Updating the Objectives tab of the Stats window

[keith.lamothe]

http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=11723

I'm quite happy to do this around the same time I update the tutorial for 7.0 (that is, next week).  It would help me if y'all could tell me exactly what it is you think it should do differently than it does now.  There are some obvious additions like those noted in that mantis record, but I don't want to get in there, do all the changes I can think of, and then a couple days later get another clump of requests for it to say something different

[Mick]

I'd like a section for the campaigns/nebulas that give a TL-DR summary of what the player should be doing at that point.

[LaughingThesaurus]

I don't know if this was going to be the case already but, stuff like showdown devices and fallen spire and other steps to alternatively complete the game would be pretty sweet to see. I'm guessing it's not there for showdown devices because the expansion isn't finished yet and I haven't really done fallen spire so I don't know if the objectives for that are ever listed for that. I know the subspace signal location and shard locations are in the corner of the screen, but the objectives screen has always struck me as something that, no matter how redundant, will always show every single tangibly good thing that one CAN do.

[LordSloth]

Speaking of that, perhaps you should even go as far as "Flee the Devourer", "Buy from the Zenith Trader", "Liberate the Dyson"... but I expect that may be at least partially overkill.  Listing hybrid hive spawners by system (not individually) might be good.

[Tridus]

Liberating the Dyson might make sense, but the trader moves around and buying from it requires it to be in the right place at the right time. IMO the objectives screen isn't the best place for that.

As for Fallen Spire - most of the objectives appear in the top left of the screen all the time, yes. The exceptions are if you have a spire city constructor built, but haven't built the city with it yet, or if you have a city that hasn't reached level 2 and thus can't scan for the next shard.

In the case of the latter, an objective like "remove AI presence around planetX" would be appropriate.

[LaughingThesaurus]

Yeah I could see liberate the dyson. Maybe 'buy from trader' if you actually have it actively on one of your planets could work. Fleeing the devourer is almost similar to a massive enemy force that could wipe your fleet. Having that kind of objective would be the same as "Welp, looks like the bulk of special forces is here to nuke your fleet, you should probably leave". A big deadly enemy is something that you probably will have already noticed.

[Bognor]

The objectives tab is such an excellent feature that I'm glad it will be updated to reach its full potential.

I'd also support a more comprehensive objectives screen that could include "Liberate the Dyson Golem", "Explore nebula wormholes", "Destroy Dire Guardian Lair on alerted planet", "Destroy Hybrid support facilities" (with a mouse-over that mentions Nests specifically), "Disrupt Astro-Train Station network" or similar, and so on.  One issue with "Evade the Devourer Golem" is that it's an objective you could never actually complete.  Not sure about "Buy from the Zenith Trader" - it has the same issue, though I'm unsure whether the issue is really a problem.

[LaughingThesaurus]

The evading the devourer and buy from zenith trader objectives are really short term ones with no clear success. They're just short term opportunities to either die or get cool toys.

[TechSY730]

Adding the new kinds of capturables and the various fallen spire and the showdown objectives are the big ones in my mind.

[doctorfrog]

I'd like an option to make the Objectives screen the default window that shows up on clicking "Message Log." Heck, it'd be newbie friendly in general to have a button next to "Log" that says, "Objectives."

[Burnstreet]

Can you add the mark level of Zenith Reserves to their objective, please?

[Aeson]

As far as listing hybrid facilities goes - last time I played with Hybrids, there were so many facilities that if they were listed by planet in the Objectives tab, half or more of the planets in the galaxy would be listed. I don't know if it's still like that or not, but it's something to keep in mind if you want to add it in.

As far as the 'buy from trader' and 'flee from devourer' things go, don't the messages that pop up do more or less the same thing - the ones that say something like 'Zenith Trader visiting Someplanet' and 'Devourer Golem on Anotherplanet', that take you to the location when you click on them and show up in the upper left corner of the screen next to wave warnings? I see the objectives screen as a summary of long-term targets, not as something where transient conditions should show up - that's what the pop-up announcements are for.

I'd personally like to see something along the lines of 'Explore Nebula Wormhole on Randomplanet' if I have champions on. New capturables should also be added, and I don't think it'd be bad for the Dyson to show up there either.

[Bognor]

As far as listing hybrid facilities goes - last time I played with Hybrids, there were so many facilities that if they were listed by planet in the Objectives tab, half or more of the planets in the galaxy would be listed.

It's still like that.  I wasn't proposing a separate objective for every facility, just a single generalised objective.

Can you add the mark level of Zenith Reserves to their objective, please?

Already in the Mantis report 

[doctorfrog]

Added a Mantis for putting an "Objectives" button on the UI:

http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=11797

Included is a "bonus" request to have new objectives that the player hasn't seen yet highlighted.

[Kahuna]

This reminds me of Zenith Reserves NOT having a filter/display mode on the galaxy map so when I want to pop those MarkIV and V Zeserves I have to check the objectives. Same thing with Distribution Nodes. It would be nice to have a display mode for those.. BUT I can check the objectives and then mark the planets too.