research tree fix

[sulusdacor]

haven't found a topic with that so here we go...

in short: please fix the current disaster with the research tab.

maybe this is already in the works. not sure, then just delete/lock the topic.

in long: when playing the unstable prerelease of a16 i was really excited for the new research tab. it looked nice and i imagined could have been good for modding. the missing search function in the old list was something that always bugged me, when using mods. the tree seemed to mitigate this mess a bit, so i thought. i did not look into the code at this time. just read some comment there might be problem with it. so then a16 officialy released. i was/am updating my mods.in process looking at the research xml files added the new tag for x/y coordinates. checked ingame. it was meesed up. i thought, okay maybe i made a mistake/missunderstood the process how the research was added.retried etc. did this a few times. then gave in and looked in the forum. saw the reseve research tree lines topic, looked over other mods, saw some streamers. and i must say i'm not sure what to say.

the game lives through mods. people keep playing it, replaying it, coming back to it, buying it, couse of mods. it uses a lot of input/ideas from mods and integrates it into the main game. it's not the main factor, but it's certainly a big one. (dev mode research finish should not be the required mode of action/way to play the game)

what i thought the research tree would do:
in the current state i thought i could put in the location/postion. with that it would create columns, if one colum would be full (since you cant scroll up/down) it would make two. if two research projects have the same place it would move them in an extra column or one of them. i thought every x coordinate would create its own column. so 0.1 and 0.2 would result in the same columns as 1 and 2.

what i wish for:
some sort of search function. even with a tree, mods add a lot and you tend to search stuff and not find it. if the tree stays in the current state at least some sort of up/down scroll. in terms of looks: not the place project random if blocked, but some sort of column/table style they get moved in, which looks okay, even if you add more projects...

on a personal note:
i must say i was really excited to play the new alpha with mods, since most people are in the process of updating them (and are probably done or soon done when i'm finished updating my stuff). but with the research tree thing i would have to edit/adjust every mods xml i use to move/place the project. this seems like such a pain... plus i'm really debatting if it's even worth adding new stuff/mods with this mess. since i can not expect players to edit each research xml and therefor would not even want to use any mods myself.

so yeah, i'm looking forward to hopefully a soonish fix/solution for this. since it's a major flaw within the base game. i can certainly understand modders don't wanting to takle this for the reasons above. hope my topic is in the realm of this subforums rules. if not please remove/edit the lines. but it is/was something that bugged/disappointed me more and more when updating my mods for the alpha.

thx for reading, love the game (still )

edit: some if it was kinda answered here now: https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=28467.msg287465#msg287465

[skullywag]

See here for more info:

https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=28467

Lets try and keep this all in one place, there too many topics on this subject already.