Like many other people, I would very much appreciate having a grid that can be toggled to see what building spaces are available.
I'm on the fence as to whether or not this should be available immediately, or if it would be more interesting if it was available through a new unit such as a surveyor. You could order the surveyor to map a sector which would allow someone to toggle a grid view for that sector. I think this grid should also be interactive, i.e. you can move the grid manually. This is important because there are various formations you can use when placing a storehouse and their adjacent buildings (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...hl=en_US#gid=0). Depending on the available space, one type of storehouse configuration might be more optimal than another.
A problem with this idea is the usefulness of the unit after your island has been completely surveyed. One solution is to make it possible for them to change vocations for a fee (turn them into a scout, explorer, or general). Another option is to order them to survey a specific area of a sector, such as the area around a storehouse, which will decrease the time it takes to build around it, or possibly even the amount of resources.
For example, say you have some room available to place a storehouse and a multitude of buildings around it. First, you build the storehouse. Once that is done, you order your surveyor to survey the land around it by targeting the storehouse. Once she is finished, any building placed adjacent to the storehouse will build faster and cheaper.
A surveyor could also be used to allow building over deforested land. However, this would alter the game quite a bit though; I imagine some people would literally scalp their island of trees.
What do you think? Like it, hate it? Have your own version of an ideal surveyor unit? Let me know what you think!
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Originally Posted by Jethro702
