I really like this latest release (alpha 12) and I have been able to play it longer than any previous sessions I have played (as the basic Cassandra mode). I especially like the new animals and I really hope we can add some night animals and maybe more choices of dogs (would love to have a Bulldog/ French Bulldog in game :-)).
Anyway the most difficult thing for me right now is knowing how to do things (and yes I know this is an alpha). It seems every patch is adding something great to the game however it does make it more complicated and more to learn. Some things are easy and follow a standard pattern however some things are not so obvious. To give you an example is hunting. It took me a long time trying to give the command to hunt to a specific colonist until I figured out that you had to click the animal you want to hunt and select hunt. Although I do not have a big problem with this I think it needs to be done like other jobs (e.g hauling a component to a stock pile for instance - right clicking and telling a colonist to prioritize hauling this object for instance). Maybe if you tell your colonist to go hunt specific animals (e.g rabbits to get rabbit fur that you need to make something specific for instance) instead of having to search the map for the animal you are looking for then clicking on them then press 'F' to hunt it. Would be nice to have this partially automated and made a little easier. Of course while hunting the colonist would not eat or sleep until ordered otherwise so it would still involve you telling the colonist when you have had enough for one day.
Also with regards to the right click menu I really would appreciate being able to do more with this. Here is what I would like to be introduced. When right clicking on a colonist it would bring up a menu that would allow you to select out of the jobs that are already selected for the colonist to do (e.g. Doctor, Warden, Construction, Hunting, Gathering Plants and Research for example). So in the example above have the following options when right clicking :-
Doctor - no colonist need treatment
Warden - no prisoner's need supervision
Construction - construct wall
construct standing light
construct wood flooring
Hunting - hunt rabbit
hunt muffalo
Gathering Plants - no plants to gather
Research - research brewing 75% complete
This would give you a quick way of prioritizing your colonists to do certain things temporarily (instead of having to go into the lower menus and change all the priorities just to get your colonists to do what at that moment is deemed most important). I am not suggesting changing these lower detailed menus as they are still very useful however to get one thing finished quickly without having to pause the game and go into the lower detailed menus this would help make it more flexible. I am all about giving you an example so here is one - you just constructed a new empty room and your colonists are out and about taking care of food supplies and mining. Suddenly you get set upon by a angry off-world colonist. You knock the colonist unconscious and want to save him and convert him to our cause/ join the colony. Obviously the first thing would be to make a bed in the room and make the bed set to prisoner and medical use. Normally I would have to turn off everything but construction to get to bed made and then tell one of the colonist to take the prisoner to the room . With the example above I should be able to tell any colonist via right clicking to go make the bed (and then go back to its previous default orders once finished) and tell another colonist to take the wounded prisoner to the room just by right clicking on the colonist and selecting the appropriate menu. These menus would only list the main items that you want that colonist could do. The secondary menus (like in the construction and hunting menus) would only pop up if you mouse over onto the relevant tab. The hunting tab in particular could be designed to show only animals that can be hunted on the current map and you could select certain animals or all animals if you so wish.
I hope you like these ideas and you might consider them in the future. Thanks again for your hard work.
Anyway the most difficult thing for me right now is knowing how to do things (and yes I know this is an alpha). It seems every patch is adding something great to the game however it does make it more complicated and more to learn. Some things are easy and follow a standard pattern however some things are not so obvious. To give you an example is hunting. It took me a long time trying to give the command to hunt to a specific colonist until I figured out that you had to click the animal you want to hunt and select hunt. Although I do not have a big problem with this I think it needs to be done like other jobs (e.g hauling a component to a stock pile for instance - right clicking and telling a colonist to prioritize hauling this object for instance). Maybe if you tell your colonist to go hunt specific animals (e.g rabbits to get rabbit fur that you need to make something specific for instance) instead of having to search the map for the animal you are looking for then clicking on them then press 'F' to hunt it. Would be nice to have this partially automated and made a little easier. Of course while hunting the colonist would not eat or sleep until ordered otherwise so it would still involve you telling the colonist when you have had enough for one day.
Also with regards to the right click menu I really would appreciate being able to do more with this. Here is what I would like to be introduced. When right clicking on a colonist it would bring up a menu that would allow you to select out of the jobs that are already selected for the colonist to do (e.g. Doctor, Warden, Construction, Hunting, Gathering Plants and Research for example). So in the example above have the following options when right clicking :-
Doctor - no colonist need treatment
Warden - no prisoner's need supervision
Construction - construct wall
construct standing light
construct wood flooring
Hunting - hunt rabbit
hunt muffalo
Gathering Plants - no plants to gather
Research - research brewing 75% complete
This would give you a quick way of prioritizing your colonists to do certain things temporarily (instead of having to go into the lower menus and change all the priorities just to get your colonists to do what at that moment is deemed most important). I am not suggesting changing these lower detailed menus as they are still very useful however to get one thing finished quickly without having to pause the game and go into the lower detailed menus this would help make it more flexible. I am all about giving you an example so here is one - you just constructed a new empty room and your colonists are out and about taking care of food supplies and mining. Suddenly you get set upon by a angry off-world colonist. You knock the colonist unconscious and want to save him and convert him to our cause/ join the colony. Obviously the first thing would be to make a bed in the room and make the bed set to prisoner and medical use. Normally I would have to turn off everything but construction to get to bed made and then tell one of the colonist to take the prisoner to the room . With the example above I should be able to tell any colonist via right clicking to go make the bed (and then go back to its previous default orders once finished) and tell another colonist to take the wounded prisoner to the room just by right clicking on the colonist and selecting the appropriate menu. These menus would only list the main items that you want that colonist could do. The secondary menus (like in the construction and hunting menus) would only pop up if you mouse over onto the relevant tab. The hunting tab in particular could be designed to show only animals that can be hunted on the current map and you could select certain animals or all animals if you so wish.
I hope you like these ideas and you might consider them in the future. Thanks again for your hard work.
