's just always seemed....clunky.  There are also times when I'm not sure it's accurate.  On top of that, it only counts as a source resources that are on colonized planets and you have mining stations at.  In my current game, the moon that orbits my home world has gold.  When I look at the planner, it says I don't have a source for it, even though my mining ships can mine it.  I'm probably splitting hairs here.  But any resource within my boarders, and as long as I have mining ships, should be listed as a source. 

[FarAway Sooner]

Yeah.  My sense is that, once mining ships have mined them and are in their holds, they show up in the "on the way" column, but if that moon is five seconds travel from your home world, that's not real useful!

Running out of a resource is usually downright catastrohpic in the game, as it should be.  HOWEVER, the warnings about running out of resources are less intuitive.  My own sense is that having the cost of resources start to move more quickly would be a great way to signal that before something catastrophic happens, but I guess they wanted to keep that resource cost part simple.

And, as you suggest, the fact that it's hidden deep in the bowels of the resource planner adds to the complexity. 

I love the model they have, and it's reasonably well implemented, but I've got to think that eliminating a couple strategic resources (and making them less common on planets) would preserve the strategic challenge while reducing the micromanagement.  Hopefully something they do in DW2!

[OJsDad]

I'm playing with the Starfall mod, which adds more resources, which I like.  I think they just need to change to the expansion planner, and add a column for resources to show available resources inside your boarders, but don't have a mining station or on a colonized planet.  This would allow you know what you have permanent bases mining and what you can get to quickly with a mining ship. 

[FarAway Sooner]

Yeah.  Maybe even add a filter so you can toggle between "in your territory" versus "in an already colonized system".  I love pirates in the early game, but a big part of this is having to worry about mining station security.  For that reason, I find building stations in systems I've already colonized works well for lots of reasons.

But maybe I'm missing something, or just not building the "Dreadnaught Mining Station"?