(TL;DR at the end)
So I had read in the changelog that you now had random events to spice up your station management life. I played and...saw nothing? Confused, I kept on playing. At one point, I decided to check how much money hydroponics make. Opened up the economics screen and there, I saw the latest random events.
Bad, really bad place to put them. Most players wouldn't even notice! Random events are fun because you have to play around them. If you don't even know they exist, then they're worthless. I'd suggest to change them into regular events, give that huge empty column on the left something to be filled with other than "Boredom". They could always be filtered out if the player so desires.
Speaking of "Boredom" events, these probably shouldn't be events at all. You could have icons at the top of that column (rather than at the bottom). If the "boredom" icon is lit up, you have entertaining issues. If greyed out, all is well.
Alternatively (probably the better option too), you could have gauges you want to keep maxed. If "boredom" falls below I don't know, 75% for instance, the gauge starts changing colours to indicate a rising concern. Other gauges would be "lodgings" (for tourists), "apartments" (for citizens), "beds" (for slaves) and... and wait, that's all? Shouldn't there be something to make the management part challenging at first (rather than sit around, waiting for money to accumulate), before you take on the galaxies head-on with your fleet? Such as:
- expenses (I don't think you can lose money other than via events or buying stuff, the only staff you have are slaves)
- security
- satisfaction (tourists)
- happiness (citizens)
- appeal (some buildings increase that yet it's shown nowhere - if tourists are bored, this should get negative, reducing the number of tourists)
Citizens... Lazy bastards who you accomodate without being given anything in return. They don't even work, they do nothing. If they were employed, you'd actually want to keep them happy or risk losing your staff. If your military men are citizens, that means no more army. Wouldn't that be a shame?
Last point, selecting several slaves at once to change their job in bulk instead of one by one (in the slave list screen). This would be I think a fairly welcome addition to the game. Some could be "favourites" - indicated with a star symbol. There could even be the creation of groups of slaves. An example of how it could be useful: let's say a random event renders your brothel much less productive than porn studios or dairies for a short while. Select a group of slaves, switch them from brothel to porn studio or dairy. Event ends, switch them back to brothel. Saves lots of clicking and looking through all your slaves to send them where you want.
TL;DR :
- random events occur out of sight. Make them regular events so players know and play accordingly (option to filter them out).
- "Boredom", "Citizens tired" and the likes... these events could be removed in favour of "warning icons" or better yet, "stat gauges". If "satisfaction" is >75%, tourists are satisfied. Below that, it starts becoming an issue.
- introduce one or a few elements to make early management more challenging. Expenses, satisfaction + appeal, citizens' happiness...
- give citizens a use. Why keep them happy? Because they're working for you, possibly manning your fleet. Unhappy citizens, no citizens. No citizens, no fleet.
- selecting several slaves at once in slave list screen.
- add an option to have "favourites" (with a star symbol). Maybe create groups of slaves too to avoid looking for the slaves you want through the entire list every time.
