Make it more like EVE.

bring back red mad face to forums .. i mean how hard can it be ?

yea .. i mean how hard can it be

A lot of things in my mind, but because only one then I propose this:

"A clickable link to event in news"

example, if CF built on xx,yy:zz then that coordinate must clickable so I can get to that even reported when first enter my empire.

Bombers having ground attack

My biggest change atm:  Multiple attack/explo from new Map.  Biggest time waster atm, imo.

bring back the old galaxy map because the new 1 is just not working, and it looks like its made in paint for me it always was fun to have 4 or 6 or 8 different sectors that made it fun i must admit the old map doesn't look very futuristic but it always worked, if you open a system now its just not easy anymore to explore attack or anything else. the old map was good it worked and it gave something to ic with the different sectors.

but i think allot of ppol dont like the new map ?

^

this

It has never made sense to me that a bomber...that presumably drops you know...bombs....that has a 10% chance to hit its target somehow miraculously does 0 collateral damage.

I think it would be nice to be able to put planets into groups so that they could all be built on easily.  Maybe make the planet coordinates for the group a different color.  One could have maybe five or seven different colors.  Maybe orange would be planets for mines, and they would all be over-built to the same percentage.  And red would be a second group, etc.  This would make it easier to handle more planets.

I like the idea of cores.  For players who do not want to explore and build, this is good.

We can already sort by planet bonuses, or coords, portals, etc.  Is this not sufficient?

If I want 'groups' of building, e.g. I just click Iron, then click the checkbox for the first planet ....scroll down the page, find my last iron bonus planet - shift-click the checkbox for that one (that selects all iron bonus planets) and then OB to percent on those.

So yea, grouping could probably be better, but at this stage, I think its still pretty good!

1. Play In Second Galaxy:   

Guess the biggest thing I would change is to allow players to play in two galaxies at the same time

NOT to allow players to have two accounts but simply to allow them to play in two galaxies at once.

I'd ask any IC player the following questions:

How many times have you joined a round only to land in an inactive half empty family? 

How many times have you been hit by early raids and had your round ruined? 

How many times has your family been farmed into deletion or inactivity? 

How many times I have you started a war just to see your attackers go inactive for a week? 

MY POINT - Is that many things can ruin your round, you can get early raided, can get farmed, can land in really bad inactive families and so on, and sure when that happens "I think" a lot of players then get bored / fed up / frustrated with the game and sometimes end up sitting their inactive for weeks waiting for new rounds to start, in the meantime they just move on to another game or forget about IC all together.

I think if players were allowed to play in two galaxies (running side by side) with the same start and end dates then sure it could have various benefits for the game.

- Teaching:  It would allow all players to learn more about the game a family roles, for example you could play attacker in one galaxy and banker in the other, the end result would be players getting use to more roles and learning more about the game.   How many players ALWAYS play banker or ALWAYS play attacker, the option of a second round to play in would help change that.

- Family Issues:  Like we all know a big part of playing IC is dealing with family issues and for many players that can mean been randomly placed into a totally unknown family that can end up been half empty and inactive.   Sure "Family Issues" do account for a lot of problems in IC as people do delete, people do go inactive, people do get farmed to death and lose hope and get bored and so on.   In my eyes if you do fall unlucky and face loads of family issues then having a second round to play in could be a life saver and stop people going inactive or leaving the game.

- Round Issues:  Obviously its not just your own family issues that can cause problems but the general issues you can face during the round as well seeing new players get farmed to death, seeing entire families get early raided and obliterated within the first week or two of the round, but again if the worst happens and you get rubbed out / killed in one round then that player does not get bored or have no choice but to delete as they have another round to play in as well, maybe in that one they are doing well. 

- Player Numbers:  Hear a few people complain about player numbers and families sometimes not been full and things like that, then you look at the galaxies and see 100 people playing in one galaxy, and then another 100 people playing in another galaxy.   If you let all the player play in both galaxies then in reality each galaxy could have double the players.

In my opinion at least running two galaxies side by side (same start and end dates) same level of play and letting people play in both rounds might not be so bad, if the player gets killed in one round then at least they have another round to focus on rather than walking away from IC or getting bored and inactive.

---------- If the above is not possible then ----------

New Player Guide / YouTude Film:   

Have heard a lot of people over the years saying IC needs advertising more and sure it does, but would say its also down to players to spread the word as well.    HOWEVER none of that is any good unless new players who join the game have good enough facilities to learn to play.

For example I learnt to play IC many years by sitting and watching a friend who was in the Weedkillers family, without him actually sitting and showing me I'd have not had a clue and would have seen a slow no action game that was confusing and would have got board fast, without him showing me and explaining the basics I'd have struggled to get into the game.

In my opinion there has never been clear enough guidance in IC for new players, sure there is the GUIDE and the FORUM but both take a lot of clicking about and lack the clear / basic message new players need to read and see to learn how to play.    Like saying if a new player comes to IC someone who has no idea about this game at all, no clue about fleets, no idea about special ops, no idea about bankers and attackers or how to build races, then WHAT is the first thing they need to be doing and seeing about this game, what is the best way for them to learn the basics quickly and easily and to understand the game better. 

Having a very dedicated LEARN HOW TO PLAY section on the home page might be a good idea.

- Film:  I'm unsure if there any of these about already but a (learn to play IC) film on YouTube or something might help a lot.   I think even in a brief 10 or 15 min intro like film you could detail a little history of the game, cover the game basics, show people how to create races, how to build, how to attacks, show them the fleets page, maps, council and just explain through things a little showing them as you go and giving examples, whilst talking up the game at the same time and how its a battle where you can win or lose it all, both political and warfare based and so on.

I think if IC had a dedicated well built (Learn How To Play) section that was very visible, all in one place, all very basic and easy to understand, and perhaps a film / YouTube film added in there and sure I think new player would come to the game and perhaps learn a lot quicker and have more chance of sticking around, could even add Power Point like things into the film, could even just be a simple slide show of the different screens, different options, different tactics and so on.

I think the GREAT THING about a YouTube video as that we as players could SPAM it everywhere without harm, could post it on our face books and other social networks and so on.   The "Welcome to IC / This is how to play video" could maybe help a lot.   Think in a simple 15 min video you could explain enough in pictures film and slide show like stuff that any new player could watch it and have a much better idea about IC and how to play, could also answer various questions they might have and cover a few odd ball subjects that can confuse people, for example new players reading forums and saying whats PI mean?   Whats IP mean?  Whats OB mean?  And so on, all of that could be explained easily and quickly in a film as well as showing people the basics and explaining the different roles and stuff