Topic: Economy Configuration Menu / Window

From https://bugs.launchpad.net/widelands/+bug/1094750

Background

Currently, the economy configuration menu is accessed via a Flag. This is because:

• A player can have multiple economies on their map.
• An economy does not necessarily contain a warehouse, HQ, or other central ware holding building.
• An economy consists of all connected buildings. There is one economy per connected set of nodes.

As a result, the economy configuration cannot be global, nor can it be solely attached to a building. The only thing an economy is guaranteed to contain is a Flag.

Whilst this makes sense, I feel it takes too much explanation and is difficult to find.

Suggestions

1. Add a game tip specifying where the menu is.
   • Not ideal, the game tips are not always visible for that long.
2. Add it to the warehouse/HQ
   • This is only useful when the economy contains one. An economy may contain multiple warehouses, so adding it here may cause confusion since the settings within one warehouse would affect all within the same economy.
3. Add it to the minimap window.
   • The 'economy config' icon would either expand/rolldown the minimap window to reveal economy options, or pop open a separate window.
   • The economy options would have a < Prev Economy and > Next Economy button if appropriate.
   • The area covered by the economy being configured would be highlighted on the minimap.
   • There would be a button to center the economy on the display (or display the economy's center).

Other thoughts / opinions?

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How about an overlay on the flags with the index of the economy they're connected to? That would provide a more local visualisation though - I'm not sure how useful that would be.

You could go all-out and have the system generate a name for each economy (themed according to tribe), and with the "Overlay Economy Name" turned on, a demarcation line is put between the two. The edges could be shaded / filled differently near the line for clear visuals, along with the names listed on either side of the line. Similar to how different administrative areas are be displayed on a map.

Example: the yellow shaded area marks where the South Downs National Park is in my local area: http://binged.it/134cUhU

WARNING: New-style view packet not found. There may be strange effects regarding unseen areas.
_aD on IRC

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mxsscott wrote:

An economy consists of all connected buildings. There is one economy per connected set of nodes.

Does that mean a construction site in the mountains not connected to a road is a small economy for itself?

Two is the oddest prime.

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