Todays Livestream Had Some Improvements

[WoodenP]

Just in case you guys missed it.

They've done some work on "Civilians" with the new "Denizens" concept:

They've brought back districts in the plural, which to me is a huge win for the storytelling/thematics and scale of planetary development:

And quite interestingly the term "Zone" might have been dropped? They're now referred to as "District Specialisations". Which again actually is a win for storytelling/thematics.

Anyone catch some other stuff? I'm curious if they're going to look at the whole "Trade/Wealth" thing.

I'm very happy with these bits so far!

 

[NorseGod]

Just in case you guys missed it.

They've done some work on "Civilians" with the new "Denizens" concept:
View attachment 1279499

They've brought back districts in the plural, which to me is a huge win for the storytelling/thematics and scale of planetary development:
View attachment 1279500

And quite interestingly the term "Zone" might have been dropped? They're now referred to as "District Specialisations". Which again actually is a win for storytelling/thematics.

View attachment 1279501

Anyone catch some other stuff? I'm curious if they're going to look at the whole "Trade/Wealth" thing.

I'm very happy with these bits so far!

Do they let you build those districts separately, or is it still just CIty Districts with a bunch of jobs?

Edit: I looked myself, it's just Zones with a different name. That's disappointing.

 

[Red Death]

They've done some work on "Civilians" with the new "Denizens" concept:

Hmmmm, they actually did find a better term than just "Civilians". Good for them!

They've brought back districts in the plural, which to me is a huge win for the storytelling/thematics and scale of planetary development:

Also nice!

And quite interestingly the term "Zone" might have been dropped? They're now referred to as "District Specialisations". Which again actually is a win for storytelling/thematics.

This seems like a neutral change? Maybe they figured out this is clearer for new players?

 

[-Marauder-]

They need to allow us to decide which jobs are created, and not to bundle them together.

 

[Kataclyszm]

And also stop with the ridiculous "Every pop exists in a quantum superposition of being 1 and 100 pops."

 

[WoodenP]

This seems like a neutral change? Maybe they figured out this is clearer for new players?

I think it'll be more flexible in terms of the kinds of ideas they can put in there. The writing was probably on the wall when we saw "Archives" in the last beta without the "Zone" text. It totally works.

I personally disliked that we were juggling two indistinct "area" terms (districts + zones), especially when it felt like one should have been inside the other, but the game presented the reverse. We're now out of that ugliness. And this change also makes planetary features unlocking specialisations make more sense from a storytelling perspective.

_________________

What I really want now are unique icons and faded background art for the various district specialisations. That's not confirmed to be happening but the fact that such major art assets (elevated to greater prominence than the poor building icons!!) are always the same old low quality ones is really lame.

They should be diverse. If they give us unique background faded art too it'll end up something similar to the traditions GUI which is really amazing.

If that gets in I think these things will seem much more fun. I'll finally be at a place where I'm excited/curious about them adding new ones over the rest of the year, which is their stated plan.

(And all planets will stop looking the same.)

 

[NorseGod]

I think it'll be more flexible in terms of the kinds of ideas they can put in there. The writing was probably on the wall when we saw "Archives" in the last beta without the "Zone" text. It totally works.

I personally disliked that we were juggling two indistinct "area" terms (districts + zones), especially when it felt like one should have been inside the other, but the game presented the reverse. We're now out of that ugliness. And this change also makes planetary features unlocking specialisations make more sense from a storytelling perspective.

_________________

What I really want now are unique icons and faded background art for the various district specialisations. That's not confirmed to be happening but the fact that such major art assets (elevated to greater prominence than the poor building icons!!) are always the same old low quality ones is really lame.

View attachment 1279547View attachment 1279548View attachment 1279549

They should be diverse. If they give us unique background faded art too it'll end up something similar to the traditions GUI which is really amazing.

If that gets in I think these things will seem much more fun. I'll finally be at a place where I'm excited/curious about them adding new ones over the rest of the year, which is their stated plan.

(And all planets will stop looking the same.)

I just don't understand what this system gives us that couldn't have been gained by giving planets a certain amount of customizable districts, rather then blending them together in City Districts. Like right now we have 3 Rural Districts (Energy, Minerals, Food) and 3 "Urban" Districts (City, Custom, Custom) but instead of letting us build those 2 custom districts seperately, they get all get lumped in together, and you lose the finer control over the system.

How is pushing these all together better than doing seperate districts with their own set of building slots? To me, it's the same thing, but with less control over your worlds.

(Credit to Pootino for the prettier UI)

 

[Red Death]

And also stop with the ridiculous "Every pop exists in a quantum superposition of being 1 and 100 pops."

This is just a question of them not yet getting around to changing some things to the new number. I have doubts about a lot of things, but this I am confident will be fixed.

 

[WoodenP]

I just don't understand what this system gives us that couldn't have been gained by giving planets a certain amount of customizable districts, rather then blending them together in City Districts. Like right now we have 3 Rural Districts (Energy, Minerals, Food) and 3 "Urban" Districts (City, Custom, Custom) but instead of letting us build those 2 custom districts seperately, they get all get lumped in together, and you lose the finer control over the system.

How is pushing these all together better than doing seperate districts with their own set of building slots? To me, it's the same thing, but with less control over your worlds.

I totally without reservation agree that this was all unnecessary. A district slot was fine, and I wish PDX's time had been spent elsewhere.

But we're in this boat now and it's nice that at least certain elements have been actioned and improved.

 

[Bergest]

Another interesting change: Specialized research labs have been dropped and turned into their own zones.

 

[Lorenerd11]

And quite interestingly the term "Zone" might have been dropped? They're now referred to as "District Specialisations". Which again actually is a win for storytelling/thematics.

I have mixed feelings about this one. There was certain neatness to having "zones" with urban districts having two "zone slots" while resource districts had one.

On the other hand, it does feel like it will allow some more flavorful "zone" names, as we've seen with Archives, or the Subterranean and Agrarian ones.

 

[Lorenerd11]

Another interesting change: Specialized research labs have been dropped and turned into their own zones.

Probably for the best, allows you to make a proper Physics/Engineering hybrid research world on a planet with positive modifiers to both.

What I'd like is for "+30" jobs per district to be changed to something like "+33.3334" jobs (displayed as "+33"), so that they are actually adding up to +100 minus one, instead of lagging a whole 10 jobs behind, which quickly adds up to a 100 jobs disadvantage with 10 districts built.

 

[cryptkeeper]

They need to allow us to decide which jobs are created, and not to bundle them together.

I mean you basically can, with the specializations+ buildings. But I assume you mean you want even more control then that ?

 

[Falrinn]

District Specialization I think is a much better term. Particularly for the rural districts, since it did feel kind of weird that you'd have a single "zone" that encompassed the entire district.

 

[WoodenP]

It seems to me like "Civilians" are still in - i.e. "Denizen" just seems to be the name for the group of roles which "Civilian" is part of.

Yeah, I think the "Denizen" bit is just one step of an improvement so far, not the full thing.

"Civilians" (non military) stockpiling "Trade" which is used as "Logistics" for your military fleets is outrageously broken on like... four layers. I'd like them to keep tweaking.

I'm really in love with naming "Civilian" instead as "Freelancer". It's the best suggestion I've ever seen. Fits perfectly for mechanics and storytelling. No militarism wonkiness, and makes it clear these people are productive yet unspecialised.

(Either that or have the name be totally variable based on empire type as scripted loc. Use a concept so it's understandable for new players.)

 

[Thiend]

Yeah, I think the "Denizen" bit is just one step of an improvement so far, not the full thing.

"Civilians" (non military) stockpiling "Trade" which is used as "Logistics" for your military fleets is outrageously broken on like... four layers. I'd like them to keep tweaking.

I'm really in love with naming "Civilian" instead as "Freelancer". It's the best suggestion I've ever seen. Fits perfectly for mechanics and storytelling. No militarism wonkiness, and makes it clear these people are productive yet unspecialised.

(Either that or have the name be totally variable based on empire type as scripted loc. Use a concept so it's understandable for new players.)

I'll even do you one better.

Set it in empire creation. Even the best name option, which I would agree is Freelancer, doesn't thematically fit all empires. You know what does? The one I pick. It can choose between things like Freelancer, Denizen, Civilian, etc when you ask it to autofill. I can pick whatever actually makes sense for my empire.

 

[Tannhäuser Cake]

Has "Resident" been rolled into "Civilian"?

 

[WoodenP]

I'll even do you one better.

Set it in empire creation.

I agree, and it doesn't have to be an empire creation thing either - just renaming like naming councillor positions or hell even planets or fleets.

Seems like a pretty likely sort of thing for 4.0.1.

That said, a flavourful default assigned by PDX (as is the case with councillors) is fun to me - I'd like to see them do it.

 

[Lazy Name]

I just don't understand what this system gives us that couldn't have been gained by giving planets a certain amount of customizable districts, rather then blending them together in City Districts. Like right now we have 3 Rural Districts (Energy, Minerals, Food) and 3 "Urban" Districts (City, Custom, Custom) but instead of letting us build those 2 custom districts seperately, they get all get lumped in together, and you lose the finer control over the system.

How is pushing these all together better than doing seperate districts with their own set of building slots? To me, it's the same thing, but with less control over your worlds.

(Credit to Pootino for the prettier UI)

I believe different zone combinations have unique names, right? When I saw that I thought maybe they'd go down the path of unique effects from different combinations, to increase the number of unique types of worlds you can make (since a "military research world" would then feel distinct from having seperate research worlds and fortress worlds).

I still really prefer the old district UI, too. It just felt way cleaner to tell at a glance what a planet was for.

 

[Ikael]

I know that those are minor changes, but it really helps a lot for immersion, at least for me. And "district specialization" is a far clearer term so you understand the system and intent. Good stuff.

As for the beta, I am fearful of its current state but hopeful because of the (good) direction in which it is moving. Ambivalence is the word of the day, at least for now. Let's see what future betas bring.