Trees ON/OFF: a minor suggestion for CMBB

[edgars]

Hello!

I have a really small suggestion for CMBB interface improvement.

Playing CM i tend to switch trees off at least one time in a single turn. In fact i tend to do that many more times if the map has lots of trees. As you all know, that is done because troops in thick woods are hard to select and/or plot moves for them if the trees are visible. Off course i could play with trees off all the time, but for purely esthetic reasons (thanks to ever increasing mod quality), as well as LOS checking, trees get turned on again.

The current trees switch is a cycle switch with 4 states (off, light, moderate, heavy). With this system it takes many keystrokes to turn wods off or on again (say, if you currently have a "Light" mode, you have to hit Shift-T three times to switch them off again).

I'd suggest that there are two switches:

1. The "Trees On/Off" switch (with two states)

2. The "Tree Density switch" (with three - light, moderate, heavy - states)

That way, at the start of the game, you set your desired density setting (say, shortcut "Shift-D could be used for Density), and after that you simply press "Shift-T" (for Trees) to switch flora on or off.

As i'm thinking about it, another option would be to create a tree transparency setting (kind of similar to current Building Transparency option). With that, player could still view units in forest and enjoy the refreshing look of vegetation.

Hope i made it clear.

Thanks.

[lcm1947]

An excellent idea. I don't know why I didn't think of suggesting that myself. I spend half my time ( well maybe not half ) switching trees on and off too. This would certainly be a very easy thing to program and not require very much space for a button or something to activate. Also I would prefer something you only had to click on with the mouse rather than a hot key. Good idea Ciks.

[Chupacabra]

Hrm. So, you're asking for a coding change to save yourself three keystrokes? For some reason that doesn't strike me as a very productive use of time, guys.

[Bruno Weiss]

Is it gamey to play with the trees off?

[edgars]

Originally posted by Chupacabra:

Hrm. So, you're asking for a coding change to save yourself three keystrokes? For some reason that doesn't strike me as a very productive use of time, guys.

First, it's not three, it's hundreds of keystrokes in the 30 turn scenario.

Second, it is a usability issue. And good usability improves the overall gameplay and i'm sure BTS is interested in the best possible gameplay.

[aka_tom_w]

its is not alot of strokes if you leave trees off all the time?

is it gamey??

I don't think so

Why turn trees on in the first place?

other than for the sake of eye candy why bother playing with trees on? :confused:

I leave trees off all the time as a general rule, so no key strokes are wasted.

-tom w

[edgars]

Talking about eye-candy, it's not a minor issue. I want my game to look good and as realistic as possible in front of me. And i'm not alone, given the number of moders and modsluts (yes, i'm the one) around. The terrain without trees doesn't look any good or realistic (if it's not desert, off course). That's my opinion.

Other than that – I spend lot of time in CM at view level 1 or 2 (actually most of the time). Apart from other reasons, this is crucial when one is trying to find hull-down positions. And because of that treebases are not enough to see the forrested areas. I need to see trees themselves to be able to determine if i'm gonna get the LOS from this to that spot. when i move my tank there.

(Ok if you think it would be too hard to programm additional switch, i personally would be happy if the current switch is "downgraded", having only two states - off and heavy woods. But that will probably make some other people whine).

[lcm1947]

Well I personally would hate to give up the three levels of trees because there are times I prefer using one or the other but I agree that if it was a choose between being able to have the on/off option and only the one level of trees I would vote for that. I'm not saying it's a major deal but like ciks says in the above post why not if it makes the game more enjoyable?

[Slappy]

I am personally for a 'tree on/off button. I generally have them off to plot moves, and then on during the movie for visual effect. I haven't found any appreciable performance differences for different levels of trees (the manual claims that this is the reason for the feature).

I also feel that this should not be implemented if it means that I get CMBB even 30 seconds later.

That said, a word on having trees on for LOS plotting:

Tree representations have nothing to do with visibility from trees. They are there only for 'color'. Only the type of ground, and the distance through it that a LOS has to trace effect visibility. Having trees on/off cannot possibly help or hurt your targeting.

Actually, I find that it hurts my targeting 'calculations' to have to look at units through a bunch of opaque tree representations that do not effect game play.

[deanco]

I like it. I shoulda thought of it myself, that's how much I like it.

Fewer keystrokes are *always* better from an ergonomic point of view.

I'll see if I can get the ear of the Masters of the Universe on this one. No promises are being made here.

[edgars]

Originally posted by deanco:

I'll see if I can get the ear of the Masters of the Universe on this one. No promises are being made here.

Thanks.

[lcm1947]

You would truely be the man if you could Deanco. Here's hoping.

[Bruno Weiss]

Still think it might be gamey. If BTS didn't want us to play with the trees why did they create them? And then, they went to all the trouble to create different kinds of trees. Not only that, but they put bird chirps in them. Birds usually chirp from trees. So that if you turn off the trees, you cannot justify the bird chirps. Unless you play with the sound off, which might also be gamey.