Poll: Merging Autociv features into vanilla

[guerringuerrin]

Considering the latest news about the Autociv mod, it seemed like a good time to do this poll.
While it's possible that some community member will start maintaining this mod, perhaps this is a good opportunity to think about what features we think could be incorporated into the vanilla game in the future.

I want to take this opportunity to eternally thank @nani for the invaluable contribution he has made to the game with all the time dedicated to the development of Autociv. I'm sure that most of the community shares this feeling. Thank you very much, nani. You're the best.

If I have omitted any feature that you think is important, please mention it in your answer.

Edited February 15, 2025 by guerringuerrin

[Stan`]

I support this. Do note however that integrating the code will be non trivial as some things are hacked around the game and we will need to take the time and make them proper.

E.g. the corpse thing i tried to port in 5 different ways and none got in.

[real_tabasco_sauce]

I hope that we can make it so we don't need to remove corpses. I have a PR with some promise https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/pulls/7616, but more can be done.

[BreakfastBurrito_007]

The active pause isn't a feature so much as a bug right? It absolutely shouldn't be added either way. For units there is an idle selector that is in vanilla, it would be nice to have that for production buildings too.

[Boudica]

Typing banani should ban nani.

[Atrik]

Adding some features that are in autociv to vanilla can only be a good thing.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

If someone were to make some mods isolating some of the features (and people can enable whichever features they'd like to see via mods), that would be super cool. Doing so might also create a basis for some pull requests down the line. 

[Seleucids]

I think the stats panel can be "integrated" into the main game by improving the top panel of session. 

Even on a 4:3 screen, most of the space here is empty and there are unnecessary content such as the version and build, which can be replaced by useful information from the autociv panel:

• Resource counts
• Unit counts of each class: Support, Infantry, Cavalry, Champion.
• The combat information: Kill count, Losses, KD ratio
• Phase of development

 

The build and release version should be summoned alongside WFG logos with hotkey ctrl + K

Edited February 17, 2025 by Seleucids

[Dunedan]

5 hours ago, Seleucids said:

Even on a 4:3 screen, most of the space here is empty and there are unnecessary content such as the version and build, which can be replaced by useful information from the autociv panel:

The minimum screen resolution we support (although with some limitations) is 1024x768 pixels. With that resolution there is pretty much no empty space left over there. Parts of the panel are also used when spectating a game for selecting the player to spec.

Also mind that the game should appeal to new and casual players as well, which might get overwhelmed when there is too much information shown there.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

11 hours ago, Seleucids said:

• The combat information: Kill count, Losses, KD ratio

I think this is too much info in the middle of the match when we can use that space for something else. 

[Grautvornix]

Do we have to decide for every player? I am not so sure: If it is too much info for small screens, and on larger screen users feel there is too much unused space why don't we introduce a config switch to enable it? (there is also settings for slower graphics adapters/slower CPUs, together with the corresponding tooltip).

Default would be off so thte game is by default well playable. Enabling means testing it on your screen. If you like it, then keep it, if not, don't. 

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

Well, at some point you have to actually design the game. Not everything can be an option. 

[alre]

I'm not sure how to read the results...

[Atrik]

7 minutes ago, alre said:

I'm not sure how to read the results...

I guess divide all categories by numbers of voters.

[Atrik]

Which at this time would tell you that all features are desired in base game (by majority voting).

Edited February 17, 2025 by Atrik

[BreakfastBurrito_007]

"Active pause" should not ever be a feature for multiplayer, I'd like to see that fixed when its merged. Perhaps single player users would want it to try to win super challenging scenarios akin to a 1-sided chess match, so I assume that is the demographic where we get those votes from.

[Gönndolsalv]

please give the vote more time

[guerringuerrin]

1 hour ago, alre said:

I'm not sure how to read the results...

My intention is to be able to get a more or less accurate idea of the players' preferences by giving them the possibility of choosing multiple options instead of holding a vote in which only one option can be chosen, which would force each user to exclude some of their preferences from their vote.

As an example: So far, there is a clear preference for the addition of Building Hotkeys over Players' Stats Overlay, with a difference of approximately 18% percentage points (17 votes/22voters = 77% vs 13 votes/22voters = 59%. ).
Of course, here we have to take into account the different preferences between single player users and multiplayer users. We could infer that a single player user does not have much interest in seeing the economic information of his allies as a multiplayer player does. Same for hosts features which has even more difference (23% over hotkeys). And this "could confirm" that right now most voters are single player users.

1 hour ago, Atrik said:

Which at this time would tell you that all features are desired in base game (by majority voting).

Evidently, this seems to be the case. However, taking into account what I expressed in the previous paragraph, we should consider which of these features are more suitable for the two game modes (single/multiplayer). Taking Active Pause as an example, it doesn't seem right that a player can execute commands while the game is paused in a multiplayer game, and in this regard I would put more emphasis on how to modify the pause system in multiplayer in such a way as to mitigate pause abuse, something we know can be quite irritating.

 

Finally, I would like to add that beyond the "democratic spirit" of any vote, it is difficult to take the results as an absolute and definitive truth. Rather, I believe they serve as valuable feedback for those who, with effort and dedication, develop 0 A.D. and make the decisions they consider most appropriate (and feasible) to continue improving this great game, incorporating Autociv features that have contributed a lot. It could also be a nice tribute. =)

Edited February 17, 2025 by guerringuerrin

[guerringuerrin]

I'm excited to share with you my progress on one of these features.

Hotkeys for buildings could finally become a reality in vanila a28!