Strategic Interface

From SOTS

The SotS interface is both elegant and to the point.

The Kerberos staff have done their best to remove unnecessary things entirely, while still providing clean and pleasant-to-the-eye functionality.

Walkthrough Video

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Empire Summary

The Empire summary is in the upper left corner of the main screen.

It shows the following information from left to right, top to bottom:
Chosen avatar
Chosen symbol
Current technology being researched
Background color is your chosen color
Empire budget pie chart
- The pie chart is a summary of how your Empire is using its resources across all colonies.
- Clicking on the pie chart opens up the Colonies and Budget Interface, which also shows tabs to Fleets, Explored Systems, Enemy Colonies and Event History.

**Pie Chart Legend**
Savings	Research	Fleet Maintenance	Planetary Improvements	Deficit

Slider to set the ratio of research to treasury saving across all colonies.
- Favoring research will discover technologies faster while favoring savings will increase funds in the treasury.
Imperial Savings shows how much funds are currently in your treasury.

Colony Management

Top Buttons

Research opens the Research Interface
Design opens the Design Interface
Build opens the Build Interface

Colony Window

Shows the name and an image of the currently selected colony. There will only be one colony per system under any circumstances. Defense satellites are represented here by a small dot with the number of satellites listed next to it.

The Abandon button removes all population from the colony. Resources and infrastructure and any terraforming changes to the environment are left behind. This is used to "give" a planet to an ally or opponent or to abandon a colony that is a drain on your Empire's resources. "Abandoned population is...ummmm...recycled"

The top slider shows how optimal the environment is to your race.

The summary block shows the following stats for your colony:

Sliders

Sets the overharvest amount for the colony
Determines how much industrial output is available for the next three sliders or increasing colony income through trade
If the colony does not have an optimal environment for your race, the Terraforming slider will allow you to set the amount of industrial output is used improve the environment
If the colony does not have 100% infrastructure, the Infrastructure slider will allow you to set the amount of industrial output is used build infrastructure
If the colony has ships in the build queue, the Ship Construction slider will allow you to set the amount of industrial output is used to build ships

Fleet Management

Top Buttons

Manage Fleets opens the Fleet Management Interface for the selected fleet
Move starts the move vector for the selected fleet.
Special allows access to the Colonize Interface, Refuel Interface, Repair Interface, and enables the Auto-Refuel, Auto-Repair, Deploy, Flag as Guard, Scuttle, Stop, Refine, and Mine command if it is relevant to the object selected on the map.

Fleet Summary

This lists all fleets at the selected colony or deep space location. The call out box lists:

Destination
Estimated Time of Arrival
Range remaining and Health Status
Number of Destroyers in fleet
Number of Cruisers in fleet
Number of Dreadnoughts in fleet

Fleet Details

Lists the individual ship names, remaining range and health status for each ship in the selected fleet.

Main Window

The main window is a full 360° by 360° scalable view of the galaxy. Each planet is represented by a star at far zoom levels and a planet at closer zoom levels.

Planets that have been colonized are marked by a call-out of the controlling Empire's color containing the planet's name and Empire's symbol. At close zoom levels you can also recieve a summary of number of ships by class in orbit around the colony. Defensive satellites are represented by the blue and white ring around the lower part of the planet with each size class of satellites having a separate ring.

Fleets are represented by ship icons matching the color of the controlling Empire. Again based on zoom level and sensors range you will be able to see the number of each ship classes within the fleet. Fleet paths are represented by dual lines with chevrons showing direction and destination of the selected fleet.

If you are playing as a Human the node line connecting two planets will show as faint grey line between the two.

The star symbol denotes your original homeworld; very useful for orientation purposes.

You may append your own notes to every system on the map. These are seen as yellow tabs attached ot the planets. So if you want to record the happenings of an epic battle there, you are free to do so! Notes are also useful for reminding yourself of what you were thinking when you put the game away last.

Turn Status

The turn status lists which turn you are currently playing in, the name, color & status of your opponents if playing a multiplayer game and if you are a Hiver the capacity of your teleport gate network.

Trade allows you to trade savings or research ability between allies
Ally brings up the diplomacy window
Ranks shows a list of how your empire ranks compared to other players in various measurements

Event Window

The event window pops up to show major events happening across your Empire such as battles, research completion, new colonies and random events. This provides more detailed information complementing the end turn news ticker.

Task Bar

The End Turn button signals you have completed all your moves for the turn and are ready to continue on to the next turn.
- In a Multiplayer game the turn is calculated simultaneously once all players select End Turn.
The first icon opens the chat window
The second icon show the Objectives Interface
The third icon opens the icon selection for different views
Next is a news ticker to inform you of recent events
On the far right is the options button to access save/quit/options/AI policy for the game