I remember in SupCom the ability to give interrupt orders, basically an order that is executed next in the chain instead of after the previous orders you gave. I'd love to see that come back. But more interestingly, I'd like to be able to defer orders. Basically, I want to queue a bunch of orders but not execute them until a signal is given. The idea is to be able to tell two different groups of armies to attack two different targets, but have their attacks coordinated so they begin their attack at the same time. Real commanders and commandos do this. I'd like to as well.
Yes this would let us a bit space for tactics. And we could combine it with formations and some orders where individual unit positions are in the formation. For example I do not like it when my anti-air units rush ahead and shake off my tanks and artillery. In a battle it binds ur attention to this battlefield by organize ur forces.
Here's an optimal setup for what I'm thinking: I tell my air factories to patrol the air space above my base, and then give them the order to attack on my mark. I have my ground forces mass at control points and then I tell them to attack the sides of the base. Then I micro a raiding unit until the rest of the ground forces get there, at which point I would give the order for the planes to attack. Since the command was queued from the factory, all the planes have this order queued and automatically strike on my mark.
I hope that formations could be controlled like single units (as they could be group/disbanded into units) so You could command multiple formations in similar way like in coh/total war games, where you don't had to control every single unit... at least this would add some order in current blob warfare. Also this can minimize clutter as you can replace over 100 unit icons overlapping each other with just one. Also I very like OP idea of holding command for queue (play/pause icon ?) this would be useful not only for military units but also for fabricators as you can hold commands, issue other ones when during hold mode (but they will just stop and keep holding position by default) and they will resume any commands after queue hold is lifted (and orders issued during hold are canceled).
Heh, a deferred order of build more power in that direction? Could be an interesting way to queue up contingency plans for base strikes.
Holding CTRL and giving an order should put it in the front of the queue. Like queueing units. For that matter, maybe backspace if it isn't being used for something else should remove a queued order like for a combat unit or fabber. CTRL+backspace remove the first order instead of the last. It seems both intuitive and unintuitive to make rightclicking a command remove it from queue, and ctrl+rightclick remove from the front, even though that's how factories work. With more dev work necessary, it would be ideal if orders were listed out as thumbnails on the left side by the unit thumbnails. That way you can drag them around and remove them, or divide them up between fabbers perhaps? Something Culverin called "commands as first class entities", where the game basically treats them as physical items in a list capable of moving around in a linear manner, like dragging to other fabbers to do, like factories assisting factories taking 1 at a time from the same list, like removing or skipping or delaying an order in the middle of a list of build orders, like that kind of thing.
They promised us advanced command and control in the kickstarter video... I'm yet to see any of it implemented into the game, and we are no longer in beta. This concerns me very much. The game is a long way from being anywhere near ready for release, but how long can development go on for. Everyday day of development costs. They have to feed their families so at some point they have to release the game. I just hope they haven't bitten off more than they can chew.
They're getting more than enough money by day to feed themselves. Considering they raised ~2 million in the kickstarter, I think it's fair to say that they won't be dropping the game anytime soon due to financial issues.
