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View Full Version : CA: A feature I really REALLY want: TAGS



AgentBif
11-02-2002, 00:24
On the strategic map I want to be able to mark a unit with one or more tags (number, word, or phrase) so that I don't lose track of what I wanted to do with that unit.

Then I want to be able to list all units with a specific tag. I should be able to click on a unit in the list and pop to it's location on the map.

A tag should also have a description associated with it (a sentence or two) and I should be able to get a list of tags with their descriptions.

For example, in the current campaign I am playing, I own half the world. That's some 50 or so provinces (just guessing) and hundreds or perhaps even a thousand or so units. Recently, I got a strategic event claiming a finantial "technology" advancement: banking. And suddenly I found that my per-year income had been halved. Upon checking my governors, I found that some 20 of them had suddenly come up with vanity vices that decreased the agriculture and trade income in their provinces by 10-40%. So I want to replace them all, but it is a daunting task keeping track of which ones need replacing! I keep having to rescan every one of my provinces because I keep forgetting which guys were the bad ones... it is SO TEDIOUS.

With tags, I could just do the scan once, mark each guy with the "termination" tag, and the tedium of finding which one to send my next emisary to (pink slip in hand) is gone. Upon termination, I delete that mark and instead flag him with the "russian front" tag.

Another example: I am currently fighting wars in different areas on the map but the provinces that are producing the armies for those wars are way, way in the back. But the map is a MASS of red flags everywhere, it is very difficult keeping track of which reenforcements are going where and whether or not I have produced enough for a certain front. I would like to be able to flag units when they are produced with tags like "africa", "hungary", etc. Then I could get a list of all the units marked for a certain area and easily decide when I can stop production (thereby saving my tight per-anum income).

Things that should go into a tag list:

number of units listed
unit type (billman, crossbow, spy, etc)
numeric strength
valor
command
accumen
location
destination (if it is moving somewhere)


I should be able to sort the list on one or more of those fields.

Finally, it would be nice to be able to get a list with a boolean expression. EX: "africa and (garrison or battle)"

Please please PLEASE consider implementing something like this in the game. It would drastically reduce the nightmarish tedium of dealing with so many units in a campaign. As it is, turns are taking me an hour or more and those are the ones where NO battles occur.

Please fight the spread of RSI (repetative strain injury) so that your loyal fans and customers have strength left over in their fingers to post fawning praise for your great game-development prowess on fine boards such as this one!

bif


[This message has been edited by AgentBif (edited 11-01-2002).]

Dionysus9
11-02-2002, 00:41
Thats a great idea.

I'd also like to be able to automate troop movements. For example, when I want to retrain a unit and the only place to do so is on the otherside of the map-- I should be able to command it to "go home". I could drag and drop it to where I ultimately want it to go, and each turn it would take a step toward that location. When it got there a popup could announce its arrival.

If you combine tags with this process the popup could say -- "Your unit of 34 Longbowmen lead by Sir Reginald has reached the closest retraining facility (Isle de France) and is ready to retrain. It will cost X florins and take X turns. Shall the unit retrain this round? Or wait till next round? Or forget it?"

That would be great, eh bif?



------------------
Bacchus
----
In the end times, there will be rumors of a patch-- but none shall come. And there shall be a great wailing and gnashing of teeth across the lands. And still no patch shall come. And the poor suckers will start eating their children out of frustrated desperation. And yet-- no patch shall come. Alas the end of days shall be dark and horrible.

Mithrandir
11-02-2002, 00:43
Quote Originally posted by Dionysus9:

I'd also like to be able to automate troop movements. For example, when I want to retrain a unit and the only place to do so is on the otherside of the map-- I should be able to command it to "go home". I could drag and drop it to where I ultimately want it to go, and each turn it would take a step toward that location. When it got there a popup could announce its arrival.

[/QUOTE]

Except for the pop up anouncement it's already possible http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif.
Just Pick up and drop the army where you want it and it'll move towards it's goal ,one province per turn...

AgentBif
11-02-2002, 01:07
Quote Originally posted by Dionysus9:
Thats a great idea.
I'd also like to be able to automate troop movements. For example, when I want to retrain a unit and the only place to do so is on the otherside of the map-- I should be able to command it to "go home". I could drag and drop it to where I ultimately want it to go, and each turn it would take a step toward that location. When it got there a popup could announce its arrival.

If you combine tags with this process the popup could say -- "Your unit of 34 Longbowmen lead by Sir Reginald has reached the closest retraining facility (Isle de France) and is ready to retrain. It will cost X florins and take X turns. Shall the unit retrain this round? Or wait till next round? Or forget it?"

That would be great, eh bif?
[/QUOTE]

Hey, now that's an interesting notion... some tags could be active commands. You could give a unit a list of tasks such as:

go home
retrain
go egypt
[/list]

This would cause the unit to return to where it was made and refit itself, then move to a location where it would be handy again.

Or simply:

retrain
go egypt
[/list]

This would cause the unit to seek out the nearest province that is capable of retraining that type of unit and then move back to the front.

Fantastic.

bif

Dionysus9
11-02-2002, 01:09
Quote Originally posted by Mithrandir:
Except for the pop up anouncement it's already possible http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif.
Just Pick up and drop the army where you want it and it'll move towards it's goal ,one province per turn...

[/QUOTE]


Really? Maybe I should play a little more SP... thanks for the info Mith.

MizuKokami
11-02-2002, 01:12
maybe even just a list of governors with their stats would work.

AgentBif
11-02-2002, 01:15
Quote Originally posted by MizuKokami:
maybe even just a list of governors with their stats would work.[/QUOTE]

Only if that's the only kind of management task I wanted to perform on many units... And even then, the list would have to include the financial impacts of vices and virtues.

Note that I included other examples, and could have listed numerous other uses for tags but didn't do so for the sake of brevity. Use your imagination, such a mechanism would be a very handy user interface enhancement.

bif


[This message has been edited by AgentBif (edited 11-01-2002).]

AgentBif
11-02-2002, 01:25
-delete-


[This message has been edited by AgentBif (edited 11-01-2002).]

AgentBif
11-03-2002, 02:32
Just wondering if you're listening CA?...

bif

MizuKokami
11-03-2002, 03:00
then use you financial report button. it has a list of all your provinces along with the moneys they are bringing in, and their loyalty at the time. any territory that's dipping in loyalty from the last turn has some thing going on, even if it's your governor, or just a couple of enemy spies. click on the territory you want to check out and the map will center on it. bring up the info on the territory, and click on the name of the governor. the map then centers on the governor, and you can then check him out.

[This message has been edited by MizuKokami (edited 11-02-2002).]

PugPenguin
11-03-2002, 23:19
One thing I've always wanted is a somewhat easier way to manage the economy... at the moment the only practical way is to open the finance window and scroll around and click on a province. This gets hard later on in conquest when you have become so massive. It kind of takes time to make adjustments and increase efficiency in income vs expenditure.

Sometimes I almost wish I could open MS Excel to micromanage the finance. lol.

YunDog
11-04-2002, 07:40
I think the orders list idea is a great one then the game runs an approriate sub routine to find a suitable place for the unit to retrain - hence one province could be a knight training province so the knight could migrate back there - the micromanagement of doing this would take ages without the tags - also often you give orders and forget what you ordered that unit to do - orders tags would be a great improvement to this already great game

good thinking Bif - by the way I used to love training biff up to a high level and then listen to the funny crap he would come out with in serious battles - JA2

AgentBif
11-06-2002, 13:41
Quote Originally posted by MizuKokami:
then use you financial report button. it has a list of all your provinces along with the moneys they are bringing in, and their loyalty at the time. any territory that's dipping in loyalty from the last turn has some thing going on, even if it's your governor, or just a couple of enemy spies. click on the territory you want to check out and the map will center on it. bring up the info on the territory, and click on the name of the governor. the map then centers on the governor, and you can then check him out. [/QUOTE]

So your suggestion is I should memorize the income from all of my 40 or so provinces every turn and compare them line by line with the new values after advancing the turn?

I don't know, I think it would be even more convenient if I got a quill, ink, and parchment so I could write them down instead... http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/wink.gif

bif

Kroney
11-06-2002, 16:14
good idea

AgentBif
11-09-2002, 02:46
Someone from CA please say you've read this thread!

Thanks.

bif