Hello,
This may have been requested already, but what do you think about a more direct mean to take a new weapon from the backpack and to store the old one in the backpack (from the Equipment window). In short to swap between an equipped weapon and a stored weapon.
After all, our soldiers already are able to take a secondary weapon from their backpack without dropping their main weapon!
The difficulty I see is that putting an item in the backpack (or another storage space) requires that the item's "blueprint" is reserved in it (the green shape). So let it be. Prior to the real swap, a test would remove the new item from the backpack before checking if the "blueprint" is present" (the same test that prevents an item to be manually added to the backpack). In case the test fails, swap would be canceled at no TU cost.
Screenshot 1:
The shortest way to switch weapons takes 14 TUs and 3 clicks:
- drop the main weapon to the ground;
- take the new weapon from the backpack and put it in the main weapon slot (if a two hands weapon, auxiliary weapon slot must be empty too);
- take the old weapon from the ground and put it in the backpack.
Eventually, if the soldier's inventory was not carefully managed, you have to arrange the backpack before taking the weapon on the ground, but this is not to be made in the open!
Screenshot 2:
In one click and drag, and for the same TU cost, both weapons would be swapped. Let's not bother any backpack auto-management algorithm: the open is not the place to pack. If you have to spend a turn or two to make room for a weapon, better hide in cover. And this is a comfort feature.
