[Freeciv-Dev] Re: New/Improved Info Screens

[Jörg Zuther <zuther.joerg@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 16 Jan 2002 11:59:34 +0100, Christian Knoke wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 15, 2002 at 11:48:04PM +0100, Jörg Zuther wrote:
> > You can (de)activate all columns during play, hence always modify the
> > report according to your actual needs.
>
> Yes. You have to deactivate some of the columns already, when you
> play on 800 * 600. This means lesser information.
> (...)
> > > Maybe a new kind of report?
> > >
> > > Following suggestions:
> > >
> > > A (small) column: "numbers of mil. units supported by this city"
> > > (important for war).
> > >
> > > A button/function "Wake up all units in the city"
> > >
> > > A function for the units report "Wake up all units of type ..."
> > > (the latter has been nearly realized by a recent patch).
> >
> > Hm... sounds nice. If you (and enough other people ;-) always need
> > more information than can be shown in one report, then it should
> > be possible to build and save/load several reports for your needs, where
> > all these reports are build from the same huge pot of elementary
> > columns you can switch on/off. Maybe the client or server (or where
> > these reports are stored) can come with a widened set of standard
> > reports?
>
> I don't think it's a good idea to put everything in the city report.
> And I don't want to change the settings continiously.
>
> There are several reports now; I think it's absolutely possible
> to add a new one, with the features you proposed. Enhenceing the city
> report should be done very carefully, whereas the units report e.g.
> offers much place for enhencements.

What I meant is:

For each basic entity of the game (like cities, units, wonders etc.)
you have a pool of columns, where each column in turn contains an
elementary information related to the respective entity. For example,
you have a pool of all columns of city-related information. This
pool can be shown in the same way as now: As a list of columns that
can be activated or deactivated.

At the moment, there is only one city report, and you can't show all
actual columns on it if you play with a low resolution. You say, you
would like this additional info and that, so why not make a second
report? But other people may like other columns and other columns
and so on, and then you need a third report etc.

My suggestion is to choose a more flexible approach. It should be
possible for the player to define an indefinite number of city
reports and save their repsective column configuration under a free
choosable name.
These self-defined reports should always be accessible via menu.
Further, it should be possible to define shortcuts for your reports
in some way. You have only to define them once and can afterwards use
them pretty much in the same way you use the actual city report.
If you start a new game, all saved reports are loaded automatically.
It should be possible to delete these reports, and you should be
able to deactivate them (that means, that they vanish from the menu
and are not automatically loaded if you start your client - until
you reactivate them by loading them actively).
Of course, the game would come with some useful standard reports.

OK, I'm sure that I underestimate the amount of work for all this
even if I take into account that I underestimate it ;-) But if
enough people would support this goal we can write patches with
this goal in mind. At least I would appreciate it.

 ,,
Jorg

--- Begin Message ---

To:	Christian Knoke <ChrisK@xxxxxxxx>, freeciv-dev@freeciv-org
Subject:	Re: New/Improved Info Screens
From:	Jörg Zuther <zuther.joerg@xxxxxxxxx>
Date:	Wed, 16 Jan 2002 21:00:24 +0100

On Wed, 16 Jan 2002 11:59:34 +0100, Christian Knoke wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 15, 2002 at 11:48:04PM +0100, Jörg Zuther wrote:
> > You can (de)activate all columns during play, hence always modify the
> > report according to your actual needs.
> 
> Yes. You have to deactivate some of the columns already, when you
> play on 800 * 600. This means lesser information.
> (...)
> > > Maybe a new kind of report?
> > >
> > > Following suggestions:
> > >
> > > A (small) column: "numbers of mil. units supported by this city"
> > > (important for war).
> > >
> > > A button/function "Wake up all units in the city"
> > >
> > > A function for the units report "Wake up all units of type ..."
> > > (the latter has been nearly realized by a recent patch).
> >
> > Hm... sounds nice. If you (and enough other people ;-) always need
> > more information than can be shown in one report, then it should
> > be possible to build and save/load several reports for your needs, where
> > all these reports are build from the same huge pot of elementary
> > columns you can switch on/off. Maybe the client or server (or where
> > these reports are stored) can come with a widened set of standard
> > reports?
> 
> I don't think it's a good idea to put everything in the city report.
> And I don't want to change the settings continiously.
> 
> There are several reports now; I think it's absolutely possible
> to add a new one, with the features you proposed. Enhenceing the city
> report should be done very carefully, whereas the units report e.g.
> offers much place for enhencements.

What I meant is:

For each basic entity of the game (like cities, units, wonders etc.)
you have a pool of columns, where each column in turn contains an
elementary information related to the respective entity. For example,
you have a pool of all columns of city-related information. This
pool can be shown in the same way as now: As a list of columns that
can be activated or deactivated.

At the moment, there is only one city report, and you can't show all
actual columns on it if you play with a low resolution. You say, you
would like this additional info and that, so why not make a second
report? But other people may like other columns and other columns
and so on, and then you need a third report etc.

My suggestion is to choose a more flexible approach. It should be
possible for the player to define an indefinite number of city
reports and save their repsective column configuration under a free
choosable name.
These self-defined reports should always be accessible via menu.
Further, it should be possible to define shortcuts for your reports
in some way. You have only to define them once and can afterwards use
them pretty much in the same way you use the actual city report.
If you start a new game, all saved reports are loaded automatically.
It should be possible to delete these reports, and you should be
able to deactivate them (that means, that they vanish from the menu
and are not automatically loaded if you start your client - until
you reactivate them by loading them actively).
Of course, the game would come with some useful standard reports.

OK, I'm sure that I underestimate the amount of work for all this
even if I take into account that I underestimate it ;-) But if
enough people would support this goal we can write patches with
this goal in mind. At least I would appreciate it.

 ,,
Jorg

--- End Message ---