Request for GUI feature

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by cat1974, March 17, 2014.

  1. cat1974

    cat1974 New Member

    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    9
    Hi,I am new here, I hope this is the right place for a request to the devs. I would find it really cool if you had the option of automatically resupply groups. Let's say you created an air group on group no. 1. Then you select a factory and mapped the destination point on that group. The new units then would automatically be put in group 1. A possible solution for that would be that by creating a group a small (preferably transparent) icon with tbe number would appear on the left side of the screen. This icon would be the point to right click (or shift right click) to connect the factory output to the group. As long as the group isn't wiped out completly it would be reinforced. Please let me know what you think of it. Thank you, Cat1974
  2. LavaSnake

    LavaSnake Post Master General

    Messages:
    1,620
    Likes Received:
    691
    Great idea, it would be really helpful! Things like this will hopefully come as the UI is improved and if not mods should make it happen once Uber finishes the modding tool set.
  3. cptconundrum

    cptconundrum Post Master General

    Messages:
    4,186
    Likes Received:
    4,900
    Total annihilation had a great feature that let you assign factories as part of a group. Everything that factory produced would automatically join the group after that.
    cat1974 and puppeh like this.
  4. mered4

    mered4 Post Master General

    Messages:
    4,083
    Likes Received:
    3,149
    I wish I had that - I remember having something sort of like that in LASW.

    Made organizing my armies so much easier.
  5. nofear1299

    nofear1299 Active Member

    Messages:
    294
    Likes Received:
    147
    I'm sure I heard somewhere that it actually does this already. Haven't tested it though!

    Someone thought it was a bug but turned out to be a feature
  6. tatsujb

    tatsujb Post Master General

    Messages:
    12,902
    Likes Received:
    5,385
    that's a great idea. I think this should be default,

    and there should be an option in settings to have the group be selected when you click on one of the units, and a hotkey to do the same otherwise.

    this way you can go around with you battlegroup doing micro not needing to worry too much about PA's pocorny nature.

    (That said fixing the popcorny nature first would go a longer ways to soleve a lot of other problems including the overabundance of wrecks and how they ruin combat)
  7. totalannihilation

    totalannihilation Active Member

    Messages:
    215
    Likes Received:
    168
    This feature exists in Rise of Nations and works exactly like you described
    set the rally point to follow one of the units of a group, and it will add all the new units to that group automatically
  8. Remy561

    Remy561 Post Master General

    Messages:
    1,016
    Likes Received:
    641
    Like in supreme commander 2? Where you see those group unit count numbers with strategic view?
    I'd like to see automatic groups like in supcom 2 ;)
  9. catses

    catses Member

    Messages:
    38
    Likes Received:
    47
    Nice idea, definitely feasible I would think and has the precedent of existing in TA and other games as has been said.

    I always liked the way fleets were managed in Sins, though this idea wouldnt translate well into PA as there are no "hero" units - but still I think unit management and UI design are two key areas we could see a lot of improvement in over time.
  10. cat1974

    cat1974 New Member

    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    9
    Another thing I really would like to see is a way to saves routes. There could be an icon (for example an tranparent +) if you click it you could choose a starting point and then additional waypoints. If your planned route is complete you save it and an icon (A then B and so on) would appear beneath the + icon. You could then right click a factory output on the icon A, and some units or additional factories and all the units would travel along that route. The routes could be changed by left clicking the route icon and then shift left dragging the waypoints. This way you could preplan different attack vectors and change them as you see fit. Perhaps it would even be possible to include timers in the routes, like for example at waypoint 4 of route A wait till game time 03:45 before travelling on to waypoint 5 to better coordinate attacks from multiple directions.
  11. Taxman66

    Taxman66 Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    567
    Likes Received:
    343
    Best 1st post I have seen on any forum in a while! +1
    Great idea, pushes attention to battle rather than production.
    LavaSnake likes this.
  12. puppeh

    puppeh Member

    Messages:
    42
    Likes Received:
    9
    Exactly what I thought when I read the OP. I believe supcom does that too. I did try and see if it also worked like that in PA a few weeks ago, and it didn't appear to assign produced units to the assigned group.
  13. Geers

    Geers Post Master General

    Messages:
    6,946
    Likes Received:
    6,820
    In SupCom if you told a factory to assist another factory it would build the same queue.
  14. puppeh

    puppeh Member

    Messages:
    42
    Likes Received:
    9
    Yes, I was just referring to the automatic assignment of group ids though. In fact, now you mention assisting factories, am I right in thinking that you could have two factories sharing the same build queue, but you could assign individual group numbers to them?
  15. tatsujb

    tatsujb Post Master General

    Messages:
    12,902
    Likes Received:
    5,385
    yes

Share This Page