User Interface Feedback

[The Soldier]

This post is about the user interface during Harbor (equivalent to the Camp screen in Ultimate General: Civil War).  Some things are good, others could use improvement.  The following list is in no particular order of importance, nor is this a complete list, just the things I noticed while playing for the first time.

I apologize if some of these explanations are difficult to understand.  Some UI issues are enormously complex and require a thorough explanation to pass along what the problem is and how to cause it, but the user experience is important, and I hope to see these improved before release.

• Selecting Ship Upgrades
  • When you select a ship upgrade, that upgrades gets taken off the list, causing the whole list moves when you select an upgrade, then gets moved again if you select something else.  This makes finding the item you want more difficult.
    • Suggestion: keep the upgrade in the list until you close out of the list.
  • Furthermore, all ship upgrades are grouped together in the same list.  You can hide any number by deselecting their boxes, but this is a lengthy process with 6 categories available.
    • Suggestion: make it a one-selection list like the Admiralty screen.  Select one group of upgrades at a time, no need to view two dozen upgrades all at once in a small viewing box.
• Selecting Officers (both Crew and Troops) Screenshot
  • Screenshot terms: 1 is the Commanding Officer (officer currently leading the selected unit), 2 is the Officer Reserves, 3 is the Officer Recruits (1 + 2 + 3 makes up the Officer selection screen) , 4 is the unit panel (crew or troops), 5 is the stats page of the select units (crew or troops).
    • When you select an Officer and go to the Officer selection screen, the current Commanding Officer resides at the top of the list in a special box.  Clicking on an Officer changes the portrait of the officer on the right in the stats page, but does not change the Commanding Officer at the top of the list.
    • When you select a Reserve Officer, that officer is removed from the list, causing the whole list to shift.  When you select a Recruit Officer, that officer not removed.  This is inconsistent and hampers with comparing officers.
      • Suggestion: keep all Officers visible in the Officer selection screen until you close out of it.
    • Dismissing an Officer (or right-clicking their portrait on the stats screen) sends them to the Reserve, but does not remove their portrait or stats from the Commanding Officer section.  This also makes selecting a Reserve Officers not disappear as explained above, but selecting the just-Dismissed Officer will remove them from the list.
    • If I right-click an Officer to dismiss them without the Officer select screen open, I cannot open the screen afterwards.
    • The Dismiss button is still active on the Commanding Officer after you've dismissed them by right-clicking their portrait with the Officer select screen active.
    • When selecting Officers for Troops, there is no way to go back to the Marine Corps screen without selecting a unit.
• Troops
  • The Reserves function is excellent!  Finally, a place I can put troops I don't need at the moment or if I need to reorganize.  Extremely frustrating in UGCW, but that's a non-issue for AoS.
  • I can reduce crew and troop sizes!  Also excellent.
  • Wording confusion: Dismissing an Officer puts them into Reserve.  Dismissing a Troop deletes that unit.
  • Right-clicking a Troop in the unit panel removes them from the ship, but you cannot right or left click a unit from anywhere else to add a unit to a troop ship.  The only method is to select a slot, manually select a unit from Reserves, then click the Assign button - lots of clicks and lots of mouse movement.
    • Suggestion: make Troops draggable in the Marine Corps selection screen.  Drag troops from Reserve into any troop ship.  Drag troops between ships to swap them.
• Unit Stats Page Screenshot
  • Screenshot terms: 1 the "teal colored bar", 2 is the "blue colored bar", 3 is the "yellow colored bar", 4 is the Efficiency bar.
    • None of these are explained anywhere in the game.  What does the teal colored bar represent?  The blue colored bar?  And that yellow bar beneath it?  I can make some assumptions based on my UGCW experience, but they don't all line up.
    • Efficiency is also poorly explained.  There's efficiency for troops, then efficiency for the weapon.  How exactly do these work?  How do these differ?
    • How does the unit's Officer affect a unit's stats?
    • However, the accuracy chart is an excellent addition.
• Research Screen
  • Just one click on a tech means you instantly research it.  This came as a bit of an alarm as almost nothing else in the UI requires just one click - most things require selecting something, then hitting a confirm button.

[doublebuck]

You wrote a lot of information so I may not understand everything noted. The only input I will make is I like that I can click onto my ship that has six officers on it. I can click onto the top officer slot and yes he does go to a different panel box now what I like is let's say my officer has a 60 for that ability in that top spot now I see all the officers that are reserve and what I could buy now if I see an officer that has a 78 I can click onto him and put him in my top spot so I just got a better officer to command that ship and I go to the next spot to do the same process and replace an officer if he is better than the one in each of my slots so all I am saying is I do like the way that works.

[pandakraut]

The different bars for the unit stats and the officers affect on the unit are explained in this guide 

 

[The Soldier]

19 minutes ago, pandakraut said:

The different bars for the unit stats and the officers affect on the unit are explained in this guide

As nice as that guide is, a lot of that information really should be presented in-game.  It doesn't have to be up-front (too much information is a thing), but somewhere accessible.

[pandakraut]

No disagreement there

[sploshclip]

You provided a lot of details, so I might not have understood everything that was noted. I'll only add that I like being able to click into my ship, which has six officers on it. I can click on the top officer slot, and yes, he does move to a different panel box. However, what I like is that if my officer has a 60 for that ability, I can see all the reserve officers and what I could buy, and if I see an officer with a 78, I can click on him and give him command of the ship. I then move on to the next spot to repeat the process and replace an officer if the one in that one has a higher score. 

 

Edited June 22, 2023 by sploshclip