Slight Tweaks for Coherency Sake
As we're not supposed to make "bags of ideas", I'll split these up but with a common tag. My goal with these ideas is simple: more coherency at the smallest cost. (The final objective being a smoother learning curve thanks to a more coherent experience.)
First, If Zero, Don't Show.
This idea is really basic: the game must allow units to have nothing to say in a specific line. The line isn't even displayed.
* If something cannot be built, it must display no metal, energy nor build time.
* If something cannot move, it must display no speed, no engine health (not even "inf"), and no immunities to stuff that make it move (tractor, swallow, paralysis, transport, etc).
* If something cannot be destroyed, it must display no health nor armor.
* If something cannot attack, it must have no... wait. The game already do that right! Dammit! The game isn't even coherent in its incoherency!
Also, several "perks" with numeric values might be converted into regular stats: armor piercing, engine/armor damage, retreat range, radar dampening, etc, and not be displayed if zero. The armor should also not be displayed if zero. (However, that per-stat "if zero don't show" rule might confuse new players: "how many armor does this ship have? I can't find it!" However, with perks rare enough like armor piercing and stuff, that might be okay...)
Second: Sort the Immunities.
There are several "immunities" that are not good to have. I propose to name them "restrictions" and list them apart. Here is a short (and very probably incomplete) list: transport, repair, cloaking, speed/attack/armor boost-limit, etc. "Blind" should go in this list. Maybe stuff like "self attrition" too.
Third: Current State.
Many stuff describing the current state of the ships are packed into one yellow line (current health, speed and engine damages, FRD, preferred target, etc), but some are displayed in purple alongside with the unit's name (controller, attack boost, etc). That is rather hard to read. Maybe the best is to move this out of the ID card; mouseovering a unit would bring both the ID card (like mouseovering the icon in the right panel) and a separated "current state" small window.
I'm not sure of the pertinence of that "detached window". Tell me what you think.
