Possible recruit/recall dialog improvement

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Artis
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Possible recruit/recall dialog improvement

Post by Artis »

Currently recruiting more then one or two units of the same type (that isn't the first on the list) can be a bit annoying, recalling similar units beyond the first page of the recall list poses the same problem. Both could be eased if the cursor position in the recruit and recall dialogs would be remembered. Another solution might be dialogs that don't disapear after one use.
fmunoz
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Post by fmunoz »

Shift+Ctrl+R recruit another unit like last one.
scott
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Post by scott »

Maybe shift-enter can select the unit and keep the dialogue open. You normally don't care which hex the unit goes to (recruit or recall) in campaigns.
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Artis
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Post by Artis »

fmunoz wrote:Shift+Ctrl+R recruit another unit like last one.
Thanks, quite hidden though.
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irrevenant
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Post by irrevenant »

scott wrote:Maybe shift-enter can select the unit and keep the dialogue open. You normally don't care which hex the unit goes to (recruit or recall) in campaigns.
I'd take your idea one step further and make it the standard.

I'd envision this working something like:

(1) When you select "Recruit" or "Recall" a sidebar opens. The sidebar is the same as the current recruit dialog, only non-modal.
(2) While the sidebar is open, you scroll about the map and click the hex you want to recruit to (this defaults to the hex you right-clicked in to launch 'recruit').
(3) You click on the unit you want to recruit and hit the 'Okay' button. The unit appears in the target hex.
(4) Repeat steps 2-3 until you've recruited all the units you want.
(5) Press the 'Cancel' button to close the sidebar.

This way the player can recruit a whole castleload of troops (which they often need to), without having to go in-out-in-out-in-out of the recruit dialog.

There are some minor details to sort out. eg. I think that if you try to summon a unit when the currently-selected hex already contains a unit the unit should appear in a random hex (but only if you can undo it). But IMO the core principle is sound and would make the interface significantly faster.

I disagree with Scott that you don't normally care what hex a unit is summoned into. It's often very important. Units move at different rates and I often find summoning my slower units closer to the enemy allows them to reach the foe a turn earlier. I avoid use of Shift-Ctrl-R for this precise reason.
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Post by scott »

It depends on what you are playing. I honestly don't think it matters much for campaigns. I tweak out the recall placement to capture villages better, but if you don't it's not the end of the world. Some scenarios it matters (Hasty Alliance), but usually it doesn't. For multiplayer I agree with you. Regardless, the side bar idea came up once as a bottom-of-the-screen bar. That's a good idea with or without shift-enter functionality. It's just harder to implement in the near term.
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xtifr
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Post by xtifr »

irrevenant: that sounds like a brilliant solution, and I really hope we see something like that long before 2.0!
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Post by turin »

OFWRA!

And yes, I came down on the side against...
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xtifr
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Post by xtifr »

turin wrote:OFWRA!
Is it? Got a link? I'm perfectly willing to accept that as an answer, but I am sort of curious what the arguments on both sides were. I did some searching, but couldn't find anything; must be using the wrong search terms.

I did find something about using drag-and-drop, and losing the ability to choose which hex a recruited/recalled unit appears in, both of which I would strongly oppose, but that was as close as I could come up with, and it looked like more of a quick discussion (quickly dismissed) than a FW.
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Post by turin »

The standards for flame wars were lower at that time. ;) And no, I don't have a link, just my memory. ;)

The problem with irreverent's suggestion is the side bar is not big enough. It needs to contain both the unit list, the stats of the unit you have selected, and a link to the help page for that unit. And, for recall, it needs to have, in addition to unit type, unit name, experience, traits, and whatever else there is in the recall dialogue. So, I don't see a way you could fit the dialogues into the side bar.

If what you mean by "sidebar" is something new, not the sidebar where the map and time of day is... what do you mean?
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Loki
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Post by Loki »

I think the idea breaks down like this:

Now - Click a hex, Recruit, modal window opens, choose a unit, OK, window closes, click another hex for the next unit, Recruit, window opens again, etc.

Proposed - Recruit, a non-modal window opens, click a hex, choose a unit, OK, click another hex, choose another unit, OK, and so forth.

More efficient, less interruption of the game.

I'd be interested to see if this could be worked into the Help system somehow. Click on a unit, choose Help, and it would open a panel with the appropriate description. If you click on another unit while the panel is open, it switches to that unit's info.
Skyfaller
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Post by Skyfaller »

I would suggest that the recall/recruit dialogs be united. Often, you want to plan recruiting/recalling without actually changing anything. This is best possible with both dialogs united into one dialog. I do not particularly care where the individual units go, so I could do without a sidebar. But I would like to see a list of units to be placed that is composed of both recruited and recalled units. This could be accomplished in the following manner:

1. The recall/recruit dialog displays lists of both recallable and recruitable units
2. Recruiting a unit puts it into the list of recallable units
3. The list of newly recruited a recallable units can be sorted by up/down buttons
4. A checkbox besides each unit selects the units to recall/recruit
5. The price for recalling or recruiting a unit is printed beside each unit
6. By clicling OK all selected units are placed on the map
(if there is not enough free space, the units that cannot be placed are stored until the next turn)

Also, I hope this saves a lot of mouse clicks for recalling and recruiting.
Pythagoras
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Post by Pythagoras »

Why not just highlight in red (or some contrasting color) the hex that a recruited/recalled unit would be summoned to while the dialog is presented? (assuming you can move the dialog ?!?! )
Skyfaller
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Post by Skyfaller »

If possible. Even better: drag & drop units to their wish position from the dialog ...
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Post by deserter »

Isn't there a problem when you have recruit list and recall list united if you have a long recall list?

And if someone haven't noticed, you can just point your mouse to hex (son't have to click or anything) and recruit the previous type of unit into that hex, then there you go.

And it isn't very hard to push ctrl+r to make recruit dialog appear, is it?
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