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Anything new with the Sandbox? When is the estimated date for its release?

Does any still read these forums??? I feel lonely....

Anyway I have an idea for the sandbox (if it's still under construction....). Managing too many colonies on too many star systems can be a real headache, since I actually have to zoom to each planet to view the colony stats, and then I can't see colonies which are on different systems, or even planets. This interface is great in the first missions, when I have only one planet to take care of, but with too many systems it's impossible.

I propose a control screen. Suppose I decide I want to work on growing population in all colonies - it would help to have a control screen, listing all the colonies, and for each colony to see the "head icon" - green for growing population, blue for stable, red for decreasing. This way I can immediately locate "troubled" colonies, and jump to them with the "go to" button which of course is a must in this screen. Or suppose I need a lot of fuel quickly - I'd appreciate a control screen listing all the planets, and for each planet the number of fuel synths, mines, free locations for mines and free orbiting bodies (or just an icon that a research station is needed). This way I can jump to the most promising planet, found a new colony or just convert many mines to fuel synths. Or cours this screen should also show the number of factories (red colored if there're not enough), as I may be in the inverse need, to convert many fuels synths to mines.

Well you get the idea. Some general purpose control screen. I have in mind Master of Orion I's map screen - it shows the galaxy and has three modes. It can show the environment of each planet, the minerals of each etc., with one click to change the type of information shown. This way I think a control screen, with one button for each important stat, is a must.

Hope someone will really read this post. And tell me whether things are really under construction, or am I just wasting my time here.

It would be nice if this game turned to be little upgraded Master of Orion 2, with tech research, maybe simple diplomacy

Not sure if this will still be worked on, but I have a few ideas of my own. I think there should be 2 new modes, Creative and Free Play.

Creative would be creating your own stars, planets, nations, and would be used in a mission you can create. You would be able to get a code or something from the finished project and would be able to show it to friends. They can then play it.

Now this is what I really think should be added to LOA, the Free Play mode. You would be able to select the year to start on, ( 2130(start of Rise of the UEO) - 2500(end of Ascension) ) and the nation. (certain nations would be available based on year, and can change to other nations, based on what nations you choose.(colonial nation would be split in 2 separate nations that can turn into altairians or seekers) ) Planets/stars owned would be affected by the year and nation. Plus, you would be able to colonize other stars that are not really used in missions. When in range, you would have access to the star. If the star has no real name, the name would be chosen randomly from a huge list of names. The same would go for the planets, if the star's planets have no real name. If the star does not even have planets, some will randomly generate. Habitable atmospheres would be very rare, and any atmosphere would be somewhat hard to find. The larger the planet, the rarer it would be to find, but gas giants would be more common. A few new nations would generate too. Very rare to find, but can occur. These could even include Americans, Europeans, and Asian, but many (random) names/colors could be found. Also, there would be some kind of meter that could show your relations with nations. Oh, and if there are no more stars on the map to colonize, it would randomly generate more stars when closer. All this may require the ability to zoom out more in star view.