Suggestions for improved techtree usability and commanding

alnair

Hi,

Here are some suggestions related to commanding, I think some of these stuff would make it easier for new players to follow/learn the gameplay.

- The alien abilities unlock at different levels of biomass, why not add this information to the tooltip information of the commander view ie "Unlocks at biomass #".

- Add vertical bars to the alien techtree to show "important" intermediate levels of biomass to unlock an ability.

- The techtree could have tooltips at mouse hovering, ie "Armory", "Shift hive" ...

- The techtree could have an indicator of what is upgrading, especially in the marine armory. Currently the upgrade indicator is on the armory and not the item being upgraded, such as mines or shotgun.

- As a commander the techtree could be clickable and by clicking the armory, the click would take you to the closest armory. This could be a good complement to keybindings for new commanders and be VERY useful when taking over after a commander has been ejected.

_INTER_

I don't really agree with the first 4 of your points. Alien already have the main bar of what biomass allowes what ability. Also biomass does not unlock abilities automatically, they need to be researched first.
This stuff is already covered in the tutorial more or less, if you didn't do the tutorial or didn't learn it after you did, you shouldn't command.

alnair

Well, the tutorial can be helpful to learn some of the basic things. Nevertheless, NS2 has a steep learning curve and I think that anything that can help new players to get through the basics "in a real game" would be more prone to enjoy and continue playing ...

I mean, there is already a Rookie mode and I fail to see why those points (not necessarily as written) wouldn't be useful for someone learning the game.

twiliteblue

Those are great ideas alnair. They may seem like minor details, but I think they will make learning NS2 commanding much less daunting.