Interface issues/suggestions

Afghanistan '11 changes the paradigm of wargaming and manages to bring Counter-Insurgency and guerrilla warfare to your screen, properly represented thanks to a revolutionary gameplay formula!
UsF
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Interface issues/suggestions

Post by UsF »

- Pressing escape brings up the menu, but there is no button to close it. Instead you have to click into the interface's blank space to close it, which is unintuitive.
- Moving units is left mouse button...again...which can cause people to accidentally move units. Why can't we have this on the right mouse button instead, as is done in almost any real time or turn based game these days?
- No hotkeys for commands is annoying and should be implemented, maybe with the number keys above WASD.
- Animations take a long time to finish, which is okay, but there should be an option to not have them at all or at least seriously sped up. Similar to the Civilization games.
- Scrolling feels wonky, because it doesn't stop when I release the WASD button, but keeps some inertia. It should stop much quicker.
- Scrolling with the mouse feels wonky. When I press the button, it should keep the hex under the mouse exactly where I move it, basically allowing me to drag the terrain. No floaty inertia please. It makes the game feel laggy and unresponsive.

More things will be added once I get past the tutorials, which will probably happen on the weekend. So far I like what I see, but really wish more work would've gone into the interface to make it behave like most games do nowadays. Some things were already reported on Vietnam, like the left click movement causing issues.
IainMcNeil
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by IainMcNeil »

On the left click movement I have to disagree. I find it much more comfortable to select and issue orders with a left click. This is not a mistake it is by design. I know if you just played a game that does the opposite it can be hard initially but I find it much nicer once you get in to the habit of it.
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by MikeAP »

Animations take a long time to finish, which is okay, but there should be an option to not have them at all or at least seriously sped up. Similar to the Civilization games.
I agree with this. Some of the animations are a big long-winded, particularly the helicopter. Order of Battle does it nicely - you can watch the animation of the moving unit or move on to the next unit - the orders process moves quicker.
UsF
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by UsF »

IainMcNeil wrote:On the left click movement I have to disagree. I find it much more comfortable to select and issue orders with a left click. This is not a mistake it is by design. I know if you just played a game that does the opposite it can be hard initially but I find it much nicer once you get in to the habit of it.
The issue I have with this is that I cannot remember the last game that had left-click movement recently. Is that still present in many games? Because I thought game development has moved on to replace that. Remember it being an issue back in Starcraft vs Command and Conquer where one had one style of controls and the other one the opposite.

I just think it's an easy way to prevent misclicks by the player. It is much less frustrating to accidentally deselect a unit than to accidentally move a unit.
bebro
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by bebro »

Looked into the tutorial so far. Basically it leaves a good impression, and I look forward to play more on the weekend when I got more time :)

But some things regarding the user interface:

- scrolling feels too slow/wonky indeed, agree with op, ideally have an option for scroll/anim speeds
- bubble help texts could include keyboard shortcuts (like intel map "F key no.") where available
- end turn works fine using *enter* from main keyboard, but is ignored when using same key from numeric block
- personally I do not like the auto intel map popup every turn - feels disruptive - could this be made an on/off option?
bsones
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by bsones »

The manual and tutorial both say that the game auto-saves your progress in the campaign, and that if you quit out of a mission in progress, you will be able to pick up from your last save via a "Continue" option in the main menu. This does not seem to be working; I don't get any "Continue" option, and thus I can only restart the mission from scratch via the campaign menu.

Also, the manual says that all but the first six of the campaign missions are supposed to be locked, and that in order to play any mission after the first six, you have to beat the previous mission. This, too, seems to be broken. All of the campaign missions are unlocked and available from the start.

Bug?
bebro
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by bebro »

Ha, silly me. It seems actually the last point I made is moot, as there *is* an off/on option for the auto intel map. Or it did just get added after I installed the latest version - not sure, maybe I just overlooked it. However, good that it is there.
jimwinsor
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by jimwinsor »

I'm surprised no one has commented on scrolling with dual screens. There is no options in the Options menu for locking the cursor to the main screen as in other games, which means it's impossible to scroll to right (where my other screen is) with a mouse.

There are workarounds (hold and drag with wheel pressed down, arrows or WASD) but it takes some getting used to, and misclinks have been numerous. WASD with my left hand while I mouse with my right seems to be the most comfortable solution.
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demyansk
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by demyansk »

I bought the game and of course I went against my normal rules of don't buy a game on initial release. It looks like most of these problems should have been fixed before release. Make the use of the mouse easy
UsF
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by UsF »

I did play some more and the game is fun. But the interface really requires more work to make it enjoyable. More things I noticed
- Cycling through units plays the unit animations, causing it to be very slow, especially when cycling through helicopters
- Unit actions cause the game to zoom in on the unit every time for every action. I order an air unit to fly somewhere and do something, then scroll somewhere else to plan my next moves, but the game currently thinks I should be zoomed in on every little detail that happens as the unit performs said action. This zooming in should only be forced on enemy encounters/detections, when the units action should be cancelled.
- Action buttons need their hotkey in the button itself to make it easier to learn the interface
- Action buttons do not work because of the slow animations. Trying to order units in quick succession is not possible, because you cannot issue orders as things are moving on
- There needs to be a button for units on overwatch to get out of that mode without moving. Sometimes I would like to do an IED sweep without moving, but can't
Marder
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by Marder »

One thing i notice: while moving the mouse-cursor i can't deselect units with a rightklick. I have to hold the mouse still and then right-click.
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by Every Single Soldier »

UsF wrote:Pressing escape brings up the menu, but there is no button to close it. Instead you have to click into the interface's blank space to close it, which is unintuitive.
- Moving units is left mouse button...again...which can cause people to accidentally move units. Why can't we have this on the right mouse button instead, as is done in almost any real time or turn based game these days?
- No hotkeys for commands is annoying and should be implemented, maybe with the number keys above WASD.
- Animations take a long time to finish, which is okay, but there should be an option to not have them at all or at least seriously sped up. Similar to the Civilization games.
- Scrolling feels wonky, because it doesn't stop when I release the WASD button, but keeps some inertia. It should stop much quicker.
- Scrolling with the mouse feels wonky. When I press the button, it should keep the hex under the mouse exactly where I move it, basically allowing me to drag the terrain. No floaty inertia please. It makes the game feel laggy and unresponsive.
Fixing the Esc key issue
There are hotkeys, refer to the manual
We are optimizing the animations
Scroll speed as a user setting in testing as we speak
UsF
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by UsF »

Thank you for the reply. Regarding the hotkeys, it would be beneficial for the player to have them be in the tooltip of each button that has them. Makes it easier to learn the game, as the hotkeys come up naturally, as you use the buttons and you can try to remember them more easily.
The other fixes are appreciated. Very excited to see what you are going to do with animations.
Every Single Soldier
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by Every Single Soldier »

I think having them in the tooltips might grow old fast, have you played the latest Civ, all I want to do is turn all of those tooltips off :shock:

will monitor the responses on the topic...
UsF
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by UsF »

I play Paradox games and also the Civilization ones. I am enjoying tool tips, especially dynamic ones, where the information presented is towards my current situation with accurate information. And no, I think they wouldn't grow old fast, they are a good tool to guide a player inside a game without the need of a tutorial. For instance someone coming back and remembering parts of the game, but not everything, will have less trouble coming back with tool tips, as they can get him up to speed more quickly.

I thought Civilization had an option to disable them, can't remember right now. I do know that they have an option to increase or decrease the delay it requires for them to pop up, so you could raise that to a high amount to not be bothered by them, unless absolutely necessary.
Every Single Soldier
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by Every Single Soldier »

Different strokes, I guess...

I really find the tool tips in Civ to be overly intrusive, you can't move your mouse and another pops up, can't find the disable function, if you have the secret please share with me as a huge Civ fan :)
UsF
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by UsF »

I guess in Civ 6 they only have the plot mouse over tooltip delay in the games interface options. In Civ5 you had more options via the ini file, if I remember correctly.
I am using Chao QuickUI for Civ6, which makes the interface smoother, but also beefs up the tooltips a considerable amount. It consolidates the city screen and removes the tabs and similar things to make information more easily accessible.
https://forums.civfanatics.com/resource ... n-6.25413/
Every Single Soldier
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by Every Single Soldier »

Thanks, will give it a go :D
dnguyen528
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by dnguyen528 »

I second Jimwinsors' comment on dual screens. I have dual screens that I use for work, but often keep the right screen off when doing other things. The tooltip for the drone went offscreen so it took me awhile to realize that a drone cost PP.

As either a request or suggestion for clarity, having the ability to see which villages are getting intimidated, on the intel screen, would be great. If you happen to end the turn while over a village getting intimidated, you can see the -5 but I'm not sure if its visible on the intel screen. That same village had a "~" like symbol on the intel screen. That village was also the only village with a water tower, so I was unsure if that was letting me know they were intimidated or had a water tower. The manual doesn't make the iconography clear.
Every Single Soldier
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Re: Interface issues/suggestions

Post by Every Single Soldier »

The tooltip is fixed , are you on V1.0.5 ?

If you select the EYE icon on the Civil Affairs tab you will see a heart appearing above the villages when a positive or negative (indimidation) event has occurred there ( a + or a - will appear inside the heart)
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