A few questions and a concern (Full Version)

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EmperorKirk -> A few questions and a concern (1/27/2021 7:25:21 AM)


So watched the stream loved it, especially the space combat( dogfights between fighters and bombers sexy) looked great but I do have a few questions.

When I was reading about the new stuff and what was changed from DW1 it said that components do get damaged but not destroyed , does that mean you can no longer cripple ships by taking out their engines so they can't move, taking out weapons so they stop shooting, or take out their shield generators? Thats one thing I love in DW1 is that components can get destroyed makes the ship feel like ships and not metal with health bars. Also made the repair bots really useful mid to late game! This is a related thing, there is still visible damage to ships right? It was a bit simplistic in DW1 but it was so cool that even fighters had visible damage when getting hit, so hope in DW2 if a ship takes a torpedo to its stern there will be damage there, it's probably already in the game but it was hard to tell in the stream.

Second question will there be stat pages in Distant Worlds 2? As in a page where it says how many ships I have destroyed, build, how many planets have I conquered, how many troops I have killed, how many have I lost, and so on and so on. Stats like that where in DW1 but you had to awkwardly look at other races win conditions to see how many troops the humans killed vs one of the insect races for example. Or if I was playing the Teekans I really wanted to know how many enemy ships I had destroyed but I had to look at the humans to be able to tell, but it only showed me if I had destroyed most. I love stats and I would like if they were available to all races at all times.

Third question there was a lot of extra cool empire and flag colors when picking pirate empire vs normal empire colors like black, grey, dark green, white and so on, could those colors be available to normal empires as well in Distant Worlds 2 so I can make a better flag, say I make the Terran Empire as the humans with a black flag with a red emblem in the middle and dark red map color as an example. So, will there be more color and flag options in Distant Worlds 2?

This last thing is not really a question but I do have some concerns about the UI( I know it's not finished) it looks a bit dull( maybe UI color could change based on what colors you pick for your empire) and, in your face. Now this does not bother me too much, I will buy the game anyways but the reason I bring it up is because UI is so important when it comes to new players and getting them into the game. I bought DW1 to a few of my friends when it was on sale on steam because I really wanted them to experience all the great things about DW1, and they simply could not get into the game because of the UI, and I can't blame them when I first played DW1 I also found the UI very daunting. Now since I played it a lot, I got used to it did find the UI very functional if ugly as sin, like it's very easy to set up colonial defense fleets and manage your ships and troops. But the UI was a deal breaker for a lot of new players and that saddens me, and I know you guys are very aware of this but wanted to mention it anyways.

Again, I want to stress I did very much enjoy the stream, and I think the king of 4x is back to take back its rightful throne!



Whiskiz -> RE: A few questions and a concern (1/27/2021 8:07:55 AM)

In that very battle he makes comments about how 2 ships have knocked an opponents ships reactor offline, as well as being able to monitor which components have been destroyed.

Every now and then on the UI at the bottom, you can also see the states of components:

Normal - Damaged - Destroyed - Disabled

So now components aren't just working or destroyed, they have multiple states for more depth.

Agreed about the UI looking dull, most of it.



EmperorKirk -> RE: A few questions and a concern (1/27/2021 8:27:18 AM)

Oh awesome, must have missed that in the heat of battle. The fact that has been made deeper by having stages of damage like that is all i want. Still want to know if there is visible damage to ships though.



Erik Rutins -> RE: A few questions and a concern (1/27/2021 12:31:18 PM)

Yes, you can still knock out entire systems completely. Now you can also damage them (or disable them if you have Ion weapons and Ion damage can now have different strengths across component categories as well). Yes, there's visible damage to ships as well.

I'm hearing you both on the UI - we've been getting a lot of positive comments on it, but it's clear that for a few the choice of colors is not their favorite. The grey used in parts is mainly just there as a relatively subtle neutral color that can keep the UI from being too much in your face when you don't want to pay attention to it, but perhaps we can do that with a different color. We'll be listening to feedback like this throughout beta and seeing what we can do.

Regards,

- Erik



EmperorKirk -> RE: A few questions and a concern (1/27/2021 12:38:39 PM)

Thanks for answering really good to hear that visble damage is still there. Not to bother you but what about stats page/ledger and empire/flag colors can you answer those?



Erik Rutins -> RE: A few questions and a concern (1/27/2021 12:49:48 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: EmperorKirk
Thanks for answering really good to hear that visble damage is still there. Not to bother you but what about stats page/ledger and empire/flag colors can you answer those?


Sorry, we don't have the stats in there yet (we have way more stats behind the scenes that we're tracking with the new engine/design though) but we will before release and will decide on a good place in the interface for them.

The color/flag options are not expanded, but the flags we have are nicer than in DW1 (IMHO).

Regards,

- Erik







EmperorKirk -> RE: A few questions and a concern (1/27/2021 1:00:49 PM)

The fact stats will be added at some point is all i can ask, the new empire colors will probably be good( will miss some of the pirate colors though).

Thank you so much for answering my questions!



Sild -> RE: A few questions and a concern (1/28/2021 10:17:08 AM)

Huh, interesting. I wouldn't have described the DW UI as daunting. I actually think it's fairly neat and well organised. But perhaps i've my perception skewed due to playing stuff like X3. Heh



Whiskiz -> RE: A few questions and a concern (1/28/2021 11:29:10 AM)

quote:

I'm hearing you both on the UI - we've been getting a lot of positive comments on it, but it's clear that for a few the choice of colors is not their favorite. The grey used in parts is mainly just there as a relatively subtle neutral color that can keep the UI from being too much in your face when you don't want to pay attention to it, but perhaps we can do that with a different color. We'll be listening to feedback like this throughout beta and seeing what we can do.


The layout of the UI is great, it combines the best of the UI in DW:U with the main buttons at the top and the list on the left-hand side, as well as much more functionality and generally allround improvements.

I'd be interested to know if any of the positive feedback you received on the UI was the overall theme and color of the majority of it though, specifically. I wonder for example if you showed the testing team my previous example:

https://imgur.com/a/NoPIBPX

If any of them would choose the top over the bottom. Or how much they feel an improvement the bottom is over the top.

You can also maintain an overall dark and subtle theme without it looking outdated and completely colorless for the majority of it. Black and white is the hallmark of 1900s digital production [:'(] Especially when some of the UI looks so great and updated - It just needs an updated overall theme to go with it.

Either way the game looks to have some major improvement and additions so you guys definitely know what's best and've noted that you've seen the feedback - and we both know one way or another the modders will take care of it [:'(] so i'll leave it with you!




Erik Rutins -> RE: A few questions and a concern (1/28/2021 1:13:53 PM)

We'll definitely be discussing the UI color feedback. At the same time, some of the feedback regarding things like the red text and such is also well taken. We were already planning to alter some of the text colors and make them a bit more "pastel" for easier legibility, just didn't get to it before beta.



arvcran2 -> RE: A few questions and a concern (1/28/2021 3:01:33 PM)

WRT text read-ability I cannot remember where this was presented but there was a case where the text was highlighted with a silver gray effect that, for me, made the text much easier to read.



SirHoraceHarkness -> RE: A few questions and a concern (1/28/2021 5:16:55 PM)

The problem with making a fancy pretty graphical UI is that they tend to be quite resistant to on the fly scaling so a set would have to be made for each primary resolution most likely to be used. To make the UI fully scalable means it has to be somewhat bland by default. Most of this should be able to be cleared up with player customization so they can choose their own colors and hopefully the UI is included in the modding access.



Miletkir -> RE: A few questions and a concern (1/28/2021 6:58:29 PM)

You got a point there, it's not fixed-art friendly, but simple frames should be rescalable. As I said elsewhere, to me it's just difficult to read because it's not contrasted enough. Sure, it's not distracting you from the darkness of space, but, after, all, you can also close these windows. It's sober, but a bit sad and plain too I think for a futuristic interface.



EmperorKirk -> RE: A few questions and a concern (1/29/2021 8:38:07 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Sild

Huh, interesting. I wouldn't have described the DW UI as daunting. I actually think it's fairly neat and well organised. But perhaps i've my perception skewed due to playing stuff like X3. Heh


Yeah, first times I played DW1 I did find the UI a bit hard to use, but as I said the more I used it, the more I came to appreciate the functionality of it. Again, the reason I mentioned the DW2 UI was because of new players and getting them into the game. Like I will play the game no matter what and tend to like colors like grey but I also hope the game will be as successful as possible and a stellar UI works wonders for that. But it is hard to judge from a stream, we will see what the beta testers have to say. With a good UI you can keep everything that makes Distant Worlds well Distant Worlds, and still appeal to a larger part of the 4X community.



Erik Rutins -> RE: A few questions and a concern (1/29/2021 3:44:18 PM)

FWIW, the feedback on the UI in Alpha has been generally positive. We're still making improvements and that will continue through Beta up to release, but overall my own experience is that it offers better situational awareness and it's much easier for new players to find what they're looking for vs. DW1. The DW1 interface was fine once you knew how to use it, but a lot of important information was much more deeply buried than in DW2, partly because of how it evolved over time.



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