I’ve played the game for some 26 hours, and would just like to list my suggestions, mostly quality of life improvements.
-Current observations should show up under an enemy’s portrait. I hate having to constantly pause and sift through the combat log for this. A little symbol under the portrait/to the right of the enemy’s action would be a huge help
-Unless I’m missing something, there should be a way to check your hold in the middle of the zee. If nothing else, a little indicator under your crew could display current/max cargo (say, 38/40). This is just a helpful reminder so that you don’t turn zee-bats into supplies (or stop and farm that next lifeberg/pirate) when you are already full
-Speaking of filling up when wanting to add supplies, I’d love an option to use up a supply when your cargo hold is full instead of tossing something out. This can be either a "feast" option (reset hunger to 0, possible terror reduction dependent on how little hunger crew had), or the option to try and convert the supply into fuel (and add to your current fuel meter, straight into the engines).
-An option to delay consuming supplies. I don’t know how many times I’ve been a hair from Hunter’s Keep/Chancel of Lights/small yellow crab when my crew ticked over 50 and consumed a supply. Just 1 more second and I could have avoided losing a supply! Afaik, so long as you don’t hit 100 hunger there are no penalties, so why can’t I tell my crew to quit bitching for a minute as I sail into port at Hunter’s Keep?
-Storage at Wolfstack Docks. Either the ability to rent or purchase a warehouse to store surplus goods. Whenever I kill 1 (or 10) too many zeebats and fill my hold with supplies, it’d be nice to store some of the extra. Or perhaps I swung by Mt. Palmerston and filled up on fuel, and decided to store 20 at the docks for future use. Maybe I changed my mind about going up to venderblight and decide to shelve the mushroom wine for now. If nothing else this would be a huge help to those pursuing the "Zong of the Zee" victory condition. Most of the stories and such don’t take up space, but "Strange Catch" and "Lamentable Relics" can be found very early. Being penalized (by lack of cargo space) for holding onto them seems like such a waste. The docks have to be FULL of warehouses, surely you could rent one or two? This could also open up new storylets (Rattus Faber/Urchins breaking into it, for one).
-When you get near London, you get a blurb in your journal about "Home Waters" and how your crew can see the distant lights of said city. Since your crew’s spirit is bolstered by being so close to home, shouldn’t you gain terror slower here? Also, being so close to such a bustling port, shouldn’t you get another option to hail a passing ship when out of fuel? I’ve had to abandon a game to lack of fuel… while right next to Wolfstack Docks, within the harbor of Fallen London itself! I was seconds from docking, and my crew could have swam to shore. This close to port, there should be plenty of ships coming/going. Surely another captain could be persuaded to sell you fuel (at a grossly inflated price, ofc). "Hail a passing ship for fuel" Can thus be a final options when you get the "Desperate Measures" quality. Your chance of success can be dependent on how close you are to a port (and how busy said port is). Out in hte middle of nowhere chances are zilch, but within FL’s harbour should be a guaranteed success of hailing another ship. There can be skill checks to see how bad you get fleeced for said fuel (free, at cost, double cost, triple cost, so on). Perhaps an admiralty ship swings by and you can cash in 2-3 favor for a unit? Anything is better than losing a game a stones throw from port!
-Secrets feel like they are gained far too slow. Your origin is +25 stats, and even then it feels like that isn’t enough (How many pages is needed to have a reasonable chance of winning the hardest riddles!?) Not just pages, but 3 stats all need to be well over 50 to fight the more difficult enemies (iron, mirrors, veils). This leaves pages and hearts far into the dust if you hope to not die miserably fighting Khanate ships… yet alone the Obsidian Mt and that spiky sea anemone thingy… So our origin is +25, we can pass on accumulated progress in one skill, and then funnel the rest of our secrets into the third stat to take down tough enemies… but again, this leaves no room for pages/hearts.
-Trade. I know smuggling is coming soon, but it feels like putting the cart before the horse. What use is smuggling when there are maybe 2-3 trade routes in the whole zee!? (Wine to Vendorblight, Wine/honey to Corsair’s Forest, Devilbones from Mt. Palm to London… I don’t like wine to Godfall due to the terror gained… ~4 terror there and back at least). And these routes that exist? They are all chump change. If I’m spending 10+ fuel to get there and back, I need to be gaining more than 1 measely echo per item sold. As it stands, trade is little more than "farm pirates/lifebergs, sell their stuff in London"
-Separate "food" and "resources" for supplies. It feels weird being able to repair my ship with the same materials my crew is eating. At least it somewhat makes sense rummaging among supplies for fuel (high fat foods would burn), but how do I repair my ship’s hull with zeebat corpses and fungal crackers!?
-On that note, eating nothing but zeebats and crab for a few weeks seems like it would give my crew a serious case of scurvy (Zurvy? Zcurvy?) Maybe have different food types? Meat+veggies? I imagine fruit is rare, but it does exist in the Unterzee (sometimes when opening a crate you can find peaches, although your crew weeps and loses 5 terror at the find).
-I’ve notice what look like schools of fish just under the water (spinning circles), could we get an option to fish at these spots for supplies/chance at strange catch? A rare failure could even bring up combat with something best not awakened!
