Interface questions (mostly about unit selection)

[aspo]

I got this game on the steam sale and it's pretty fun but I feel like I'm still fighting with the interface, especially when it comes to selecting and deploying ships.  I've been reading around on this board, but I'm still a bit confused about some things.

If I have a group selected is there an easy way to select a sub-selection of units from the currently selected ones?  There's two cases where this would be really helpful:  I have my big attack fleet all selected and I want to send off say just the fighters to go deal with a problem.  I have the attack fleet hotkeyed, and I'd like to then be able to hold down some key and select the fighter button on the right and boom, suddenly have all the fighters that are part of my attack fleet.  Case 2:  I  want to send off a small squad of fighters to deal with a small attacking force.  So click on the fighter button select all the fighters, now hold down some key and draw a box over a small group of fighters, and I know that I'm only going to select my fighters and not grab a few bombers and missile cruisers by mistake.

Alt and V moving are quite useful, but is there a good way to say "move to place X and THEN start chasing down the bad guys"?  It seems like if I alt move somewhere and there's an enemy ship nearby my ships fo chase down that enemy before moving to their destination, (possibly getting further distracted on the way).  I want the ships to go to their destination first, because it's more important that they get there now than it is to mop up a few stragglers, but once they are there I want them to have a bit more autonomy.

Finally, can I reorder one part of a build queue?  If I need bombers now now now can I add 50 bombers to the queue and put them at the front of a queue or do I need to clear my queue, add the bombers and then remember to reset my queue once I've got enough bombers to deal with the current menace?

[Revenantus]

Welcome, aspo!

If I have a group selected is there an easy way to select a sub-selection of units from the currently selected ones?  There's two cases where this would be really helpful:  I have my big attack fleet all selected and I want to send off say just the fighters to go deal with a problem.  I have the attack fleet hotkeyed, and I'd like to then be able to hold down some key and select the fighter button on the right and boom, suddenly have all the fighters that are part of my attack fleet.  Case 2:  I  want to send off a small squad of fighters to deal with a small attacking force.  So click on the fighter button select all the fighters, now hold down some key and draw a box over a small group of fighters, and I know that I'm only going to select my fighters and not grab a few bombers and missile cruisers by mistake.

There are a few things you can do here;

1. Double left clicking on a unit type will select all units of that type currently on the screen.

2. When you have units selected, a box appears at the bottom of the screen containing a number signifying how many units are a part of your current selection. Left clicking on this box brings up a list of the units in your selection broken down by type. Left clicking on a type will select only the units of that type which are part of the selection. In addition, while on this menu, you can use alt+right click to remove individual unit types from the selection. Alt+shift+right click can be used to remove multiple types of unit from the selection.

In the prereleases, you can use shift+left click on this menu to select all the ships of the same class. For example, shift+left clicking any mark level of fighter will select all mark levels of fighter.

3. The latest prerelease contains some new control group management features that might be handy in this area. Specifically units can now belong to multiple control groups, and the following shortcuts are available;

Ctrl+Alt+0-9:   Remove units from control group.
Shift+Alt+0-9   Deselect control group units.
Ctrl+X+0-9:   Set control group and remove unit from its other control groups.

Alt and V moving are quite useful, but is there a good way to say "move to place X and THEN start chasing down the bad guys"?  It seems like if I alt move somewhere and there's an enemy ship nearby my ships fo chase down that enemy before moving to their destination, (possibly getting further distracted on the way).  I want the ships to go to their destination first, because it's more important that they get there now than it is to mop up a few stragglers, but once they are there I want them to have a bit more autonomy.

Not in version 2.0 of the game I'm afraid, but that is possible in the 2.001 prereleases. Movement types are now attached to individual orders, so you can order a normal move to point A, and hold Shift+V to order units to move in FRD mode to point B.

Finally, can I reorder one part of a build queue?  If I need bombers now now now can I add 50 bombers to the queue and put them at the front of a queue or do I need to clear my queue, add the bombers and then remember to reset my queue once I've got enough bombers to deal with the current menace?

Yes, you can. Alt and left clicking on a queue item will send it straight to the front of the build queue. Similarly, pressing alt and right clicking will send an item to the back of the queue.

Now, reading back, I realise I've mentioned the prereleases more than a few times. The latest is available Here - be sure to read the FAQ.

Hope this helps!

[aspo]

Wow, thanks for the quick response.  Just one question:

2. When you have units selected, a box appears at the bottom of the screen containing a number signifying how many units are a part of your current selection. Left clicking on this box brings up a list of the units in your selection broken down by type. Left clicking on a type will select only the units of that type which are part of the selection. In addition, while on this menu, you can use alt+right click to remove individual unit types from the selection. Shift+alt+right click can be used to remove multiple types of unit from the selection.

Ahh.  I forgot about that box, thanks.  That does almost every thing I'd want.  Just out of curiosity, why is it alt+right click instead of alt+left click?  I've got to admit what's a left click and what's a right click sometimes confuses me.  I don't see a list of what you can do with that box on the key reference sheet, are there other hidden key combinations like that?  And while I still wish there was a "only sub-select from the current selection" modifier key I guess you are running out keys.

[Revenantus]

Ahh.  I forgot about that box, thanks.  That does almost every thing I'd want.  Just out of curiosity, why is it alt+right click instead of alt+left click?  I've got to admit what's a left click and what's a right click sometimes confuses me.

I've actually spoken a bit of rubbish there (I'm a bit tired). Right click alone will remove that unit type from the control group, and shift + right click is used for removing multiple unit types from the control group. Alt isn't required. I do apologize.

 I don't see a list of what you can do with that box on the key reference sheet, are there other hidden key combinations like that?  And while I still wish there was a "only sub-select from the current selection" modifier key I guess you are running out keys.

There aren't meant to be any hidden key combinations no, and any I've missed should be available in the controls.txt file in your AI War directory. I'll add those to the printable reference when I have a few minutes.