UI ideas -- Measuring distance, copy/rotate fixed defense, scrape with remainngs

[carldong]

I always wanted to do three things in the original AI war. One of which is distance measuring -- which I really hope exists when I sneak a (blind) Armored Warhead deep into space into AI Homeworld and blitz-destroy that Wrath Lance, while racing the shot of Warhead Interceptor. Currently I do that with the time machine -- a.k.a Save/Load.

The second thing is copying/rotating entire defense setups, or even better, with some simpler ways to draw lines between important objects, like wormholes. You see, most of the time, other than the most unusual cases(like hubs with 8 connections), planetary defenses are basically in the same form(Kahuna-style, pointed spear of death, road of mines, etc). And currently I think it is somewhat tedious to setup everything with line-drawing with movements, multi line placements, etc.

The third thing is the ability to really disable defense while shutting down power, but I might be using the wrong wording here. Some may say this poses balance issues because then you can builld defenses on everywhere and turn on as needed, but I don't mean that. Time by time, the main chokepoint gets breached, with three quarters of turrents still remaining but command station and energy collector gone -- And you are in total blackout. In the Classic, I have no choice but scrap all turrets and rebuild them from scrach later. That is super tedious -- I would hope there is an option to turn off or at least scrap with remainings, so that I don't need to place the turrets again. Especially if the chokepoint features careful/delicate/ingenious timing optimization which will drop performance by a few times with the slightest modification(I have a test on defending a 10/10 CPA with 10000+ ships with only one world worth of energy and K. Moving the configuration slightly, or on another map with different wormhold position, will spell doom less than half way through).

[carldong]

Oh, and if you can support "in-place turret upgrade", that would be awesome too. For me, even my deep territory gets half cap of highest Mk turrets. Each time I research new turrets though, I would not bother to upgrade all those because I need to scrap them by hand and place again... Until an unscouted nomad planet drifts by with thousands of Threat on it(my mistake, of course). If there is an inplace upgrade that auto scraps the old turret and places a new one at exactly the same place, it would be a much easier time.

[carldong]

I think I should movce the topic to UI subforum, but well I can't do it by myself

[Tridus]

Some of these are going to look different anyway, as power is per planet in the sequel. So, power on a given planet *only* powers defenses on that planet. Nothing else. Ships don't use it (they use fuel, a different resouce). Hence, the power game is going to look different anyway.

[carldong]

Some of these are going to look different anyway, as power is per planet in the sequel. So, power on a given planet *only* powers defenses on that planet. Nothing else. Ships don't use it (they use fuel, a different resouce). Hence, the power game is going to look different anyway.

Hmm, it is difficult to find what the new mechanics will be. Is it in a separate post? Although, I still think copy/pasting defense will make sense. At least, if turrets work similarly

[Tridus]

There's some design documents explained in the Kickstarter that cover some of it. Try these:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15SQiart062NJRSockhQk9OLaoIj933vKkz59DvFhL90/edit
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19dWF_HdhKoxugfByN_2G2FN3NifJrrrof9pf-d7acBE/edit

[Kahuna]

simpler ways to draw lines between important objects, like wormholes.

I would hope there is an option to turn off or at least scrap with remainings, so that I don't need to place the turrets again

Both of those combined with the ability to see other turrets' ranges while placing more turrets would be a drastic quality of life improvement.

It used to be possible to power down ships and structures but I don't remember what was the rationale for removing it. It's no longer a "power off mode" but a "stand down mode".

Time by time, the main chokepoint gets breached, with three quarters of turrents still remaining but command station and energy collector gone -- And you are in total blackout. In the Classic, I have no choice but scrap all turrets and rebuild them from scrach later. That is super tedious

Yeah that combined with Plasma Siege Starships one shotting the command station and the matter converters under quadrillion force fields is absolutely infuriating (Keith already noted this is going to change), which definitely isn't a good thing if you want players to stick around for a long time.

[Lord Of Nothing]

simpler ways to draw lines between important objects, like wormholes.

I would hope there is an option to turn off or at least scrap with remainings, so that I don't need to place the turrets again

Both of those combined with the ability to see other turrets' ranges while placing more turrets would be a drastic quality of life improvement.

It used to be possible to power down ships and structures but I don't remember what was the rationale for removing it. It's no longer a "power off mode" but a "stand down mode".

Time by time, the main chokepoint gets breached, with three quarters of turrents still remaining but command station and energy collector gone -- And you are in total blackout. In the Classic, I have no choice but scrap all turrets and rebuild them from scrach later. That is super tedious

Yeah that combined with Plasma Siege Starships one shotting the command station and the matter converters under quadrillion force fields is absolutely infuriating (Keith already noted this is going to change), which definitely isn't a good thing if you want players to stick around for a long time.

I think the turnoff change rationale was the fact that, combined with the metal cost of converters, it made micromanaging turning defences and ships on and off a little too optimal and nearly bypassed the whole mechanic.

I'd love the ability to save defence layouts, though- templates in supreme commander was a favorite feature of mine, and AI War suits it a lot better with the lack of terrain slopes that always got in the way.

[Timerlane]

Am I the only one who uses the old line-place tool 'backwards'?

Swap the values(if you want 2 lines of 10 turrets, set it to 10 lines of 2 turrets), and of course, packed lines. You can then literally draw the line right from your station to the wormhole(or wherever), and the turret lines you build will be perfectly perpendicular to the line you just made.

You can't do x lines of 1 turret, though; that makes it rotate back for whatever reason.

[carldong]

Am I the only one who uses the old line-place tool 'backwards'?

Swap the values(if you want 2 lines of 10 turrets, set it to 10 lines of 2 turrets), and of course, packed lines. You can then literally draw the line right from your station to the wormhole(or wherever), and the turret lines you build will be perfectly perpendicular to the line you just made.

You can't do x lines of 1 turret, though; that makes it rotate back for whatever reason.

I am using this method. Better than the movement one, but still requites quite some work. Especially in some big games where you need to place turrets MkI -> MkIV, precision placement, dirty FF tricks and combat engineer groups, etc.