(better) Questions for HiTech

[FBKampfer]

.dt, .sf, .salvo, .delay, .speed,  all used regularly while actually in flight.

And SC2 players are widely recognized as freaks of nature in the gaming world.


And if you don't want the metagame to be available to all, it would be better if it were disabled entirely. But then you would still get guys like vDALLAS, or Ghi, or other old paranoid farts who will whip out a kitchen timer for that stuff.

IIRC, I've seen Challenge shelling a field from over a hill begin. I can only assume he is calculating the ballistics trajectory. That in itself is metagaming, yet it would be ridiculous to try and impede that through rules or game mechanics, since he's simply making use of a calculator, CD of the shell, initial muzzle velocity, and a protractor or software overlays.

I am curious as to how he measures height of launch, given that tanks don't have altimeters.

[Wiley]

memorize? you can put that on a piece of paper by your keyboard. I agree that it is a bit longer but look at games like StarCraft 2, best players in the game have to memorize a ton of different hot keys in order to be good, and that's for instantaneous actions...generally speaking how often do you need to use those commands on a sortie?? Once to determine whether or not to hold bombs for VH or FH? Something like that?

I personally don't want it to be easier to learn what the exact down times are mainly because I think it will lead to more stale gameplay, "Oh that bases town was hit by a milk runner 20 minutes ago so it's a waste of time for us to even hit it if the town is going to pop in 20". I'm all about making things more streamline but to make all those times show when you right click for status just smells like stale gameplay to me.

Honestly, my point has precisely nothing to do with the .dt commands themselves.  Given my druthers, I'd have them friendly only, as I'm not overly fond of people being able to take down a hangar pretty well to the second from when it's up.

But the interface wish is a pretty reasonable one IMO.  Whatever information is available should be as easy as possible to get to.  Like I said, people are used to getting information from pictures and clicky things, not hotkeys.

Don't know how long you have been playing but it was not so long ago we didn't even have the . commands for down times etc. so be thankful for what we have.  Just want to add I printed out the . commands and have them handy to use, pretty soon you learn what they are and only takes a second to type them.

Yup.  It can be done.  I use the ones I need to all the time.  That's not the point.  It's kludgy, and people have become a lot less tolerant of kludge over the last 15 years.

Also...

Yes it is called dumbing down. 

Bar for what denotes "intelligent" is set pretty low there innit? 

Wiley.

[JunkyII]

Honestly, my point has precisely nothing to do with the .dt commands themselves.  Given my druthers, I'd have them friendly only, as I'm not overly fond of people being able to take down a hangar pretty well to the second from when it's up.

But the interface wish is a pretty reasonable one IMO.  Whatever information is available should be as easy as possible to get to.  Like I said, people are used to getting information from pictures and clicky things, not hotkeys.

Yup.  It can be done.  I use the ones I need to all the time.  That's not the point.  It's kludgy, and people have become a lot less tolerant of kludge over the last 15 years.

Also...

Bar for what denotes "intelligent" is set pretty low there innit? 

Wiley.

Understandable I do see your point, I just think the only possible solutions will make it too easy(stale gameplay scenario)

And if you don't want the metagame to be available to all, it would be better if it were disabled entirely. But then you would still get guys like vDALLAS, or Ghi, or other old paranoid farts who will whip out a kitchen timer for that stuff.

Or their timer on the X52 throttle which a lot of the player base has....I use my phone if I need a timer.

Have we come so far that we don't even use the 15 minute and 5 minute timer any more???? No wonder nobody calls clock started anymore hahahaha you can tell how long some have been in game

[MrKrabs]

Have we come so far that we don't even use the 15 minute and 5 minute timer any more???? No wonder nobody calls clock started anymore hahahaha you can tell how long some have been in game

^this

It was a sad time when many former time-keepers have been laid-off.!
 Or in Bustr's case early retirement!

[BuckShot]

.dt, .sf, .salvo, .delay, .speed,  all used regularly while actually in flight.

What's .sf? I didn't see it in the list. Thanks.

[pembquist]

What's .sf? I didn't see it in the list. Thanks.

It centers the map on the base you enter as in .sf 34 centers the map on base 34. I am guessing its an abbrv. for "show field"

The term archaic was a bit snide (not intentionally I presume, just more of the fall out from non face to face interaction,) but I get the gist of the OP. I'm not sure the resources are there to buff up the interface, and somethings lacking on the information front,(eg comprehensive list of and instructions for dot commands, and no I don't mean .help or what ever is on the help pages or the wiki or whatever else unless it has radically changed,) it is probably just as well to ask the collective than hope a designer will come along and fix. Still valid points that are hard to see if you've played a while because you get used to it and know most of it. What I would say is that from my brief foray into world of planes or whatever it was called is that I found as a beginner AH2 much easier to get up and flying without a whole lot of checkware drivel.

[Mister Fork]

FBKampfer - good response - now had that of been your original post - i.e. "it would be nice to retire the .dot commands and replace them with right-click menu-versions" - that could be reasonable.

The craft behind ideas creation (this is called "WISHLIST" for a reason) is to come up with the current status, identify where it is challenging, and then your proposal on what it could/should be and why.

Cause if you say "it just's god aweful" - I'm going to say "so what?".  As in, what's your point?  We all know it is designed a certain way (love it or hate it) and if you want it improved, create your wishlist and post. 

As the saying goes, 'you attract more flies with honey than with sour grapes and vinegar' 

[715]

People not knowing the dot commands is out of laziness to not learn the system, the way to access it is posted somewhere...BBS and I thought I saw it in the wiki.

So... you run Linux right?  And you use Grub to boot directly into the command line only... right?  Because you're not lazy and aren't going to depend on the crutch of a GUI... right? 

[guncrasher]

So... you run Linux right?  And you use Grub to boot directly into the command line only... right?  Because you're not lazy and aren't going to depend on the crutch of a GUI... right? 

the funny thing is that I got a set up that is designed so I dont have to move my hands off the stick and throttle.  and when I have to is to type some smart remark like this one.  and some people want a gui that will take space at the bottom of the screen just so I can click and let's say select salvo 2.  when it is actually faster to type ".salvo 2".  I can type 80 wpm and if you doubt me watch my replies on 200 .

heck I am lazy and I have a keyboard that when I press a key it bails out of the plane and types ".ef".  I have another that sets salvo to 1 or 2 as that is the most common I use.

if you dont know the commands what is a drop down menu gonna do for you?  give you a list of commands that you dont know anyway?

drop down menu or . commands have one thing in common, you still have to know what they do.


semp

[Wiley]

the funny thing is that I got a set up that is designed so I dont have to move my hands off the stick and throttle.  and when I have to is to type some smart remark like this one.  and some people want a gui that will take space at the bottom of the screen just so I can click and let's say select salvo 2.  when it is actually faster to type ".salvo 2".  I can type 80 wpm and if you doubt me watch my replies on 200 .

Why not allow both?  And how does the ability to right-click on your HQ and choose status to get its status versus having to do a .dt c002hqt (or whatever it is, going off memory) take up more space on the GUI?  You've got the clipboard in front of you, there's a star there.  When that right click menu comes up, it's not going to blot out that much of your screen.

drop down menu or . commands have one thing in common, you still have to know what they do.


semp

Right click on the thing you're interested in.  'Status' is a word, with meaning.  Most people can figure that out by reading it.

Versus having to figure out which country number you're on this map, then finding the object identifier you want, then typing it in.

Wiley.

[FBKampfer]

Additionally, not all objects codes are intuitive. You would have to go kill an ordnance  bunker to go see its object code is actually "amb", not "ord" as one would think.

[Ack-Ack]

I've always thought that when you right click on a base on the clipboard and it shows you the status of the objects, for those that are disabled it should also display the downtime.  This way people don't have to type in the command, just right click on the base and all is revealed.

[guncrasher]

Right click on the thing you're interested in.  'Status' is a word, with meaning.  Most people can figure that out by reading it.



Wiley.

wiley we already have the ability to right click on the clipboard and see status of certain objects at basically any base.  do you know how many people actually use it?  my guess is not really many.  and that includes the hq, city and strats.


semp