The Military ScreenWe all hate it so I decided to make a new one. Inspired by
Zwei's military screen, this is my take. Although I'd prefer a mouse interface, I tried to make this design text-only (with possible mouse support) with no graphics, to make it easy to program and maintain.
There are several things that are wrong on the current DF military screen. First of all, it has too many options hidden in too many sub-screens and it's very difficult just to comprehend what's going on. This can be partially fixed by reducing the number of screens, fitting more information and functions in a single screen, and arranging the options and information around the screen in a more logical, helpful manner. Thus my first goal was to reduce the clutter of screens, and even get rid of some screens entirely, like the ammunition or supplies screens (you'll see).
Second, the current DF military system requires too much setup. The player has to manually toy with many options and in too many screens just to make the military barely functional. We all remember how easy was it in the old version (draft a dwarf, tell him what weapon and armor to use), and how horrible is it now (more than ten separate actions, incl. setting up ammunition, schedules, alerts, etc.). I will demonstrate how, with clever use of interface functions and default option, you can make the military require as few clicks as possible. My goal:
the player should be able to set up a functional military in a single screen, and the only thing they should be required to do is ideally just moving a dwarf to a squad. Everything else should be handled automatically (while keeping all the customisation options).
Here is the mockup of the screen. This time I've probably gone too silly with the colors, I don't like the looks of it. Focus on the content, not on the looks, please.
From the top...
First there is some quick info bar filled with random stuff. None of it is really important.
Then there are three tabs: SQUADS, EQUIPMENT, SCHEDULES. These are the only subscreens of the military, and we are currently on the first one. The player should be able to play the whole game without using anything else than SQUADS. The other two are for customisation and are completely optional. So optional that I won't deal with them in this post at all. You'll see.
Making a squadYou click "n" for a new squad. If there is a commander/captain, already appointed, it simply creates the squad. If there is none, a pop-up appears, asking you who the squad leader will be. This way, the player doesn't have to go to the nobles screen every time he wants to create a new squad.
Another pop-up asks you for the uniform you want the squad to use (as in the current game), and just another pop-up asks you what schedule should the squad use (in absolutely the same way how it asks for uniforms). It's important to ask for schedules now, because having to do that later confuses many a player (at least it confused me when I created a squad, and it still wasn't doing anything). Voilá! You now have a fully functional squad, the only thing remaining is to put dwarves to it. You do that simply by clicking an empty position - a pop-up appears asking you whom you want to draft:
I believe that utilising simple, context based pop-ups like this is simpler and easier to understand way how to deal with intricacies of the military system.
Let's explore the details:
SchedulesWhen I started to learn the new military, I couldn't understand the relationship between alerts and schedules. What are they? What's the difference? Do I have to set up both (turns out I do)? This is one of the most confusing parts of the military, and it needs to be simplified - by getting rid of alerts altogether!
See, you don't need alerts for anything. The only use of alerts for military is to switch between active/inactive, and this can easily be done by schedules. We do have an "off-duty" order, right?. Then you could have a schedule that reads:
- Granite - Training
- Slate - Training
- Felsite - Off-duty
- etc...
If you don't want a backup squad that doesn't do anything, you simply create a schedule that contains only "off-duty" in each month of the calendar. It's exactly the same like setting squad to "inactive" in the current DF, with the important difference that the player doesn't have to learn and control a separate subsystem.
To make this feasible, schedules would be created/saved/named/applied in similar fashion as uniforms. There would be some useful default ones, players could create and save their own, and switching a schedule to an already created one would be a matter of two clicks. In terms of interface, creating schedules would be done in the SCHEDULES tab, but switching schedules could be done simply via a pop-up in the main SQUADS screen. With clever default schedules, players wouldn't have to ever visit the SCHEDULES tab.
Meaningful defaults: the game needs to come with default schedules that are useful and don't have to be changed. In the current version, AFAIK all players are advised to immediately change the default "training" schedule by lowering the number of dwarves that is required to train. This means the default need to be changed.
A suggestion: instead of setting the squad to "Train, 6 dwarves minimum", what about "Train, 60 % of the squad". This way, the game would accommodate to the size of the squad automaticaly, and the player wouldn't have to change the schedule every time he drafts or undrafts new soldiers.
Other than the "Train" schedule, other available defaults could be "off-duty" or even "patrol the underground" which would patrol a default underground burrow (this is a separate matter but I feel the game needs a default, already set burrow that can send all civilians underground without the player having to designate a burrow first).The still is use for alerts, though: and that's limiting civilians or even squads to certain burrows in time of emergency. This functionality should however be separated from the military interface, as it's hardly ever needed for the military, and instead merged with the burrows interface where it logically belongs. I mean: when I want to order my civilians to go to a burrow, I'd expect the command to be in the burrows screen, not hidden somewhere deep in the military screen.
UniformsThe current uniforms system is almost perfect. It offers several useful default uniforms, players can define and save their own, and it's very easy to apply it to soldiers. The uniform system is so good that it could be extended to schedules (see above) or even
workshop orders.
When you create a squad, a pop-up asks you for the squad uniform, and automatically applies it to all the members of the squad. You can then manually change certain soldiers to use a different uniform. Again, this should be done from a pop-up in the main screen, it definitely shouldn't require going into a separate screen. See:
The pop-up offers you to create a new uniform - clicking the option would switch you to the EQUIPMENT tab (but you can go there manually, of course). But as with the schedules, once you define the uniforms you want, there's no need to come back to the EQUIPMENT tab, you can simply assign the uniforms via a pop-up. And as with the schedules, with clever defaults, a player wouldn't be required to ever visit the EQUIPMENT tab unless he wants to customise.
You can see in the mockup there are some soldiers with "custom uniform". These are those whose equipment has been individually customised in the EQUIPMENT tab, so they don't use any of the available uniforms now.
Meaningful defaults: The current "any headgear" etc. options are perfect, the squad is able to upgrade equipment automatically, and the system even recognizes partial matches. This is how clever the game should be in all matters interface. But there are still some ways how the default uniforms could be improved.
First, the heavy infantry (metal armor) uniform should support armour layering, ie. it shouldn't say "any armour" but "ani chainmail" + "any breastplate" (ideally recognising leather armour as a breastplate). The same for caps and helms, etc. This a change I always have to make to the default metal uniform, which I otherwise like. More importantly, move quivers, arrows, food and drink to the uniforms! I hate having to set them up in separate screens, it makes no sense. Why can't I instead have an archer uniform that says, for example:
- Any headgear
- Any armor
- Any legwear
- Any footwear
- Any handwear
- A ranged weapon, individual selection
- 1 quiver
- --- 15 bone or wooden arrows (for training)
- --- 15 metal arrows (for combat)
- A backpack
- --- 2 rations
- A waterskin
- --- 1 drink
Sure, this means we move the "supplies" settings from squads to individuals, but is it really a problem? Changing is as simple as opening the EQUIPMENT tab and toying with a couple of options - ie. it's the same as doing it in a different screen, but again it doesn't require the player to learn a new subsystem.
The arrows are a major pain in the ass for a lot of players. I think most would agree the old system where you didn't have to care about ammunition was better. In any case,
having to set up ammunition before soldiers can start using it is bad! Even if you decide not to move ammunition to uniforms, the game must be set up in such a way that
by default, soldiers can use ammunition without the player changing anything.Moving the ammunition to uniforms means you lose control over hunters' ammunition, but does anybody care? Just let hunters use anything they can find. It worked well in 40d and noone was complaining. Again, having to set up ammunition for hunters before hunters can start hunting is a very bad interface decision, and it confuses a lot of players.
Quick-drafting civiliansNormally, when you draft a dwarf you click on a AVAILABLE position and choose the recruit from a pop-up (see above). This is very similar to how it currently works.
However many people were complaining there's no easy way to draft the entire fortress in times of emergency, like it was possible in 40d. Therefore I present you with the quick-draft option. At the bottom of the SQUADS screen is a list of civilians (but it could easily be in a separate tab, eg. QUICK-DRAFT, as it's completely optional), ordered by their weapon skill. When you click on any of them, the game automatically places the dwarf on the topmost available position. When there are no free positions, the game automatically creates a new squad with the dwarf as its captain (a normal pop-ups asking for schedule and uniform would appear).
This is a completely optional, alternative way to draft soldiers, and players would never
have to use it.
Meaningful defaultsAs I've said in the beginning, I believe the game needs to come up with default settings that allow setting up the military in as few actions as possible. As a general rule of thumb: if there is an action that players
have to do to make a functional military, it should be automated if possible.
I've already mentioned some defaults, but I'll list them here again and add some new:
- When a squad gets created, immediately ask for a schedule and an uniform so the player doesn't get confused that he needs to do this on top of recruitment.
- Default schedules that don't have to be changed to work. Have at least two: "Train all the time" and "Be off-duty all the time". But you can add more if you have good ideas.
- Get rid of the alerts system than only adds a completely meaningless action on top of schedules.
- Several default uniforms that offer anything you might ever want from a uniform.
- Supplies set in a way that doesn't need changing. This is actually well and true in the current game, I've just suggested to move supplies to uniforms to make it even simpler.
- !!! Ammunition set by default in a way that doesn't need changing !!!
- All barracks should start with training for all squads enabled, not disabled. The player should be required to customise only if they don't want their soldiers to train, not if they do want them to train.
If all goes well, the player only has to:
- Create a squad (choosing from a list of default schedules and uniforms)
- Draft soldiers
- Close the military screen and watch the soldiers train!
Anything on top of that is "customisation" and should be completely optional.
The endThat's about all that I had in mind. Please post your comments and questions, I'll try to react as the time allows.
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Topic: Total Interface Overhaul (now with sparkles) (Read 74525 times)