Hellequin
Sergeant at Arms
This came up as a side note intended to eliminate one of the possible objections to my Auxiliaries suggestion... but as I wrote it, it became clear that it could be a valuable suggestion in its own right, independent of that. So this is the thread for it.
I'd like to see troop lists, everywhere they currently appear, get sorted by troop type - Cavalry, Infantry, Archers, etc. - in their default display. So, when you go to your party management (or recruitment) screen, rather than seeing the full list you see group totals - 15 Cavalry, 3 Infantry, 5 Archers. These are like folders; they pop open to give full details, but only when you want it. So if I want to check on how many fighter women I have left, I open up the infantry group and I see my farmers, my Vaegir guards, and my fighter women. If I want to check that against sword sisters left, I can also open the Cavalry group simultaneously. The current view would be exactly replicated - if all of them were open. Closing some again would help clean things up.
Perhaps more importantly, I'd like to see that on the map view. When I hover the mouse over my troop, I see group totals at first. Upon request - preferably right-click, but a particular command key would work, or a long hover - the whole thing expands out to full list form. Same thing for enemy troops; a quick hover gets me categories, not specifics.
The perfect magic which lets me tell Dark Hunters from Dark Knights at four miles' range could then go by the wayside. Depending on my Spotting (and perhaps Tracking) skill, the range at which I can command the "23 Cavalry" to expand into "10 Dark Knights, 13 Dark Hunters" is much shorter than the range at which I first see them. A colour distinction, perhaps, lets me know that now they're close enough to see in their entirety... my scouts and outriders (whether implicit or specified) can now get close enough to get me that information. That would be awesome.
Additional bonus points if, at that point, even the specificity of "23 Cavalry" isn't the worst of it. That's the mid-range outcome. At longer ranges, the outside of the current Spot zone, I get ranges, not specifics, and perhaps the grouping gets less specific. Like Tracking at moderate skills is right now. When that party first comes into sight, maybe a hover gets me only "20-30 Cavalry". Better yet, my abliity to distinguish infantry from archers goes away at that range, too. The Dark Knights example doesn't work here, but imagine if:
- You spot an enemy unit on the map. It's labeled Vaegir Scouting Party. At this range, when it first comes into view, you hover over it and see "20-30 horse, 10-15 foot."
- It comes somewhat closer, to maybe 2/3s of that distance. Hover over it now, and it says "23 Cavalry, 8 Archers, 5 Infantry."
- It comes even closer, maybe 1/3rd of original range. Hover now, and you still get "23 Cavalry, 8 Archers, 5 Infantry." But it's changed colour slightly, and you know this means you can right-click to expand it. Do so, and it shows "13 Vaegir Horsemen, 10 Vaegir Knights, 6 Vaegir Archers, 2 Vaegir Marksmen, 5 Vaegir Infantry."
I think that would be both cleaner, on the displays, and really interesting in terms of fog of war.
- Hellequin
I'd like to see troop lists, everywhere they currently appear, get sorted by troop type - Cavalry, Infantry, Archers, etc. - in their default display. So, when you go to your party management (or recruitment) screen, rather than seeing the full list you see group totals - 15 Cavalry, 3 Infantry, 5 Archers. These are like folders; they pop open to give full details, but only when you want it. So if I want to check on how many fighter women I have left, I open up the infantry group and I see my farmers, my Vaegir guards, and my fighter women. If I want to check that against sword sisters left, I can also open the Cavalry group simultaneously. The current view would be exactly replicated - if all of them were open. Closing some again would help clean things up.
Perhaps more importantly, I'd like to see that on the map view. When I hover the mouse over my troop, I see group totals at first. Upon request - preferably right-click, but a particular command key would work, or a long hover - the whole thing expands out to full list form. Same thing for enemy troops; a quick hover gets me categories, not specifics.
The perfect magic which lets me tell Dark Hunters from Dark Knights at four miles' range could then go by the wayside. Depending on my Spotting (and perhaps Tracking) skill, the range at which I can command the "23 Cavalry" to expand into "10 Dark Knights, 13 Dark Hunters" is much shorter than the range at which I first see them. A colour distinction, perhaps, lets me know that now they're close enough to see in their entirety... my scouts and outriders (whether implicit or specified) can now get close enough to get me that information. That would be awesome.
Additional bonus points if, at that point, even the specificity of "23 Cavalry" isn't the worst of it. That's the mid-range outcome. At longer ranges, the outside of the current Spot zone, I get ranges, not specifics, and perhaps the grouping gets less specific. Like Tracking at moderate skills is right now. When that party first comes into sight, maybe a hover gets me only "20-30 Cavalry". Better yet, my abliity to distinguish infantry from archers goes away at that range, too. The Dark Knights example doesn't work here, but imagine if:
- You spot an enemy unit on the map. It's labeled Vaegir Scouting Party. At this range, when it first comes into view, you hover over it and see "20-30 horse, 10-15 foot."
- It comes somewhat closer, to maybe 2/3s of that distance. Hover over it now, and it says "23 Cavalry, 8 Archers, 5 Infantry."
- It comes even closer, maybe 1/3rd of original range. Hover now, and you still get "23 Cavalry, 8 Archers, 5 Infantry." But it's changed colour slightly, and you know this means you can right-click to expand it. Do so, and it shows "13 Vaegir Horsemen, 10 Vaegir Knights, 6 Vaegir Archers, 2 Vaegir Marksmen, 5 Vaegir Infantry."
I think that would be both cleaner, on the displays, and really interesting in terms of fog of war.
- Hellequin