[interface] Improved stat tables in unit profile

[bjhartin]

Proposed idea:

Improve the readability of the unit profile screen by changing the resistance/defense/movement tables to a more readable, graphical format.

Background:

Understanding differences between units is obviously important to good play. The unit profile does a great job of describing a unit's attacks in a way that provides clear illustration using large text and images to supplement the damage/strikes/type/special data itself. This makes it easier to immediately see, and remember, a unit's attacks. The resistance/defense/movement tables, which contain more data, are somewhat harder to scan and digest quickly, especially when comparing units or when learning a new faction or era. The current use of colors to distinguish poor/fair/good values is, in my opinion, more distracting than helpful and might not be friendly to color blind players. I think we might be able to improve upon the existing tables.

Detailed proposal:

I think there a couple of ideas which are not mutually exclusive and could improve things. I am a developer, although not on Wesnoth, and I fully realize that some of these things might be wildly more difficult than others, so please forgive my ignorance of the code itself:

Graphical Indicator for Resistances

The current scheme of using colors to highlight bad/fair/good values might by replaced/supplemented by something a little more digestible, such as graphical indicator to the right of the value, e.g.

Code: Select all

arcane   20%       |**
blade    0%        |
fire    -10%      *|
impact   40%       |****
pierce  -30%    ***|

Map Hex and Graphical Indicators for Movement and Defense Ratings

The movement and defense tables could be illustrated using a hex of each terrain type with the movement or defense rating displayed on the hex itself, or perhaps to the side in a larger font.

We could also use a little graphical indication of these values. For example:

(Using a 'star rating')

Code: Select all

Terrain          Defense            Movement Cost
[hex] flat       40% ****           1 *
[hex] village    60% ******         1 *
[hex] water      20% **             3 ***
[hex] hills      50% *****          2 **
...

or

Using a bar/graph - the text below simulates the width of the bar.

Code: Select all

Terrain          Defense             Movement Cost
[hex] flat       [40%    ]           [1 ]
[hex] village    [60%      ]         [1 ]
[hex] water      [20%  ]             [3   ]
[hex] hills      [50%     ]          [2  ]
...

Of course, the hexes might be a little smaller than the on-map hex.

I'm not suggesting that we abandon the use of colors, just augment it with another kind of visualization.

Sort Ratings to See Best/Worst Values

It would be really nice if one could sort this list by clicking on a column so as to quickly see what terrain a unit is best/worst in. That might be a little much.

Thank you for taking the time to read my idea.

[A Guy]

What about UMCs which have resistance values and defense values in between increments of 10 (like 53% fire resistance or 61% defense on flat)?

[Chtomorc]

I think ingame display is pretty clear, but maybe because i'm used to it...

Improvement could be done in a simple way by mixing movement and defense in one table. Plus, it will take less place in description, making it easier to read. Hum, it's already done ...

[Scatha]

I think this is a very good idea indeed; that table has always bugged me. I particularly like your mocked up graphical representation of unit resistances, but I think that improving the defence/movement table is more important, as the thing is simply hard to use at the moment -- there's no obvious way to find the terrain type you are looking for.

Definitely the current table would be significantly improved simply by adding in pictures of the hexes. Even if it stretched it out vertically it would be easier to use because you could much more easily find the hex you were interested in. Alternatively (more work and may have issues I haven't considered), a very small map with one of every terrain type could be produced, and the the defence and movement values written over the map. I think this would be the most compact way of getting the information across.

[bjhartin]

I think ingame display is pretty clear, but maybe because i'm used to it...

Improvement could be done in a simple way by mixing movement and defense in one table. Plus, it will take less place in description, making it easier to read. Hum, it's already done ...

Edited to remove that suggestion. I had thought they were separated and I was working on a computer that didn't have Wesnoth installed.

[bjhartin]

What about UMCs which have resistance values and defense values in between increments of 10 (like 53% fire resistance or 61% defense on flat)?

Hmm...if one chose with the 'star rating' approach to visualization, I would suggest that we just round half-up, i.e. 4 or less rounds down, five or more rounds up. 45-54 gets five stars, 55-64 gets six stars, etc.

Of course, if one used a little bar, it could be more accurate, but I'm sure that would be additional work.

[bjhartin]

I made some other changes above, once I realized movement and defense are already in one table.

[Chtomorc]

The colors give a good indication. But graphic visualisation is clearer.
An option to sort terrains by defense or movement cost could also help to see quickly the best terrain type for a unit.

I don't think that terrain hex would fit in the description because there is numerous version of each terrain type. And you would have to deal with the double type terrain (and Better defense worse movement cost thing will modify the number display).