This thread aims to consolidate any ideas we might have for added convenience/user-friendliness in CoM II (or possibly future versions of CoM).
Combat
Auto-Stalemate: If in any battle one side becomes both a) incapable of attacking any unit on the other side and b) incapable of throwing spells, allow the player the option of immediately ending the battle as if 25 rounds had passed (i.e. both sides retreat exhausted).
No Auto Casting: Allow option to disable spellcasting in auto/quick combat.
Results Screen: After quick combat, give screen listing unit casualties.
Quick Quick Combat: Hotkey to enable/disable Quick Combat (as opposed to going into Settings).
Advisors
Surveyor: Highlights possible city locations (alternatively: greys out/"dehighlights" invalid city locations); option to outline city radius for selected square.
Cartographer: Different "layers" - display city names (for quickly finding targets of events/spells); display only nodes (filter by type); display only encounter sites; etc.
Chancellor: Include events like spells cast and known cities that were conquered; include events from past 3-5 turns.
Tax Collector: New screen, shows total gold income and upkeep. Both can be broken down by source (tax/trade/building/trade goods/heroes for income, units/buildings/heroes for upkeep). Also shows total mana income and upkeep, the latter broken down by summon/unit enchant/city enchant/global enchant. Might need name change, something like Treasurer or Majordomo.
General UI
Ability to (re)map hotkeys ingame.
In bottom right "magic" square of main UI (currently displays mana income), display remaining turns for current research project.
Right-clicking on spellbooks on Mirror and Wizard Creation screens gives breakdown of how many spells per level can be researched based on current amount of books. Possibly also include total casting/research discount from spellbooks, if applicable.
Cities screen also displays turns until population growth.
"Done" button no longer removes all movement points.
Optional minimalist UI: Removes side and top bar from main screen; gold+income, food, mana+income, research turns displayed along small bar at bottom of screen instead, advisors and other screens reached through hotkeys.
Colour-coded stat enhancements: When a unit has increased stats, give those stats a different colour based on the source (e.g. keep gold for unit enchantments, white for holy bonus, red for hero abilities, blue for combat/global enchantments and/or auras, etc). This would make it easier to quickly see, for example, how much of a unit's attack bonus is coming from a hero's Leadership ability.
Combat
Auto-Stalemate: If in any battle one side becomes both a) incapable of attacking any unit on the other side and b) incapable of throwing spells, allow the player the option of immediately ending the battle as if 25 rounds had passed (i.e. both sides retreat exhausted).
No Auto Casting: Allow option to disable spellcasting in auto/quick combat.
Results Screen: After quick combat, give screen listing unit casualties.
Quick Quick Combat: Hotkey to enable/disable Quick Combat (as opposed to going into Settings).
Advisors
Surveyor: Highlights possible city locations (alternatively: greys out/"dehighlights" invalid city locations); option to outline city radius for selected square.
Cartographer: Different "layers" - display city names (for quickly finding targets of events/spells); display only nodes (filter by type); display only encounter sites; etc.
Chancellor: Include events like spells cast and known cities that were conquered; include events from past 3-5 turns.
Tax Collector: New screen, shows total gold income and upkeep. Both can be broken down by source (tax/trade/building/trade goods/heroes for income, units/buildings/heroes for upkeep). Also shows total mana income and upkeep, the latter broken down by summon/unit enchant/city enchant/global enchant. Might need name change, something like Treasurer or Majordomo.
General UI
Ability to (re)map hotkeys ingame.
In bottom right "magic" square of main UI (currently displays mana income), display remaining turns for current research project.
Right-clicking on spellbooks on Mirror and Wizard Creation screens gives breakdown of how many spells per level can be researched based on current amount of books. Possibly also include total casting/research discount from spellbooks, if applicable.
Cities screen also displays turns until population growth.
"Done" button no longer removes all movement points.
Optional minimalist UI: Removes side and top bar from main screen; gold+income, food, mana+income, research turns displayed along small bar at bottom of screen instead, advisors and other screens reached through hotkeys.
Colour-coded stat enhancements: When a unit has increased stats, give those stats a different colour based on the source (e.g. keep gold for unit enchantments, white for holy bonus, red for hero abilities, blue for combat/global enchantments and/or auras, etc). This would make it easier to quickly see, for example, how much of a unit's attack bonus is coming from a hero's Leadership ability.
