New User guide: Feedback wanted

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by jables, December 10, 2014.

  1. jables

    jables Uber Employee

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    Hey all,

    So we are working on a new user guide for the game, and have pulled the following information currently. Thought I would ask here, for a new player, what would you add?

    Note: we'll be doing more advanced stuff later, so please stick to the very basics here.


    Basic Controls
    • Hold Middle Mouse, drag to pan view
    • scroll mouse wheel to zoom in and out
    • Arrow keys to rotate around planet
    • Go between planets using planet menu (upper right)

    Clicking
    • Left click to select unit, right click for action or move
    • Shift + Right Click to queue up move commands and add waypoints
    • Left Click + Hold and drag to window select multiple units
    • Double Click a unit to select similar units

    Commander Basics
    • select a landing zone near metal spots
    • Stay alive or the match is over
    • Commander starts with energy and metal resources

    Factories
    • Factories are built by Commanders or Fabbers
    • Select a Factory to get access to Build Bar
    • Left Click units on Build Bar to build
    • Shift Click units on Build Bar to build multiple
    • Control click any unit to put that unit in the top of the build queue
    • Right Click or Shift Right Click on units to reduce number of units in queue

    Fabrication Units

    • Fabbers are built by Vehicle, Air, Naval, Bot, and Orbital Factories
    • Select a Fabber to get access to Build Bar
    • Left Click units on Build Bar and select a space in the world to build
    • Hold Shift + Left Click to queue up multiple build orders

    Economy and Resources
    • Energy and Metal resources gets consumed while building
    • To generate Metal, build Metal Extractors
    • To generate Energy, build Energy Plants
    • Resources build up over time
    • If you’re consuming more than you are producing, build efficiency slows down
    • As Efficiency percentage lowers, all fabbers, factories and Commanders build slower
    • Build Metal Storage and Energy Storage to stockpile more resources

    Area Commands
    • Select units, click Attack button, left click drag an area to attack
    • Select units, click Patrol button, left click drag an area to patrol

    Energy Resource
    • Build Energy Plants to generate energy
    • Select Fabber, select Build Energy Plant Icon, Left Click drag in the world to build multiple Energy Plants
    • Advanced Energy Plants generate 8x more energy

    Metal Resource
    • Build Metal Extractors on Metal Spots
    • Advanced Metal Extractors can be built on top of standard Extractors
    • Select Fabber, select Build Metal Extractor Icon, Left Click drag in the world to build over multiple Metal Spots
    • Build Metal Storage to expand resource capacity
    dukyduke, Zaphys, stuart98 and 8 others like this.
  2. Geers

    Geers Post Master General

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    You forgot press Alt+F4 to save in Galactic War.


    I am an evil man.
    mjshorty, nevr0n, LmalukoBR and 7 others like this.
  3. Ekanaut

    Ekanaut Uber Alumni

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    For context, the User Guide is laid out like this image:

    Attached Files:

  4. thetrophysystem

    thetrophysystem Post Master General

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    -If metal is filled, metal is wasted, and most players recommend being negative on metal just at a 90% percentile because at least you are squeezing every drop of metal. Wasted unused metal when storage is full, is wasted units and wasted resources applied to t2.

    - @Ekanaut , one last thing to add to that, is maybe taking clips from several platinum 1v1 replay, and making notes on what the players do and why. What the strategy is for starting factory first, for starting bot or air or tank first, what players do when they start with each, the raiding with first 3-6 units and such, amassing a forward army on a proxy metal point, patrolling fighters, dividing up bots and tanks to flank around an attack, as well as having another force attack the opposite side of the enemy... that kind of thing.

    Also, someone should make a scripted tutorial. I know Uber doesn't have the most stimulated nipples for it, but the game is moddable, SOMEONE should do it. Any community members?
    Last edited: December 10, 2014
    christer1966 likes this.
  5. Raevn

    Raevn Moderator Alumni

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    Area commands: extend the ring outside the planet to include the whole planet.

    Unit Roster! :D
    (Will this take currently loaded client-side mods into account?)
  6. DeathByDenim

    DeathByDenim Post Master General

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    Commander Basics
    • Ubercannon usage? Many players don't seem to be aware of its existence.
  7. Geers

    Geers Post Master General

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    You should make those pictures gifs.
  8. Remy561

    Remy561 Post Master General

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    Camera anchors make interplanetary games way more easy manage - shift X to create, alt X to jump, where X is a number on the keyboard ;)
    Unit grouping could be included as well, but I don't use it actually
  9. jables

    jables Uber Employee

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    they are animated in game.
    Bsport, ekae, lafncow and 6 others like this.
  10. Geers

    Geers Post Master General

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    Oh. Well you should make the picture of the gifs a gif.
  11. thetrophysystem

    thetrophysystem Post Master General

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    A unit roster that actually "generated itself" based on unitlist.json and all the following unit descriptions, would be excellent for "mods" as well as futureproofing. Have categories like factories, bots, tanks, air, naval, orbital, commander(s?), defences, offenses.
  12. igncom1

    igncom1 Post Master General

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    Not to mention a few tips on general play, like how you should be aiming to be spending all your money on troops asap, and being able to macro accordingly as the game continues.
  13. Raevn

    Raevn Moderator Alumni

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    eg., Unit database ;)
  14. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    I would personally add instructions about the ability to set factory to continuous build as that saves allot of clicking :)
  15. towerbabbel

    towerbabbel Active Member

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    Unit Database doesn't auto-update when units change, does it?
  16. Geers

    Geers Post Master General

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    Oh hey since there's text we have a thing for John Patrick Lowrie to do!
  17. Raevn

    Raevn Moderator Alumni

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    It's completely dynamic - it reads all it's data from the game files, including any client-side mods you currently have. It can't get server-mod data though, as they aren't loaded on the main menu.
  18. towerbabbel

    towerbabbel Active Member

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    It reads all it's data from the game files, including any client-side mods you currently have. It can't get server-mod data though, as they aren't loaded on the main menu.[/QUOTE]
    I was hoping to use Unit Database to keep track of all the balance changes in the PTE, but none of the changes every showed up in the stats the Unit Database showed.
  19. Raevn

    Raevn Moderator Alumni

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    I was hoping to use Unit Database to keep track of all the balance changes in the PTE, but none of the changes every showed up in the stats the Unit Database showed.[/QUOTE]
    Taking this over to the unit db thread.
  20. drz1

    drz1 Post Master General

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    hold left click when placing a structure to rotate it. can be useful if something wont quite build at a certain location.
    slocke likes this.

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