Future queuing/ reorganizing orders/ move Build ETAs

Currently the PA UI is incomplete. your build queue shows up as an (incomplete!) set of numbers representing what will come out but not in what order.

FA had a panel come up when you selected a factory (kinda like we have now...)(but most importantly an incomplete factory)(we also already have that in PA btw) that contained all the orders you could give the factory including a list of things it can build (topmost); along with another scrollable list of things it contained in it's build queue (bottommost) (the first of which being the unit currently being built). on a 1920x1080 screen you'd see 28 items/units (with the sequential and identical ones grouped into 1 with a number on it for quantity, and you could even tech and queue up the things of the next tech) that you could 'select':


But 'delete' was the only thing you could do from there. GAZ_UI added the possibility to click and drag them around to rearrange your build queue at leisure.

currently in PA the two lists are fused into one and this is heavily handicapping for it's UI.

basically in our fantasy UI (that you have to imagine) (and you better believe the UI is going to change because Garat and Neutrino said so a heckton of times) you'd select the engie from there (or whatever the PA newUI equivalent translates to).

well what's even more niche than that is the chrono cam (no offense!!!) but really right now, how many players do you see using it in gameplay?

I'm coming up with uses for it that will chip away at it's nicheness and turn it into "essential", "vital", "irreplaceable".

but enough with that, it was the cherry on my HUGE fudge sundae... what do you think of future orders?

What?????? * head scratch*

I think the Notifications system we were talking about in the Mock-Up thread is a very good use of ChronoCam.

I could see myself using that all the time.

what about the possiblity to queue up things into the future?

Isn't the the point of "Orders as First Class Entities"?

Unless I'm understanding it wrong, this would be the ability to place an "attack" command independent of any units.

So instead of being forced to "select unit", "Attack X-target".
You can "Attack X-target", then "select unit" to assign to that command.



Here's an everyday example on this very forum.... typing out bold text.

You can...
1. type your text
2. highlight it
3. Bold it.

or

You can...
1. Select bold
2. Type your text.


I think in programming speak,
What we have now is called "noun-verb" (thing, then action).
Orders as First Class Entities means that we can also swap this around to "verb-noun" (action, then thing).


It's right at the top of the UI requested features list

no, it has nothing to do with them (though the two may work well together, but back on track... they are separate ideas.)

my idea is selecting things that have absolutely no existence in the current time.

you can do this halfway in today's PA : you can select and tell what to do factories that are being built... this works on the assumption that the factory will attain completion. The game does not worry about when.

I wish to take this even further and... say, select the engie you queued up and shift-queue up a bunch of structures for once it comes out of the factory.
shift-queue up a bunch of actions for the units.

You could select the white frame of a factory in your build queue and tell it what to do and what it's units will do, and what the frameworks you queue up with the units that will come out of this factory will do.

all that to no limits.

I'd settle for a simple "comprehensive" queuing system that understands certain things will be allowed because of certain other queues.

such as for example queuing up a reclaim order on one of your own structures and then a build right where it stands (stood (in a couple minutes)), thereby being in mutual understanding with the user that that structure will be gone, hence building there will be possible.

if we were to snap on the first class entity orders then you could select a t1 engie, force open the t2 structures menu and place down a t2 structure inside a patrol zone you set as a t2 factory's rally point. A t2 factory that you just started building and in which you queued up t2 engies.

this means :

the t1 engie will halt at the build point and wait for the arrival of the t2 engie (like they always do) and once the t2 engie arrives at the patrol zone it will automatically assist the t1 engie within it ...annnnnd .....presto!

That's a pretty good idea. Especially as currently the role of the T2 fabber (for me anyway) is to lay down a whole load of templates for structures for t1 fabbers to actually build.

That goes for t1 air fabbers also.

thank you!

I'm glad my idea is actually not too hard to understand.

Sa

Same should be possible for move orders. The ferry command in SupCom is really cool it is a pity it doesn't work with just land units

-tatsu
Really I see it as a much more straightforward then a lot of other mechanics.
In anycase PA is a serious-style RTS with massive numbers of units to handle. You need someone with a big attention span to play these sorts of games. I'd say due to the quickness of starcraft II you don't even need such a long attention span, unless you're engaged in a longer match.
I did play nexus the jupiter incident, and as you very well described, that was my experience with it, and yet supcom with all it's nifty keyboard tricks and such did not fatigue me.
whatever the case is, this is only your "step up" kind of material. In no way are you cut of from using PA if you don't know/use this mechanic at all.
Heck, people right now play it without even ever using shift or PIP.
and considering my idea is contained entirely within the "shift level" noone need use it if they don't want to.
I don't see what the harm is in it being there.


-NightBasilisk
Like I said, it's not that I dont' like the idea, I just feel it could reach a wider audience and be easier to use if there was something more in the middle ground between what it does and the player. It's like if you have some very complex settings in a game or any application and you just take a few of the important parts of those and bring them to the general "easy stuff" toolbar—for lack of better analogy. Of course if it just stays a high level feature that's fine too, I just feel by it's nature staying high level is giving it a very niche scope.
It's hard for me to actually try and give something like a more on point suggestion on it since like I said I'm kind of biased towards long chain of commands being iffy due to having bad experience with them and can't really imagine it's uses past the first 10min; which is not to say I don't think it has uses mind you. I'll keep it in mind while playing, if something comes up I'll just come back with more targeted feedback on it, since I personally don't really like things being too abstract in a discussion (too much explaining and going in circles).


-tatsu
Yeah... I get it.
But my idea does have something progressive about it:
you start using shift because you want to queue up 3 structures, not just one.
later on you start dragging the wireframes from time to time.
then you learn you can also cancel in the middle of the queue through shift as well.
then you figure out you can also change the order.
ect ect.d


-NightBasilisk
Hm. Ya that makes sense when you put it like that. I was thinking too hard towards the ordering fabber units qued in factory.

Jeez that thread Necro

tatsujb likes to do that to his threads.

Mea culpa. Did this have positive outcome at all though? Anyone found this idea(s) interesting?

did you give the OP a read? I updated it. that post is just the second part of the OP post.

BTW I'm done doing that now.

thanks for appreciating my own personal humour. I don't often get such good laughs. x'D