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Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

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Author Topic: Consistent Campaign Controls  (Read 5714 times)

SafariJohn

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Re: Consistent Campaign Controls
« Reply #15 on: October 15, 2017, 09:11:50 PM »

One thing I know for sure is that even after I've had all this time to get used to it, I still sometimes pull up the planet info screen when I meant to lay a course. :(
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MesoTroniK

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Re: Consistent Campaign Controls
« Reply #16 on: October 17, 2017, 03:11:00 AM »

Right - the radar is supposed to help there, but the deep-hyper terrain on it is kind of hard to see. And IIRC wasn't working at all in .8 but works in .8.1 (though still a bit tough to see). Also, if you're using LazyWizard's radar, I *think* - but I'm not 100% sure - it shows a much smaller area around you by default than the vanilla radar. Depending on the distance, zoom-out and free-look pan can help here as well.


Just a note. LazyWizard's Common Radar mod only has a combat radar now. Since vanilla got its own campaign radar display, the campaign radar component of the mod was disabled.

Alex

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Re: Consistent Campaign Controls
« Reply #17 on: October 17, 2017, 09:21:06 AM »

Ah, ok, thank you for letting me know.
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poika

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Re: Consistent Campaign Controls
« Reply #18 on: July 09, 2020, 01:48:37 AM »

I agree with OP. I don't have a strong opinion on whether it should be RMB or LMB that orders a move command, but it should be consistent.

Fleet movement in the main view and setting course on the map are pretty different in terms of player interaction. One is a real-time control, one is a much less frequent longer-term decision. FWIW, what I think is a general "rule" type thing to get out of this - consistency is important for UI interactions for performing similar actions, but not necessarily when working with similar concepts.

They aren't just similiar concepts, they are similiar actions. While moving around the campaign the player alternates between giving "move commands" by clicking on the top-down view, and giving "move commands" by clicking on the map. The result of either is the fleet moving to the point that was clicked. It's no different than an RTS game accepting move commands either by clicking on the ground or on the minimap.

Personally I'd go with RMB as that is the key most commonly used for movement in top-down PC games, but LMB makes sense too, as the interface in most operating systems has RMB open a context menu. Like I said, I'm fine with either, but it shouldn't arbitrarily change from one screen to the next.
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Yunru

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Re: Consistent Campaign Controls
« Reply #19 on: July 09, 2020, 09:42:55 AM »

I will weigh in, since this got resurrected, and say that even now it's bloody annoying. I have to constant switch which mouse button I'm using because the primary function ("Go here") keeps jumping from left to right.

Goumindong

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Re: Consistent Campaign Controls
« Reply #20 on: July 10, 2020, 10:36:58 AM »

Alex i think that you’re wrong that things are consistent. The primary thing you do in this game is “move your fleet”. You cannot deselect your fleet. You cannot select other fleets. There are no drag and drop selections. Context menus for other things are not primary interactions. In almost no situations you’re not going there to move your fleet.

But you always move your fleet and left mouse button is “move” in one and not in the other.  Even after hundreds of hours of playing I still get confused playing and it takes far more time to adjust than other games when coming back.


« Last Edit: July 18, 2020, 09:55:22 PM by Goumindong »
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Terethall

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Re: Consistent Campaign Controls
« Reply #21 on: July 17, 2020, 10:44:50 PM »

Why not have right click function the same as left click on the campaign layer? That way people can just default to right click if they want a consistent button? Everywhere else in the game (intel and regular map, tactical map, market, colony management, etc.) LMB selects things and right click is laying in a course or a battle waypoint. It's just the campaign layer where movement becomes the primary action and jumps from RMB to LMB, and RMB becomes free look. That's what's weird. Free look should be on a hotkey or in the menu and in the campaign layer both mouse buttons can be movement, so people can just get used to RMB to lay in a destination on any point, just like the map, while LMB can be movement that doesn't override the currently laid-in destination. So it's a primary form of movement, an "I want to control my movement closely, and particularly, right now" while RMB remains a higher-level, less-used "I want to pick a destination" button.
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