Controls fail a lot

from AshesoftheSingularity Forums

I'm rank 7 now, and I'm starting to win more frequently. In fact, I just beat someone ranked 1. 

 

So I know I must be starting to do some things right... or there are a number of people who have collectively decided that I deserve to finally win a few matches. 

 

Here is the deal:

 

I am starting to notice more and more that controls and their effects aren't always entirely reliable/intuitive.

 

Ex. I rally to a point, and I call reinforcements to an army, and then units go walking off on their own to an unknown destination.

 

Ex. I bring planes to a spot, and they go flying off to the side.

 

Ex. I direct my units to attack a particular node, and they instead attack a different node that is nearby (or split their attention).

 

Ex. I try to group units, and it fails.

 

Ex. I queue engineers to do things (shift key), and they stop what they are doing to move on to next item, with current building unfinished.

 

Ex. I call for reinforcements, and they never seem to arrive.

 

Ex. I group up a bunch of units that are split between two locations (locations A and B ), and although I subsequently click to bring all the units to location B, the units that are already at Location B turn around and head back to Location A... and no matter how many times I re-click, the units keep heading back towards Location A. (I do understand why, but this behavior still seems exceptionally counter intuitive, suggesting that maybe movement logic should be reconsidered) 

 

Ex. I click to retreat, and some or all of my troops just keep plowing forward into the enemy.

 

Ex. I click to attack, and a couple of my units just freeze at a distance and don't move in. 

 

 

I mean, I constantly find myself re-clicking units and buildings to ensure that everything is doing what I want...

 

Part of the problem seems to be that the tutorials left some things vague, and the controls and behaviors of units are a bit shady/misunderstood.

 

And part of the problem is that everything happens in slow motion, and it is like everything is a delayed reaction.

 

And part of the problem is that there is not always a responsive cue (although there is in many circumstances, but not all).

 

 

 

In a strategy game, I want to know that when I have clicked something, I can RELY on that click.

 

I want to know the game understood and received my click.

 

Controls need to be reliable... EVERY TIME.

 

For me, reliability of controls, and ability to anticipate results intuitively, are a minimum expectation of every game.

 

This aspect of the game needs to feel really tight.

 

Anything less feels a bit amateurish, however amazing the other features and characteristics of the game. 

  

 

Until this aspect of the game gets fixed - or at least clarified - the game is definitely still awesome, and still roughly playable, but it is also still sub par IMO.

 

The way things stand, it doesn't feel like I really have solid control.

 

It just feels periodically inconsistent, occasionally unpredictable, and therefore glitchy, in a not-always-so-good way.

 

Sometimes it seems more like I'm strategically herding cattle (cats?) with minds of their own. 

 

  

 

In fairness, a lot of the clicks do work exactly the way I expect...

 

And no.. I haven't counted how many times I am having issues in each game, but it's enough to motive this post.

 

... and I do think the scenarios above will be familiar to a lot of people.

 

I still love the game... and there is a lot of be thrilled with.... so I hope this aspect improves soon.

 

 

I mean... I was on throughout the weekend, and noted that the highest number of people I saw in "General" was 30 players.

 

So maybe I am not alone in what I am seeing?

 

Could this be something that is turning some people off?

 

 

 

 

 

 

3,147 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

I can only agree with you, especially on this:



Ex. I click to retreat, and some or all of my troops just keep plowing forward into the enemy.

 

Units get taunted by creeps and split off the army attacking them. Telling them to move to a point and they just keep attacking, even if you spam the move order.

This is so annoying.

 

Imho there should be a "Army Retreat" command which makes all units move to a certain point with maximum speed and then regaining formation there.

If you lose a battle an tell your army to move back, it will turn around, exposing weak back line units to the front.

On the other hand if you dissolve the army and remake one as soon as you retreated, you have (afaik unwanted) micro.

 

small edit to add a bug I experienced yesterday in a ladder match:

The game started and all my commands were ignored. First I though the enemy or myself was disconnecting but the enemy was gaining control points.

I tried chatting, nothing was shown. I tried commanding my engineeer, got a confrming sound but no movement. 

I then hit ALT+F4 in anger of this cheap defeat. :D

Reply #2 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

Army retreat command vs. move command, this is good idea.

 

I have been contemplating how it might make sense to stipulate special move and formation behaviors... 

 

There are plenty of places where I have wanted to issue more precise orders (ex. ignore nearby on attack, retreat no matter what, etc.).

 

And in some cases, I want troops to behave exactly as they currently do (guard the rear, engage the enemy to stop them from following my troop mass). 

 

But without this level of control, you're "herding cats." 

 

I suspect this will be tricky for the devs. 

 

Short of a big additional series of movement commands, this might require a new sort of interface -- possibly something not seen in RTS before.

 

I can maybe imagine an army behavior window of some sort, with settings for movement behaviors and other things.

 

Or maybe special keys for army modes... or something.

 

Who knows.

 

 

 

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Reply #3 from AshesoftheSingularity Forums Top

From another thread:

 


Would be great to have a little more control over how literally an army responds to commands.

 

For instance, when dealing with a command to attack a node that has another node nearby:

 

1. Keep strict formation, attack only the target node and its units, Totally ignore other nearby node and troops

2. Handle the combat with moderate autonomous discrimination, attack target node, but defend against other nearby units (keep at bay) as needed.

3. Free for all. Break formation as necessary. Attack whatever you see in that direction with general end result of taking the node.

 

Seems like only option right now is #3. :)