2 suggestions regarding ship repair. Removing some micro-management.

[Rifleman]

My two suggestions have to do with repairs. Should be easy to implement and be very handy, also helps remove some micro-managing.

1. Hotkey to select all damaged ships on current planet.

2. Engineer movement mode that's like "free roaming defender" but only repairs damaged units. Once all units are repaired it doesn't go and try to help build anything or assist factories.


My thinking behind the first idea is to have your repair area set up somewhere safe, perhaps where your factories are running. After a battle, specially one using leaches/parasites, you hit your key to select all damaged ships, and then send them off to your repair area.

On the second idea, would be best for defending your production area, specially if you are running short of resources. You set your engineer in "repair" mode and he will fly around fixing your damaged turrets and what not, but when he's done doing that he doesn't go find the nearest factory or construction site and start sucking up extra resources that you hadn't planned on.

Both of these should help keep you from having to babysit your repair operations. I'm not trying to make the mobile repair station obsolete, I love that thing, but it has it's limitations.

[quickstix]

A hotkey to select all damaged ships sounds good. Although at the moment you can use the ship selection filters to do a similar thing. Holding N and 8 whilst selecting units selects those with 33% or less health and holding N and 9 selects those with 66% or less.

I find Mobile Repar Stations and space tugs to be pretty good at what they do and generally worth the knowledge cost. They also repair faster than engineers, and can repair multiple ships at the same time. I used to use engineers to do my ship repair work, but now I find it a lot quicker (and economical) to use MRS + Tugs as the tugs quickly grab damaged ships and bring them over to the MRS, which gets rid of micro.

The issue I have with micro is more about turrets, as I find myself having to build and destroy engineers to patch up my turrets between assaults. However, the new remains system in the pre-releases tends to eliminate a fair part of that these days. Turrets turn into remains (like mines), which are nigh impossible to blow up by conventional means, and these remains are then rebuilt by remains rebuilders (which replace mine layers). You get 50 remains rebuilders (maybe more if we get another tech level of them ) so it's fairly easy to leave these around turret clusters. Turrets that are rebuilt start rebuilding at 50% in the latest pre-release, so it's fairly quick to replace destroyed clusters. The only micro really around these days is patching up turrets which are damaged, which doesn't really take too long I suppose.

I guess it all comes down to what the role of the engineer really is. Remains rebuilders and cleanup drones have taken on a lot of the work regarding turrets, and Mobile Repair Stations + Tugs are better (usually) at repair work than engineers (if that's your playstyle). I feel like managing engineer modes might encourage more micro, and it does kind of make the investment into Mobile Repair Stations a bit obsolete.

However, maybe a new Control Node could do the trick that only allows engineers to repair, not assist construction.

[Rifleman]

I must have missed the keys to select the the 1/3 and 2/3 damaged ships. I did notice the tugs that go for those kinds. I would still like the key that selects all damaged ships.

I wasn't planning on having the engineers replace the mobile repair station and tugs. As I mentioned, I love that thing.
I want the new "repair" mode on the engineers to just take care of maintenance on turrets/forcefields/fixed ships. Maybe it could even prioritize turrets/forcefields over ships.

Even with this new mode I would still use the tugs since the engineers are pretty slow at repairing ships. The main reason I want this is to be able to keep my turrets/forcefields up and going without having to keep the engineers from trying to assist factories and building.
Right now I have to wait until my stuff is repaired, then catch him and pause him. I don't see how this is any different than setting certain engineers to only assisting a factory and not running around doing everything else.
I also don't see how it adds any micro. You set one or two of them on "free roaming repairer" and then you leave them be. Don't have to hunt them down and pause them after everytime you want to repair.


I like the sounds of the new changes you mentioned, but I would still like these ideas as well. 

[quickstix]

I think at the key of the issue is perhaps the priorities of engineers. I'm fairly sure engineers in FRD mode tend to prioritise repair and construction over assisting constructors (at least my T2 engineers in my current game do). What you're putting forward is increasing the priority of defensive structures, which is a good call.

Here's a few other suggestions I thought of, all with very simple implementations that build on top of current mechanisms.

One would be to introduce a new type of engineer that only repairs fixed defensive structures. This has the benefit of really cutting down on the micro (maybe a T2 one that teleports as well?) and making defensive maintenance a lot easier. The problem with this, is that it brings into question of the role of regular engineers, and whether they are then allowed to repair defensive structures. Perhaps a knowledge unlock?

Another option, would be a control node that specifies engineers are only allowed to repair defensive structures. However, a simpler option yet might be to increase the priority of defensive structures for engineers.

Also, have you tried out the new remains system in the current pre-releases? If you haven't, I'd give it a shot (the releases are pretty stable at the moment, although the official release patch is due soon) as the new remains system makes wormhole defense much easier. The issues of micromanaging repair and maintenance are still there, but it does mean you don't have to manually replace turrets when they get blown up.

[Rifleman]

I haven't paid real close attention to engineer priorities when it comes to repairs. Even if those priorities are adjusted I would still like a way to keep them from assisting construction and factories without them being paused. Just like you can make them only assist and not repair as of right now.

I don't think adding a new unit would be necessary, I'm talking about just adding one hotkey for them. Say maybe, hold F then right click sets the engineers in "free roaming repair". In this mode they would go repair all defensive structures, then fixed units, then finally ships. After all of those are repaired they would just wait until something else needs fixing.

I don't think the control node for them removes any micro, that's still something you are going to have to go back and forth to switching. Unless it's a fixed setting and I don't like that either. I still want to be able to have engineers assist. I just don't want them always doing it automatically. What I'm wanting would just let you set one or two engineers in the new mode and them let them go do their thing without worrying about using extra resources that you weren't planning on. That way  I could have one engineer dedicated to assisting a factory, then have another one that is dedicated to repairing, but when he is finished repairing, he just  sits around and doesn't go and assist.

I haven't tried any pre-releases yet.  I might have to do that. I just bought this game a few days ago on the Steam sale. I'm really loving it and talked one of my friends into getting it too so we can play coop. I think he is addicted too.

[quickstix]

Right, in the current pre-releases (and upcoming) new version, I completely forgot there is actually a control node with the behaviour you seek.

-New Control Node: Engineers To Not Auto-Assist Queues.  Prevents your engineers from automatically assisting build queues (keeping them on repair duty only, unless they are given explicit orders to accelerate a queue).

They were introduced a pre-release or two ago. I remembered this morning there was discussion about this a little while ago and control nodes were introduced as a solution. There is also discussion about control nodes over an interface toggle here. http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,2807.0.html

[Rifleman]

Right, in the current pre-releases (and upcoming) new version, I completely forgot there is actually a control node with the behaviour you seek.

-New Control Node: Engineers To Not Auto-Assist Queues.  Prevents your engineers from automatically assisting build queues (keeping them on repair duty only, unless they are given explicit orders to accelerate a queue).

They were introduced a pre-release or two ago. I remembered this morning there was discussion about this a little while ago and control nodes were introduced as a solution. There is also discussion about control nodes over an interface toggle here. http://arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,2807.0.html

Awesome!

Now just for the button to select all damaged ships.  

Played my first coop tonight, with a friend I talked into getting the game. Went for 4 hours before we thought it was time for a break, lol. I think I would have gladly paid $50-60 for this game, and to think I got it for $10. Now I'm just trying to convince everyone I know to get it.  

-Edit

After trying the the expansion, the engineer nodes do exactly what I was wanting. Talk about great developer response! My suggestion was being added to the game before I even thought of it!