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MorgothBauglyr

The main thing that keeps me from playing carriers is the controls.

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Beta Tester
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A lot of the problems i have with the controls stem from the rather outdated 1995 command & conquer style control scheme coupled with a bunch of system problems.

 

Unit selection and issuing commands:

  • selecting units and issuing commands both uses the left mouse button -> missclicks and wrong commands have large consequences -> lots of readjustments needed.
  • drag-selecting over empty space does not retain the current selection, instead the carrier is selected.
  • the game does not seem to register inputs every frame -> even slightly above average APM starts producing bad inputs
  • in combination this means many quick clicks are registered as a drag when the mouse is moved by just a pixel -> command gets registered as a drag-select -> nothing was selected -> carrier gets selected -> carrier stars moving where the squad was commanded to go to.
  • Handles to adjust attack indicators around are very small and hard to click on.

Possible solutions:

  • Use the de-facto standart controls for RTS with left click to select units and UI elements and right click to issue commands.
  • retain the current selection when nothing is selected (sticky selection). The keybind to select the carrier is sufficient for quick access.
  • read inputs into a buffer or increase the polling rate.

 

Camera:

  • When double tapping a squad/carrier selection key or through the minimap, the camera should jump there instantly, not take a lengthy pan over the map.
  • There should be a key that jumps the camera to the current selection.
  • Separate scroll speeds for keyboard scrolling and mouse scrolling and higher maximum scroll speeds.
  • Overhead view zoom speed should be a separate setting from ship/binocular view zoom speed.
  • option to rebind keyboard scrolling to WASD and ship steering to arrow keys while in overhead view.
  • Cool 3

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quoted post removed

 

 

If playing a carrier takes no skill, how come you're so bad at it?

 

(1) selecting units and issuing commands both uses the left mouse button -> missclicks and wrong commands have large consequences -> lots of readjustments needed.

(2) drag-selecting over empty space does not retain the current selection, instead the carrier is selected.

(3) the game does not seem to register inputs every frame -> even slightly above average APM starts producing bad inputs

(4) Handles to adjust attack indicators around are very small and hard to click on.

(5) option to rebind keyboard scrolling to WASD and ship steering to arrow keys while in overhead view. 

 

(1) I think it's a lot easier to use the numerical keys to select carrier ("1") or squadrons ("2" and up). You can hold "Shift" to select multiple squadrons.

(2) I never use 'drag-selecting' as I always use "Shift" + numericals, but I can understand your problem with it.

(3) I've noticed this in some of the games I've played as CV, but I thought this was due to a drop in the connection / lag. However, I've only noticed this since patch 0.5.8, so it might be something else.

(4) I agree, but then again I don't use them very often. I tend to align the path of my planes according to the drop path (bombs or torpedoes), so I don't need to adjust it.

(5) What do you mean with 'keyboard scrolling'? I don't see the benefits of changing the steering controls from WASD to the arrow keys as I use one hand (the left) to use the numerical and WASD keys (as they're close together), and the other hand (the right) to use the mouse. But if you want it your way, you can always change it in the settings..

 

 I have no problem at all with the camera. If I want to quickly jump to an area of interest I double-press one of the numerical keys, as this area almost always is near your squadron(s) or carrier.

Edited by RogDodgeUK
This post has been edited by a member of the Moderation Team, due to forum rules violation.~RogDodgeUK
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[2DQT]
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Nothing wrong with the controls. The planes are meant to need alot of micro adjustment, play BB (like what I do before anyone else thinks I'm trolling) and you can have a lower APM...

 

WG could make the zoomed out view a bit wider as it's a little hard to set up bombing runs and be aware sometimes.

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Beta Tester
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quoted post removed

 

Lol, i always laugh my [edited]off when below bot level clowns that can't handle any ship class even at bot level say no skill needed, lol. 

IF no skill is needed why the hell you are even really bad on noskill carriers? 

 

You will get my vote if you candidate for the forum clown :-)

Edited by RogDodgeUK
This post has been edited by a member of the Moderation Team, due to forum rules violation.~RogDodgeUK
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[TTTX]
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I think WG said they plan to improve the controls for CVs.

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[WGP2W]
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Nothing wrong with the controls. The planes are meant to need alot of micro adjustment, play BB (like what I do before anyone else thinks I'm trolling) and you can have a lower APM...

 

WG could make the zoomed out view a bit wider as it's a little hard to set up bombing runs and be aware sometimes.

I have never understood the appeal of having clunky controls just to make something more APM dependent.

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Agree with things that OP mentioned and besides that;

 

- possibility to rebind keys like Alt and Shift (instead of using third party program scripting or registry rebinds for this)

- when squadron is completely destroyed, key assigned to this particular squadron selection should go inactive (instead of selecting your ship)

- improvements should be made to manually targeted drops near map boundary (it should be possible to attack from any direction you want there)

- would be nice to have torpedo arming distance somehow shown (torpedo launchers on ships have this, by the means of green torpedo arc starting a little away from the ship)

Edited by LazyInsight

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You will get my vote if you candidate for the forum clown :-)

 

skybuckflying wont be happy about that :trollface:
Edited by kingduckling
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I have never understood the appeal of having clunky controls just to make something more APM dependent.

It's a common and lazy way of adding fake difficulty to a game by forcing the player to do make more actions, which is much easier than making those actions themselves more difficult. Unfortunately, it tends to create gameplay which is characterised by "hard to learn, easy to master".

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[THESO]
Beta Tester, Players, In AlfaTesters
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IMO adding the option to rebind the keys would solve just about every problem, also an option to use plane movement and auto attacks with a RMB, while keeping the manual attacks on the left one.....but yeah....if planes were a bit more responsive that would be nice too

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[UNICS]
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CVs must be a hell to balance. I enjoy their inclusion in the game, they add another layer and seem to be sort of balanced with the other classes. I've tried the Bogue and I have no interest in playing this kind of rts-gameplay in WoWs. Making cvs easier to play and the planes more responsive might lead to buffing AA for the other ships though, so I'm not sure that's a great idea.

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[MORIA]
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Just started playing CV a little, and is there any way to group squads? I would like to be able to group fighters / bombers / tp bombers into 1, 2 and 3. I am quite surprisingly doing well even though i got a lot to learn obviously

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@WarburtonLee: I think you shift-press '2' and '3' or whichever squad numbers you want to group.

 

Or just put them in the same spot and drag-select them on the map.

 

On topic: I agree with OP that the controls feel clunky. Artificially so, when the controls for shooting main guns or torpedoes are dumbed down to almost nothing. Not to speak of AA. This is a put-off.

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[MORIA]
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@WarburtonLee: I think you shift-press '2' and '3' or whichever squad numbers you want to group.

 

Or just put them in the same spot and drag-select them on the map.

 

On topic: I agree with OP that the controls feel clunky. Artificially so, when the controls for shooting main guns or torpedoes are dumbed down to almost nothing. Not to speak of AA. This is a put-off.

 

Yes i know i can group them by drawing over them or press shift. But they dont stay grouped after you select something else do they? i might have missed something

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Beta Tester
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IMO the CV controls currently are mostly fine. The greatest problem comes in the later tiers when you start having 6+ squadrons.

While 6 is fine for me (I can hold shift with my left pinky and my index finger can comfortably reach 1-7), any more and I end up having to change my hand posture to press 8-9 using my thumb instead which is very inconvenient.

 

Beyond that though I can attest to the fact that CV controls have an oddly long response time occasionally. At the start of games when I'm launching all planes (I tend to split fighters at start for spotting purposes), if I do everything too quickly none of the commands end up being registered.

Edited by RNGsama

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Players
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I always thought the Carriers style of gameplay seemed a bit meh since I like to actually steer my ship more, but I have yet to actually use a Carrier so, yeah.

quoted post removed

 

 

Really? That makes me sad. I wanted to play Artillery in that game when I first started because I thought the idea of trying to get the long distance shots in to be intriguing.

Kinda like using a Howitzer in Battlezone.

Edited by RogDodgeUK
This post has been edited by a member of the Moderation Team, due to forum rules violation.~RogDodgeUK

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[MORIA]
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IMO the CV controls currently are mostly fine. The greatest problem comes in the later tiers when you start having 6+ squadrons.

While 6 is fine for me (I can hold shift with my left pinky and my index finger can comfortably reach 1-7), any more and I end up having to change my hand posture to press 8-9 using my thumb instead which is very inconvenient.

 

Beyond that though I can attest to the fact that CV controls have an oddly long response time occasionally. At the start of games when I'm launching all planes (I tend to split fighters at start for spotting purposes), if I do everything too quickly none of the commands end up being registered.

 

Sama, can i group in any ways? i mean so they stay grouped?

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Beta Tester
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Sama, can i group in any ways? i mean so they stay grouped?

 

Unfortunately no, you just have to get used to holding down shift and pressing the number row very often.

It's inconvenient in a way yes, but I think introducing custom grouping will actually cause more issues.

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Unfortunately no, you just have to get used to holding down shift and pressing the number row very often.

It's inconvenient in a way yes, but I think introducing custom grouping will actually cause more issues.

 

thank you :)

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[ST-EU]
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quoted post removed

 

 

Funny that below average muppets like you are using the word "no skill". You obviously tried and failed. 

 

 

I think the controls are fine. I mean I'm well used to it now but a few improvements won't hurt. More features and alternatives make more people happy to use a cv. The controls should be always flexible and optional so people can choose their preferred controls.

Edited by RogDodgeUK
This post has been edited by a member of the Moderation Team, due to forum rules violation.~RogDodgeUK

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Cv controls are just annoying. You can't group them the way you want, like in a Ranger with 3 DBs and 1 TB i want one key for all DBs and one for my TB, but a mechanic that's been standard for over 20 years, seems to be too far off the edge for WG...

Or the other thing, that you can't drag squads on the left hand side of the screen, where the chat and teamlist is. Just like in Wot, where you want to report someone and suddenly exit the menue, because you enter the ingame platooninvite unintentionally(having ingameinvites disabled makes no difference).

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You can't group them the way you want, like in a Ranger with 3 DBs and 1 TB i want one key for all DBs and one for my TB, but a mechanic that's been standard for over 20 years, seems to be too far off the edge for WG...

Or the other thing, that you can't drag squads on the left hand side of the screen, where the chat and teamlist is.

 

Yes you can, just use the "Shift" key.

And why would you even want to use drag-select? Just use the "Shift" key.

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The CV gui is useless. If Total Annihilation could manage a better RTS command queuing system in the 90's WarGaming have no excuse - unless the goal was to enforce irritating Warcrap / Starcrap style micro.

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