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IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0023928AI War 2Bug - GameplayOct 17, 2020 3:36 am
ReporterAsteroid Assigned ToChris_McElligottPark  
Severitymajor 
Status resolvedResolutionfixed 
Product Version2.608 MP Deduplication And Bugfixes 
Fixed in Version2.617 Calming For The Nerves 
Summary0023928: Group movement hard to remove
DescriptionPressing repeatedly the G key often fails to toggle group movement. It was happening to me in the joined save - dunno if the problem survives a reload.
TagsNo tags attached.

Relationships

related to 0022808 resolvedChris_McElligottPark Standing Orders Don't Respond to Multi-Fleet Changes 

Activities

Asteroid

Oct 9, 2020 12:31 am

reporter  

Strategic Sage

Oct 11, 2020 4:29 pm

reporter   ~0059146

This happens with other standing orders as well. I've found the best way to do it is to change it for one fleet at a time, hopefully at some point that workaround won't be necessary.

Arides

Oct 12, 2020 5:58 am

reporter   ~0059159

Seconded. I would suggest a different hotkey to un-assign these orders (such as shift+ G, etc.). It is virtually impossible to disable such orders without pausing during a battle when additional ships are constructed.

TechSY730

Oct 12, 2020 9:55 am

reporter   ~0059161

Thirded. Group move mode often doesn't "untoggle" cleanly like FRD and attack move do. Often I have to go ship class by ship class to find out which one is stubbornly refusing to stop being group move and un-group move those ships specifically

Chris_McElligottPark

Oct 16, 2020 7:12 pm

administrator   ~0059253

Thanks!

* There is a general problem with "churn" in ships and stacks being so fast that if you have many ships selected it was almost impossible to remove a status effect based off of a simple toggle.
** Our overall logic was "if at least one of the selected items doesn't have the status, then add the status." But this gets intensely confusing, and we introduced transports that is part of why we made L be load and U be unload.
** So let's revisit our older standing orders, too, because this is just problematic with trying to toggle them.
*** G is no longer "toggle group move" it is now "Enable Group Move"
**** You now have to use Ctrl+G to remove ships from group move. None of this toggling business!
**** Additionally, on the interface for the game where it shows the icon under selected ships, right-clicking that button now removes, while left-clicking enables. The tooltips are updated to say all this.
*** The same exact setup is now true for "Stop To Shoot Mode" and the K key, including its button and Ctrl+K and all that.
*** Exact same thing again with "hold fire/disable" functions and the N key, and Ctrl+N, the interface button, etc.
*** Ditto again for Pursuit mode and the V key.
*** And a final ditto for attack-move mode and the X key.
** This is something that has been reported since at the very least February, and even before that, apparently. Somehow or other this still frankly just slipped past our attention. The amount of information overload that we sometimes face is kind of intense when it comes to bug reports.
*** But with that said, holy cow this was incredibly annoying. There's nothing like pressing a button and not having it do what you want to induce rage. We just don't really use these options all that much, or when we do they are with only one fleet selected, and it was working well in single-fleet situations. Something about multiple fleets in one selection was particularly throwing this off, but it's hard to be sure of the exact full reasons.
*** At any rate, we're glad to have it fixed now, and thanks to folks for bringing this up again so that it finally registered in our attention properly. This feels like a major frustrating oversight.

Asteroid

Oct 16, 2020 9:40 pm

reporter   ~0059262

Thanks for tackling this Chris, but there's something I don't understand. Did you find out why toggling Group Move failed or "lagged" (sometimes the result seemed delayed) so often while Attack-Move and Pursuit worked reliably if you pressed it twice?

Never knowing if you needed to press X or V once or twice to obtain the desired result was indeed a bit annoying, but I kind of got used to it. G though was obnoxious because I couldn't find a pattern that made it work. I fear there's still an underlying issue that'll persist through your change.

I'd like to suggest that instead of having to press Ctrl-X and Ctrl-V which is pretty heavy to have to repeat constantly, you could have a trio of mutually exclusive states: Normal (B), Attack-Move (X) and Pursuit (V). It's one more button, but the big gain is no need for a clear command, you just switch to the one you want. Using Ctrl or right-click is fine for clearing the other stances which are used less.

I also wonder what would be the result of doing Ctrl-X on a group of units where a third are in X mode, a third in V mode, and the last third in neither? Or in other words, does your new system give any way of reverting a bunch of selected units to default orders? The three mutually exclusive states have the merit of providing a clear way to do this.

Chris_McElligottPark

Oct 16, 2020 10:37 pm

administrator   ~0059268

Group move is complicated. All of the ships needed to be in the same group for it to consider that a "match that needs to turn off."

The logic here was sound in both cases, but when there are multiple fleets there were some variables that were probably not being accounted for.

In terms of Ctrl+X when some are in V makes them all go to none. V and X are two shades of the same mode and are mutually-exclusive. It would not be hard to make just the Xs go to none, but I opted not to. The other ones are all independent from these two.

Using Ctrl as a modifier is potentially a finger strain, yeah. I'm not sure that a mode that clears out everything (especially group move) is my favorite. I'm also not sure we have many in the way of free keys. I don't think I will remove the Ctrl+thing hotkey, but potentially adding a new "back to normal modes" button on top of the rest would be a good one. Just blows away all these statuses, no modifier. That would let people be more specific (using ctrl) or more quick (one button, all gone) as they wish.

Any ideas for a key that is free? I'm ending for tonight, but I can get to it next time I'm around.

Asteroid

Oct 16, 2020 11:05 pm

reporter   ~0059269

E seems free.

I'm not sure if I got across what I had in mind properly, so here's a mockup. E, X and V could be grouped visually with a small border to signify they basically form a radio button group.

Group-move, stop-to-shoot (only mode I never use) and hold fire are something that are typically managed independently of Attack-move and pursuit, so I don't feel a need for a key that would clear those as well. I'm fine with Ctrl-G, Ctrl-X and Ctrl-N for those.

My idea isn't mutually exclusive to having a real "Revert all to defaults" panic key though. Ctrl-E would work well since it's still free given my scheme.
EXV Stances mockup.png (72,220 bytes)   
EXV Stances mockup.png (72,220 bytes)   

Asteroid

Oct 16, 2020 11:11 pm

reporter   ~0059270

To clarify my mockup a bit, E would be the normal stance, what you currently have by default, and if you have neither attack-move nor pursuit enabled.
There's no need for Ctrl-x and Ctrl-v because whenever you press E, X or V it replaces the other stances in the trio.

I feel like this is cleaner and easier to understand overall. But I see no harm in keeping Ctrl-X and Ctrl-V (a.k.a. "cut" and "paste" :P ) as equivalents to pressing E if you think it'd make life easier for players.

Asteroid

Oct 17, 2020 3:36 am

reporter   ~0059273

After trying it out, I find using Ctrl+X and Ctrl+V is not as bad as I thought. That they always work is definitely a relief. I still think my mockup above is better for discoverability, but the change feels like an improvement. Thank you!

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Oct 9, 2020 12:31 am Asteroid New Issue
Oct 9, 2020 12:31 am Asteroid File Added: GroupMovementHardToRemove.save
Oct 11, 2020 4:29 pm Strategic Sage Note Added: 0059146
Oct 12, 2020 5:58 am Arides Note Added: 0059159
Oct 12, 2020 9:55 am TechSY730 Note Added: 0059161
Oct 16, 2020 2:30 pm Asteroid Relationship added related to 0022808
Oct 16, 2020 7:12 pm Chris_McElligottPark Assigned To => Chris_McElligottPark
Oct 16, 2020 7:12 pm Chris_McElligottPark Status new => resolved
Oct 16, 2020 7:12 pm Chris_McElligottPark Resolution open => fixed
Oct 16, 2020 7:12 pm Chris_McElligottPark Fixed in Version => 2.617 Calming For The Nerves
Oct 16, 2020 7:12 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0059253
Oct 16, 2020 9:40 pm Asteroid Note Added: 0059262
Oct 16, 2020 10:37 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0059268
Oct 16, 2020 11:05 pm Asteroid File Added: EXV Stances mockup.png
Oct 16, 2020 11:05 pm Asteroid Note Added: 0059269
Oct 16, 2020 11:11 pm Asteroid Note Added: 0059270
Oct 17, 2020 3:36 am Asteroid Note Added: 0059273