UI: Combat Interface is too "clean" and requires too many mouseclicks.

[AmkG]

So here's my scenario: One of my mechs got hit very bad by a random enemy mook. A lancemate with high Computer skill and a bit of Repair skill riding a Trailblazer is right next to that mech, and her turn comes up. I decide I want to first cast Prescience on my dying mech, then repair what is possible in that turn. How do I transmit this decision via the combat interface?

In the current interface:

1. The interface starts in "move mode", so I have to switch to programs, by moving my mouse all the way to the upper left of the screen and clicking programs.
2. The programs defaults to Target Analysis, but Prescience is in Deflect, so I have to move my mouse (from the upper left of the screen) to the upper right and click on the selector.
3. This pops up a small menu, where I select "Deflect".
4. Fortunately Prescience is the first action in the Deflect program, so I just move my mouse from the upper right of the screen and move it on the dying mecha and click.
5. The interface is now in "program mode" so I have to switch to skills, by moving my mouse all the way to the upper left of the screen and clicking skills.
6. The skill defaults to Search, but Repair is in, well, Repair, so I have to move my mouse all the way to the upper right of the screen and click on the selector.
7. This popus up a small menu, where I select "Repair".
8. Fortunately Repair is the only action in the Repair skill, so I just move my mouse from the upper right of the screen and move it on the dying mecha and click.

That's actually a fairly large number of mouse actions.

What I would like to propose is that instead of having a two-level hierarchy of modes with a third hierarchy of actions (e.g. Fight > Laser Cannon > Aim, Program > Target Analysis > Sensor Lock, etc.), instead just show all possible actions on a scrollable widget on the right side of the screen.

Obviously the sheer number of possible actions is going to be very large, hence the right side of the screen will have to be scrollable in order to allow access to all actions a very skilled character in a tricked-out mecha can make.

But in any case, with all the actions laid out on-screen like the above example, all I have to do:

1. If necessary, scroll the widget (with mouse scroll wheel, which is now standard on all mice) and find the section containing Deflect.
2. Move the mouse to Prescience and click it.
3. Move the mouse to the dying mech and click it.
4. If necessary, scroll the widget and find the section containing Repair.
5. Move the mouse to Repair and click it.
6. Move the mouse to the dying mech and click it.

That is significantly easier, with some steps optional if the character does not have a lot of possible actions yet.

But that's not all. With this interface, we can add the following simple rule:

• If the mouse is hovered over an action and the player presses an alphanumeric key, this binds that key to that action. If the mouse is over the map and the player presses an alphanumeric key that is bound to an action, then that action is selected and the map mouse mode changes immediately.
  • This means visually scrolling to the selected action if it is available now.
  • If the action is not available (current character does not have it, or it requires Me and the character is out of Me), scroll to the currently-selected action and blink it, to remind the player that the action was not successfully changed. Play a sound as well.

So for example, I could pre-assign "R" to "Skill > Repair > Repair" and "E" to "Program > Deflect > Prescience", then in order to cast Prescience on and repair my dying mech:

1. Move the mouse over the dying mech.
2. Press "E" and click to cast Prescience on the mech.
3. Press "R" and click to cast Repair on the mech.

Another pain point I had with the current command-input scheme is when trying out different weapons. For example I have a mech with a Laser Cannon salvaged from a Corsair and a Heavy Gauss Cannon bought from a shop. I want to know my chances of hitting an enemy mech and judge if the improved chances with the Laser Cannon (which has better accuracy) is worth the lower damage compared to the Heavy Gauss. Currently to check my to-hit chances I have to do a lot of clicking to switch between weapons and then hovering over the enemy mech. It's worse if my character has a lot of Me and I'm willing to use Aim on both weapons. because when switching weapons the default will be the normal attack without Aim. With the proposed scheme it becomes much faster to switch between actions and judge my to-hit chances with both weapons.

[jwvhewitt]

All very good points. I should mention that the mouse wheel already scrolls through weapons/programs/etc within a category, and the arrow keys can also be used to move through options within a category. I think that all three of the currently open issues (UI interface inconvenient, move then act unintuitive, action cost sometimes hidden) can be addressed through a combat interface overhaul which I will start working on after I make a new release with all of the current bugfixes. Which I'm going to go do right now.