+1 to this.
Cost of Micromanagement
To add to this discussion, the cost of the micromanagement can be estimated by using a stopwatch. For example, let's say it takes a total of 1 second for a player to mouseover to the bottom left, click the planet govern planet button, and then mouseover back to the center screen, and then mouseover slightly below the center to close the screen, the cost of micromanagement are:
- For an average 10 planets over the first 100 turns, 10*100*1s = 1000s (16.67min)
- For an average 20 planets over the next 100 turns, 20*100*1s = 2000s (33.33min)
- For an average 30 planets over the next 100 turns, 30*100*1s = 3000s (50.00 min)
The total time of the above examples is 100.00 min per game (1 hours 40 min). So, simply by showing the production wheel/slider on the main planet menu and therefore, reducing the need to opening and closing the planet gov screen, it can save a player >1 hour of a game time and dozens of hours over multiple games. In fact, this estimation is quite conservative since a player could have more than 30 planets before turn 300 which is pretty common on larger size maps. So, this minor UI change could have a huge impact for the player.
Draft UI
To further the discussion, I've created a UI draft by modifying the main planet screen with my amateur photoshop skill. Not all the things in the planet gov screen is needed in the overlay. Only the frequently used elements are put onto the overlay.
If the concern of having the production wheel/slider on the main planet screen is it will obscure the rotating planet on the left, then the following are some proposed solutions:
- Make the overlay optional. Give the player a checkbox that says "Show the planet gov screen overlay" in the planet gov screen, and if checked, the overlay will be shown on the main planet menu similar to the draft UI above.
- Make the overlay slightly transparent. When the player mouseover the overlay, the overlay will become fully opague. This will still slightly obscure the rotating planet but will at least make a acceptable tradeoff as long as the slider position can still be seen.
- Gives the player a hotkey to open and close the planet gov screen. We still need to open and close the planet gov screen on each planet, but it is at least better than mousing over to the bottom left and then mousing over back to the center of the screen on each planet.
Of all the options, I would prefer the first option.
