Re: [Rails-devel] Another train-buying related bug

[Chris S. <chr...@gm...>]

So, a few suggestions for improvement in the Report Window.

1) It always opens to the top of the file. You have to scroll to the bottom
to begin.

2) There is no indication of when your own last action occurred.  You have
to scroll up, reading the text, to find an indication of what is "new."  In
PBEM, you get this information in packets of text as each company operates,
and it isn't mashed together with everything else that happened the entire
game.

3) Judicious use of bold and spacing would make it much easier to read.
Right now, each OR is one long string of text with only line breaks. It's
hard to see at a glance where a set of actions begins and ends.  We could
also use highlighting for particularly important actions - train purchases
in red, private purchases in yellow, etc.

4) In every PBEM I've ever played, we rely heavily on the spreadsheet to
give us at-a-glance information, which is nowhere near as accessible in the
text, whether that text is in the various emails or in the Rails Report
Window.

5) In every PBEM I have ever played, there is a "replay" mode (Vassal and
CyberBoard both have this) where you can watch what happened since your last
turn.  This gives you visual indications of which tiles have been laid, what
movements occurred on the stock market, etc.

To be honest, the combination of 4 and 5 means that I virtually never read
the text summaries that are sent in PBEM games.  They are only used (by me)
for debugging when there are problems.  I can almost always assess the
situation at a glance by watching the replay and glancing at the
spreadsheet.

--
Chris

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.


On Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 1:32 PM, Erik Vos <eri...@hc...> wrote:

>  ??
> It's a step by step report of all game actions, exactly as I would do it in
> a PBEM version.
> I don't see what's so hard about it. An extra space between company OR
> turns
> and better placement of the private payouts is all I can think of.
>
> First thing I would do to check previous player's moves when it's my turn
> is to look here.
>
> Erik.
>
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* Chris Shaffer [mailto:chr...@gm...]
> *Sent:* Thursday 26 November 2009 22:11
>
> *To:* Development list for Rails: an 18xx game
> *Subject:* Re: [Rails-devel] Another train-buying related bug
>
> That window is very hard to read.  It's long blocks of text, with no
> separators.  It just doesn't even compare in usability to the data tables.
>
> --
> Chris
>
> Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 1:09 PM, Erik Vos <eri...@hc...> wrote:
>
>>  In the Report Window these things are spelled out in detail: "PRR buys a
>> 2-train from B&O for $200."
>> I wonder if it would help to have this window open rather than closed by
>> default?
>>
>> Erik.
>>
>>  ------------------------------
>> *From:* Chris Shaffer [mailto:chr...@gm...]
>> *Sent:* Thursday 26 November 2009 22:01
>>
>> *To:* Development list for Rails: an 18xx game
>> *Subject:* Re: [Rails-devel] Another train-buying related bug
>>
>>   My biggest issue is that when someone transfers a train from one
>> company to another, I want to know about it.  Right now, that information is
>> buried in the text log.  It's one of the most important actions in many
>> games and it's something you would never fail to notice playing in-person or
>> by the traditional PBEM systems. However, in Rails, it is very easy to
>> totally miss that it happened.
>>
>> So some solution that says "company A bought a train from company B" is
>> needed -- currently, all you get is "company A bought a train - maybe from
>> another company, maybe from the bank..." and you have to go dig in the log
>> to figure out what happened.
>>
>> --
>> Chris
>>
>> Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 12:55 PM, brett lentz <wak...@gm...> wrote:
>>
>>> The only problem with that is, trains are never sold. They're only
>>> bought.
>>>
>>> So, in my mind having a "trains sold" column would only confuse people.
>>>
>>> ---Brett
>>>
>>>  On Nov 26, 2009 12:52 PM, "Chris Shaffer" <chr...@gm...>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I'm not sure I like that particular solution to my enhancement request
>>> either.  Ideally, what I'd like to see is one column for train purchases and
>>> another column for train sales.
>>>
>>> p.s. some impassable hexsides are from non-water sources, e.g. the cliff
>>> slope in 18AL.  Blue is still a good color to distinguish from black though.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Chris
>>>
>>> Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
>>>
>>>
>>>  On Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 12:33 PM, Erik Vos <eri...@hc...> wrote:
>>>
>>>> > > The problem mentioned (reported by Andrew Pullin) was that company
>>>> treasure > cash was not used ...
>>>>
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