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IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0001000AI War 1 / ClassicSuggestion - Interface Ideas - Visual Indicators, Tooltips, and SummariesAug 27, 2011 11:52 am
ReporterWinter Born Assigned ToChris_McElligottPark  
Status consideringResolutionopen 
Product Version4.021 
Summary0001000: 4.022 Please add a way to easily learn hull and weapon types
DescriptionI am looking for documentation on the different hull types. In the "resource" tab if I hover over a ship I can see the hull type for that ship as well as its weapon. It would be nice to have a way to filter/display hull type and now that I think about it weapon type. Would make learning the hulls and weapons easier.

I (the engineer in me) would also like to include this data in the AI-wiki
 
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Chris_McElligottPark

Dec 3, 2010 10:14 pm

administrator   ~0005093

I'm inclined for this, but it's not a priority for soon unless it gets upvoted a lot in the Vote Tallies list.

Right now I don't have a real specific idea of of the sort of design you have in mind for this, anyway, which makes it harder for me to really contemplate.

Winter Born

Dec 10, 2010 2:14 pm

reporter   ~0005881

The last colum in the ref tab could be programable with a dropdown menu with choices:
Hull type or Ammo type

Other choices could be added later if desired.

Alternativly if a CSV file could be generated listing the unit stats shown in the unit tool tip:
Ship/Ammo/Hull/Speed/crystal/metal/energy costs, etc.
the CSV file could be printed out by a player at any time with up to date values. This data might help with balance analisis.

A copy of the "official release" CSV file could be posted in the wiki and would only need updating every few months.

keith.lamothe

Dec 10, 2010 2:15 pm

administrator   ~0005882

Winter Born, have you tried the export button on the reference tab?

I think it may be broken in 4.048, dunno. But it's working again in my own copy so will be in 4.049.

Suzera

Dec 10, 2010 3:14 pm

reporter   ~0005903

Last edited: Dec 10, 2010 3:15 pm

The debug->export unit stats should work still. I tried it a few versions back. I need to update mine. It could look better though, and the ship caps are all not there. The description is in the middle and is one of the less useful parts, damage bonuses and immunities don't fit in the sheet's cells and a few other things.

If there's something else better than that in the reference tab I'll probably snag that instead.

Winter Born

Dec 10, 2010 11:10 pm

reporter   ~0005927

Thanks Keith,

4.048 seems broken -- got 19 unit entries.

Suzera, used the "hitting F3, and then hitting Ctrl+Shift+F8" and found several interesting files there including the AIP costs/structure - will massage into a new wiki page after the next official release.
ShipDataFull.xls seems to have all the data I was looking for -- will see if I can massage this into a useful wiki page as well.

Will play with this data set before posting any additional thoughts

TY

Chris_McElligottPark

Dec 10, 2010 11:16 pm

administrator   ~0005929

One note: ShipDataFull.xls is going to be out of date unless you have an updated UnitData.dat file. To update that file requires that you run the Ctrl + Shift + F5 process, which takes about an hour on a 2.4Ghz core, and which updates that file. I typically update those files for official releases or when I'm doing my balance testing, but you'll need to run that yourself if you want something sooner.

Otherwise the stuff from ShipDataFull.xls and most of those other similar files (most all of them but the tech points and AI Points ones) are actually dependent on that. The AIP one actually is what I use to update the "what are the sources of AIP in the game" article, by the way: it exports with wiki formatting and everything. :)

keith.lamothe

Dec 11, 2010 8:25 am

administrator   ~0005947

Winter Born, I forgot to mention that it only exports the units currently listed in the reference table (as the tooltip on the export button says, if I didn't mess that up); so you'll need to remove some filters if you want it to export everything.

Prezombie

Apr 15, 2011 7:20 pm

reporter   ~0011934

One way to teach hull types and relative strengths would be a miniature comparison chart when you mouseover the sidebar ship types. hover over your fighters, it lists ships that you have seen the AI have that the fighter gets bonuses against, and ships that the AI has that get bonuses against it. The only thing you'd have to be careful of is flipping the location of ships who have a <1 modifier.

keith.lamothe

Apr 15, 2011 7:33 pm

administrator   ~0011937

Prezombie, you may have already seen this, but from the 5.002 release notes:

"
* In response to the number-one-on-the-vote-tallies mantis issue:
** Added new PlanetView KeyBind: "Show Strong/Weak Info":
*** Defaults to Alt+W.
*** When this is active and the mouse cursor is over a ship, each planetary summary sidebar entry will display Win/Lose/Draw (and a % indicating intensity of win or loss, if it's not a draw) as a rough indicator of how effective a cap of the ship type under the cursor would be against a cap of the entry's ship type. Since planetary summary entries frequently include multiple distinct types of ships, this is perhaps most useful in conjunction with the "Guide" mode of the planetary summary that shows all ships of a given mark level (the default key for switching to guide mode is F1). However, even in normal mode this can be useful to at least get a rough feel for which of your ships on the planet are the best you have on hand against a specific target.
*** Caveat: this is not using a full simulation or anything like that, it uses the same simplified formula as the reference tab uses. So stuff with modules won't really get accurate results (because it's only counting the base hull), etc.
*** Suggestions on text color, default keys, etc, are quite welcome; we're not totally happy with the effect right now but don't have a lot of time to fiddle with alternatives.
** Added new PlanetView KeyBind: "Strong/Weak => One Vs One":
*** Defaults to Alt+E (so the full combination would be to hold Alt+W+E).
*** When both this and the "Show Strong/Weak Info" keybind are active, the strong/weak info shown will use a one-ship vs. one-ship comparison instead of the normal cap vs. cap comparison.
"

It's not what you were describing, but it was our next step at the time.

mindloss

Aug 27, 2011 1:09 am

reporter   ~0013027

I'd rather not have to go into Excel to learn these things. I agree with the OP, and have additional suggestions (and am too lazy to fill them out on their own):

* To help ameliorate this, allow the player to alt right click on an enemy ship to load it in Reference (as per someone else's suggestion).

* Similarly, allow the player to right click on an alert that a certain type of wave is incoming. As is, if I see a "60x MkII Zenith Beam Frigate" wave is incoming, I have to hit stats, hit reference, and scroll painfully throw a huge list. Please allow me to type to select an object at the very least.

* Once I have the reference page pulled up, converting that to actionable information is non-trivial. I have no easy fix to this, but I do have an idea for an an additional column. I assume win/loss percentage is based on DPS vs life span. This might make a fighter look like a big loser, when in fact because of its cost it is a winner. Thus, also have a win/loss that is cost-weighted.

* This still doesn't take into account the range difference, but hell, I guess at some point you just have to pew pew and see what happens. :)

motai

Aug 27, 2011 11:52 am

reporter   ~0013030

Last edited: Aug 27, 2011 11:56 am

just a thought might have a color/pattern border to show hull types. people would have to learn what they look like but its quicker than finding one of the ships to see its tooltip to know what to counter it with besides a blob.
also would be nice to append the ship icon(for tooltip info) on the wave warnings

i.e.
polycrystal- blue solid line border
ultraheavy- gray castle border(wavy line in case you are wondering you know like crenelations on castle wall)

swarm- green dotted line
ultra light- blue dotted line
light- blue wavy line
heavy- gray solid border
structure- gray dotted border

these are off the top of my head and not necessarily the best color ideas.
but if possible matching a ship/ammo type to a color weakness would be good for planning. that way the color would be a good starting point to know what units to use against it.

from above that would mean bombers would be good counters to gray and fighters good counter to blue. etc.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Nov 1, 2010 2:12 pm Winter Born New Issue
Dec 3, 2010 10:14 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0005093
Dec 3, 2010 10:14 pm Chris_McElligottPark Assigned To => Chris_McElligottPark
Dec 3, 2010 10:14 pm Chris_McElligottPark Status new => considering
Dec 10, 2010 2:14 pm Winter Born Note Added: 0005881
Dec 10, 2010 2:15 pm keith.lamothe Note Added: 0005882
Dec 10, 2010 3:14 pm Suzera Note Added: 0005903
Dec 10, 2010 3:15 pm Suzera Note Edited: 0005903
Dec 10, 2010 11:10 pm Winter Born Note Added: 0005927
Dec 10, 2010 11:16 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0005929
Dec 11, 2010 8:25 am keith.lamothe Note Added: 0005947
Apr 15, 2011 7:20 pm Prezombie Note Added: 0011934
Apr 15, 2011 7:33 pm keith.lamothe Note Added: 0011937
Aug 27, 2011 1:09 am mindloss Note Added: 0013027
Aug 27, 2011 11:52 am motai Note Added: 0013030
Aug 27, 2011 11:54 am motai Note Edited: 0013030
Aug 27, 2011 11:55 am motai Note Edited: 0013030
Aug 27, 2011 11:56 am motai Note Edited: 0013030