Small things to change / fix in the UI

[div_zer0]

I've been a big fan of JA1 and JA2 since the 90ies and I'm really having fun playing JA3.

In general, I don't mind the new UI once I got used to it. However, here are a few things I wish were different:

• The Squad Supply should always be in the same fixed spot on the inventory screen. I find it annoying to have to scroll down past all the backpacks to drop things into the squad supply when looting.
• The UI when buying items at the market (i.e. Fleatown) is really bad. I don't even mind that the selection of guns and ammo is very basic, but the interface (or lack thereof) is just a really odd design choice. When I loot (free) items from bodies and containers I can preview all of them and make an informed decision about what to keep, but when I buy them, then the loot/inventory screen is not shown? Why???? I really would like to know the stats and mods of a gun before I buy it.  Just show the loot/inventory screen and charge the money for the stuff I take once the screen is closed. This isn't a good solution by any means (I would like a proper shop interface), but at least I can preview stuff before buying it.
• Once a sector is liberated, it would be nice to rearrange the inventory of all the mercs even if they are not standing next to each other. In my opinion, it's just unnecessary micromanagement to move a merc over to a container that I'm looting with another merc just to give him some stuff.
• There should be an indicator (a marker or change of colour) for the optimal weapon range when placing the overwatch cone or for the "line of sight" when moving. The line of sight lets me know that I could take a shot from he new position, but I find it hard to tell if it is within my weapon range.
• In the squad management screen, I'd like to be able to change the order of the mercs within one squad by simply dragging them around (rearranging them changes the order how they appear on the left side of the screen during game play). Right now as a work around, I temporarily drag them to a new squad and the drag them back to the original squad in the order I want them.
• On the map screen, after pressing the "Play" button to advance the time, the tool tip appears right above the Play button and, thus, hides the current time in game. The tool tip should be moved up a bit to the same position it is in when the game is paused.
• I'd like to change the key binds for the "Previous" and "Next" keys on the Weapons Mod Screen. In most other screens I can use Tab and Shift-Tab and that makes more sense than the current "P" and "N".

I hope this all makes sense.

[shalak]

Quote

• Once a sector is liberated, it would be nice to rearrange the inventory of all the mercs even if they are not standing next to each other. In my opinion, it's just unnecessary micromanagement to move a merc over to a container that I'm looting with another merc just to give him some stuff.

You can do it, if you enter the Sector Inventory from map view (right click the sector between squad icon and the sector border, couple of pixels wide - or change map filter to Inventory)

[Stuurminator]

16 hours ago, div_zer0 said:

• In the squad management screen, I'd like to be able to change the order of the mercs within one squad by simply dragging them around (rearranging them changes the order how they appear on the left side of the screen during game play). Right now as a work around, I temporarily drag them to a new squad and the drag them back to the original squad in the order I want them.

You can also drag a merc's portrait on top of another merc's portrait to trade their positions in the squad. Still not optimal, but maybe you'll prefer it to your current method.

11 hours ago, shalak said:

You can do it, if you enter the Sector Inventory from map view (right click the sector between squad icon and the sector border, couple of pixels wide - or change map filter to Inventory)

You can also hit 'H' to bring the sector inventory up from the sat view.

[D13]

17 hours ago, div_zer0 said:

• On the map screen, after pressing the "Play" button to advance the time, the tool tip appears right above the Play button and, thus, hides the current time in game. The tool tip should be moved up a bit to the same position it is in when the game is paused.

I agree. As a workaround, you can press the Space key to start and stop time.

[div_zer0]

22 hours ago, shalak said:

You can do it, if you enter the Sector Inventory from map view (right click the sector between squad icon and the sector border, couple of pixels wide - or change map filter to Inventory)

Cool, that's exactly what I was looking for. I didn't think bout trying it through the sector inventory.

 

10 hours ago, Stuurminator said:

You can also drag a merc's portrait on top of another merc's portrait to trade their positions in the squad. Still not optimal, but maybe you'll prefer it to your current method.

You can also hit 'H' to bring the sector inventory up from the sat view.

I always tried to drag and drop the merc between two others and that doesn't work. Being able to swap them helps. 

 

9 hours ago, D13 said:

I agree. As a workaround, you can press the Space key to start and stop time.

Yes, that does the trick 🙂

 

Thanks guys for the tips. That helps a lot!!!

 

[Remi1987]

My most annoying issue is squad travelling in the grand strategy map view.

I have a trillion misclicks in the command view regarding travelling. squads accidentally start travelling when I try to click a sector etc. Also the cancel button is at times right mouse button and at times left mouse button. Very confusing.

MY SUGGESTION: Have a single click as a waypoint, and have a 2-3 second mouse click HOLD to confirm an entire travel journey. Then the right click, with a pop up warning, to cancel.

Then the icons are also not intuitive enough. When the game is on pause I want to see a red pause button, and when the time is moving, a green play button.

Bug: Pathfinding and combat; I've missed an encounter, screenshots here. I moved the sea squad a sector up and the enemy was heading down. Reloaded the game, screenshotted the issue, and find a work-around.

Screenshot also shows that from my H10 sector I couldn't go directly to H9, I had to go first to G10 prison (see 1st screenshot below).

Looking fwd to see devs fix this, there are many bugs in here still.

(Regardless of this, game is FANTASTIC)

Edited July 18, 2023 by Remi1987

[sandman25dcsss]

@Remi1987

I recommend disabling automatic start of actions in options. Especially useful if you want to send 2 teams to the same sector.

Edited July 18, 2023 by sandman25dcsss

[chr_isso]

1 hour ago, Remi1987 said:

My most annoying issue is squad travelling in the grand strategy map view.

I have a trillion misclicks in the command view regarding travelling. squads accidentally start travelling when I try to click a sector etc. Also the cancel button is at times right mouse button and at times left mouse button. Very confusing.

MY SUGGESTION: Have a single click as a waypoint, and have a 2-3 second mouse click HOLD to confirm an entire travel journey. Then the right click, with a pop up warning, to cancel.

Then the icons are also not intuitive enough. When the game is on pause I want to see a red pause button, and when the time is moving, a green play button.

Bug: Pathfinding and combat; I've missed an encounter, screenshots here. I moved the sea squad a sector up and the enemy was heading down. Reloaded the game, screenshotted the issue, and find a work-around.

Screenshot also shows that from my H10 sector I couldn't go directly to H9, I had to go first to G10 prison (see 1st screenshot below).

Looking fwd to see devs fix this, there are many bugs in here still.

(Regardless of this, game is FANTASTIC)

You're on water, there is no aquatic/boat combat.
So you can't encounter enemies on the route. You could have moved to Fleatown Market if you wanted to combat the enemies yourself.

plus, what @sandman25dcsss wrote: Disable all automatic actions in the options. 

[Stuurminator]

6 hours ago, sandman25dcsss said:

I recommend disabling automatic start of actions in options. Especially useful if you want to send 2 teams to the same sector.

WE CAN DO THIS?! 😨

I can't believe I never explored the settings and found this. This is a gamechanger.

[Remi1987]

On 7/18/2023 at 1:48 AM, sandman25dcsss said:

I recommend disabling automatic start of actions in options. Especially useful if you want to send 2 teams to the same sector.

That's helpful, thanks!

I'd love to see a pop-up though, smt like: "Alpha squad arrived in sector XY. Charlie Squad arrives in x hours." Option; wait for squad OR move/attack now

[D13]

On 7/16/2023 at 10:25 PM, div_zer0 said:

The Squad Supply should always be in the same fixed spot on the inventory screen. I find it annoying to have to scroll down past all the backpacks to drop things into the squad supply when looting.

IMO there should be no scrolling at all.

I get that they want to shot off the nice item images, but it would be much easier to manage inventory if we did not have to scroll so much. Something is always out of sight. (Customary JA2 comparison: JA2 had much smaller resolution but managed to fit far more items into one screen.)