Suggestions to Simplify Left-Click and Right-Click

[T-C]

Suggestion 1: Program the sequence A-click to assign units to a commander or sensor and the sequence G-click to give guard orders. Add Assign and Guard buttons to the orders menu. Also, let Alt-click signify Assign or Guard when appropriate. Conversely, when one unit or group is selected and the user left-clicks on another unit, change the selection to the new unit or group; do not Assign or Guard.

Argument: Left-click does not consistently select a unit or group. When one unit or group is selected and the player left-clicks on another unit, it is assumed that the player wants to Assign or Guard if either of those options is relevant. As a result, it is sometimes necessary to deselect the current unit or group before left-clicking on the desired unit to select it. In theory, the game provides a visual cue to tell the player when a deselect is necessary. As a practical matter, however, it is easier to always deselect before selecting. Thus, selecting a unit or group is, for practical purposes, a two-click operation. A better system would be to make left-click consistently select a unit or group, and to make the Assign and Guard orders achievable by some other means. My proposal is to provide a menu option, a keyboard option, and an Alt-click option for Assign and Guard. Note that these options mirror the options for Patrol, which, like Assign and Guard, is an order that requires a target.


Suggestion 2: Display the orders menu by default whenever a unit is selected. Let the player toggle its display with Num-0 (as opposed to opening it with Num-0). Make right-click have no influence over that menu.

Argument: Right-clicking has two meanings. It selects an individual unit (as opposed to an entire group when the clicked unit is assigned to a commander or sensor), and it displays the orders menu. This double-duty doesn't work well in the user interface. It is difficult to remember that right-click displays the orders menu when you've been using it to select individual units, and it is difficult to remember that right-click selects individual units when you've been using it to display the orders menu. The two operations are completely unrelated, and don't belong under the same mouse button. The keyboard shortcut Num-0 makes things somewhat more convenient, but a better system would be to use Num-0 as a toggle, and to make right-click have nothing to do with the orders menu.


-TC