I don't know about you guys, but I use the Economy Overview quite a lot. However, I only check a few production chains because only some are relevant to me atm. In general the Economy Overview is a nice tool to check on your production chains and while it works out fine for all this, I really miss two features.
The first one is some kind of "favorite" option that allows to add several production chains to a new menu. The idea behind this is to improve workflow and avoid unnecessary clicks. Just to give you an example: all I check is tools, bread, bronze swords, and steel. Currently, in order to do so I have to click 11 times to check all the production chains, opening and closing menus, clicking on the production chains, etc. If I would have to check more production chains, that would be even more clicks = wasted time, not to mention going back and forth to double-check (or any other reason).
With a favorite menu this would be limited to a minimum number of clicks, plus one does not have to scroll through any menu at all, since everything one wants to check is right there. The favorite menu can be changed by selecting manually which production chains should be bookmarked so they can be found using the new menu as a shortcut.
Here is what it could look like - it's just a concept and even the name "favorite" can be changed into something more TSO-like.
The second suggestion is also related to workflow improvement, but also using window space more efficiently. Have you ever noticed the massive emptiness on the right hand side when opening the Economy Overview? "No resource selected" isn't even really helpful, it's simply a trivial piece of information.
How about adding another feature (maybe with drag&drop) to allow players to customize what they can see first thing when opening the EO? You want to know how much information fits into that huge brown empty space? This much!
6x6 tiles or 36 tiny pieces of information that give a good overview on current production of any resource the player wants to have displayed.
Allow custom arrangement of the tiles and it will add a totally new level of insight into production chains.
Want to know what to buff? Check the EO with one click and get a summary of your current production without clicking through any menu. Want to know which production chain needs more buildings? Just check the EO for a quick overview, and if needed click on a tile to go into the detailed production chain chart that we already use.
The important part about the summary: you don't have to add complete production chains. The player should be able to add anything that is relevant for current needs. Each single tile should be an individual piece of information, a simple preview of a certain resource - linked to its own production chain. So when I click on coal, I end up in the coal production chain, showing coal producers and coal consumers. Clicking on steel will show the steel production chain. Clicking on flour will show flour production chain - just the way it is, only with a front page that works as a summary or more individual overview.
Why is a favorite menu still needed: because I think the 36 tile overview will be (mainly) a quick overview on single resources, while the favorite menu is a shortcut to relevant production chains. Both features allow me as a player to have two different levels of insight into my production, but also allow two different categories to check. The favorite menu can be used as a production chain insight tool, while the EO summary front page can be used for resources that are not included in the favorite menu. So both features can give you information about two very different production chains.
With these two features everything would be more awesome for people like me who use the EO a lot and have to check production chains on a regular basis. It improves workflow, by adding a faster way to gather information on production chains and current resources. And because both are customizable features one doesn't have to click and scroll through different menus searching for certain resources one wants to check on.
It kind of makes the storehouse overview obsolete, but tbh I don't really use that because of resources being in different tabs, more clicking, you get the idea. Right now, it's the only way to get a quick overview, but it doesn't really give information on production itself. I can just see how much of a resource is in my storage but there is no indicator if production has to be improved, thus I have to go to the EO, etc. The storehouse overview is a clumsy way to check things and I'd rather have something inside the Economy Overview (thus my suggestions). Both suggested features would allow to have all this in one window, without the need of selecting a storehouse at all. The storehouse overview can still be inside the game for anyone that needs it the way it is, but it wouldn't hurt to optimize the EO window, would it?
Any thoughts/feedback on this would be really appreciated. This is open for constructive discussion.
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Originally Posted by Dorotheus
