I'm on the fence about the coloring. I think it looks fine in the screenshots (as a mock-up), but it might stand out too much in practice. Perhaps we should treat it more like the movement envelope, where it's not normally displayed, but you can press a key to toggle it on/off. I imagine it's something you want to see briefly, then don't care all that much about (could maybe only be displayed when holding the key). If it's not displayed all of the time, maybe the color standing out a lot isn't a big deal then.
Hammer's idea of having it tied to the weapons is kind of interesting. I think that it's still good to see all of the firing arcs though. Perhaps the best way to handle this would by displaying the firing arcs as it is, and then if there is a selected weapon, highlight the arc of that weapon somehow.
Another thing to consider is turret arc, which will overlap other arcs. This may be an argument to not use the text. The text again is something that looks fine in the mock-up, but I'm not sure how good it would be in practice. The code for displaying the text could potentially be useful for other things though...
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It should absolutely be shown only when wanted. Therefore it is already tied to a (new) keybind, and I originally wanted to make it display only when the key is held down (so I'll take this idea as confirmed. I think there's no setting for this behaviour in the client settings, so people with have to live with it for now). The images are not mock-ups, but I still have to find some more places in MovementDisplay that have to interact with it. And do some TW reading on arcs for unit types.
Since the arcs are basically straight lines I also thought that whenever someone actually does want to see them they should be really obvious. More so with isometric mode where the lines might be jumbled up real good.
Currently it's limited to the movement phase, so firing phase and individual weapons/turret will be the next step.
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That all sounds good to me. I don't know how Hammer feels, but I think that if it's somethign that only shows when you hold down a key, then having it really stand out is fine.
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There would have to be a way to choose that opposing unit (in the movement phase). I have no instant idea for this. Did you have something in mind already?
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During movement/firing you can right-click to "View" a unit. I would have the firing arcs go off of the currently selected unit, which I believe is used for "View" as well, but I'm not 100% certain. I've been meaning to allow this for the movement enevelope as well, but haven't gotten around to doing it. Often when figuring out where I want to move, it's not only my possible moves, but also that of a nearby enemy that I want to consider.
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EDIT: removed the patch file, working on it for Aero. Need to revamp a few things...
OK first step.
Shows the Firing arcs for Mek, Protomech, Tank (including Tac Ops firing arcs when set), nothing for Infantry and nothing yet for Aero (up next).
currently only movement phase, and therefore no turret/torso twisting support (also up next)
Adds a keybind and makes it show the arc when holding the key. Numpad Ins is a good key for that.
Adds another Sprite class for this. It works a little differently from the others in that it uses only a few static images that are only redrawn when a zoom() occurs. The firings arcs are recalculated whenever the unit changes or the planned movement, but nothing is drawn then (not to the sprite images). The keybind only changes the "drawit" flag and repaints.
also added a sprite clear to the BoardView constructor that I guess cant hurt there. (I do get buggy behaviour without that sometimes when I start a second game.)
there's also a small addition to the toggleisometric method which will make the sprites redraw correctly (the envelopes and the firing arc).
Concerning the per-weapon display: Showing or highlighting the arc for a selected weapon kinda invites to show the max range as well. This would defeat my implementation of the arcs (soundly). The movement envelope display is much better suited to that. Also, I think that showing the field-of-fire for a selected weapon could be made baseline - in the movement phase I'd only select a weapon when I really want to know something and in the firing phase theres little else to display anyway. (We could add a setting in the GUIP for it).
Last edit: Juliez 2015-05-25
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and how it interacts with isometric mode:
Hi, One of the other Devs here. Like the concept of the firing arcs but my 2 cents.
1)Not sure about the coloring I think I'd prefer simple black lines.
2)The ISO looks really busy and for me harder to follow.
I think it would be good to have the option linked to the weapon. So if I select the weapon it shows the firing arc of that weapon.
But I think this is a great idea.
I'm on the fence about the coloring. I think it looks fine in the screenshots (as a mock-up), but it might stand out too much in practice. Perhaps we should treat it more like the movement envelope, where it's not normally displayed, but you can press a key to toggle it on/off. I imagine it's something you want to see briefly, then don't care all that much about (could maybe only be displayed when holding the key). If it's not displayed all of the time, maybe the color standing out a lot isn't a big deal then.
Hammer's idea of having it tied to the weapons is kind of interesting. I think that it's still good to see all of the firing arcs though. Perhaps the best way to handle this would by displaying the firing arcs as it is, and then if there is a selected weapon, highlight the arc of that weapon somehow.
Another thing to consider is turret arc, which will overlap other arcs. This may be an argument to not use the text. The text again is something that looks fine in the mock-up, but I'm not sure how good it would be in practice. The code for displaying the text could potentially be useful for other things though...
Thanks.
I should have been more informative :-)
It should absolutely be shown only when wanted. Therefore it is already tied to a (new) keybind, and I originally wanted to make it display only when the key is held down (so I'll take this idea as confirmed. I think there's no setting for this behaviour in the client settings, so people with have to live with it for now). The images are not mock-ups, but I still have to find some more places in MovementDisplay that have to interact with it. And do some TW reading on arcs for unit types.
Since the arcs are basically straight lines I also thought that whenever someone actually does want to see them they should be really obvious. More so with isometric mode where the lines might be jumbled up real good.
Currently it's limited to the movement phase, so firing phase and individual weapons/turret will be the next step.
That all sounds good to me. I don't know how Hammer feels, but I think that if it's somethign that only shows when you hold down a key, then having it really stand out is fine.
I like the hold the button down to show idea alot. I think making it like the movement envelope has potential as well.
Another thing would be nice to show the firing arc of an opposing unit as well.
There would have to be a way to choose that opposing unit (in the movement phase). I have no instant idea for this. Did you have something in mind already?
During movement/firing you can right-click to "View" a unit. I would have the firing arcs go off of the currently selected unit, which I believe is used for "View" as well, but I'm not 100% certain. I've been meaning to allow this for the movement enevelope as well, but haven't gotten around to doing it. Often when figuring out where I want to move, it's not only my possible moves, but also that of a nearby enemy that I want to consider.
I don't for selecting the enemy unit but maybe Nick has an idea how to do it.
EDIT: removed the patch file, working on it for Aero. Need to revamp a few things...
OK first step.
Concerning the per-weapon display: Showing or highlighting the arc for a selected weapon kinda invites to show the max range as well. This would defeat my implementation of the arcs (soundly). The movement envelope display is much better suited to that. Also, I think that showing the field-of-fire for a selected weapon could be made baseline - in the movement phase I'd only select a weapon when I really want to know something and in the firing phase theres little else to display anyway. (We could add a setting in the GUIP for it).
Last edit: Juliez 2015-05-25
This has been added to MM some time ago.