Fwurg

[Brend]

Hey All!

Because of the fact that two worlds have now started working on actual settlements, the time has come for me to rework the tax tool. (In fact, I have only 4-6 weeks or so before the first settlement is actually in the game...)

Some of the changes that are necessary:

• No longer focus on a single System, but work per Faction (this fixes the 'outposts are systems' workaround we have now)
• Take into account Outpost upkeep and Settlement Upkeep
• Improved handling of economic directives
• (Hopefully) better handling of corporations

However, the list doesn't have to end there. I want to hear from you! What kinds of improvements or changes would you like to see in the tax tool? (I can't guarantee that I'll be able to code them all, but I'll try!)

[Mercury]

Some idea's that would be very helpful, presuming they are feasible of course:

• Automatically generated link to previous turn report (based on selected faction and previous turn report)
• Automatically list entries for INCOMPLETE entries from previous turn report
• Add [wiki][/wiki] block by default for entries so that when you enter your planet name, it automatically becomes a link to that planet in default empty construction entries
• Automatically link such things as "Bozzy Spine Subsidies law" (I might be being overzealous in my linking
• HUGE banner warning if trades are invalid (instead of the obscure red X at the end of the set, more like when you're posting IC with an OOC account)
• Better Support for Brownout zones and insufficient power detection? (May also require work on the Power Tool to allow API?)
• Resolve the (otherwise not problematic) peculiarity where recombined specialized information is listed as an acquired good while excess industry capacity for normal zones is listed separately (see IO Protocol for information as an example of this oddity - nice to have but not necessary of course)
• Don't list Credits reserve if the amount is zero
• Make better use of screen width - nobody does their turn reports on a phone, so its safe to presume we have more than 600 pixels of screen real estate (see below for possible uses of extra width)
• Add trading partner as separate entry in Tax Overview for easier viewing, preferably with link / icon. Automatically sort this list by trade partner and amount
• Economy Breakdown should be a table rather than block entries to allow for sorting. Automatically sort this list by trade partner and amount
• Economy Breakdown should list trading partner as well as system for better clarity of whom you're dealing with, preferably with link / icon
• Change Turn Report entry to a dynamic "click my turn report together" tool, to help standardize (dropdown for planet, automatically fill "INCOMPLETE" or "COMPLETE" based on values, load values from earlier turn report
• Keep a running total of amount of tax that is left to spend as it is being spent, perhaps with an inverted load bar for visualization fancyness
• Add a "Post Turn Report" button to either fully automatically post, or to open the current turn with the content of the Turn Report entry already in the posting field for easier use
• I never use the Tax Punchcard, but perhaps others do. Alternative proposal: list total amount of each product converted into tax sets, (maybe with a red mark for the lowest three and green mark for the highest three? Just a thought) - this allows easy reading of what products a player needs / has too many of. Perhaps with a bar graph above the numbers?
• Add a separate page where the alternative Tax Punchcard is calculated (including any overproduction of goods not used in tax sets?) for all players so players can see who has what they need.
• Add a tombstone for Brend's spare time so we can properly mourn its passing

[Brend]

• Automatically link such things as "Bozzy Spine Subsidies law" (I might be being overzealous in my linking

That one should already be working... (Maybe people have to refresh their cache? I implemented that a week or two ago.)

[Dragonmaster352]

I remember something about dual owned corporations/settlements/outposts/etc.

That might be a thing.

[Brend]

I remember something about dual owned corporations/settlements/outposts/etc.

That might be a thing.

That is definitely a thing. However, before I can do any actual implementation on this level, we'll first have to discuss/discover/deliberate how this would actually work in the rules... So far the only notes on this are in the write-a-thon wrap-up post (and that is really only a note that we need to think on it ^_^)

[Brend]

Since some of the proposed changes are easy to make, I've quickly pushed some of them into the current tool. Hopefully this is a small quality of life improvement for people ^_^

• Add [wiki][/wiki] block by default for entries so that when you enter your planet name, it automatically becomes a link to that planet in default empty construction entries
• Automatically link such things as "Bozzy Spine Subsidies law" (I might be being overzealous in my linking
• HUGE banner warning if trades are invalid (instead of the obscure red X at the end of the set, more like when you're posting IC with an OOC account)
• Don't list Credits reserve if the amount is zero

Done and done.

• I never use the Tax Punchcard, but perhaps others do. Alternative proposal: list total amount of each product converted into tax sets, (maybe with a red mark for the lowest three and green mark for the highest three? Just a thought) - this allows easy reading of what products a player needs / has too many of. Perhaps with a bar graph above the numbers?

I've made it so that the whole punchcard doesn't show up if you're not making any tax sets for now. In the new tool, we might consider using different methods to present the data.

[Brend]

• Add trading partner as separate entry in Tax Overview for easier viewing, preferably with link / icon. Automatically sort this list by trade partner and amount
• Economy Breakdown should be a table rather than block entries to allow for sorting. Automatically sort this list by trade partner and amount
• Economy Breakdown should list trading partner as well as system for better clarity of whom you're dealing with, preferably with link / icon

I never really realized that this would be useful... My brain automatically maps system names to factions without me really noticing the difference o_O

Now that it was pointed out that other people's brains do not do this, I have added it to the tool!