Alphabetical order for things

[johndramey]

Just like the title says, I'd absolutely love it if the trade goods (and, well, anything else in the game that comes out as a list) were sorted alphabetically. I know that the lists aren't always the same, like certain trade goods are hidden and such, but would it be possible to alphabetize the master list? That way everything will be in order regardless of what is hidden?

[Cory Trese]

Probably need multiple ways to sort each list. This will be a good thread to discuss options and defaults for the various lists.

In general, I agree. Sorting is important UI feature.

[johndramey]

If we can have filters, then I'd definitely recommend that alphabetical be default for everything.

Then, maybe have rank (as in A+ --> F-) and price be an option for exchange related things.

Ship components could have price, offensive components, defensive components, and support components be an option.

Talents are actually just right how they are, I like how everything is sorted by job (seemingly in the order your officer has taken them).

I can't really think of other lists where I'd want a filter.

[Cory Trese]

I'm not sure about alphabetical default. That seems like it is non-optimal if you have a better sort method.

For example, Officers first in Crew List.

Or "ready to level" crew first in Spice Hall > Pay List.

It seems to me that the average player will want the rank sort, or action sort, as default.

Am I wrong?

[johndramey]

Yikes, nope, you are totally correct on that. I didn't even really take the crew screen into consideration with that. Crew screen should be Officer - Crew by jobs as a default.

Good catch, Cory.

I agree with your idea about the Spice Hall > Pay List as well, ready to level should be up top followed by, hmmm, maybe job? I don't really have a strong feeling about that either way.

I do think that the exchange should be alphabetical by default, though. Of course, that could just be me.

[grävling]

Whether you want alphabetical sort or some other sort at the exchange depends on whether you went to the store to browse (in which case you want the store to sort by 'best stuff to buy'), to sell, (in which case you want 'list the stuff in my hold first') or to buy something in particular, in which case alphabetical is best so you can quickly determine whether or not they have the exact thing you are trying to buy.

I can imagine the Prince asking me to pick up 30,000 tons of medicines, and I don't care where you get it, reward based on how soon you can get back here, or, "For the next 3 months I want all the harvesters you can bring me. I will make it worth your while to drop all other business and get me as many as I can before our crops all rot on the ground, and I suffer major political embarassment".

[Cory Trese]

Feb 7, 2017 20:42:58 GMT -5 grävling said:

I can imagine the Prince asking me to pick up 30,000 tons of medicines, and I don't care where you get it, reward based on how soon you can get back here, or, "For the next 3 months I want all the harvesters you can bring me. I will make it worth your while to drop all other business and get me as many as I can before our crops all rot on the ground, and I suffer major political embarassment".

This is so inspiring.

[johndramey]

Feb 7, 2017 20:42:58 GMT -5 grävling said:

Whether you want alphabetical sort or some other sort at the exchange depends on whether you went to the store to browse (in which case you want the store to sort by 'best stuff to buy'), to sell, (in which case you want 'list the stuff in my hold first') or to buy something in particular, in which case alphabetical is best so you can quickly determine whether or not they have the exact thing you are trying to buy.

I guess I can see what you are saying, but having the list be uniform wherever you are seems like a good idea to me. If you know you want Fertilizer, for example, you know that it will be after all E items and before any G items.

"Best stuff to buy" is such a subjective thing, so having that as the default seems a little silly to me. How do we classify best? Is it the thing that has the most supply? In that case, Grain at A+ (a very small profit) would be listed before, Clothes at B+ (a pretty decent profit). Should the game calculate what is the best profit-per-ton? That seems like it would take away a lot of the fun of being a merchant and be pretty impossible, because the game can't really know where I am heading next. The "list the stuff in my hold first" thing is already done, when you sell stuff only the stuff in your hold is there.

Really, the game already gives us all the info that we need to succeed playing the trade game, price, profit, and demand are already all listed on the buy/sell screens. As such, I really think that having the list be uniform (barring hidden/unavailable items) is the best bet. Alphabetical sorting makes sense and all players would basically be able to make use of it right off the bat, but having the list constantly changing due to the vagaries of the economy would be a little irritating.

At least to me, that is . I'll be the first to admit that I have a bit of sorting fetish.

As a total aside, what -are- we dealing with in terms of mass? Is 1 mass/unit of goods basically 1 ton? That makes sense to me.

[bobc]

Feb 7, 2017 20:18:38 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

I'm not sure about alphabetical default. That seems like it is non-optimal if you have a better sort method.

For example, Officers first in Crew List.

Or "ready to level" crew first in Spice Hall > Pay List.

It seems to me that the average player will want the rank sort, or action sort, as default.

Am I wrong?

You are right.  Also, I think the Technology Doctor list could be sort by "least HP"?