Two Points of Feedback

As neither of these seemed to be hit in the Gama Live Stream, I thought I would re-post them here... especially as my commander was just once again walked inadvertently by a teammate directly into enemy fire. Just my two cents.

There are two features that I am hoping will be addressed as builds go forward.

1 - No Shared Commander Control

When an army is shared, I would propose that commanders remain the sole property of the individual player. Right now, using the Commander hotkey selects all commanders, and can lead to a lot of unexpected and unintended consequences. This is compounded if you have the same commander type as a teammate, and you lose track of your own commander. I love shared armies... a lot... but I do not want anyone else to have control of my commander.

2 - Linked Gateways

When multiple gateways exist and are linked, it can be very confusing... even if you are the one who created them. If you are old enough to remember the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books... this is how I feel every time I walk into one of multiple gateways. Will I exit on the desired planet, or will I appear on a moon about to collide with a planet... many times I have no idea. There needs to be a way to indicate which gateways are connected to each other. This could be as simple as color-coding, or something else that the group can imagine... I am sure there are better ideas than my own.

Anyway... I just wanted to vent on two pain points that I have been facing. Love the direction the game is going in, and have enjoyed playing from the first alpha release until now.

- Tomasina

No shared Commander control has been talked about a lot on the forums. Pretty much, if you don't want shared Commanders, go play Alliance.

As for linked gateways... not sure what you're talking about. Only two teleporters can ever be active per team at any time. Only two teleporters. Period.

He means that it's hard to tell which gate goes where, and that in stead of getting your commander to safety you might gate him onto that planet you're about to smash.

I'm not so sure.

"Multiple gateway exits" and talking about "color-coding"

That seems to imply he's talking about multiple teleporters.

Either way, I never have an issue with Teleporters. It's linked or not linked. There's only one other possible exit. *shrugs*

No no, you're misunderstanding.

One gate goes to one other gate, and only that gate. Yes.

However, if you want to link, say, one planet to two asteroids you need to build two gates.

1 gate goes to Asteroid 1
1 gate goes to Asteroid 2.

That means the homeworld has 2 gates with different destinations and, other than memorizing, there's no telling which one goes where.

I've had the issue myself, especially when excessive moving around re-orients the camera.

I agree, it is hard to understand that you cant make them a different collor like.. port green goes to Asteroid 1.. port purple goes to Asteroid 2.
Also another thing would be nice if u could use your team mates portal.. Wat i have noticed in game when my mate builded a portal in my city.. when i clicked with my tanks on it to enter.. it just started to attack it.. they dont hit it but they are aiming for it. Wat kind of Witchcraft is that?

Well, I don't find managing 3 gates too taxing, so I can generally pretty efficiently link one gate on the "home" planet to either one or the other gate on another "moon". But yes, I think it would be nice to have a number system or something to show which gate is which, and m ake it easier to QUICKLY switch control between gates.

When you select a gate, the pip should automatically center over the gate on the other side.

that is untrue, I've had 6 gates on at a time, all three paths functional

i think the devs idea is to one day be able to right-click move-command your army to another planet and they'll pathfind their way through the right gate on their own.

As for the separate commanders you really can't appreciate what that game mode is if you need to be battling using both commanders you need to be able to double click them to one spot. You're really meant to play this game mode with your best bro, and with voicechat.

that said there is an easy fix for your qualm : just select a different type commander than your teamate before spawning.

Or: when you hover the mouse over a gate, a new pip should show up, under the mouse, centered over the gate on the other side.

I like the way you think, soldier.

Thanks for the feedback.

The problem is bigger than having similar looking commanders. I frequently use the "c" hotkey to select my commander, especially when managing multiple planets. This becomes problematic when doing so selects all commanders... including those that are not mine. In the heat of battle it hard to always remember to deselect and reselect my personal commander... and thus it is usually just a matter of time until someone inadvertently sends someones commander wandering around the map.

So from the multiple discussions that have taken place, what has been the consensus? Why would I want someone else to control my commander... especially when it so easy to accidentally cause mayhem with each others commanders. Saying to just "go play Alliance" does not really address the issue.

I can totally understand the benefit of choosing to let someone manage my commander... but right now, there is too much accidental handling. The commander is my most critical unit, and enabling someone to so easily kill him off (often accidentally) seems to be a flaw. To solve the problem, the C hotkey should really only select my commander by default. Perhaps the first time you select another commander it could just prompt the other user if they wish to allow control... if approval is given, they will both act as if they are your commanders.

The reality is that we do not always play with our "best bro" and so we do not always have the benefit of the communication that you infer.

That is absolutely correct... and I have definitely had more than two linked portals on a map. While in theory it sounds easy to memorize the portals, when playing in shared army mode... I may not have even built or linked them. Even if I do build them, I am spinning and moving the maps to an extent that it is easy to make a mistake.

While I like the idea of being able to select an army and right-click on the destination location (on another planet) and they will figure out how to get there... when you are trying to quickly move units, I do not always want to change planetary views. There will always be times when you will just want to right-click the gate and have them go through the portal.

Thanks again for the comments. I love the game, and am excited to see where it ends up... just wanted to have a chance to share my two cents.

- Tomasina

i'm right there with ya, @Tomasina - while brian is right that the "c" = all commanders thing has been discussed a good bit, I agree with you that "go play a different game" is hardly a solution. I'm a bit surprised that it hasn't been fixed yet - seems like a no brainer to me. but there's so much still up in the air right now, i'm not too worried. lots of change still to come.

I completely agree.

Well 2 or 3 or 4 gates is manageable. I'm worried about say, 6 planets interconnected, with multiple gates per planet.

He meant the connection between gates. only 2 gates can be connected.

did you try what I suggested?

Are you referring to selecting a different commander type? I usually have a different commander type.

I do not have a problem knowing the difference between my commander and my peers... differentiating them does not stop a teammate from accidentally selecting all commanders with the "C" hotkey and unknowingly walking them across the planet.

Is that the suggestion you were referring to?

well I hope it's still the case, but normally when you have two different commanders, double click does not select both.

Shared commanders can be both good and bad at the same time. One time I had shared teams with a friend and and I moved his commander out of the way of a nuke that other wise would have killed him. Another time I was doing another shared armies game and an opponent accidentally moved a commander into my base only for him to be killed. A toggle for this option would be nice.

Im not sure if you guys are newer players. But use the shift 1 and alt 1 options to track your movement on planets. This way you dont get confused on what planet is which. so you can bounce around planets with alt 1 alt 2 alt 3 alt 4 back to alt 1 easily. Learn the hotkeys and the game will be simplified. Its not hard guys.