As it stands now, the development page is a rather clumsy affair. Players can click on and start developments without fully knowing what they do, lock or unlock unless they spend time reading the manual. There are also only two categories - Research and Construct - which only make limited sense. I propose a slight change to the development page which will make it slightly more user-friendly.
First, two super categories need to be implemented, Route-specific and Generic. Within these two categories, additional Research and Construct sections could be present (or eliminated altogether if still cluttered), listing specific research or construct developments.
Within the Generic category, all researches which are available to anyone should be placed - Engineering, Intelligence options, Geo-Phys, Tractors, Combines, etc.
Conversely, every route-specific development would be placed under the Route-specific category.
This will clear up a lot of confusion about what dev. does what.
Furthermore, if a player has not started a route development yet, the first options present would be re-labelled as "Military Route", "Spec-Ops Route", so on and so forth. These would then drop down to reveal the specific details about that first route development, with a clear message that you can only pick one route. Once that route has been chosen, the rest of that route's development options are shown in it's place.
I've just realised that explanation may be a bit convoluted, so I've attached a picture instead.
Apologies for picture quality etc. A lot could be done to tidy it up, but you get the general idea..
First, two super categories need to be implemented, Route-specific and Generic. Within these two categories, additional Research and Construct sections could be present (or eliminated altogether if still cluttered), listing specific research or construct developments.
Within the Generic category, all researches which are available to anyone should be placed - Engineering, Intelligence options, Geo-Phys, Tractors, Combines, etc.
Conversely, every route-specific development would be placed under the Route-specific category.
This will clear up a lot of confusion about what dev. does what.
Furthermore, if a player has not started a route development yet, the first options present would be re-labelled as "Military Route", "Spec-Ops Route", so on and so forth. These would then drop down to reveal the specific details about that first route development, with a clear message that you can only pick one route. Once that route has been chosen, the rest of that route's development options are shown in it's place.
I've just realised that explanation may be a bit convoluted, so I've attached a picture instead.
Apologies for picture quality etc. A lot could be done to tidy it up, but you get the general idea..
