Interface Improvement Suggestions

[David]

Provide an option in the Gameplay Options menu to enable F4 Player as the default in the supplier list -- as opposed to F2 All Suppliers. This could be similar to the option provided for "Default Internal Sale" in the Options menu. Currently, a player who rarely uses competitor resources must use F4 to list only player suppliers every time suppliers are selected.

After you have switched it to F4, when you open the Pick Supplier window again, it will stay at the F4 mode. In other words, you don't have to press F4 each time you open the Pick Supplier window.

Show firm description (e.g., CPU Lg Factory 1 (London)) instead of just firm type on a mouseover of a firm. (BTW: the firm description is a nice enhancement. Would like to see it appear in more screens

I will forward your suggestion to the dev team.

Show firm's description (for example "Logging quality 65 camp (London)") instead of firm type when displaying client list for resource firms. Another example would be "Computer Store 1 CBD (London)" instead of "Computer store 011 (London)"

It already does so in the current version.

Show active mines/camps/wells in red even when resources are exhausted -- until demolition. Would make it easier to find on resources map after exhaustion while inventories are being emptied, but before demolition. Currently a mine disappears from resources map as soon as the exhaustion alert appears even though inventories can have a lot of remaining product.

Could you please explain why this change would make it easier to find on resources map after exhaustion while inventories are being emptied?

Ability to "copy" firms within and between cities. For example copy a bed factory in London with links to a London Logging Camp to a second bed factory in another London location, and/or another city, maintaining the same resource links.

You may vote on this poll with the same suggestion: http://www.capitalism2.com/forum/viewto ... =14&t=7154

Add "super-factories" and enable factory expansion from sm (2x2) to med (3x3), med to lg (4x4) and lg to super (5x5). In the later parts of a game, there is so much wasted space because of road limitations.

Please see http://www.capitalism2.com/forum/viewto ... =10&t=7467

The new feature: Factory Capacity Modifier
A new script command under the [SPECIAL RULES] section of a script.

Factory Capacity Modifier=<50 to 500>
It modifies the capacity of all factories. The default value is 100. Assigning a value higher than 100 will increase the capacities of all factories. The setup and operating costs of factories will also increase accordingly.

Some of the pre-defined layout plans are poor selections that the AI often uses. (An example of poor selection is a factory with four of the nine squares devoted to sales.) This reduces their competiveness and also leaves inefficient factories when trying to absorb them after a merger.

Could you please provide a list of such layout plans? I will then forward them to the dev team.

Also note that upgrading causes the loss of used-defined plan layouts; would be helpful to have instructions for merging them into current version.

Could you please elaborate on this?

Report showing firms losing money or ability to sort by profitability in firms listing.

How would you suggest showing the sorting buttons on the Firms report? Could you please make a mock-up interface showing your ideas?

[Yimmy]

David: Thank you for the quick reply. You are the most responsive and dedicated site admin I have encountered.

Provide an option in the Gameplay Options menu to enable F4 Player as the default in the supplier list -- as opposed to F2 All Suppliers. This could be similar to the option provided for "Default Internal Sale" in the Options menu. Currently, a player who rarely uses competitor resources must use F4 to list only player suppliers every time suppliers are selected.

Your Reply --
After you have switched it to F4, when you open the Pick Supplier window again, it will stay at the F4 mode. In other words, you don't have to press F4 each time you open the Pick Supplier window.

On my system, F4 works for choosing suppliers for the same factory; when I choose a new factory, it reverts to F2 as the default. This becomes tedious when creating hundreds of factories. (I am using 6.3.07)

Show firm's description (for example "Logging quality 65 camp (London)") instead of firm type when displaying client list for resource firms. Another example would be "Computer Store 1 CBD (London)" instead of "Computer store 011 (London)"

Your reply --

It already does so in the current version.

I have attached a picture of my logging camp showing a clientlist. (Image shows at the end of this message.)Note the firm type shown is factory as opposed to my factory's description.

Show active mines/camps/wells in red even when resources are exhausted -- until demolition. Would make it easier to find on resources map after exhaustion while inventories are being emptied, but before demolition. Currently a mine disappears from resources map as soon as the exhaustion alert appears even though inventories can have a lot of remaining product.

Your reply --

Could you please explain why this change would make it easier to find on resources map after exhaustion while inventories are being emptied?

As you can see in the picture above, the logging camp shows in red. Imagine that I have multiple logging camps (or mines) appearing at various locations on a city's map. When the resource's icon disappears -- after exhaustion but before demolition -- I have to search the entire city to find it if I don't happen to remember where it is. (Logging camps are easy because they can be only in one location. Mines and wells, however, can be anywhere, including within residential areas that makes them difficult to spot.

Some of the pre-defined layout plans are poor selections that the AI often uses. (An example of poor selection is a factory with four of the nine squares devoted to sales.) This reduces their competiveness and also leaves inefficient factories when trying to absorb them after a merger.

Your reply --

Could you please provide a list of such layout plans? I will then forward them to the dev team.

This will take some time; I will provide a separate reply after going through them.

Also note that upgrading causes the loss of used-defined plan layouts; would be helpful to have instructions for merging them into current version.

Your reply --

Could you please elaborate on this?

When I upgraded from the post-release beta version to the current 6.3.07, my post-release user-defined layout plans did not exist in the new version. I would have had to recreate them. Instead I happened to find the post-release plan layout file and copied/replaced the current version's plan layout file; my user-defined layoputs came back.

Report showing firms losing money or ability to sort by profitability in firms listing.

Your reply --

How would you suggest showing the sorting buttons on the Firms report? Could you please make a mock-up interface showing your ideas?

I will have to figure out how to do that; will post in separate message. I noticed that you didn't respond to a few of my suggestions. Should I assume they would not be easy to do?

Ability to set alerts and reminders. For example, set a reminder/notification in July to plant an August crop.

When looking at a building, show it with more noticeable outline -- bold/flashing/etc; currently it shows slightly lighter (ghostly?) -- than unselected buildings

Report showing income from tech sales

Identify shearing season for wool farm similar to sowing and harvesting season for crop farms.

[Yimmy]

David:

I just read bout post-release beta 6.4.01. I should mention that my comments about the post-release beta were for the version prior to CapLab 6.3.07.

[David]

On my system, F4 works for choosing suppliers for the same factory; when I choose a new factory, it reverts to F2 as the default. This becomes tedious when creating hundreds of factories. (I am using 6.3.07)

The programmer will improve this in the next version.

Show firm's description (for example "Logging quality 65 camp (London)") instead of firm type when displaying client list for resource firms. Another example would be "Computer Store 1 CBD (London)" instead of "Computer store 011 (London)"

The programmer will implement your suggestion in the next version.

As you can see in the picture above, the logging camp shows in red. Imagine that I have multiple logging camps (or mines) appearing at various locations on a city's map. When the resource's icon disappears -- after exhaustion but before demolition -- I have to search the entire city to find it if I don't happen to remember where it is. (Logging camps are easy because they can be only in one location. Mines and wells, however, can be anywhere, including within residential areas that makes them difficult to spot.

I would recommend that you use Firm filter buttons (below the mini-map) or the Firms List report to locate your mines/logging camps.

When I upgraded from the post-release beta version to the current 6.3.07, my post-release user-defined layout plans did not exist in the new version. I would have had to recreate them. Instead I happened to find the post-release plan layout file and copied/replaced the current version's plan layout file; my user-defined layoputs came back.

The layout plans of the release version and post-release beta versions are stored in different folders.
C:\Users\<Your Windows username>\Documents\My Games\Capitalism Lab\GameSet
C:\Users\<Your Windows username>\Documents\My Games\Capitalism Lab Post-Release Beta\GameSet

So layout plans from one version are not shared with the other version and have to be copied manually.

When I upgraded from the post-release beta version to the current 6.3.07

Please note that v6.3.07 is a Release version, not post-release beta version.

I will have to figure out how to do that; will post in separate message. I noticed that you didn't respond to a few of my suggestions. Should I assume they would not be easy to do?

For the really easy ones like the F4 key, I have forwarded them to the programmer as it will only take a very short time to make the change.

For normal suggestions that will take time and resources, I would recommend that you create a poll for your suggestion to gauge the community's interest in it. There would be a higher chance that the dev team will implement them if the interest level is high.

You could see some examples of the polls in the Suggestions forum at http://www.capitalism2.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=14

For more info about new feature requests evaluation process, please see: http://www.capitalism2.com/forum/viewto ... =14&t=7052

[Yimmy]

David: Here is my list of plan layouts

What follows are the most obvious choices for plan layout redesign. I found many others -- especially the farm products with two/three product outputs -- that the AI frequently chooses. Such factories take a lot of work after a merger. Nevertheless, I did not list them because that is my personal opinion that these multi-product factories are suboptimal in most situations except in the early game when money is tight and the AI wants to create many product options for Mega,Dept and supermarket store sales.

Plan 9 Has two input-materials and two sales materials, but only three manufacturing units. Every two-material input should
result in four manufacturing units. The two-input wildcard design is a perfect example of this.

Plan 21 Has one material input and one material output but only three manufacturing units. Any one material-input with one
material output should have four, even five manufacturing units.

Plan 22 Redesigning the plan could add a manufacturing unit by eliminating one, repetitive purchase unit. Manufacturing is
most often the bottleneck in factory production.

Plan 27 Same issue as Plan 9 -- two inputs. These plans should be deleted or redesigned to maximize production effeiciency.

Plan 29 Same issue as Plan 9 -- two inputs

Plan 31 Redesigning could increase manufacturing units to four while maintaining three output products.

Plan 39 Same issue as Plan 21 -- one input

Plan 40 Same issue as Plan 22.

Plan 42 Same issue as Plan 21 -- one input

Plan 53 Same issue as Plan 9 -- two inputs

Plan 54 Same issue as Plan 9 -- two inputs

Plan 64 Same issue as Plan 21 -- one input

Plan 66 Same issue as Plan 9 -- two inputs

Plan 68 Same issue as Plan 9 -- two inputs

Plan 69 Same issue as Plan 21 -- one input

Plan 70 Has four sales units for three manufacturing units with two material inputs. Redesign similar to Plan 9 redesign.

Plan 71 Same issue as Plan 70 -- four sales units for three manufacturing units with two material inputs.

Plan 73 Same issue as Plan 70 -- four sales units for three manufacturing units with two material inputs.

Plan 74 Same issue as Plan 9 -- two inputs

Plan 75 Same issue as Plan 70 -- four sales units for three manufacturing units with two material inputs.

Plan 76 Same issue as Plan 70 -- four sales units for three manufacturing units with two material inputs.

Plan 77 Same issue as Plan 70 -- four sales units for three manufacturing units with two material inputs.

Plan 78 Same issue as Plan 70 -- four sales units for three manufacturing units with two material inputs.

Plan 80 Same issue as Plan 70 -- four sales units for three manufacturing units with two material inputs.

Plan 81 Same issue as Plan 70 -- four sales units for three manufacturing units with two material inputs.

Plan 108 Same issue as Plan 9 -- two inputs

Plan 112 Same issue as Plan 9 -- two inputs

Plan 121 Same issue as Plan 9 -- two inputs

[Yimmy]

David:

I have included an image showing the sort button on the left just beneath Stock Exchange. I assume the data for firms, corporations, etc are in databases with variables that could be sorted, such as profits, revenue, etc. Such a sort option could also enable a listing of most/least profitable corporations, undervalued/overvalued based on operating revenue trends, or a free-form criteria selection.

BTW: Has anyone requested the ability to research farming and raw materials resources in CapLab as opposed to a DLC? Farming and raw materials undergo improvements through R& D also. (For example, hybrid seeds and feeds, oil fracking and oil shale, taconite, etc.)

[David]

Thanks for your suggestions. I've forwarded your suggested layout plan changes to the dev team.

What follows are the most obvious choices for plan layout redesign. I found many others -- especially the farm products with two/three product outputs -- that the AI frequently chooses. Such factories take a lot of work after a merger. Nevertheless, I did not list them because that is my personal opinion that these multi-product factories are suboptimal in most situations except in the early game when money is tight and the AI wants to create many product options for Mega,Dept and supermarket store sales.

I have also created a poll for the above at: http://www.capitalism2.com/forum/viewto ... =14&t=7483

[David]

David:

I have included an image showing the sort button on the left just beneath Stock Exchange. I assume the data for firms, corporations, etc are in databases with variables that could be sorted, such as profits, revenue, etc. Such a sort option could also enable a listing of most/least profitable corporations, undervalued/overvalued based on operating revenue trends, or a free-form criteria selection.

BTW: Has anyone requested the ability to research farming and raw materials resources in CapLab as opposed to a DLC? Farming and raw materials undergo improvements through R& D also. (For example, hybrid seeds and feeds, oil fracking and oil shale, taconite, etc.)

In 1024x768 screen mode, when all the DLCs are enabled (see the attached screenshot), there won't be space for displaying the Sort button.

It is possible to insert the Sort button somewhere in the report though.

After clicking on the "Sort" button, what kinds of sort options do you suggest that it should offer?

And for this suggestion, I would recommend that you create a poll for it (you may see the one I created for you regarding the AI use of the layout plan as an example.)

[David]

The firm description and F4 key improvements you suggested have been made. Please download the latest version 6.4.02 from http://www.capitalism2.com/forum/viewto ... =10&t=7467

[furmanbp]

Hi I have got suggestions

1. When you come to the point where you got hundred of shops, another one of factorises and another one of farms. Obviously at this point you got a COO who help you micromanage but I can see that game fail to inform me about particular product supply problem. I would like to have new info tab "product supply and demand". It would give information something like when you go to factory and have this supply and demand bars although it would do it on global level not just one factory/farm etc. Also on this tab you should get information if your COO is supplying any product, for factories or shops, out of your own production, to keep enough supply level. That would help you with macro and micro management by being able to see, at glance, for example:
Ok I can build one more chicken farm as my COO supplying my all soup factory by 80% from my farms and 20% from outside supplier. Or - My global supply is lower than global demand (if you set up your COO to only use yours products). I know I need to build one more factory. etc etc.


Here couple suggested filters to that tab:

All products
only ones I use
only ones I produce
by product class

2. City industry competitiveness macro management. So here is how I see it: Right now I got 4 cities and 4 mayors from my party. At university you can choose to increase competitiveness in particular are of industry for each city and each uni separately. When you get to the point, that for example you got 4 Unis in each city(giving you 16 in total to track, not to mention your industries as well), it become a lot of micromanagement to do to change industry branch (or budget slider) to different when one get 100 points in particular branch. My suggestion is this, at cities information tab, where you got industry competitiveness information you should be able to tick/untick industries branches that your mayor should focus on,

and for example you should be able to set:
keep marked industries at minimum:(slider here)
keep marked industries at maximum:(slider here)

two sliders as one Uni can/could support more than one industry, and would be switching either to another branch when touch one of the figures set up.

3. This one I am not sure, maybe it is just a bug in my particular situation. AI mayor was hmmm very stingy. Each city I took over (it was about 30-35 in game year) had at lest 5 billions in savings (one had like 13). Most of civic and sport buildings set to very small budget so each city had like roughly 50% +-5% approval rating. Cities having between 2 and 3 Universities was usually only competitive in one or two industry branches where it could do more with such amount of cash (one was competitive in four).
Therefore cities ware quite stagnant, unemployment stay on about this same level through whole game and population growth was very small. So my suggestion is to make AI mayor more aggressive in term of using cash.

I had some more ideas to make macro and micro management easier but just vapour off my head now. I am starting new game to see if point 3 will repeat or not. And will write down my suggestions on paper for next time

I was playing 6.3.08 version.


Best Regards:
Furmanbp