For BFC: Easy GUI Enhancement

[Holman]

Here's a simple GUI enhancement I hope we'll see in a future patch.

Right now, the soldier list for foot units shows a green weapon icon for a healthy soldier and a yellow weapon icon for a wounded soldier, while dead soldiers drop off the list entirely. Wouldn't it be better if dead soldiers stayed on the list, but as red weapon icons?

This change would give us more information at a glance (all the more important in real-time play). Right now, a squad that started with nine soldiers but has lost four KIA just shows five weapons, and its column looks the same as another that started out with five men and has not even seen fire. This makes it easy to miss sudden casualties when paging through one's units, while red icons would make them stand out.

The current system also requires the extra step of adding up the current number of units and mentally comparing it to the number at scenario start--that is, if you can even remember it! This can be confusing when (as in the campaign) you may start with some units already partially depleted.

Giving us red weapon icons for KIA soldiers would also allow us a quick graphical sense of what specific equipment the squad has lost. e.g. "Oh, those guys don't have the SAW they used to have--I'd better pull them out first."

Good idea? Since the system already allows the substitution of yellow for green when a soldier's status changes from OK to wounded, I assume that changing to red (instead of erasure) for KIA would not be a radical change to the program.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

Hate it.

I don't want dead people cluttering up the UI. I want a quick view of what I've got avail.able. What I had available is completely irrelevant and just makes it less easy to see at a glance what's what as far as current weaponry.

If you want to know about casualties then why not look at the status display on the left, where you can see what every soldier is doing. This includes being dead.

[thewood]

Never noticed that before...thanks

[SlapHappy]

Martyr

I think it's a great idea. It gives a clearer picture of what the current status of your squad is.

[MarkEzra]

It's a good idea. In some thread awhile back I'd mentioned that perhaps a helmet grayed out might alert you to KIA's and the need to check morale.

[Hawkmek]

I'm all for the red icon of death as well.

I have four healthy guys, was that a 9 man squad down more than 50% or have I only lost a couple of Joes? I can't remember.

Knowing what assets were lost would also be a big help. Usually a Leader or Anti Tank asset first, right?

[Holman]

Originally posted by Elmar Bijlsma:

Hate it.

I don't want dead people cluttering up the UI. I want a quick view of what I've got avail.able. What I had available is completely irrelevant and just makes it less easy to see at a glance what's what as far as current weaponry.

If you want to know about casualties then why not look at the status display on the left, where you can see what every soldier is doing. This includes being dead.

Reading the status display on the left takes much more time than would the system I suggest. The difference between the word "casualty" and the word "spotting" (both the same color) doesn't jump out at you nearly as much as the difference between a green and a red icon would.

I really don't think it would clutter things, since the red icons would only occupy a slot that is still present (though blank) on the list anyway. Maybe a nice, muted red (rather than a blazing fire engine red) would satisfy you?

[SlapHappy]

Yeah, I have no idea what he means by "clutter". How would it clutter anything? The slot indicators for each soldier are fixed. It's just the difference between showing something as opposed to nothing.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

the suggested change would give you information you can't use. What good is info about a dead soldier to me? Hence, clutter. I'd much rather see at a glance what soldiers I do have then what soldiers I don't have.

For that you can use the displayed unit status on the left. Though I wouldn't mind the dead standing out more or being sorted to the bottom of that display for easier identification.

[pad152]

I would rather see them fix the vehicle crews.

1. I don't know why pistols are not shown for US crews, yet are shown for Syrian forces. Ever notice that not every crew member has a weapon shown?

2. I would like to see crews handled more like those in Theathre of War. No more just blue or gray dots.

[Statisoris]

I think having dead soldiers greyed out would be an awesome idea. I've found myself trying to figure out if a group might have lost a man while I wasnt looking or the group always had those weapons and number of men. I dont think red would be a good color because the color red is used to highlight soldiers that are severly wounded and in need of medical attention. Leaving dead soldiers in the list in any form would be an improvement though, it really helps to know what you have lost.

[Holman]

the suggested change would give you information you can't use. What good is info about a dead soldier to me? Hence, clutter. I'd much rather see at a glance what soldiers I do have then what soldiers I don't have.

For that you can use the displayed unit status on the left. Though I wouldn't mind the dead standing out more or being sorted to the bottom of that display for easier identification.

But it's not information about a dead soldier, it's information about the status of the squad as a whole. It really matters to me whether the squad has lost one, three, or five men since I last looked at their status.

At the very least, the list of soldiers on the left should be color coded. In a real-time environment, anything that facilitates the quickest possible communication of information is an improvement. (In fact, even some redundancy helps.)

In any case, continuing to list dead soldiers does not *add* any clutter, since we're already listing the same soldiers when they're alive.

[ August 25, 2007, 03:54 PM: Message edited by: Martyr ]

[Other Means]

I'm for it.

Therefore it's the best thing to do.

[Bradley Dick]

Originally posted by pad152:

I would rather see them fix the vehicle crews.

1. I don't know why pistols are not shown for US crews, yet are shown for Syrian forces. Ever notice that not every crew member has a weapon shown?

2. I would like to see crews handled more like those in Theathre of War. No more just blue or gray dots.

The US Army is leaning towards M4's for all armored crewmembers. I know as of my 2005-2006 deployment, nobody had M9's as their only weapon.

[kipanderson]

Hi,

“Wouldn't it be better if dead soldiers stayed on the list, but as red weapon icons?2

Yes…. I agree… .

All the best,

Kip.

[SlapHappy]

Originally posted by Bradley Dick:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by pad152:

I would rather see them fix the vehicle crews.

1. I don't know why pistols are not shown for US crews, yet are shown for Syrian forces. Ever notice that not every crew member has a weapon shown?

2. I would like to see crews handled more like those in Theathre of War. No more just blue or gray dots.

The US Army is leaning towards M4's for all armored crewmembers. I know as of my 2005-2006 deployment, nobody had M9's as their only weapon. </font>

[SlapHappy]

Sorry - Meant M-14.......

[nijis]

I think the status display only shows the casualty until he is evacuated, at which point it only indicates what the survivors are up doing.

[JSB]

The status display on the left could use the same color code.

[ August 25, 2007, 01:43 PM: Message edited by: JSB ]

[Cpl Steiner]

Syrian crews seem to carry the US standard issue M9 pistol too - judging by the silhouette. Shouldn't it be a Tokarev or some such Russian pistol?

[Other Means]

Here's the GUI enhancement I'd like: Unit icons to display unit status

In CM1 you could alter the size of your units and so see them from all over the map. In SF, due to 1-1 representation, this is no longer possible. So unless you zoom in on every single unit you can't get a good view of what's actually happening.

Basically, if you're like me, you play using the icons.

Therefore, does it not make sense to display the unit status in the icons? Swap the graphics from standing to lying down for pinned, change the colour for casualties, have an indicator for ammo. I assume it's all possible, and to my mind very desirable. I would be happy if it even just gave me the pinned status.

I know each individual has their own state in the game - and that's excellent - but the unit itself must have some kind of global morale. If the icon showed this the game would, IMHO, be far more playable. Especially in RT.

It doesn't break the design philosophy of the game, you could even start to introduce FOW factors to it, it just gives a quick at-a-glance guide to how each unit is doing.

[Other Means]

The other thing of course is different icons for different types of units.

I know this happens to an extent now but I'd like it extended to snipers, AT teams etc.

Also, if an icon could flash when a unit took a casualty I'd get a lot more SA from it.

To reiterate - I play using the icons. To me they have become my proxies in the game as it's difficult to make out the units - therefore the more info I could get from them the better.