Control Panel

The Control Panel is the permanent on-screen interface — the bar across the top of the screen and the panel down the right-hand side. Together they hold every command you use to read the state of your city and to build, inspect, and manage it. Almost everything you do outside of clicking the map itself starts here.

Overview

The interface is split into two persistent regions:

• The top menu bar — drop-down menus on the left (File, Options, Help, Overseers) and the live city read-outs on the right (date, population, treasury) together with the map-rotation controls.
• The side control panel — the overview minimap, the overlay selector, the advisor and world-map buttons, the twelve build-menu category buttons, an action row (undo, messages, problem finder, mission briefing), and the city ratings with the game-speed control.

The side panel can be collapsed to a narrow strip to free up screen space, leaving only the build buttons visible.

Top menu bar

The left side of the top bar holds four drop-down menus. Click a header to open it; click an item to act.

File

Options

Help

Overseers (Advisors)

The Overseers menu opens any of the twelve advisors directly: Labor, Military, Imperial, Ratings, Trade, Population, Health, Education, Entertainment, Religion, Financial, and Chief. (The same advisors can be reached from the advisor button on the side panel.)

City read-outs & map rotation

The right side of the top bar shows three live read-outs and the rotation controls:

Right-click the date, population, or funds read-out to open a short dialog explaining what that number means and how it is calculated.

Side control panel

From top to bottom, the expanded side panel contains:

Build menu buttons

The heart of the panel is a grid of twelve category buttons. Clicking one opens that category's build menu, from which you place buildings on the map. A category button is greyed out when the current mission has no buildings unlocked in it yet.

The currently open category stays highlighted while you build. These same twelve buttons are the only part of the panel that remains visible when it is collapsed.

Ratings & speed

Below the build buttons, the expanded panel shows the city's vital statistics and the game-speed control:

The four ratings (Culture, Prosperity, Monument, Kingdom) are the values most mission win-conditions are measured against, so keeping this part of the panel in view is a quick way to track progress toward victory.

Collapsing the panel

A collapse / expand button at the top of the side panel slides it in and out with a short animation and sound. When collapsed, the panel shrinks to a narrow strip that keeps only the twelve build-menu buttons, giving the city view more horizontal space. Expand it again to bring back the minimap, advisor and world-map buttons, the action row, and the ratings.

Tips

• Right-click the funds, population, or date read-out whenever you are unsure what a number includes — each opens a plain-language explanation.
• Use the Go to problem button to sweep the city quickly: it cycles through fires, collapses, blocked buildings, and other flagged issues without hunting for them on the map.
• Keep an eye on the messages counter — gods' moods, requests, and disasters all arrive as messages, and ignoring a request can close trade routes.
• Collapse the side panel on small screens or during careful map work; the build buttons stay available so you lose nothing essential.
• The build-category buttons grey out until the mission unlocks them — if a category looks disabled, its buildings are not yet available, not missing.

build_house : image_button({ ... tooltip:[68, 20], onclick: window_build_menu_build_house })
show_overlays : link({ onclick: show_window_by_id("overlay_menu_widget"), onrclick: window_city_overlays_right_click })
show_advisors : advisor_button({ ... onclick: window_advisors_show_checked })
show_empire : image_button({ ... onclick: window_empire_show_checked })
undo_btn : image_button({ ... onclick: __ui_game_undo_perform })