Unit Sidebar & Scouts

[corfe83]

Whenever I look at a previously-scouted planet that doesn't have any scouts on it at the moment (no picket / no scouts in fleet), the sidebar of units (on the right) doesn't show any enemy ships or structures.

It's kind of silly that without active scouts, I can zoom and scroll around the planet looking for the locations of structures meaning I do have data on their exact locations without active scouts, I'm just unable to *summarize* that data in a convenient form without active scouts on the planet.

This is especially annoying when I've got a group of raid starships and I want to go pop a bunch of ion cannons (or similar targets) on a few planets. I usually have to pause the game when they arrive at their planet, and zoom in/out on various areas of the planet until I find all relevant targets.

Does anyone else think the sidebar should be able to show enemy unit data (at least from the last scouted time)?

Edit: adding mantis link, please voice support (or opposition) here: http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=15724

[Vyndicu]

I agree that part is annoying.

But if you go to galaxy map and hover your mouse over that system. It will give you a summarize of all structures that you can see.

[corfe83]

I agree that part is annoying.

But if you go to galaxy map and hover your mouse over that system. It will give you a summarize of all structures that you can see.

Yeah, that's what I do today, and I think that's currently the best option if you're on a raid without scouts (go back and forth between that and the planet map to make sure you've found the location of all the targets you wanted to hit).

[doctorfrog]

The way my mind works, that's just the cost of not having your spy network on that planet. The summary is meant to show current data, and no scout means no data. You need those scouts!

[corfe83]

The way my mind works, that's just the cost of not having your spy network on that planet. The summary is meant to show current data, and no scout means no data. You need those scouts!

There are currently three ways that I'm aware of to see guard posts, ion engines, etc. on the planet:

• On the galaxy map (hover mouse over the planet, see a summary)
• Go to the planet map, and visually look around (zooming/scrolling)
• Look at the sidebar on the planet map

Why do we show this information for #1 and #2, but not #3? That's not "no scout means no data", that's just an inconsistent interface that creates extra micro (zooming/scrolling to find targets) in that situation.

[Kahuna]

The way my mind works, that's just the cost of not having your spy network on that planet. The summary is meant to show current data, and no scout means no data. You need those scouts!

There are currently three ways that I'm aware of to see guard posts, ion engines, etc. on the planet:

• On the galaxy map (hover mouse over the planet, see a summary)
• Go to the planet map, and visually look around (zooming/scrolling)
• Look at the sidebar on the planet map

Why do we show this information for #1 and #2, but not #3? That's not "no scout means no data", that's just an inconsistent interface that creates extra micro (zooming/scrolling to find targets) in that situation.

True. It's annoying not having #3.
If you have scouted a planet once you do have #1 and #2.. but that information is old. Scouts are for updating that knowledge. So we should also have #3 even if there are no scouts present. Trying to find those ion cannons without #3 is a pain in the ass.

[Bognor]

Ideally the sidebar would show immobile units only, in the case of a scouted planet without current scout presence.

[corfe83]

Mantis Issue submitted for this - please support it if you feel the same way (and/or add comments there):

http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=15724

[doctorfrog]

Ideally the sidebar would show immobile units only, in the case of a scouted planet without current scout presence.

This would work for me. Along with a visual indicator that the planetary intel is stale and doesn't include mobile units, like having gray/other frames around the immobile units in the summary, or a "last scouted" timer near the summary.

corfe, supporting your issue.

One thing to note is that, even on planets where you have no visuals, you still have audio. So you can sometimes tell what's going on just through audio clues. This is actually kind of neat, even if it's not a deliberate feature.