Feature Request: Tactical Zoning

[x4000]

Here is my opinion on this: Make it so that you can split a single monitor into multiple virtual monitors within the game. SupCom could also do that.

Very useful when you have a 2560x1600 monitor: You can split it into two 1280x1600 sub-screens, or even four 1280x800 screens (which is just a little less than my monitor resolution on the laptop).

This way everyone can benefit.

Very cool, I think that would work nicely.  The only caveat is that neither "virutal monitor" can be less than 1024x768.  But this is actually an easy addition for me given that these are going to be two windowed-mode windows (same as the current game is always a single windowed-mode window), so that should work quite nicely.  Great idea!

The other thing I think needs to be added are planet bookmarks. Control-F# sets one, Alt-F# jumps back to that planet.

I'm curious about this one, it seems like this is pretty duplicative with control groups.  If you are wanting to go back to some particular planet, why not just set a control group on some key ship(s) there and use that?  Having multiple sets of these sorts of groups seems less useful.  Out of curiosity, did you mean Ctrl+F+#?  F is already used for flares, in both screens.  And control groups also work in the galaxy view, per player requests.

Whichever screen (virtual or multi) has mouse in it gets the keyboard focus.

Definitely.

[x4000]

Another idea along the lines of the tactical zones and planet bookmarks:

Have a list of planets and tactical zones down the left side of the screen. (There's nothing currently there.)

That space is actually filled up in 8-player games on 768-high monitors.  It only looks emptyish if you are on a larger resolution.

But yes, having a little movable, collapsible window for the tactical zones is on my to-do list.

The side could have three sets of icons, and mousing over would give pop-up details. Clicking would take you there, zooming to include the entire tactical zone on the screen if that is what you click.

The sets would be: Local tactical zones, global tactical zones, and remembered planets. This latter could be planets marked P0-P9 (in order) and/or bookmarked planets as per my previous comment.

The icons could have various colors indicating status: green - no enemies present, yellow - enemies present, red - enemies present and undergoing attack on important resources (e.g., fixed placements like command station or harvester, whatever).

Goodness, this is getting complicated fast.  Just let me code out the first version with the counts first, and then let's see about additions like this.   I'm all about the iterative design, and this is getting a few too many iterations ahead for my comfort with this particular feature right now.

[Admiral]

The other thing I think needs to be added are planet bookmarks. Control-F# sets one, Alt-F# jumps back to that planet.

I'm curious about this one, it seems like this is pretty duplicative with control groups.  If you are wanting to go back to some particular planet, why not just set a control group on some key ship(s) there and use that?  Having multiple sets of these sorts of groups seems less useful.  Out of curiosity, did you mean Ctrl+F+#?  F is already used for flares, in both screens.  And control groups also work in the galaxy view, per player requests.

Well, there are only so many control groups. I usually organize them as follows:

1) Primary attack group. I can then pick sub-groups like fighters. (Which brings up the request: can you click on the right side icons to narrow a selection to just the one clicked on the right?)

2) Engineers/repair ships for #1

3) Temporary for whatever I need

4) Scout group

5) Colony ship/mobile builder group

6) Research vehicle group

7-0) Secondary attack group (usually mimicing 1-4 above with a second front)

The problem is, I sometimes or even often need to jump back to planets without control groups, for example, my home planet to change production orders or a planet with an incoming invasion force (with lots of free-roaming defenders) and so forth. Sure, I could make a control group 7-0 for those planets; that would work. But, I'd rather just have a planet bookmark.

I suggested Control-F# (Function Keys) because that's the "location bookmark" key (actually just F#) on all the other games I've played. You are using the F-keys for other things, so I suggested the modifier keys.

Cheers!

[Revenantus]

Hmm, that is an interesting point, PhilRoi.

I don't know that I would want to tie it to a Mark II scout, specifically, but it would be potentially interesting to tie it to some sort of new ship.  Of course, I'd have to set up a few predefined "sector sizes" that would be less flexible overall than what Revenantus originally suggested, but it would also be easier to set up in some respects (especially easier to make small adjustments to, just move the new scout-thin a little), and also I wouldn't have to use any new hotkeys for this.

I'm on the fence with that one -- Pandemic, Reventantus, your thoughts?

I view the zoning as an interface addition, rather than a ship ability. The player already has access to all of the information that the zone is going to provide them with, simply by dragging the selection box, so requiring a ship to simply make that data persistent seems unnecessary.

Essentially, why do I need an additional ship to report information to me that is already supposedly being provided by Command Stations and the standard Scouts?. The zones provide a break down of existing data, rather than any new data.

Fixed, 'sector sizes', would also make the system very unwieldy as you say. When using the 'local' zones I would often want to set them up quickly during skirmishes - this would be almost impossible if special ships were required.

[x4000]

The other thing I think needs to be added are planet bookmarks. Control-F# sets one, Alt-F# jumps back to that planet.

I'm curious about this one, it seems like this is pretty duplicative with control groups.  If you are wanting to go back to some particular planet, why not just set a control group on some key ship(s) there and use that?  Having multiple sets of these sorts of groups seems less useful.  Out of curiosity, did you mean Ctrl+F+#?  F is already used for flares, in both screens.  And control groups also work in the galaxy view, per player requests.

Well, there are only so many control groups. I usually organize them as follows:

1) Primary attack group. I can then pick sub-groups like fighters. (Which brings up the request: can you click on the right side icons to narrow a selection to just the one clicked on the right?)

2) Engineers/repair ships for #1

3) Temporary for whatever I need

4) Scout group

5) Colony ship/mobile builder group

6) Research vehicle group

7-0) Secondary attack group (usually mimicing 1-4 above with a second front)

The problem is, I sometimes or even often need to jump back to planets without control groups, for example, my home planet to change production orders or a planet with an incoming invasion force (with lots of free-roaming defenders) and so forth. Sure, I could make a control group 7-0 for those planets; that would work. But, I'd rather just have a planet bookmark.

I suggested Control-F# (Function Keys) because that's the "location bookmark" key (actually just F#) on all the other games I've played. You are using the F-keys for other things, so I suggested the modifier keys.

Cheers!

Oh, okay -- I'm convinced.  And I see now what you mean about using the function keys with Ctrl and Alt, that seems like a good solution.  Added to my list!

[x4000]

I view the zoning as an interface addition, rather than a ship ability. The player already has access to all of the information that the zone is going to provide them with, simply by dragging the selection box, so requiring a ship to simply make that data persistent seems unnecessary.

Essentially, why do I need an additional ship to report information to me that is already supposedly being provided by Command Stations and the standard Scouts?. The zones provide a break down of existing data, rather than any new data.

Fixed, 'sector sizes', would also make the system very unwieldy as you say. When using the 'local' zones I would often want to set them up quickly during skirmishes - this would be almost impossible if special ships were required.

Yeah, that's all true.  So let's scrap that idea -- but I think it was worth consideration, at any rate.