Plus, I have almost all of the graphics done. I went with flying saucers for the ships (again). Pretend they're spinning and roaming around their sector.
I've referenced this before, but each corner in each sector may contain a 3x3 grid of numbers. (I've chosen to only display one number per grid for the mock-up.) The grid corresponds to the map with its 3x3 grid of sectors. Each number is the quantity of contracted workers who are stationed in the sector. What type of worker they are depends on their position in the grid. For instance, if you see a number in the middle of a grid then you know that's the quantity of workers with contracts from the middle sector who are stationed in the sector you're looking at.
That's the same system used on the right side of the scoreboard to represent the contracts stored on the ships. (BTW, I should really change that engine/fuel symbol so it doesn't look like the Assassin's blood drop. *sigh*)
I'm wondering if I should change the resource generation yet again.
I was going to allow energy units to be either immediately sold for credits or distributed to engines, weapons and shields.
I'm now thinking that I should remove the option to earn credits during resource allocation. By the time the trade phase comes, fuel, weapons and shields will be useless. The game can then sell their energy automatically.
- Energy distribution would be less complex while still being interesting.
- Excess fuel could be used to bluff about movement more easily.
- Players would have to decide whether opponents are worth losing income from their weapon energy when attacking.
- Opponents would be worth attacking even if they're not destroyed because the shield loss would decrease their income.