I'd rather have them making improvements toward the game. It would take a long time to do something like Civilopedia in Gal Civ2. Too many technologies. I'd bet they would do something like this in Gal Civ 3 while they are creating the game. Or maybe not. This isn't even an important feature for me. The techs tell which leads to another and exactly what comes with it when you click on it now anyways.

It's pretty silly to expect a mass audience to alt-tab to a freeware app just to get quick access to the still-very-thin documentation available in the XML. And I say that as someone who loves the game, admires Stardock despite their devotion to (C), and is very grateful for the volunteer work that went into the Galactopedia freeware app.

IMO, more ongoing attention to both in-game documentation and the PDF or wiki publication routes would be a very worthwhile improvement to the GC series.

Never said otherwise... let me rephrase, "true" interactive help or complex guidance within gameplay is a feature which many new players would enjoy and although, the process can be useful to some - many more would NOT click this option if it were there... they just play.

- Documentation (however extensive) grabs runtime bytes.
- Distributed package would grow to an almost unlimited size if one was to integrate everything there is to know or explain more clearly; just take the "other" games and consult all aspects of pedia principles and you will soon find out that the essential rather than the whole is even a GREAT amount of typed text.
- All and each of the Learning_Curves i had to go through with the many games i've played over the years involved on-hand experimentation with features for about 75% of the time while consulting a reference (either in a book or within ingame options) to find out some facts added up to the remaining 25%.

Sometimes, i too wished for a more thorough PDF guide -- but, this issue falls more into the personal choices or needs of many different kind of players than what a developer decides to include into THEIR stuff.
The added value comes in the process of "Learning" easily or the much harder way(s).

Extremely thin line, if you ask me.

Yep... an "oldy" coder that worked a lot in the mid 80's at a number of first-level languages, but whom hasn't really considered returning to the crush bitting slam dunk activities i once was involved with.

If a complete (to many's standards or expectations) in_game guide would ever be considered for serious implementation by SD - i'd expect the regular D/L of say, TA to go from about 350MBs worth of bandwidth access to, i dunno, most probably twice that much... just for a thorough fully illustrated verbose blue-print of biblic proportions!

See ya -- in six months time. Version 2.0 gone & pending baby, no more patches & slight fixes by Carielf. Although, as you have suggested some outsiders could simply do it for a price.
Is Frogboy willing to hand-over some cold hard cash to get such an asset from someone "professional" enough to earn it? Should he rather go the design additional content and gameplay value ways? Ask him, maybe he would agree.

BUT - i want a full 3d Galaxy, three layers on planet surfaces and a number of important features added (gee, read the Slam_my_Game thread all over again to fully grasp what WE all wish for also!) waaaaayyyyy before a help gimmicky supplement.

In the meantime, i consider Netriak's Galactopedia to be a fair solution to most of my current needs.

Should they all stop working at Enhanced Espionage and de-bugging Twilight, or more importantly, designing truly "powerful" editors?

GC2 is **not** Civilization 4 with its Firaxis driven engine of_a_descriptive_about_mankind_history as per Sid Meier' & gang opinions, that's for sure. In all theory, i only understand that a Terror Star destroys whole systems -- having any additional commentary about it or almost anything else in that crazy game would kill off all the fun and possibly the pride one gets from the usual learning curves struggle.

Documents or not. Virtual or Printed.

Me ferocious? Comon', I'm really all for some added or expectable quality & values (or validated grammatical enhancements & what else) for something i paid a whole bunch of hard earned cash.
But, i simply do not own SD, since Brad takes his own good and/or bad decisions.

Not everyone is an English Major in this world, me - i'm just from Quebec and spoke mostly French in the essential part of my short life. I could go in London and possibly square even with some of the best Shakespeares in the making found in these streets though.

As it is... we're all simply blasting AIs ships in a 4X enviro. Correctly identified or commented about - somehow, anyway.