Suggestions for 0 A.D.

[Obelix]

Hotkey for the selection of units by rank

I read @Gurken Khan was happy with the solution to use autociv-mod for having a hotkey to select units by rank (see the thread linked below). As I found no corresponding ticket or discussion, I suggest implementing this feature in 0 A.D. main game. Maybe there are more supporters for this suggestion around to establish a proper thread.

In the next step, there could be four buttons implemented for selecting each unit by rank 1, 2, 3 or selecting all (in other words: deselecting by rank). I have an unsued area of the gui between the mini map, the formation and the selection area in mind (see the annotated screenshot attached).

 

[Philip the Swaggerless]

Boats:

Request: Boats should be made more intuitive to use with visual or sound indicators.

Problem 1: Sometimes you think you should be able to go somewhere in a boat but you can't because:

1. The passage is too narrow
2. The water is too shallow (I think).

It should be clear to the player where they can go.

Ideas for solutions:

1. Make the water incrementally lighter the shallower it is.
2. Play a sound effect if you click to travel on an area a boat can't actually go on.
3. Play a sound effect if the boat takes a path significantly longer than the straight-line distance to the destination.  (So you know right away if its gonna take the long way.)

Problem 2:  Sometimes you think you should be able to garrison/ungarrison or repair a boat but you can't.

Ideas for solution:

1. Have a docking mechanism with a visual or sound indicating that the boat is now docked, so it can be repaired, garrisoned, or ungarrisoned.
   1. The dock-able positions should be defined and intuitive.  Players should be able to recognize them.  For example, beaches.  (I think that is already how it is basically.)
   2. If you attempt to dock but cannot, there should be a sound indicating the location is un-dockable.
   3. Attempts to garrison a docked boat should never fail if the unit is coming from an appropriate level.  (For example, if the boat is docked on a beach, units on an adjacent cliff cannot board.
   4. This also means that when you click to have a unit garrison a boat, the boat should not automatically start moving towards the person.  So that would have to be changed from the current boat behavior.

[Gurken Khan]

2 hours ago, Philip the Swaggerless said:

Problem 1: Sometimes you think you should be able to go somewhere in a boat but you can't because:

1. The passage is too narrow
2. The water is too shallow (I think).

I hate it. Also I think we have different fords: those where boats can travel through and the others; I can't tell them apart visually, I have to know the map.