Unofficial "Official" GUI Discussion Thread

Here's an update...

I'll keep working on it.

seriously guys: https://forums.uberent.com/threads/rel-build-51531-economy-ui-mod-v4-1.49131/
this thing's been here since the commodores

I really like the visualization of command groups/idle engineers/commander.

Yes, mods are awesome. But don't you feel that many of these features are important enough to include in the core game? You can't just release a garbage game and expect modders to finish all the work for you. New/casual players that don't know mods exist/don't care to install them will just see a bad game when they boot up PA and write it off too soon.

oh i definately agree. you guys are just making visualisation after visualisation in this particular case when you could just use existing stuff as a reference to foward your point.

Hi all,

This is my first post here and I hope you like the idea I have.

First area commands. I have read on other places on the forum that this might be implemented but I think that area command can be extremely useful to reduce the micro management. I was thinking about commands like:
Defend: The units with this command will defend the area and attack immediately any enemy units that enter the area. This would make it possible for a small group of units to defend a large area more efficiently. Ideally you would be able to add units to defend this area later on

Repair: the engineers would repair all buildings in the area

Build Metal Extractors: Build metal extractors in the area and defend, repair or reclaim them

To designate the area the same system can be used like the system used in SupCom for designating patrol routes with the only difference that the entire area within the patrol route is designated.

Second strength overlay:

In SupCom you already had an overlay with the range of your weapons. What I would love to see is an overlay similar to that one but with the main difference that the ground is shaded and the more dark it is the darker the ground should be. I think you should also be able to see this for the enemy units that you have scouted and are on radar. This makes it easier to find the enemies week spots. Further more it would be nice to give units the option to avoid area that the enemy can attack. For instance constructors that are building metal extractors with the area order.

mullieO,
Welcome to the forums!

1. Area Commands. Mavor just made a post about it today.
   Confirming that they are indeed coming.
   
   
2. The current overlay of weapons is a mouse-over. Other people (including myself) have asked that this could be toggled on permanently on selected units.
   
   
3. Seeing the enemy range... Now that's different.
   This would be really cool!

Sometimes, a player gets "lost".
He loses the context of where his base is, and where the enemy is.

I'm trying to leverage my knowledge of some professional tools to help us out.
This is based on my 3D modelling experience.
The same GUI used in:
- Autocad
- Revit
- 3DS Max
- Maya

Can I humbly award this thread the medal of the best thread ever? Can I?
say I can, here's your due:

Some of these features are important enough to get developer time allotted to them.

Some of these could be mods that the developers could then integrate with the game code (has been done in alpha with at least one mod, probably more).

Some of these could be optional mods that users can choose to install.

PA is not a bad game when you boot it up, please don't attempt to blame the developers for a community effort to improve the GUI. I salute the original poster and his tireless efforts in updating this thread. It's great work!

Filing for discussion regarding a player's production tab.
Not just for replays.




- interactive (not just passive info)
- jumps to location

What I'm hoping is that us, the community are ready, willing and prepared when Uber decides to engage us in dialog about GUI.
It's obvious this list is a bit of a pipe dream.


But if they say to us, "what are the top 5 things you guys want to see?"
Hopefully, we have our top wishlist items and some consensus there.

Im glad to hear area command are coming and I really hope that this will help to reduce the micro and babysitting. It would be so nice if you could build Mexes in this area and if they are destroyed and the enemy is gone that they will rebuild it


About the range map. What I hope to see the not only the range but the available firepower per location. So for instance if a area can be hit by one ant it would be shaded very lightly but if the area is in range of a lot of levelers, artillery, catapults it should be shaded very darkly. This helps immediately to see where your defenses are week

I think you should be able to see the same for the enemy for the units that you know. This will make strategic view immediately very clear where the enemy is strong and what attack routes are best.

In strategic view it is very easy to see where battles are happening (shades overlap) and what the size of an attack is. Also it is clear where to build to be safe from know artillery and catapults.

the watch replays together is a really really good idea, i'm kinda torn about the incarnative play. (for one, chronocam of a finished game requires the beefyest of PCs) The advert is false/dishonnest in this regard : checking to see IF this IF that is counter-productive, you don't progress thanks to it, on rare ocasions will you actually be looking for specific information, trying to learn and not goofing around, then there's the fact that it works against rookies who, while they'd love to learn on the inside, would discard that on the outside, since they'd no longer need to learn to "win", not to mention it would require a varient of the best PA ai.
as for jumping to location, you're just experiencing issues, try clicking above or under the bar. wait it out too. but I swear it works.

here's jumbled ideas:

-"nuclear launch detected" sound. no buiding needed. currently there is a sound for incoming asteroid, none for nuke, why? the strategical value of trying to run away was nice insupcomFA.
-idle unit tree just like in supcom (and why not null idle unit tree)
-persistant radar blips. don't change from supcom system.

Not sure what you are referring to.
Can you elaborate please?

3D Compass

• Issue: People getting disoriented on a planet.
  • Why? Loss of context (in relation to location on planet).
  • There is not a latitude/longitude grid overly.
  • North/South is not seen until zoomed out.

• Solution: Persistent 3D Compass
  • The ring shows compass directions
  • The ring shows latitude orientation

This serves the same function as the "view box" in a traditional minimap.
Could you imagine using a minimap without this?
You would have no idea what you are looking at!

Unit Information Panel

• On unit mouse-over (minimal action)
• Show unit type name and description, Same as in build bar. (context)
• Show pertinent unit info
  • Unit HP
  • Unit HP regen
  • Unit Base Economy. Income (extractors, pgens, commander etc...). Drain on use (Uber cannon, radar)
  • Unit Current Economy. Income (Commander). Drain (fabbers, Uber cannon, super weapons?). Net effect.
  • Unit stance (fire at will, return fire, hold fire)

Skimmed over the UI Ideas that have been listed and updated on the first post, didnt see this, but sorry if it has been brought up.

What about adding in the Unit Counter Circle at the Strategic view? This was something I found really useful in SupCom 2. that when zoomed out at the strategic view (icons only) the UI would place circles around groups of combat units with the number of units in the group

Also could be expanded for patrol lines, say you have a group of fighters set to patrol from 4 or 5 points around your base that make a "circle", ....the patrol line should show up at strategic view to show you the points they travel between, and a number, the number of fighters currently following that patrol line.

I will fire up SupCom 2, get into a game and take some screenshots of what I am talking about.

It was really useful to zoom out, look at the blob of bomber icons and see the number 42 in the middle, and know how many i had right then and there. also unit cannons would have a number over each showing the number of units loaded....so you could zoom out, see 15 in each cannon, then 16, 17 etc as they build more units....once it hit 21, i could hit my unit cannon group and fire form the strategic view. each stream would have the number 21, once they started to land, the blob would build. a new circle would grow around as the blob grew, and the number inside would increase to the total number of units in the blob

it was, well, genius!

I will get 3 or 4 screenshots of what im talking about, but im sure anyone that played SupCom 2 knows about it


FYI, I know the TA fans didn't like SupCom 2, but to be honest, it is a pretty good RTS when you look at all the RTS games made over the last few years. CnC has not made a good RTS in about 10+ years..... (Generals)

My two cents...../end rant

What do you think about the idea of unit counts around icons?

SupCom 2?
omg. We're going to burn you at the stake!



Actually, grouping the same units together that are on the same path makes a LOT of sense!
Using your example of fighters, what if there are 2 classes of fighters? (Like a bunch of T1 and some T3 fighters?)
Would it group them together or keep them in separate unit counter circles?

What if some of the units are separated?
For example, there are 20 fighters on a patrol route.
5 fighters automatically move to intercept/kill a bomber. Then they resume the original patrol route.
However, they are not geographically in a different area of the map. How are they grouped then?


Please do take many screen shots.
I only briefly played SupCom 2, I think we need all the visual help we can get