Right now, when you click "request constructor" it just makes one up from scratch, with a single constructor module. Because of the micromanagement required in managing starbases, I believe a lot of players will have designs with 2/3/4 constructor modules on them to reduce the number of ships required. Or they will have constructors with extra engines for speed and faster delivery (I know I do).
So when I click the "Request Constructor" dialog, I want to be presented with:
1) Left-side, a list of all of my current constructor designs that are not obsoleted. They should be sorted in order of build cost per constructor point. By default, the least expensive cost/point should be chosen. The list should display the name of the design, the # of turns to build, and the moves of the design. (Very few players care about offense/defense or logistics/range/sensor numbers when ordering up constructors for an existing starbase.)
Note: Players should be able to sort designs by either total build cost, moves or the cost/point columns, and it should remember that choice for the future.
2) Right-side, a list of starbases (limit of 5 nearest?) along with both distance and how many turns before my constructor will roll off the assembly line. Starbases should be sorted by estimated arrival time of the finished product (turns waiting for a build slot, plus build time, plus travel time). The starbase with the fastest delivery time should be placed first in the list and picked by default.
3) At the bottom of the window, there should be three action buttons:
- "Buy Now" with the cost to rush and estimated time of arrival.
- "Expedited" which puts it at the top of the build queue, with estimated time of arrival (in turns).
- "Order" which puts it at the end of the build queue, with estimated time of arrival.
4) Optionally, the ability to order up multiple constructors in a single action by adjusting a quantity drag-bar before clicking one of the action buttons (minimum of one, maximum of five).