My concerns are mostly mechanical. And almost exclusively intended to speed up a game which tends far too often to get caught on waiting for players to make choices which are no choice at all.
1. The "Keep Your Goods" after the Captain Phase is unnecessarily clunky. 90+% of the time people want to keep all their goods and can. An algorithm to test if you can keep all is NOT hard - assign the goods of which you have the highest quantity to the warehouse(s) in descending order. If that results in no goods to ship back. Enable a Keep It All button in the existing window.
2. The "Confirm Role" should accept actually taking the role as confirmation. If I choose Builder and click on a Tobacco Barn, that should be confirmation enough. I should not have to click ACCEPT and the role. Nor should I have to risk a single misclick giving me the wrong role. But two clicks means I'm doing what I want.
3. The Blue Area should include "always accept privilege" as a fourth clickable option. Obviously, for the Craftsman, if you produce multiple types of goods, it will still need to ask which. But in general, you almost always want the privilege and in the rare cases you know you don't, you can unclick the selection in the Blue Area before choosing.
4. We have the pennants that indicate who is the governor. Another marker should indicate the person whose role it is. Particularly for newcomers, it is cumbersome to count crossed out roles - especially with the nonsense about the Prospector in five-player games (really dudes and dudettes - the windrose above the role names can easily shrink to make room for two Prospectors when needed).
5. Especially for new players, a bright indicator up top should show when an end of game condition has been met. The news the game is ending is easy to overlook in the flood of notices in the incredibly tiny notification area. In fact, I almost never see it. I have to watch the settlers/victory chits/building areas to know. Too many games are decided by a newcomer who takes actions ignorant of the fact the game is ending.
6. It would be nice to have the ability to at least lock the notification area so that new events aren't flooding out the one I'm trying to find. It is virtually impossible to scroll back unless it is your turn and the rest of the game is waiting on you.
7. More notification that the game is waiting on you. After 20 seconds when it is your turn, the background of the notification area should go from white to red. After 40 seconds, an audible alert. Either should shut off if you click "Give Me Some Time To Think". But in my experience, most delays are from choices which are no choice at all. If I had a dollar for every time I've sat 2 full minutes waiting for someone to pick between three identical indigo plantations, well, I'd have more than a few dollars.
8. This might be harder, but it sure would be nice. Highlight the things from which I am supposed to be choosing. If it is waiting for me to place settlers, highlight the plantations and buildings that have room for settlers. If it is waiting for me to choose a role, highlight the roles. If it is waiting for me to select a building, highlight the building supply. This game involves a LOT of hourglass watching while players struggle with connectivity or decisions. The mind drifts.
Don't get me wrong, it's an AMAZING implementation of a tough game. Just a few tweaks will make the experience that much better.
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