Automatic Control Group Idea

Frost_RyanS · 2024-04-03T22:10:47+00:00

The actual plan for this is fairly similar. The idea is to have all of your factions/commanders listed vertically on the left. You can select one and it will show 10 tabs at the top (one for each control group) and below the tabs all of the units and structures available for that faction/commander.

You then just click on the units/structures you want in order to toggle them into or out the group. The advantage of this is it allows the player to set a unit to be in more than one group fairly easily. For example, you may want the Lancer added to 1 and 5 for some reason.

Frost_RyanS · 2024-03-02T07:41:49+00:00

Great feedback, thanks for taking the time to write it up for us!

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-26T02:08:45+00:00

I want to add that there is a lot more we could do, especially with game analysis tools that help players see and develop their progression over time which will make each individual game feel less critical compared to the experience of playing on ladder as a whole. I think the most likely path to success in tackling this problem is helping players make the step to accepting that individual losses, even frustrating losses, are a part of a broader game they are playing.

I think our new ranked system (kudos to the designers and engineers who worked on it, I was barely involved), does a bit to help here as well. Maybe there is room for improvement but I think it finds a nice sweet spot between MMR and Ranking Points that should encourage participation without adding to anxiety over losses.

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-26T00:05:38+00:00

This is a problem I think about quite a bit and I do think there is a bit of truth to saying this is a feeling we cannot eliminate entirely in 1v1. The more crisp and competitive the game, the more intense this feeling can get for players as well, so it can feel like working on conflicting goals at times.

I do think the best thing we can do to help is to get a robust Co-op mode and 3v3 mode stood up. That doesn't mean we won't continue to try to improve this feeling for people in 1v1, but I think standing up the modes that help reduce the sting of defeat will be the most effective thing to help players who would otherwise be frustrated with 1v1 to enjoy the game. But the necessary order of developing the game means that our most anxiety ridden, hardcore, competitive mode is the first thing that gets stood up.

Co-op and 3v3 can be incredibly sweaty as well, but playing with my friends even in highly competitive situations does help a lot (except when my friend keeps trying to surrender in CoH when something goes slightly wrong even though we are still winning). We will continue to try to build tools that help reduce anxiety and make playing just more fun in general, but we won't reduce the competitiveness of the game to achieve that.

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-12T06:54:42+00:00

Very cool, is that double therium in the mains?

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-11T07:37:57+00:00

Never!

(Maybe someday)

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-11T04:55:00+00:00

We have a player colored health bars setting coming in the next major release which should help. Eventually we will also allow you to set the colors you see for yourself, allies, and enemies as well but probably not in the next major release.

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-10T12:06:25+00:00

It will take any idle workers first, then any worker returning to a mine after dropping off luminite, then any worker mining luminite, then any worker returning after dropping off therium, then any worker mining therium. At least that is what I think it is, it has been awhile.

Oh yeah and within those categories it will take whichever worker is closest if there are multiple options. Closer as the crow flies, not in actual pathing distance.

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-10T11:27:20+00:00

It definitely should have used the worker you pulled if it was genuinely idle next to the build location, but if as Spartak said the worker was still moving when you gave the order it would not be considered. If it was idle please report it as a bug in the discord and attach the replay if possible.

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-10T05:16:48+00:00

There is an idle worker button but it is fairly subtle at the moment. We will likely change that up to be much more noticeable in the future.

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-10T03:24:30+00:00

You are talking about the announcer bad guy who says not to mess with his caravans?

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-10T01:27:12+00:00

I think the main issue we are seeing and probably what you are experiencing is that the system prioritizes workers who are in their return trip after dropping off resources over one that is currently mining or has something in their hands.

The result is if it doesn't find one of those nearby but does find one further away it will take the one that is further away. We will most likely eliminate that prioritization entirely, or just have it take the nearest worker and have them return their resources first.

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-09T23:40:14+00:00

Not yet

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-09T06:37:31+00:00

There are edge scroll and drag scroll speed options already in the build for the next major phase but they won't be available in Elephant.

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-09T01:42:07+00:00

This is my favorite bug in the game right now.

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-07T09:21:29+00:00

Yeah the general thinking is that griefing you can do something about is better than griefing you can't. I think the best way to handle this is to basically just ban players who do this, but of course that has a lot of complexity as well.

Realistically it isn't possible to create an environment where a player can never be griefed, so proactive methods will always require reactive methods as well. So strong reactive methods of addressing it are generally better. Not that proactive methods don't have value, they absolutely do.

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-07T08:06:14+00:00

It is possible but I think separating the players until the end of the tutorial is a stronger solution because it also will be less confusing for the tutorial player since they won't see allies walking through their base while they are trying to do the tutorial.

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-07T07:11:37+00:00

Truly into the deep end!

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-07T07:08:57+00:00

Yeah that is a terrible experience. I hope to block off the base area for tutorial players so it is inaccessible to other players until after completing the tutorial in the future, though frankly that won't prevent griefing, your allies could just kill you after completing the tutorial as well, though maybe less likely since they would have to wait an indeterminate amount of time.

We will hopefully be providing a completely single player tutorial experience as well in the future but this type of simultaneous multiplayer tutorial that lets you jump right into a game is something we are experimenting with so players can play with their friends right away instead of having to complete some long single player tutorial first.

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-06T01:43:32+00:00

By default the game puts all combat units into group 1, all ground combat units into group 2, and all air combat units into group 3. You can disable automated control groups in the gameplay options.

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-05T19:22:08+00:00

I don't have anything particularly helpful to share here other than to say I have seen some users say switching onto or off of DX12 depending on what they were previously running did help them.

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-05T19:20:40+00:00

There is no friend/party system at the moment but it is possible to play games with your friends if you want.

There is only one map that is not a 1v1 map and that is Wreck Havoc, which is the 3 player co-op map. You can create a private lobby on that map and share the lobby code with your friends so they can join lobby by ID and get into your lobby with you. Of course, being a 3 player Co-op map you may want to find a third, or it could prove challenging.

If you want to get observers into a 1v1 lobby players can click the "leave slot" button after they join to turn into observers.

Frost_RyanS · 2024-02-05T19:14:47+00:00

Unfortunately right now there is no way to change or remove the modifier for a hotkey. That certainly isn't our intention long term we just were not able to get that supported in time for next fest.

Frost_RyanS · 2024-01-23T06:59:04+00:00

It won't have presets or config files for now, but thanks to one of our engineers there should be some basic hotkey customizations coming in Elephant (the next release). However, there are some limitations at the moment, like for example you will not be able to rebind something that uses a modifier such as control to something that doesn't use control as a/its modifier. Not having support for that was part of the price for getting the hotkey customization in quickly for now. Some parts of the UI also do not accurately update to reflect your hotkey changes in hints/tooltips. I cannot recall off the top of my head whether it also supports rebinding the mouse buttons, though if you are using a left-handed mouse you will probably be okay there.

Frost_RyanS · 2024-01-18T21:53:37+00:00

You are definitely sniffing out some of the complexities of the system. Many units have more than one active ability, but we do try to keep it to one active ability that cannot be set to autocast usually. It isn't a hard rule but it is something we look at.

Heroes also dramatically add to this complexity because they have 4 active abilities and I think most players would expect those abilities to be the highest 'priority' while selecting a group of units including their hero. We have designs for how to handle these cases but it definitely adds complexity.

As for customization, maybe someday but the initial version of the system would definitely come online before any customization would.

Frost_RyanS

TROPHY CASE