Hello. Lately I have read a lot of HUD threads by Mayama and also a very old thread about 'entangling the research branches' and it inspired me to make a new layout for the research menu. My aims were to bring everything onto one screen and to connect the research branches where applicable. First I created the layout for the current research situation to test my vision. Then I made some connections and also added some of my own ideas (marked with a star) - especially to enhance the biological branch as I couldn't connect it to the rest. Obviously you have to research all adjacent items of a higher level (darker shade) before you can research an item. I think it would fit on the screen and even leave space to the left or right do display information on the research item when you hover the cursor over it. I hope you like it.
The problem is that with more connections it gets hard or even impossible to arrange everything in a way that low level items are only besides higher level items they depend on. For example if I move 'Plasma Cannon Projectile' down and right it looks like it would also depend on 'Trajectory Physics'. I already had to trick around alot with 'Mechanical Engineering' in order to get LvL2 next to it + LvL3 next to Advanced Machining. Btw.: If someone has any clue how biology could be connected to the rest please tell me. Possibly anything that has been approved to be in a future version by some dev.
that will not fit on the screen of everyone. I can guarantee anyone playing at 800x600 will be fucked as commander. as well, why are there nuclear missiles AND nuclear warheads in there?
also, regenerative buildings doesnt fit. the NF use biological based technologies, and the BE nano based technologies. putting regen buildings in bio is plain illogical for BE.
I thought the warhead itself can't fly. It is mounted on the rocket so another prerequisit for it are the upgraded missiles. Two solutions for people with small resolutions would be - to add scrollbars; but thats an option I'd try to avoid - replace the text by icons (which would allow the combs to be smaller) If I do a new version I'll leave out the spaces between the combs. That should save some space. @Mayama: I consider the production of plastics rather as chemistry than biology but I could give it a try if more people think it is a good idea. Thanks for the suggestion. @KILLX: Well, BE can currently use all biology based technologies including regenerative armor. So actually each team should have its own 'special domain research branch' - biology for NF and nanotech for BE. But that is not up to me to decide. If you don't agree with my ideas ignore them. This thread should be about the general idea behind the layout.
I gotta say, i'm not sure if this is an improvement. nukes are already difficult to get. turrets are obsolete when the enemy gets HE cannon. making people require other things to get to these only means that they get the other things 'for free' in their desire to get to the target... which probably won't make the game any more interesting. for instance, if a commander wants nukes, currently he researches to nukes. with the proposed system, when he gets to nukes he would also have the upgraded missiles for his team as a bonus, whether he wanted to get it or not. Inevitably, this is going to mean that instead of the commander choosing the research to benefit his team's tactics, he's gunna be forced to get a varied selection of stuff for each individual thing he wants, which means that the choices and variety are cut down. for example, instead of saying "do we want nukes or upg missiles?" the commander has to choose both every single time you get nukes.
you dont need a nuclear missile to launch a nuclear warhead. infact, theres no such thing as a nuclear missile. theres the missile body, which delivers the warhead, and the warhead, which is the explosive device.
My calcuation looks like this: Normal Missile Body + Nuclear Warhead = Nuclear Missile See my second image. The Upgraded Missile (body) needs 'Improved Propellants' not 'Improved Warhead Compounds'. So in my version the 'Upgraded Missile' doesn't do more damage because it carries better explosives but it can travel faster and have a greater impact. I think I changed it in order to have a clear distinction between it and 'Improved Detonation Compounds' ('Improved Explosives' in my version). So there is still place for a nuclear warhead if one removes the standard one. It also helped me to make the grenadier RPG less linear. You can combine the higher velocity from 'Improved Propellants' -> 'Upgraded Grenadier RPG' AND the higher explosive damage from 'Improved Explosives' -> 'Explosive Shells'. I thought this differetiation would be more interesting flavor wise than just >>better explosives through 'Improved Warhead Compounds + some more better explosives through 'Improved Detonation Compounds'<< Sum: All I actually did was rename 'Improved Warhead Compounds' to 'Improved Propellants' and thus changed its flavor to make it more interesting.
add that fact that some thing, like fission engine, require 6 things to be research before it is unlock would eliminate it from being research at all normally.
Biology is fairly weak already outside of the early game, I think. This would only make that worse. Find ways to make parts of chemistry dependent on it if you want to add more interdependencies; that would be logical. I'm not sure I understand why you added some dependencies, though. Why did you add so many requirements for researching higher-level turrets, for instance, while adding no requirements at all to more advanced tanks or any of the popular weapons? Why nerf fission reactor, advanced grenadier RPG, absorbent, and so few other things? I just get the sense that you're making these decisions based on 'realism', and not gameplay. That's a very bad idea... I suggest you list each of the new research dependencies you're proposing, and justify (in gameplay terms) each one. Even better, list the other important research items (at least, in general terms) and explain why you think they shouldn't get more dependencies, if we're adding dependencies in general. Do you really feel fission reactors are so overpowered?
I have now concentrated on the actual layout and did not add any new items or connections. It is small enough to fit even on a screen with 600x400 px resolution but still contains all needed information. If the majority likes it I'll compose some demo pictures of how it would look in action (with some items completely researched, one beeing researched and also laid ontop of an actual screenshot).
Uh, yea, good job leaving out the naming of each. Your idea means memorizing the position of a research item, or spending ages mousing over looking for it.
Isn't memorizing a single position easier than memorizing a complete path in the current system where you have to click forth and back between levels of depth if you are not sure where the item is? And even if you know the path to each item you still have to click a few times. With this layout it is always just a single click. I think once you spend 5 minutes learning it it is faster than now.
really perfect. when you want rockets, you can go to the picture of the guy with the rocket launcher. it'll be really REALLY easy to remember or learn where stuff is. killx, why do you need the name when you can see the picture. this is also great for people that don't speak english. can you see a single research there that isn't intuitively placed (except those i mentioned below which can be corrected). "mousing over things to find what the researches are" WHAT? have you never commandeded killx? mousing over and reading text is exactly what we have currently, except a lot lot more so because there's no icons, and currently absolutely no indication of where the researches are underneath either. no more slow annoying menus to traverse. the only change i'd make is change the turret icon to pictures of level 2 and level 3 turrets, and change the med tank and heavy tank icons to pictures of med and heavy tanks (in the same style though). I don't understand the railgun picture either, i'd have raiguns as a shell with rings all around it. oh, and put the explosion for the explosive MG on the other side of the bullet on that picture to indicate it's not faster to be launched, it's creating an explosion. other than that it's GREAT.
hey Sandbag, you on crack today? In the current research tree, things are LABELED. OMG, labels! Have YOU ever commanded? Because your asking me if I've ever commanded over something that is there, that you claim ISNT. You don't have to be so aggressive you know.
