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Author Topic: Deployment Sets  (Read 1357 times)

Sy

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Deployment Sets
« on: August 07, 2016, 04:08:18 PM »

having to individually select every ship that i want to deploy into battle can get a bit tiresome. the "All" button helps in large fleets, but i still find myself frequently manually deselecting several ships, or switching between ships in cases where my fleet is too large to be deployed at once.

so i had this idea of allowing to set custom groups of ships, that can then be deployed with a single button/key press. and on the offchance that such a thing already exists without me knowing about it, i just tried doing this with number keys. turns out, it really does exist! that was a bit of a /facepalm moment for never having tried that before. :D
(i think i found a small bug, though: deselecting ships by pressing their number key doesn't visually update the deployment points bar.)

...buuut i have two issues with the current design:
  • the deployment sets are the same as the combat groups. that's nice for simplicity, but if i want to have all my bombers on "3", heavy fighters on "4" and interceptors on "5" for quick access during battle, i also have to press three keys just to deploy all my fighters. with up to 10 combat groups, that's still quite a lot of key pressing.
  • it's impossible to have one ship/wing as part of more than one group. it would be useful if i could, for example, have one set to deploy all my fighters and carriers, and another to deploy all ships suitable for pursuits -- which generally also includes some fast fighters.

so my suggestion is to implement deployment sets as independent system that gets rid of both of these issues. i think there's plenty of room below the deployment points bar and the three current buttons to add ~10 small "Set X" buttons. saving a set could be done with "shift" or "ctrl" + that button, similar to how it works with current hotkey groups.

having these visible buttons could be useful for two reasons:
  • if desired, the current function of using combat groups and their number keys could be kept as additional option, and for players who've already gotten used to this system. although i personally think it would be better to decouple deployment sets from combat groups entirely, and just link number keys to the new set buttons.
  • more importantly, this ui element would make it clear to new players (and players like me, who've been playing for hundreds of hours without realizing <_<) that this system even exists, without having to introduce it through some kind of tutorial. hovering over a set button could show a small tooltip that explains its exact functionality, and highlight any currently asigned ships for a quick overview.


on a sidenote, giving the current buttons tooltips might be a good idea as well. "Deploy" and "Cancel" don't really need it, but "All" ignoring civilian and weaponless ships isn't necessarily obvious to new players. either the "Deploy" button or the deployment points bar itself could also have a tooltip that briefly explains how available deployment points are calculated, taking relative fleet size and already deployed allied ships into account.
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Gothars

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Re: Deployment Sets
« Reply #1 on: August 08, 2016, 01:28:08 AM »

I like the idea of having a fixed visual indicator for the groups in the deployment screen, seems like an elegant way to convey its existence to players.

A second grouping system seems like overkill, though. It's not like you have hundreds of units as in a RTS. And the number keys can  be pressed simultaneously, seems quick enough for me. I'd say keep it simple.

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