Technical support > Feature Requests
Reaction fire & TU reservation
Sandro:
Personally, I don't like how those are handled currently, and got some ideas for improvement. Mentioned those a few months ago at IRC, but was too lazy for proper explanation :( Anyway, now it is written, so here goes:
First, what we should do when designing the UI and underlying game logic, is to consider how easy it would be for player to understand and to interact with. Which requires understanding of what and when player would want to do with UI controls, and how often. And that brings us to the topic: reaction fire and TU reservation controls.
Why anyone would reserve TUs for firing? To avoid accidentally spending them on moving, of course! There simply could be no other reason. But current design does more: it prevents TUs reserved for shooting ... from being used for shooting! What is the logic behind this? I fail to see it.
To continue with, not only TU reservation, but RF TU reservation prevents player from shooting. For me, it is illogical too: first, any reasonable player would fire a gun only if he got an alien he is able to shoot at, and in that case saving TUs for RF is a bad strategy, since the earlier you have killed that alien, the better; second, firing a gun in UFO:AI requires three step sequence: click the "crosshairs" icon, select firemode, select target; there is almost no chance to do that by accident, so no protection is needed. RF TU reservation should not block a player from firing a gun. He expressed his decision to spend those TUs by following a sequence of UI manipulations and there is no reason to add more -- that will just add extra frustration.
Even more, current system got a rather complex logic with two TU reservation pools: one for RF and other not for RF, which stack, rather than overlap. To me, that seems to be overcompicated logic: if player reserves TUs for shooting ... he just reserves TUs for shooting, not for "one way of shooting" and the "other way of shooting after the first shooting is done, if any". Try to imagine the combat situation when that could be needed!
Most likely, the only difference is whether he will use them for shooting on his turn, or leave them reserved for RF on the alien turn. Hence, two reservation systems are not needed: one is enough.
So, my proposals are:
1) Instead of what we got now, just make a pair of on/off switches, with first of them enabling TU reservation, and other enabling the reaction fire. That should be enough of controls.
2) There should be a global control for people like me who want RF to be always on (could completely remove "RF" button from the battlescape UI).
3) Reserved TUs should NOT be protected from being spent for firing or reloading.
4) A little extra: no "RF firemode selection". RF should automatically use a firemode which will deliver the max damage for available TUs. When alien jumps you from behind the corner, it's not a time for conserving the ammo. You just pull the trigger and don't release it until one of you is dead, that's all.
Opinions, anyone?
H-Hour:
--- Quote from: Sandro on August 29, 2012, 04:34:11 pm ---1) Instead of what we got now, just make a pair of on/off switches, with first of them enabling TU reservation, and other enabling the reaction fire. That should be enough of controls.
--- End quote ---
I'm not sure if I understand this proposal perfectly, but I think it is similar to the design planned for UI2. Just one button: RF on/off. If RF is on, the TUs are "reserved". Turn RF off to use those TUs.
--- Quote from: Sandro on August 29, 2012, 04:34:11 pm ---2) There should be a global control for people like me who want RF to be always on (could completely remove "RF" button from the battlescape UI).
--- End quote ---
I'm not really sure it's such a good idea strategically or in terms of design. Strategically: there are cases where I've cleared one side of a map and want to run my soldiers as fast as possible to the other side. If TUs were always reserved it would slow them down considerably. Design: I foresee some situations where unsuspecting players disable it by accident and then never learn that RF fire is possible. If it's any consolation, UI2 generally streamlines the number of buttons on the HUD so it's not as cluttered.
--- Quote from: Sandro on August 29, 2012, 04:34:11 pm ---3) Reserved TUs should NOT be protected from being spent for firing or reloading.
--- End quote ---
I am not in favor of this idea. There are plenty of times when a soldier will see an alien but the player may not want to spend his reaction fire TUs. The player can use a different soldier to kill the alien, leaving RF TUs in place for the more exposed soldier.
--- Quote from: Sandro on August 29, 2012, 04:34:11 pm ---4) A little extra: no "RF firemode selection". RF should automatically use a firemode which will deliver the max damage for available TUs. When alien jumps you from behind the corner, it's not a time for conserving the ammo. You just pull the trigger and don't release it until one of you is dead, that's all.
--- End quote ---
I am not in favor of this idea either. I appreciate that the firemode selection of RF is quite involved, and often goes completely unnoticed by players because of this. It's not clear and I don't know a good way to make it clear.
However, there are several instances where control over the RF method is very important. If I have a soldier with a machine gun and I expect the potential for RF at a distance, I want to be sure he does not waste TU or ammo on the 5-round burst. He needs to wait for the full 25-round burst or the RF will be useless. At distance I may want to preference an aimed shot for a sniper, or a snap shot if the alien is likely to be close. Then think of weapons like the plasma blaster (snap, burst and ball mode). Each is useful only in very specific circumstances, and I want to be able to tell my soldier which one to use depending on where I expect aliens to emerge.
Sandro:
Quick answer for point #3, since I don't have a time right now for longer explanations other points require:
--- Quote from: H-Hour on August 29, 2012, 05:17:26 pm ---I am not in favor of this idea. There are plenty of times when a soldier will see an alien but the player may not want to spend his reaction fire TUs. The player can use a different soldier to kill the alien, leaving RF TUs in place for the more exposed soldier.
--- End quote ---
In that case nothing changes: player just switches to other soldier and commands him/her. I don't see a problem here. It just saves two UI clicks and, which is more important, a memory slot in player's own brain, which is needed to remember to turn RF back on on next turn. My proposal breaks nothing and removes useless piece of micromanagement.
Sandro:
OK, continuing with those, now the #1:
--- Quote from: H-Hour on August 29, 2012, 05:17:26 pm ---I'm not sure if I understand this proposal perfectly, but I think it is similar to the design planned for UI2. Just one button: RF on/off. If RF is on, the TUs are "reserved". Turn RF off to use those TUs.
--- End quote ---
1) Almost similar (my proposal got 4 fine cases, yours got rough 2), if you allow to spend reserved TUs for firing or reloading.
2) "Turn it it off": That is important because switching requires extra clicks which are absolutely not required IMHO.
Sandro:
--- Quote from: H-Hour on August 29, 2012, 05:17:26 pm ---However, there are several instances where control over the RF method is very important. If I have a soldier with a machine gun and I expect the potential for RF at a distance, I want to be sure he does not waste TU or ammo on the 5-round burst. He needs to wait for the full 25-round burst or the RF will be useless. At distance I may want to preference an aimed shot for a sniper, or a snap shot if the alien is likely to be close. Then think of weapons like the plasma blaster (snap, burst and ball mode). Each is useful only in very specific circumstances, and I want to be able to tell my soldier which one to use depending on where I expect aliens to emerge.
--- End quote ---
What if we have separate RF mode selection ways? So if player selects one, it will always be used, but in case of no selection, automatic selector will take the rule? IMHO it will solve all the possible problems.
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