Hi,
I've been playing the last 3 or 4 stable releases, and keep coming back for more. Loving it. =)
I have some suggestions which I haven't seen before, as far as I know;
I've spent the last ~45 minutes searching the forums, so forgive me if I'm mistaken here.
With 2.3 I've started playing with the alternative HUD, which is
far superior to the original (no offense meant to its designer).
However, I'd like to suggest some improvements:
1.
Inconsistent information bars: The order of Health-TUs-Morale bars is inconsistent between the detailed actor view,
and the little actor shortcuts at the bottom.
I think this is needlessly confusing, and should be aligned together.
I personally like the order in the little actor shortcuts: Morale-Health-TUs.
2.
The "use item" button for activating a weapon\medkit\whatever is too small, and possibly useless.
In my opinion, it would be far better if, instead, clicking the image of the item itself
(which is much bigger) would open the same context menu (aimed shot\snap shot\throw\heal\etc.).
3.
Switch to main hand\offhand buttons: I almost always pan right, accidentally, when trying to switch to the offhand view,
in order to throw a grenade or use a medkit. This is rather annoying, and could be fixed easily:
Simply switch the positions of the "switch hand" buttons with the "available ammo in clip" number,
since the latter never needs to be clicked on.
Also, consider replacing the current two-arrows button(s) with one toggle button, which simply switches view to the OTHER hand.
4. Move the two "reserve TUs" buttons (for shooting, and for crouching) to a dedicated GUI panel.
I'm saying TWO because I don't think the RF reservation belongs there.
5. Still on TU reservation:
When I save TUs for a certain action, it's logical to allow this action.
Instead, I have to reserve TUs for an aimed shot, for example,
walk to where I want to, then un-reserve the TUs, then shoot.
I'd expect to be able to just perform the aimed shot if that's what I reserved TUs for,
even if it would drain my remaining TUs to 0.
Non-HUD suggestion:6.
Hit or miss? It's difficult to determine if a shot missed, or hit (especially with plasma rifles, IMO).
It would be nice to use a multi-line message (for the case of multiple victims) to inform the player, that
"<actor name> has been hit".
BTW, this is consistent with military training, where a soldier learns to identify his\her hits and missed quickly...
Anyway, this should apply to both sides (if I hit an alien, or an alien hits my actors).
7.
Weapons range: It's kind of frustrating when, for example, a plasma pistol kicks my arse from 150 meters,
after I've read its research description, and learned its shots are (supposedly) useless in this range.
I was wondering whether it is a bug, missing feature, or simply meant to stay that way?
8.
Grenades Bring back the incendiary grenades. Please!
It's frustrating to read about how the aliens' armor is good against everything but cooking,
and not being able to buy\produce incendiary grenades.
You can keep the useless smoke grenades in the cellar, though. =)
I hope you'd find this input useful.
Thanks for a great game so far!
