Current speed display

[Zero_G]

Hi!
I noticed that I use very often the keyboard shortcut "CTRL+A" to switch from normal to accelerated speed and viceversa, especially during the enemy turn... but many times I cannot recall what's the current speed, and I can only understand from how fast the units are moving. It would be a nice idea to put a small indicator displaying the current game speed (0.5x, 1.0x, 2.0x, ...) to be able to correctly decide to switch or not.
I don't mean a big or invasive graphical gadget, but a small rectangle in the lower or upper right corner of the screen (separated from the map) could be clear enough.

Anybody agree with this?

[Captain_Wrathbow]

I don't think this is all that important, but it sounds like a useful and decent idea, and I don't think it would be that hard to implement... if I had the programming know-how, I'd love to write a patch for this, just for the sake of contributing something to the game.

I'm for it.

[Speedbrain]

I noticed that I use very often the keyboard shortcut "CTRL+A" to switch from normal to accelerated speed and viceversa, especially during the enemy turn... *snip*

I didn't even know one could do this. This will be a lifesaver on some campaigns during the AI's turn.
And I do like your idea of showing the speed, by the way.

[Zero_G]

I don't think this is all that important, but it sounds like a useful and decent idea, and I don't think it would be that hard to implement... if I had the programming know-how, I'd love to write a patch for this, just for the sake of contributing something to the game.

I'm for it.

Well yes, I think a simple string drawed in white or yellow on the right panel could do the job (take a look at the attached mockup to get an idea)... maybe I'll give it a try on the programming side!

I didn't even know one could do this. This will be a lifesaver on some campaigns during the AI's turn.
And I do like your idea of showing the speed, by the way.

Yes, I was talking exactly about that part of the game... otherwise an "Accelerated speed during AI game" checkbox could be nice.
The same thing could be said also for the current zoom level ('+' and '-' shortcut keys), but since pressing '0' the zoom is reset, maybe that's not so important... I haven't found shortcut keys for increasing/decreasing speed neither, so every time I need to go to preferences and check it out, do you know if they exist?

[Pentarctagon]

i hope this gets added, it would be a nice thing to be able to know without having to open the preferences window (but yeah, not particularly important, so who knows if it'll get added or not).

[ancestral]

Displaying the current speed is kind of useless if you can't change the speed without going to the Preferences anyway. Because if you have to go there to change it, you'll see the current speed once you get there.

However, I would prefer a hotkey for changing the speed, like + and - as is used in many RTS games. Perhaps when changing the speed, then a small badge showing the speed multiplier could appear in a corner on the screen for just a few seconds (something like 'x1.6').

Edit: https://gna.org/bugs/?15424

[Zero_G]

Displaying the current speed is kind of useless if you can't change the speed without going to the Preferences anyway. Because if you have to go there to change it, you'll see the current speed once you get there.

Yeah, totally agree, going back and forth to the preferences to adjust speed is quite annoying...

However, I would prefer a hotkey for changing the speed, like + and - as is used in many RTS games. Perhaps when changing the speed, then a small badge showing the speed multiplier could appear in a corner on the screen for just a few seconds (something like 'x1.6').

Yes, that would be good, too... Let's hope some good-hearted developer add these simple things inside the graphical interface!

[Rya]

I usually just speed up the game by pressing shift during ai turns.

But usually I think playing is more enjoyable if you also watch the ai turns at normal speed.

[Zero_G]

I usually just speed up the game by pressing shift during ai turns.

Does it work for you? It has no effect here... how do you do that?

[Rya]

Maybe it only works for the host?
I just have have to keep shift pressed and it speed ups for the time I keep it pressed.

[Peter the Great]

There is an option in options that you have to turn on in order for shift to work. It's right above the speed rate bar thingy IIRC.

[mystic x the unknown]

... otherwise an "Accelerated speed during AI game" checkbox could be nice.

This is the best idea in the thread. I often switch from accelerated speed on my turn to normal speed on the opponent's turn. Having this feature, maybe in the form of 2 sliders, would be very handy.

[Velensk]

There is an option called skip AI moves which reduces the length of the AI turns consiterably.

[Zero_G]

There is an option called skip AI moves which reduces the length of the AI turns consiterably.

Yes, I tried it, but it definitely skip moves, instead of showing them at higher speed, which is more enjoyable from a gaming point of view.

To summarize the ideas, it would be good to have:

• a keyboard shortcut to increase/reduce current speed and a little box showing the updated value
• two separated sliders for "Player's speed" and "AI speed" in the Preferences menu
• an optional label showing the current speed avoiding to check Preferences every time

[Zero_G]

@Peter,Rya: yeah, I found that SHIFT works for temporarily accelerating speed, so for now I set SPEED to 2 then I keep the accelerated switch OFF, so, when I need to speed up AI turns, I keep SHIFT pressed... thanks for the useful tip!