I would like to suggest an idea for the current radar system that shows, When you zoom out to view the planet the icon radar should be split into 2 layers. Layer 1 :- when at medium zoom it could show just icons for Ground forces, air units, and naval units, all planetary based items. and shared icons. Layer 2 :- When at very far zoom and you can see most of the planet and a lot of space have only the icons for orbital units show , and shared icons from layer 1 Shared icons from layer 1 visible in layer 2 :- factory's, commander, the halleys. Also to give more of a 3d spherical effect to the orbital layer of icons (only layer 2), i suggest that maybe icons closest to the center of the screen and planet looking straight down have a slightly zoomed/Bulge effect and be slightly transparent, And for the icons closer to the outer edges of the planet from the players current view angle be slightly smaller. In an example like the zoom effect of the Mac OSX dock or like objectdocks zoomed effect for its windows taskbar replacement/Mac OSX style taskbar. this should allow the icons to be rendered and not look like they are on a flat plane but look more like its rendered around the sphere.
I'm sure this aspect of the game is still a work in progress, but I do agree that some additional clarity would be nice. I find orbital units especially hard to find when over your base (where there are likely many ground units, and therefore icons). Your idea is quite feasible! However I would be worried about fine tune orders if you can only select them at a very zoomed out view (such as selecting a target for the orbital battery). Perhaps a key that you hold down to only display orbital icons for selecting, or the old supcom ctrl-a for air, ctrl-l land, ctrl-o for orbital unit selection and choose your specific orbital unit from there? Orbital unit icons with a different background color (like black instead of white) may be all that's needed to easily differentiate between your forces.
i would suggest fine tuning the switch point or maybe even a hotkey switch to switch between layer 1 and layer 2. or zooming out and selecting the units then zooming in to fine tune the targeting of the attack
I know Orbital is in heavy development right now, but its not too soon to throw some ideas out. I like the idea of two zoom levels on planet scale (3 levels game-wide), of a first stop being the surface and air, second stop being orbital, and third stop being solar system. It is extremely awkward to differentiate between orbital units and air units right now on both radar and also just in the game in general. This also might be a good spot to sneak in an idea i had about transfer orbits. I like transfer orbits alot, but I think its a little awkward to find an enemy com who is flying between planets right now. Maybe before the transfer occurs, there is a period where the ship is orbiting the original body so it can be intercepted more easily. I think this might be how it works now, but kind of like in SOSE how when your fleet is jumping between systems, they spin up at the edge of the system, giving you time to intercept them before they jump.
Hi, I was thinking much the same as this- actually I might like it to go a stage further and allow 2 zoom layers as at the moment its almost impossible to focus the camera on the orbital layer. I would like to be able to hit a switch or press a short-cut to focus on orbital with view of the planetary stuff off or diminished. I also think that the strategic icons should be colour coded so that planet layer are one colour and orbital another whereas at the moment everything is simply your team colour. I personally think that in terms of colours, coding based on layer and type is more useful that team colours... A possible convention for this could be: 1: Your units- light green ground / dark green orbital 2: Allies light / dark blue (once we have a separate armies team mode) 3: Enemy light / dark red.
