New ALERT Suggestion

[ThunderWolf]

There should be different alerts when being attacked between differing structures, and units.

The game will tell me I'm being attacked by yada yada, while I'm the one attacking their base,  so of course I ignore it, while they sneak a battering ram into my base, and crush half my structures before I figure out whats going on.

So for example:
Units - should get the default - You are being attacked by...
Basic Structures ex. Civic Centers, Houses, Blacksmith, Market. Should get - Your Village, Town, City (whatever level you're at) is being attacked by...
Temple Structures should get - Your Temples are being are being attacked by...
Fortifications such as Walls, Towers, Forts, should be - Your Fortifications are being attacked by...

Also, the alerts should appear at different sides of the screen.
For instance

Units on the left side. Structures in the center. Fortifications on the right side.

 

 

[sphyrth]

I kinda disagree with the "attacked by <insert attacker>" part. I just favor the more generic "<Structure / Units> are being attacked."

However, if I would promote some variation, it would be some panic screams of:
"Oikos! Oikos!", "Agora! Agora!" "Strategion!"... I don't know about modern Greek grammar (let alone the older Greek) to make up complete sentences, but that's impractical given the fact that Gameplay is strictly English-dependent.

[azayrahmad]

How about different alert based on territory? So if your building/unit is attacked in your territory, then the alert would be "Your territory is attacked by <enemy>", to differentiate it from existing alert, which will only be used if your units are attacked outside of your territory (e.g. when attacking or scouting).

[happyconcepts]

I agree that the player should not find it difficult to know if they are under attack. I share your pain.

But reading the alert... reading hmmm..is anti-pattern for video games? 

I strongly suggest using audiovisual cues, similar to the ideas @wowgetoffyourcellphone and others have shared in the battle sounds thread. 

Here's what I suggest.

When I play regicide games, I can see whenever my hero is taking damage because the hero,'s icon flashes with an overlay color. 

Let me make the strongest point I can here. In regicide this visual alert approach just works. I know when I'm engaged and my hero is taking damage.

That I cannot even now tell you what color the icon changes when it flashes really tells me that this is good UI.