Tooltips again!

[nas1m]

Screen space is definitely kind of an issue for me since I am playing on a laptop. I would at least like to have some possibility to limit the information in the tooltips and/or select which fields are of interest to me as a player...

[doctorfrog]

One thing I wouldn't mind adding to a tooltip (or even to the planetary summary) is some indication of what a unit does. We don't have to be too specific here, given the sheer boatload of ship types there are, but a small symbol would be helpful that gave a better hint as to the unit's primary purpose.

Some sample categories:
- a symbol for non-combat units (scouts, etc.)
- a symbol for support units (ones whose use isn't so much that they shoot other units, even if they have an ammo type)
- a symbol for assault units
- a symbol specific to the triangle units
- etc. No more than 8 to stay meaningful.

Even though there are numerous sub-categories for any of these, having a small set of easily-learned symbols nearby the unit name in the tooltip would quickly convey the character and intent of the unit design, if nothing else.

Also, and this is a very separate point for me, but it always bugs me a bit when I see a sci-fi game use icons that are out of context for the game, even if they are more meaningful to the user. This is partly why I am a bit anti-icon. For example, for a ship's speed, you might be tempted to represent this with a sneaker/trainer, and the symbol for a gasoline engine to represent the engine status on a unit. I find this a little jarring, and it affects the character of a game in a small but significant way.

There are some symbols that are so universal that they don't do this, such as a lightning bolt representing energy, but I'd imagine we'd run out of those quickly. Some symbols are only slightly inappropriate for the sci-fi theme, but are so common that they escape notice, such as using beakers to represent science, a gear to represent industry or manufacturing, or a wrench to represent repair. AI War takes place in a sufficiently advanced future that these come across as anachronistic, but are so common they don't stick out the way other icons might.

Lastly, it may be prudent to hire an icon artist for these, who specializes in very small, but meaningful icons. Like this guy: http://p.yusukekamiyamane.com/ (Because of course Arcen is made of money.)

[Bognor]

While we're talking about tooltips, does anyone else wish DPS (or cap DPS) was listed?  I end up either calculating it or looking it up all the time.

[orzelek]

While we're talking about tooltips, does anyone else wish DPS (or cap DPS) was listed?  I end up either calculating it or looking it up all the time.

You actually reminded me of something.
I would also like dps to be displayed in the damage to do tooltip: mantis

[LaughingThesaurus]

I actually really like the idea of a simple tooltip that you just mouse over for, and then you can hold shift for details, words for each icon, etc. It'd even say 'hold shift for advanced tooltip' on the simple one somewhere.

[RCIX]

Slight delay, i accidentally nuked the work once I had it mostly finished.

[Hearteater]

I don't think DPS is as useful on the tooltip, however, it might be nice to have a CapDPS/CapHealth value show up for all selected ships, say at the bottom of the selected ships box.  Another option (in addition maybe) would be to do the same thing for select box drawing.  Right now you'll see ship counts within the select box you draw.  Might be nice to see cap dps/health of each side as well.

[Winge]

I don't think DPS is as useful on the tooltip, however, it might be nice to have a CapDPS/CapHealth value show up for all selected ships, say at the bottom of the selected ships box.  Another option (in addition maybe) would be to do the same thing for select box drawing.  Right now you'll see ship counts within the select box you draw.  Might be nice to see cap dps/health of each side as well.

I like that idea.  For reference purposes, you could also add cap HP and cap DPS to the 'directory' of ship types that you can display on the right-hand side.  Special cap ships, like the Minifort, Imperial Spire Ships, and Nebula Rewards could be by system, or 8 shipyards (to include all possible ships), respectively.

[Diazo]

Erm, I'm not sure about adding more stuff.

I think in game everything you need is displayed, CapHealth, CapDPS and stuff is getting into reference and theory craft numbers and does that really matter in game?

In game I don't care about the exact numbers, I care about who has attack bonuses and immunities and what ship abilities are (cloaking, etc.).

There have been a few people in the thread asking to make the tool tip smaller as it is, adding more information will just make it bigger.

D.

[RCIX]

Alright then, I really liked the changes [someone] did to it, so therefore I submit:



Which would expand to either:



or



()

[Radiant Phoenix]

I feel strongly about putting the attack figures into something approximating a natural sentence (This ship fires ______ that do ______ damage [and __ seconds of paralysis, and ____ engine damage, and vampirisim, and...] __ times every __ seconds at ______ pixels with the following multipliers: ____)

Also, engine speed should probably go in front of engine health, and hull type should go immediately before or after HP.

Armor should go after both hull type and HP, because it just almost never matters as much as those two, IMO.

[RCIX]

I feel strongly about putting the attack figures into something approximating a natural sentence (This ship fires ______ that do ______ damage [and __ seconds of paralysis, and ____ engine damage, and vampirisim, and...] __ times every __ seconds at ______ pixels with the following multipliers: ____)

Also, engine speed should probably go in front of engine health, and hull type should go immediately before or after HP.

Armor should go after both hull type and HP, because it just almost never matters as much as those two, IMO.

It's a nice idea, but it becomes really hard to parse for data quickly. Also gobbles space.

[mattwakeman]

Have you thought about opening up a poll (or something like that) to ask what information people actually want from tool tips and using that as the basis for a design? I ask because if you look at the default tooltip attack is pretty much the first piece of information that my eyes fall on. I know that when people get used to stuff they no longer look at it in the same way but it is just striking to me that where the information on your mock-ups are (which I like by the way) is different to the default.

I like the idea of graphics and concise information but I think that it needs to be really clear as to what people really use these things 1) for and 2) most often.

[LaughingThesaurus]

This is a pretty hardcore strategy game, though. At higher levels, you can't make the high level strategic decisions that you need to make without knowing what every one of your options really is. That's why there are so many stats and comparison features and stuff.

[Kahuna]

The current tooltips are perfect and there's nothing wrong with them. I prefer text over those icons. If AIW gets new tool tips the player should be able to choose between text and icon tooltips.