Improve Hotkeys
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@redrum I think the Ctrl+A/D can be significantly improved in 3 ways:
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It would be better if they always add the units to the battlecalculator, as long as you are hovering that zone. Now if you open the battlecalculator, then click on the battlecalculator (maybe to add some units manually), then hover a territory and click Ctrl+A/D, the units will not be added (despite the fact that, for example, you can see them in the "territory" tab), unless you first focus on the board again, by clicking on it (not a big deal, but still one unnecessary click you must always remember to do). Also, having the battlecalculator selected, while adding units on a zone basis, would make the process clear when Ctrl+A/D adding to one battlecalculator with multiple of them open, at the same time.
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It would be good if Ctrl+A switches the selected offensive player to the owner of the unit of the zone you are hovering, in case all eligible units belong to the same player (aside from the facts that in v1 you should be able to use allied fighters on your carriers as fodder in attack (not currently supported, as far as I remember), and that property that allows fully using allied fighters on your carriers in attack (that I believe it is a TripleA only invention, currently used by very few games), you can have only one player attacking, so I think it's safe to have it automatically switching to what you are trying to add, if univocal).
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It would also be good if Ctrl+D opens the battlecalculator, but adding only the defenders, if you have no battlecalculators open already.
Other than those, instead of having Ctrl+A, it would be good having Ctrl+*, where * is any number from 1 onwards (no need to go above 9, really), adding all units in the territory with a movement value equal or bigger than that (so, Ctrl+1 would do the same as currently Ctrl+A). If so, then I would make Ctrl+0 as the key for adding defenders (whatever movement, from 0 to infinite), to keep them together.
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@redrum said in Improve Hotkeys:
@beelee Because I wanted to make ctrl+A add attackers to the battle calc.
Ctrl+A has been a major advancement in usability. Makes playing intermediate or bigger maps so much easier!
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@Frostion said in Improve Hotkeys:
@redrum I propose altering CTRL+L to CTRL+I (ctrl+i) for unit help window.
I think that should be removed, as well removing anything like that. I don't think TripleA should have hotkeys for things that you don't need to call often. I suppose nobody is really using that hotkey.
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@Cernel said in Improve Hotkeys:
@redrum said in Improve Hotkeys:
@beelee Because I wanted to make ctrl+A add attackers to the battle calc.
Ctrl+A has been a major advancement in usability. Makes playing intermediate or bigger maps so much easier!
I don't quite understand how it works. If I open battle calc then hit ctrl A it adds another unit but how do you control which units you want to add ? If I put 1 infantry and 1 armor and 1 fighter in, it adds 1 to each. Would you show an example of how to use it please ?
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@beelee It works similar to ctrl+B in that it adds units from the territory you are hovered over. The idea is so you can easily simulate defenses by adding enemy attackers from say adjacent territories.
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@Cernel Unit help is used by anyone playing a new map or trying a "New" to that person map.
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I'm not sure how I missed this thread. I really recommend "The Design of Everyday Things", it's a UX 101 course of its own right and lays out some really great UX principles.
To summarize a bit:
- usability should be discoverable. You should be able to figure out how to use something by looking at it.
That means if you have to just "know" that you can hit ctrl+a to add units, it's not the best UX. Menu items with their hotkeys listed are a good example of ths.
To paraphrase this from another perspective, any hotkey that modifies or interacts with the UI should have a corresponding UI element that is clickable. Hovering over the UI element ideally lists its hotkey, which leads to another UX principle:
- allow new users to discover how to use the UI, provide shortcuts for masters
An example of the above is the copy-paste command, new users will look to the edit menu to find the feature and click it. 'Master' users who use the feature a lot will be able to use it quickly. It's a similar analogy to the labels on keyboards, new users can type via hunt-and-peck, master users are touch-typists and do not look at the keys.
With that said, the "ctrl+a" and "ctrl+d" are missing a UI element of some sort. We could add a button to the battle calc to help discover this feature "add units to calc", where the cursor mode changes to highlight territories and a click then adds those units. The hovertext could explain the hotkey alternative. We could have a right click menu potentially on territories if a battle calc is in the foreground with options "add to defenders" and "add to attackers" with the hotkey listed next to the menu item.
Overall, something to think about as we design and retrofit features.
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@LaFayette There are buttons for ctrl+A and ctrl+D which list the hotkeys...
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Sure enough @redrum ; the principles are the important point. There is more to UX than just the bedrock principles outlined in DOET, but those are fundamental and we should keep them in mind. The below question indicates further usability issues:
I don't quite understand how it works. If I open battle calc then hit ctrl A it adds another unit but how do you control which units you want to add ? If I put 1 infantry and 1 armor and 1 fighter in, it adds 1 to each. Would you show an example of how to use it please ?
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@LaFayette hey I did a quick search and couldn't find what UX means? Also what is DOET?
I'm sure for doet you weren't meaning the African word for vagina hehehe
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DOET is such a significant book it has an acronym
I really recommend the book to anyone (particularly to dev's and anyone that works on UI code). It is a bit of a textbook, it kinda seems dull initially, pages and pages are dedicated to the design of doors. It runs home the points well and is really insightful. It was a game-changing read for me, while reading it you can think about TripleA and a variety of usability improvements that could be made. It really is a first course in UX design, AFAIK introductory UX courses do use it as a text. Here is a PDF version: http://www.nixdell.com/classes/HCI-and-Design-Spring-2017/The-Design-of-Everyday-Things-Revised-and-Expanded-Edition.pdf
UX = user experience
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/ux-designUX is a very broad umbrella, it is much more than just UI, it encompasses the many topics of how a user engages with a product. It includes usability research, information architecture, UI, interaction design, and a number more topics.
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Just because I'm so jazzed from the learnings in DOET, I'll also mention it also has some long sections as well on the design of VCRs and ovens (gives insights why it's bad design that makes it so the clock is difficult to change). That discussion particularly carries over to software.. Some of lessons in VCR design is to have a 1:1 mapping for buttons and their functionality, hide controls that are not used often (cough our launch screen), show controls that are used all the time, and try to show only controls that are needed.
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rofl is there a link to the book I can't find it and it's sounding like Ayn Randian BS
I would pretty much cut out every word in that insane graph minus ergonomic amiright
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@Captain-Crunch Atlas Shrugged? :grinning_cat_face:
UX is an odd field. Ignorance towards it creates "interesting" issues: https://www.useronboard.com/how-united-onboards-new-users/
At the risk of being too serious, if you want to learn more about the field, this is a good video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbu6G08n_Gw "Why UX is not only the Responsibility of the UX'er"
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@LaFayette yo coders are cool. Coding is just like learning any language but probably easier and Ive made a few games myself on my old computer.
Anyways, rofl seriously how long do you spend at your computer making those troll images and stuff rooffllllll do you ever see the sun. Ayn Rand is for gullible obnobs that think they are smarter than others. Too bad this thread turned into another one of those type of convos like Belee's "TripleA won't run" thread
I've never played a game or been on a forum where there wasnt aliaser trolls and my messenger list is ez to show whos aliaser trolling - so far I got an angry message from some Alkezr mad I told him to ease up on Redrum, some Jazan sounded nerdy talkin about all the other maps, Prastle wanting me to download a 32bit Lobby, and Ubernaut who doesnt like being called anal and said his girlfriend loves Captain Crunch thats if he really has a girlfriend ofcourse lol
Like I always say on every game or forum
SO EZ
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Coding is just like learning any language but probably easier
10/10 I have used well over 5 different programming languages, within the past 5 years, but still struggle to get the accents on my Spanish writings right ^^
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@RoiEX Si
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@Captain-Crunch Actually to clarify I wanted you to download the new pre release which still ha a 32 bit version to see if that helped you.
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@prastle thanks, I have only been playing the AI and havent played a game in over a year I bet but I enjoy reading the threads (usually) so yous aint got rid of me yet!
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@Captain-Crunch Do not go gently into that good night!
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