I can't handle it!

[Fiskbit]

Regarding the command queue system, currently AI War allows you to queue commands together for ships to execute one after another by holding shift when making the command, so you can queue movements or attacks (but not mixed together in the same queue, and not changing ship modes in different legs of the journey). At some point, we'll hopefully getting a universal command queue system in there so you can do movements, attacks, wormhole commands, and mode changes all together in one thing, and that alone is very good reason to keep the current modifier system for setting modes when making commands, which is why I brought it up. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any other good reasons for why the mode keys shouldn't be toggles instead of command modifiers, though perhaps it'd feel less natural (at the very least, I think it'd be a pretty bothersome change for existing users. Trying to keep interface things fairly constant after introducing them is definitely a good idea .

As for the wormhole stuff, I had interpreted your comment about it to mean that if you accidentally ctrl+left clicked on the wormhole while you had units selected instead of ordering them through the wormhole with ctrl+right click, you'd no longer have the units selected when returning to the planet to correct your mistake (which isn't the case, save for an irritating bug in the current release). The issue of the ships not being selected on the other side of the wormhole isn't going to be addressed, simply because of existing limitations in the game's engine. I wish I could give you a different response for that, but it's unlikely to ever change.

Regarding the unit palette, I'm pretty sure it's ordered like when you press F1, so it should have a specific order that ships pop into. Does that help? I use the unit palette a lot to figure out how many of various ships are on the planet and to quickly select all of a certain kind of ship. On enemy worlds, it's also great for locating specific enemy targets (such as sniper turrets). Perhaps the order should be non-fixed, but I feel like that could cause problems of its own. Should be worth thinking about, though.

I'm glad you've been enjoying the game despite the complex interface! I'm confident you'll have a lot less trouble the more you play, and hopefully we can also get some changes in there to counter some of your complaints.


Edit: Also, I don't know if you know about it, so I figure it might be worth mentioning TBS-friendly pause, as it might be useful for you. You can enable it in the settings menu, as well as disable the screen dimming there. It lets you queue up all the commands you want while the game is paused, which can help move the game along at a manageable pace. I hope that helps.

[Kjara]

Even if the order is non-fixed, removing from the list when the last unit of a type leaves/dies is going to be weird(as actually removing it will again shift the list) unless you don't remove the "empty" spot until the player moves to a different planet or something.

[geggis]

Thanks again for the responses. I've got some good news. After another go tonight I'm finally getting to grips with things. Granted I make a few mistakes here and there but the biggest difference has been the galaxy view to find and move units through the wormhole across multiple planets - it's a doddle! I think I've got my head around the scale of this game too and now have my docks pumping out units and using the L key to split them into groups. The research trees are vary intriguing and something I'll be looking into more thoroughly as well. Actually I think that the L button, the different attack types and the galaxy view inter-planetary movement has totally changed my perception of the interface and now it seems very thorough and robust. I can only suggest you put these specific functions into the tutorials somewhere because they're very powerful methods of reducing micro-management and increasing control. I'm working through the intermediate tutorial (still!) and noticed that when you get to Audor and there are two attack waves coming (fighters and tanks) the tutorial requests you split your existing numbers up. I think this would be a great opportunity to tell the player about the L button.

Anyway I'll report back when I've more to comment on!

[geggis]

Quick question: what's the difference between Attack-move and FRD for engineers/mine layers etc? Is it just that with free roaming there's no limit to the range at which they're willing to act and with Attack-move they act when in range and return to their original position? It's an interesting tactical decision when to employ either if this is the case. For instance I've tended to use attack-move for Mk I engineers and FRD for Mk II+s.

Is there any way of taking a vast fleet and splitting it straight into control groups? That would be handy though I'm not sure exactly how it would work. Perhaps using a 1000 unit fleet and holding Shift + L + say, 4, could split the fleet into quarters 1,2,3,4 respective control groups. I don't think L is a Hold(H) key though is it? Things get complicated though when you have existing control groups as well, unless it overwrote them. I don't know, it was just a thought as I drifted off to sleep last night...

[Revenantus]

Quick question: what's the difference between Attack-move and FRD for engineers/mine layers etc? Is it just that with free roaming there's no limit to the range at which they're willing to act and with Attack-move they act when in range and return to their original position? It's an interesting tactical decision when to employ either if this is the case. For instance I've tended to use attack-move for Mk I engineers and FRD for Mk II+s.

There's no difference between the two modes for engineers. When in either mode, the engineer will look for tasks anywhere on the current planet.

Is there any way of taking a vast fleet and splitting it straight into control groups? That would be handy though I'm not sure exactly how it would work. Perhaps using a 1000 unit fleet and holding Shift + L + say, 4, could split the fleet into quarters 1,2,3,4 respective control groups. I don't think L is a Hold(H) key though is it? Things get complicated though when you have existing control groups as well, unless it overwrote them. I don't know, it was just a thought as I drifted off to sleep last night...

No, there isn't a shortcut for doing that in one fell swoop, but it can still be done via the L and Shift+L shortcut keys;

1. Select the entire fleet. Press L twice. Assign the selection to a control group and move them away from the main fleet.
2. Select the remaining fleet. Press Shift+L. Assign the selection to a control group and move them away from the main fleet.
3. Select the remaining fleet. Press L. Assign the selection to a control group and move them away from the main fleet.
4. Select the remaining fleet. Assign the selection to a control group and move them away from the main fleet.

Four equal control groups should be the result.

EDIT: Thinking about it, that whole process could be performed far more quickly if it were possible to use Alt+# to remove ships assigned to the corresponding control group from the current selection.

[geggis]

Yeah that's what I was doing last night, juggling groups to assign them, but while it was empowering for a newbie to be wielding hotkeys like a nutter it started me thinking about a streamlined way of creating ordered control groups from unorganised fleets. It might be a nice addition if possible rather than the aforementioned method.

Oh and for the record, I'm seriously loving the autonomy of the units in AI War. Once you've cracked Attack-move and FRD, babysitting (micro-ing) becomes a none issue and the whole thing becomes a lot more focused and intentional.