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1

Ideas / Re: Labels toggled by Hotkey stay longer

« on: July 25, 2015, 02:11:56 PM »

Can you start the "turn off" timer starting from next move? The scenario goes like this: I enter room, see bunch of things, labels pop up, I start reading, labels disappear. WTF. I press 3, labels go back, I finish reading and as I move away labels stay, obstructing the view, so I have to press 3 or esc again.
So there are 2 moments of annoyance spike when UI does something that I do not want it to do.

What I would like to happen: I enter the room, see things, labels pop up and stay indefinitely until next move. If I stopped like a deer in a headlight and read them, it is ok, they stay there for me, indefinitely. As I am done reading and move (either away or to one of the items) the timer starts and in a few moments the labels would disappear as they have served their purpose.
If on the other hand, I enter the room and not care about what is in there and proceed moving (say I am running away and looking for some cover), the timer start as I make a move and labels get out of the way as I scan for good place to hide.

If you attach disappearance of a labels to movement, it will be what player naturally wants: read the labels when he saw them first and stopped for reading and clear them out of the way as he proceeds moving. Existing "3" functionality is good, but I would also tie it to the next move: 3 turns on the labels and they stay on until next move (timer starts, so they don't disappear raight away for ambiance)

2

General Discussion / Re: Tiles Mode

« on: June 06, 2015, 03:17:18 PM »

That's pretty weird, I play with 1280x768 and by default I have tiles and font of size 12.

I rechecked and you are right, I have 4 options:
12/Crisp (what I use)
12/Cogmind (looks nice, but I cannot read it)
10/CAPS
10/Cased

Right now all of them are available, but I can swear that at some point I saw 12/* (or maybe it was 10/*) grayed out.
I will keep an eye on it and make a screenshot if it actually happens.

3

Stories / Re: I feel hollow

« on: June 06, 2015, 01:52:49 PM »

So, because I know it bugs you I actually looked into that 14,000 score sheet, and apparently they were cheating,
[/quote]

How do someone cheat at cogmind? I've seen screenshots with 2000 core/2000 energy/2000 matter, so I assume there is some secret combination to press to get there? I am asking for a friend.

4

General Discussion / Re: Tiles Mode

« on: June 06, 2015, 09:35:17 AM »

1366x768

I ended up running in windowed mode. It does not quite fit, so I have to move window so its caption area is above top screen edge

5

General Discussion / Re: Tiles Mode

« on: June 04, 2015, 08:55:53 PM »

At my screen size I can only have 10-sized font. I started with tiles, but it is very hard to distinguish items when they are that small, so I had to revert to ascii and now I am invested in it too much and unlikely to go back to tiles as primary display mode.

I think tiles look great, aesthetically speaking, and I hit f4 every time I find a new item/robot to check what it looks like. And sometimes randomly, to enjoy the view. And to tell rough walls from smooth walls (they are harder to tell apart in ascii).

Since I look at tiles only sporadically, I wish F4 worked at all times, specifically when DATA window is open, but this has nothing to do with tiles proper.

6

Ideas / Re: Large inventories

« on: June 04, 2015, 08:42:55 PM »

Or keep the 0-9 shortcuts and [ ] to slide the assignment along the items (with possible scrolling).

What I mean is , say you have 20 items, 15 are visible. Top 10 are assigned shortcuts, hit "]" -> now second through eleventh have shortcuts. Keep hitting "]", 6th through 15-th have shortcuts. Hit "]" again, now it displays items 2-16 and 7th through 16 have shortcuts.

7

Strategies / Re: Allies

« on: June 01, 2015, 10:05:52 PM »

I have a question regarding allies.

Do I have to keep them within visual range at all times?

I rewired an r and made it follow me, then I turned the corner and lost him from view, waited few moves for him to show up, but he did not, went back there was no ally to be seen.

8

General Discussion / Memory backup modules

« on: June 01, 2015, 10:03:33 PM »

Do multiple memory modules clear corruption faster? The description does not say that it stacks, so I am not sure.

9

General & Off-Topic / Forum medals

« on: May 31, 2015, 11:45:49 AM »

In addition to "alpha supporter" badge there has to be "α1 Winner" badge. There is even a recipient for it.

10

Ideas / Re: Scavengers imba, nerf pl0x

« on: May 31, 2015, 10:45:59 AM »

You've seen them when you activate sensors--any robots in view are labeled with an alphanumeric string

Yeah, that might be it. BTW, I would never guess I like animations in a turn based ascii game so much. I sometimes flip sensors/scanners on and off just to see the effects. And I almost always watch the initial screen to play through instead of skipping it.

I can see that going in the robot info, a kind of unique identifier, though that page is really full right now. Putting the associated ID in the log could work, but it might make the gameplay more tedious since then you may feel obligated to check them all when you want something.

If you decide to put the ID, then would the line with ID: HOSTILE be the natural choice? There is still room in that line.
ID: HOI81JL6 (HOSTILE)

I am not sure I understand your comment about feeling obligated. If anything, knowing exactly who you are after makes you feel less obligated to attack all haulers indiscriminately.
If you decide to go with this system, there will definitely be a need to put a terminal output/commands to a log window, so player can scroll it back and refresh his memory after he encounters haulers. This way an opportunistic tactics would be to get hauler manifests routinely, and if any of them has some shiny stuff, then check haulers you meet for ID and if matches, hunt him down.

Maybe you do not even need special terminal window. Just open log file to full size when connecting to the machine and direct all output there. Restore it to its original size when disconnect from terminal/machine. This way all the UI for scrolling etc. need not to be relearned.

11

Ideas / Re: Mouse UI Iprovements

« on: May 30, 2015, 10:00:52 PM »

About this, you should be able to solve it by going into the options and activating the "center cursor on move" option.

I tried it and it does not help anything. The mouse cursor obstructs the view, I cannot see where I am going because of it. This is exactly why I have to "move it out of the way".

Another thing, even in mouse mode it is sometimes easier to use x to get info on nearby objects. Unfortunately it does not work in mouse mode. Is there a reason why? If x triggers the info mode, kbd movement of the target square hide mouse cursor and mouse movement reactivates cursor and also moves target square to that position, I do not think it would interfere with established habits.

No particular reason other than to avoid confusing mouse users who suddenly enter 'x' mode on accident. Keeping the modes distinct also helps avoid potential internal conflicts.

I see the point about confusion.
How about adding a mouse to the keyboard mode then? In this case the only difference between mouse mode and keyboard mode is that in keyboard mode there is x command and mouse cursor disappears when you execute keyboard command. This way mouse mode is for users who mostly use mouse, but occasionaly may use keyboard and keyboard mode is for people who mostly use keyboard but occasionaly use mouse.

for now I'll be sticking it in the config file and require manual editing.

Thanks you, that's perfect.

12

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / Slowest speed 0%

« on: May 30, 2015, 08:39:30 PM »

In the score file slowest speed always reported as 0%.
I guess that is when you are standing still? Or unable to move because energy low?

Anyway, more interesting stat would be slowest speed when actually moved.

13

Strategies / Re: Armies for the Aspiring General

« on: May 30, 2015, 08:17:34 PM »

And here I am, sitting proud of myself because I successfully built a Remote Datajack once.

14

Stories / Re: Challanging level

« on: May 30, 2015, 07:49:40 PM »

Thanks, guys.

Now when I think of it I do remember that those close stairs lead to mines last time.
And yes, I probably should look in nearby room to pick up a gun or two.

15

Stories / Challanging level

« on: May 30, 2015, 07:19:24 PM »

Entering new level, first thing I see is this:


Should I take it? In general, there seems to be no "minimum distance" between entry and exit, I encountered exit stairs quite close to the starting point before. Is there a reason not to take it? Stuff, sure, but there will be better stuff upstairs.

16

Ideas / Re: Mouse UI Iprovements

« on: May 30, 2015, 02:57:33 PM »

I mostly use keyboard, but have to stay away from keyboard-only mode becose hovering mouse over an item is too convenient way to get info. However, the mouse cursor tends to obstruct things when not in use.

After some thinking of what would be convenient for me, I think I came up with a suggestion. The best way to deal with this is to hide mouse cursor if any movement (or maybe even any action at all, but definitely movement) is performed with a keyboard and reappear again every time player moves a mouse. It will also heal the unfortunate situation when I move a cursor out of the way and start moving (with kbd commands) and as the terrain creeps under the mouse cursor (which is pretty much in random position at this point, just out of the way) and scan window shows info on that random position and I try to pick it up with g or something.

Another thing, even in mouse mode it is sometimes easier to use x to get info on nearby objects. Unfortunately it does not work in mouse mode. Is there a reason why? If x triggers the info mode, kbd movement of the target square hide mouse cursor and mouse movement reactivates cursor and also moves target square to that position, I do not think it would interfere with established habits.

The last item (for this post anyway) has to do with my personal arrangement and probably not many people are affected by it, but it is really annoying. I play on a laptop with a touchpad and the right area of this touchpad acts as a scroll (you just move your finger along the right edge and it triggers scroll events). Sometimes I touch it accidentally, Cogmind interprets it as mouse wheel and skips whole bunch of moves for me. I do not think I was ever killed because of that, but things like this, definitely make a destruction come sooner. It skipped moves in a battle, it let recycler get away with my loot, this kind of thing. So, if there was a config option to turn off mouse wheel as a "skip turn" command, I would appreciate this.

17

Ideas / Re: Scavengers imba, nerf pl0x

« on: May 30, 2015, 10:58:31 AM »

Don't all robots have unique id? If it showed up on robot scan and was in the log when recycler picks up your stuff, you at least would be able to pursue a specific recylcer with the stuff you want.
Another use, ids on hauler manifests would allow you to pick and choose your transporters in a non-random way.

I just checked for this id thing, and it is not there anywhere. ID on a robot just says FRIEDNLY or HOSTILE. I cold have sworn that I saw some random alphanumerics somewhere there.

18

Ideas / Re: Micromanagement when interacting with machines

« on: May 30, 2015, 09:54:01 AM »

I think we'll probably end up doing this by just throwing all parts and inventory items into one list and mark those which are equipped--perhaps with their current corresponding letter/number in parenthesis where applicable, as a compromise.

Think about it: you have dedicated a quarter of your valuable screen space to display parts and inventory. It is visible all the time, player has become very familiar with its layout and interface and instead of using that jewel, you present a crappy little window with new layout, new interface which you see only occasionally. To add insult to injury, that big beautiful window with parts that you so familiar with, is still visible on the screen, providing (now misleading) cues to which keyboard shortcuts you may have used if it were active, but instead you really have to ignore it and look for shortcuts in that CLW.

19

Ideas / Re: Save all messages to the scores/*.txt file

« on: May 28, 2015, 11:08:23 PM »

I would almost certainly want to have it only dump the part of the map you explored, not the entire thing.

Perhaps even better than ASCII, what about dumping it to a png? I already have a method that does that, which is used for testing. Then you don't have the aspect ratio problem, and it's in color

I originally meant just a part of map visible on the screen at the time of death. But entire revealed map in .png is even better. Actually, in addition to that, just like a printscreen, it may be interesting to have a "mapscreen" that dumps a map.  Is that compact form that I've seen in the blog (like this http://www.gridsagegames.com/blog/gsg-content/uploads/2014/11/factory10_1280x1024.png) available? That would be grand.

The point of this is to get a feeling of what levels look like from bird's eye view. There is some pattern to different levels, and looking at a small scale map is a good way to teach brain what it is.

EDIT: Just realized, this is not a special form, just one of the smaller font and the result is scaled by the browser

20

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / Silent quit

« on: May 28, 2015, 04:32:25 PM »

I pressed [ (or maybe it was ]) when robot hacking menu was open and game silently quit with no messages or errors.
When I restarted it began at the beginning of the level (which was -10/materials)

21

Ideas / Re: Micromanagement when interacting with machines

« on: May 28, 2015, 03:53:05 PM »

3. Part selection menu (when interacting with machine) should present them in same order and use same keyboard shortcuts as inventory. I looked at my inventory, decided to scan item 2, command scan and I have to read a new menu where items are in different order and have different shortcuts.

That's an interesting idea, and might help avoid some confusion as to which item is which. Of course you also might have a larger inventory than can be displayed with 1~0 (multi-page), in which case how are those assigned? There's no consistent way to handle it.

Theoretically you can attached ~10 Hcp storage units for 120 items in your inventory. How would it it handle it now when presenting this list in the machine's selection interface?

As for your original question, the most consistent way to present a list is to reuse your inventory/equipment window, specifically, use a letter to access equipped and number to access inventory, use [. ] to scroll if there is more than 10.
(And with mouse interface, just drag and drop the item from slot to the machine's interface)

22

Ideas / Micromanagement when interacting with machines

« on: May 27, 2015, 08:52:31 PM »

Small things, but may improve quality of life a little bit.

1. Terminal hacking equipment should give bonuses when connected to terminal even when not equipped, just in inventory (up to number of utility slots). After all, it is possible to unequip item, equip hackware, connect and then back in reverse. As far as I understand there is no point in carrying them equipped at all times, they are used only for terminal hacking.

2. It should be possible to insert equipped item into repair machine (or recycler or scanalyzer -- with paying matter/energy price if that's so important). I find myself going to repair station to repair my currently equipped power only to realize that it is still equipped, so I need to disconnect, reshuffle inventory connect again.

3. Part selection menu (when interacting with machine) should present them in same order and use same keyboard shortcuts as inventory. I looked at my inventory, decided to scan item 2, command scan and I have to read a new menu where items are in different order and have different shortcuts.

4. Is is part of a story that fabricators need matter in a container? Can they just subtract necessary amount from Cogmind's matter store?

5. Save history of manual commands not just across terminals, but also across different games. Hopefully it does not count as "meta affecting gameplay". I use Access(Main) a lot and I also die a lot, so have to retype it over and over.

23

Ideas / Re: Tutorial messages are not logged to a log file

« on: May 27, 2015, 07:39:41 PM »

If at any point you feel like you want to review some basic tutorial messages, you can reset the tutorial by turning it off and on again in the options (or deleting /user/tutorial.bin).

Even so, I can miss that message again for same reason as first one, it may appear only when a lot of things going on. It could be rare and I do not want to read messages that I already read in an off chance I see something I missed last time. If it goes in a log file, there will be also some context to make it understandable.

... game timestamp (turn number) together with terminal messages/machine hacking results and also equip/unequip stuff...

Those will become more obvious through some other visual cues that will be added soon.

visual cues are good, but timestamp in a log is an inexpensive and universal way to track times, delay, etc . Even in situations that we have not discussed here and there is no visual cues for them yet.

24

Fixed Bugs & Non-Bugs / Re: Inconsistencies with dropping storage units.

« on: May 27, 2015, 07:28:04 PM »

It could be a feature. You see with your eyes "inventory 9/12" and think to yourself: "aha, I can remove this thing to my inventory" and suddenly -- boom -- everything falls apart and recyclers steal it and run. I see wisdom in the current ways.

25

Strategies / Re: What NOT to do, or: Learning from each other's mistakes

« on: May 27, 2015, 07:18:16 PM »

Why does fab require storage unit? Why cannot it subtract matter from Cogmind's store?