[Beta: Empire Focus improvement]

[Red Death]

For anyone who doesn't know, this post is about the currently in beta "Empire Focus" guidance system that can be found under the "Empire Timeline":

I suddenly realized: if this is a selection of tasks to help guide players on what things they can do in the game, why are we getting a randomised small selection of the total list of objectives at all? Don't you want to create a more recommended order for what new players should do? And why is it necessary (especially for not-new players) to focus on completing whatever random objectives you were assigned, so it can then cycle through all the other objective you already completed? (Which you might want to do, since this system makes certain tech permanently available)

Going to an entirely different genre, Guild Wars 2 has an Adventure Guide as "new player guide":

As you can see there's a similar list of objectives. Completing each awards you some experience, as does completing one "tier", though that is not relevant to this discussion.

More importantly, while the game does show you a selection of the list more prominently on the main screen (in the top right corner) as essentially suggestions, you can view the whole list if you want, and every objective can completed at any time.

Wouldn't this fit the stated objectives much better?

P.S.:

Having to pay Unity to game this system also feels inappropriate, given it's supposed be a tutorial system that you otherwise complete without paying attention to it.

 

[prismaticmarcus]

And why is it necessary (especially for not-new players) to focus on completing whatever random objectives you were assigned, so it can then cycle through all the other objective you already completed?

Isn't it totally UNnecessary to even look at this screen at all? I haven't played the beta but I watched the first livestream.

 

[Red Death]

Isn't it totally UNnecessary to even look at this screen at all? I haven't played the beta but I watched the first livestream.

The rewards are not strictly necessary, so in that sense you can completely ignore the whole system.

But assuming the idea is that every player does progress through it:
Sometimes you will continue to just complete objectives naturally, cycling in new objectives. But it's also entirely possible to end up with a set of objectives that are just a bad idea, or things you are unlikely to do. In that case, the whole system gets "stuck", and you would have to go check and pay Unity to cycle some objectives.

 

[Calvax]

Isn't it totally UNnecessary to even look at this screen at all? I haven't played the beta but I watched the first livestream.

It seems unnecessary so far, though it might still shake out that the meta game is to cheese as many as you can to unlock certain techs early. I don't think the latter would be too much of a problem since it just unlocks the ability to research certain techs. However a lot of the focuses I think are questionable and I'm not sure if many of them would help a new person figure out what to do. Especially as they're random so you can start with things like "build 10 corvettes" which is rarely something you want to do right away.

 

[DrFranknfurter]

My current test game has 3/5 of the tasks bugged out, and it's stuck on the first page of events with no way to zoom out or move to the next page. So... not great.
When it is working it'll be kinda like +1 research alternatives per (rubbish) tech that becomes a permanent option.

Finish first contact (I have)
Gain a favour (I have, also the tooltip says X has joined the galactic community for some reason, and that you get favours from improving relations which is only true if you have the diplomacy tradition completed)
Build an Industrial district (they don't exist)

I was stuck unable to complete any tasks for so long that when I actually attacked some mining drones about a dozen completed all at once.

Also the entries for things like food just says briefly that food can be made by agriculture or trade. But if I'm searching for Food in the databank I've probably got a problem with food income because:
1. My agriculture jobs aren't being worked (and I'm about to be in a shortage situation)
2. I've built Cloning vats/Catalytic Technicians that use lots of food without noticing how expensive they are.

The basic idea is nice - simple tasks for new players that prod them to use and understand mechanics they may not know exists. So building corvettes I'd probably replace with something that teaches you about "Power Projection" so new players can learn that building ships can increase influence income, an otherwise rather hidden mechanic.

The current form in the beta isn't that useful in Stellaris:
1. Tasks you cannot complete
2. Tasks you should not complete
3. TODO databank entries that do not explain enough about the mechanics involved to be useful when you need it (most entries use 3.14 districts and numbers to add to any confusion, but those will probably get fixed eventually).

But if I could make changes I'd rather have something like the "Learning helper", and the "Suggestions and Alerts" in Rimworld. If you have no idea what I mean:

Here the alert tells me what I could do (level-up psylink), lists who can do it (nature meditation focus, less than level 6 already), and explains how to do it (...erm bad example, here the tooltip incorrectly says click the colonist when it should say click the tree... oops!), with helpful arrows if I hover over the suggestion:

Something similar for stellaris would be little alerts:
"Less than 50% power projection" with the tooltips explaining what it is and how to increase it (Build some corvettes).

Here the Learning helper has a larger database of concepts, which highlight the things you need to click when you hover over them, "World" here:

For Stellaris I want more things to actually point out the tabs, or take me to them when I am looking for information and can't find it.

So... I think it's good to improve the experience for new players. But it needs work. And it may grow out of date quickly if people forget to go in and fix it after each update.

 

[Troyen]

Yeah my initial thoughts were that it’d be a game of chasing breakthroughs Civ 6 style, but in practice it ended up more like the Victoria 3 tutorials. They’re allegedly trying to teach you the game but they pop up at inconvenient or nonsensical times and aren’t kept up to date with the game. At this rate I suspect they’ll largely go ignored, if not maybe confuse some new players along the way.

 

[NorseGod]

I keep forgetting that this system even exists. I'm so worried trying to make the economy work with the new system, I just never engage with this screen at all.

 

[tappi]

The furthest I've gotten in any of the 3 tracks was to the 3rd milestone. They're way too slow to progress to be really useful.

It's a decent idea and I like that you can ignore it almost entirely, but implementation is a bit iffy currently.

Timeline is cool tho.