`Pause and `Group-Mode for units

format · Post by **format** » October 26th, 2007, 7:00 pm

Hello,

we, about 8 friends are playing and enjoying Wesnoth now for 2 Years.

We only miss a pause-mode for Units, which should not in every N (next) cycle appear, and

a grouping-mode.
Once you play on huge maps with huge armies, it should be possible to activate via mouse a lot of units in the same time to address one path for all.

THE REST is just a wonderful game like M.A.X. or History Line! WEll Done!

format - first and last entry ever

Post by **Ken_Oh** » October 26th, 2007, 7:09 pm

I too have wished there was some sort of grouping (for moving tons of WCs around), but I don't see that ever happening in this game like this.

From what I understand, most of the devs aren't fans of huge maps and huge armies.

scienceguy8 · Post by **scienceguy8** » October 26th, 2007, 7:30 pm

Wait, let me understand this. Are you saying you and your friends made a huge map and have been playing the same multiplayer game for 2 years?

format · Post by **format** » October 26th, 2007, 8:31 pm

scienceguy8 wrote:Wait, let me understand this. Are you saying you and your friends made a huge map and have been playing the same multiplayer game for 2 years?

Well, we battle a huge map with some strategic moments. Money is no matter. We do not like maps, where nearly every kind of territory or town are more or less in an average distribution present. Maps should consists out of certain areas where where one kind of troups have more advantage. So the fight are very ductile. Only one place of towns or production, a clear border between the races, the fight should be decided by strategy, not by tactics.

Anyway, in huge maps with many units it takes a lot of time always to controle every single unit. Therefore i wish there would be a grouping mode.

Post by **Iris** » October 26th, 2007, 8:47 pm

format wrote:Well, we battle a huge map with some strategic moments. Money is no matter. We do not like maps, where nearly every kind of territory or town are more or less in an average distribution present. Maps should consists out of certain areas where where one kind of troups have more advantage. So the fight are very ductile. Only one place of towns or production, a clear border between the races, the fight should be decided by strategy, not by tactics.

Anyway, in huge maps with many units it takes a lot of time always to controle every single unit. Therefore i wish there would be a grouping mode.

...

Ken Oh wrote:From what I understand, most of the devs aren't fans of huge maps and huge armies.

That's right.

Post by **Aethaeryn** » October 26th, 2007, 10:10 pm

Grouping would be handy, however, especially in campaigns where you have 15 units and you'd like to get them to an objective, e.g. an oasis, and don't want to manually move them all for the 3-4 turns of just moving.

littlebeast · Post by **littlebeast** » October 27th, 2007, 1:27 am

Aethaeryn wrote:Grouping would be handy, however, especially in campaigns where you have 15 units and you'd like to get them to an objective, e.g. an oasis, and don't want to manually move them all for the 3-4 turns of just moving.

I think that's the general idea of allowing multi-turn moves.

However, the grouping mode could be handy - but I have no idea how you'd implement it. Click a central tile and they'll flock around it? Stay in formation and click where the center goes?

Also, I'm not sure what you mean by the pause mode. If you mean dropping someone out of the 'n' cycle, you can do that by pushing spacebar, IIRC.

Post by **Jetrel** » October 27th, 2007, 8:31 am

The problem with huge maps is a basic problem with a lack of scalability in our multiplayer design. Wesnoth was originally designed as a single-player game, and its design precludes the following, since it originally assumed that opponents could do their moves "instantly".

In multiplayer, it would _flatline_ the scaling of "time per game per player" if players could play their turns simultaneously, rather than in sequence. If players could do that, an 8-player game would take little more time than a four-player game, on the same map.

Post by **irrevenant** » October 27th, 2007, 10:55 am

I don't think he's proposing simultaneous play, just the ability for the active player to select several units at once and direct them at a target point in a single action.

It's been proposed before. IIRC, it had some pretty complicated implications for pathfinding.

Stilgar · Post by **Stilgar** » October 27th, 2007, 3:23 pm

With regards to "pause mode", if I recall correctly, when you select a unit and hit spacebar, it marks it as having been moved that turn... I think that is what you are looking for?

Group mode, though, I doubt will happen.

And for the record I'd be quite interested to know how Jetryl thinks it could be done that all players could move at once without it becoming a nightmare to figure out what units are where for attacking, or having the game basically turn into an RTS. But that's kind of off-topic.

Post by **Aethaeryn** » October 27th, 2007, 4:29 pm

littlebeast wrote:
Aethaeryn wrote:Grouping would be handy, however, especially in campaigns where you have 15 units and you'd like to get them to an objective, e.g. an oasis, and don't want to manually move them all for the 3-4 turns of just moving.
I think that's the general idea of allowing multi-turn moves.

But in the mentioned UtBS level you have to go between many oasises. And then there are scenarios where you're going somewhere with all of your army and then you have to change moving your entire army frequently. Not to mention the huge maps like the Wilderlands where you're moving your army across long distances in an MP game. Moving units as a group would make things easier.