cNon-developer comments and reports on 7.2

[jan.javorsek@guest.arnes.si]

Hello everyone,

I have always been followinq Xconq project from afar, playing with
friends but not participating. Since with its improved X11 interface
7.2 is really beginning to look like everyones prefeered startegy
game, perhaps you might be open for comments with a distance.
version) (I tested X11): 


* Bugs

doctrine comand - exits immediately

revolted city: I had a mess in wizard.g, where units in revolted city
were still considered mine (and I had to destroy them attacking the
city). It was very strange and, if in fact not a bug, should be noted
like "Your (revolted) unit-type misses your 3rd knight." Other strange
things were happening in wizard.g ...

* Errors

copying command - did nothing

help and more... buttons on the left pannel get stuck (are not
depressed when the help or option button is closed)

embarking: a unit which lacks acp to embark reports "Nothing fort his
unit to enter!" Perhaps a more helpul message (and a task put on the
tasklist) would be more descriptive.

production: in some games produciton can be started when the unit can
not produce (like building a base insede a base in postmodern), and is
then abandoned, loosing the turn for the unit. This is misleading, or
I have been mislead.

* Ideas and comments

save games: I never managed to see a fileselector in any version of
xconq. Is it actually possible to have it save the game with a
different name? A simple command line option would be great. Also for
(ver ynice) standing orders save file.

orders, units, side: Gerat and helpful commands, perhaps they should
be made to a binding? A F key perhaps? It would be easier for players
with not-so-huge X displays to have them share a single window (like
gtk notebooks), but perhaps too tricky to implement.

unit list: (to the right): Could be compacted vertically (I do use 3d
Athena, so perhaps my view is a bit distorted here) and color icons
would be much more visible. The inverted icons are often difficult to
tell apart. It would also be ideal place to show the "code-letter" of
a unit, since quessing that is often difficult in new game libraries.
I think this could *greatly* improve accessibility for new players,
and we need new players. Those letters are just too hermetic without a
visible clue.

unit status: production: On the task list, it would be nice to have
estimated number of turns left next to a produciton statement since
not always we have an actual unit there on which we could see that (in
libraries that implement tooling up for constuction, for
example). Also tooling up could be described there (in postmodern,
"armor 0 of 99 x 13" could be replaced with "armor tech x 13"). Is there a
way to see the technology a city possesses? Can it (GDL-wise) have
more?

secondary maps: Hardly useful without map close, but I suppose there
must be a problem with implementation. In case it gets done, it would
be great if one could have a map with no other windows in it (no
panner, status, buttons etc), that one could resize to have a good
overview.

zoomed cell window: Often a user zooms in the map to see what is
happening inside a cell and then zoom out to move the newly selected
unit etc. A zoomed-in view of the current cell to the left of the
unit-status window (above the buttons) would be really helpful,
especially if units could be selected and moved there. Tricky, I
suppose.

I never managed to use the config file facility or the join option
successfully. Shuld read the doc, perhaps. Are these working?


Thank you for your attention, and please spend all your time on your
lovely product :)

Jona