There is no argument that it technically allows more information so there is a small advantage (real or imagined), but what is the argument that it should not be part of the interface?
I'd say "because some players already have skill to control their peons and they spent much time to reach that skill".
These players have advantage now, they deserved it, but they loose it after your software coming out.
Ok. I see your point.
Maybe I'm wrong but I'm not aware of any players who can keep track of exactly which peons started chopping first. It seems literally impossible without watching your choppers all game, which would leave you virtually unable to do anything else.
Is there anybody capable of doing this? Please speak up.
At the same time as i state before, i think our future is newcomers, so they will find it useful.
And the game needs evolving, so your utility is a good act for newcomers i think. So i plan to add your utils to new combat 4.5
Cool. You are most welcome to use it.
great work!! the plugin system looks awesome & the map plugin is amazing!! <3<3<3 i too oppose the chop plugin however for exactly the reasons tk said.
Mousey
Welcome back I've missed you.
conversely, what's the argument that it should? the only reason i'm hearing is because you personally think it's an improvement to have to spend less attention monitoring choppers. that doesn't sound like an open & shut "improvement" so much as one person's personal preference for what essentially amounts to a crutch.
Respectfully, I really don't think it is a crutch at all - it is providing new information that could not be obtained be any means short of exclusively watching peons chop, which IMO is in any normal gameplay impractical to the point of impossibility.
The only way anyone could be paying that much attention to microing choppers would be if they were recording a macro at a slower speed. Anyone who has been paying attention to the game will know that this type of thing has been done since before this server started. I believe it was the death of many custion maps that required fast building and attacking like BGH, archers etc. I am happy to take the advantage away from cheats and give it to real players.
Other than that, I do not believe that ANYONE can keep track of all their choppers and build / scout / attack / defend / expand etc. beyond the first few peons at the start of the game, and at that point the chop bar is irrelevant anyway.
I honestly think it is information that should be available to the player (even wargus has this), and it just adds a bit more fun/interest. Any theoretical advantage is very slight, and it is available to everyone.
.... posting about it on page 11 of an obscure thread on a forum used by 5 1/2 members of the community doesn't remotely qualify as due diligence.
Well I did try. No it wasn't on page 11 of an obscure thread. I made
THIS thread, and invited public comments before I even put the time into making it, let alone releasing it.
Yes I was a bit underwhelmed by the response.
There was a bit on the lobby map, then I posted this:
Next plugin will add hp/mp bars under units on screen for better microing. Also chopping bars for peons so you can see which ones have chopped more.
got no response, so I did a test then posted this
Well here's a proof of concept for the life bars thing. Still a lot of kinks to iron out, but it should work ok I think:
So how should this be handled? I'm thinking magic / chopping display should only be for your own units, but life should be visible for any unit in visual range... or should this be handled some other way?
Thoughts?
-- edit --
and how about training complete % bars for rax etc? gold left in mines? upgrade progress for smith/mill/foundary/altar etc?
There's a fine line between improving the game and changing it, which is why I want people's opinions on these things.
There were comments from easycompany, iL, zelya and Szwagier. Nobody else seemed to be interested. I'm guessing tk was too busy ranting about how he should be admin and criticizing people while not reading more than the first 6 words of anything.
People raised concerns about health bars, especially with regards to unselected units. To be honest I was really surprised by the general air of negativity. I expected displaying life bars for enemy units to be contentious, but I really didn't think anyone would mind seeing their own information.
But, as people had issues, I did not release a plugin that displayed health bars at all, and when I released the chop bars plugin 10 days later I made sure they were restricted only to the player's own peons and only while they were selected.
Still people complain.
I really thought I was doing the right thing to try to breathe some new interest back into the game. In the end server admins can declare whatever they want to be a "hack" and ban it. People can demand SS. The plugin framwork is designed to make it ver easy for individual mods to be added or removed. Do as you will.
But let's pop the lid off this
steaming pile with some
officially submitted tourney warvid featuring custom displays of
opponent's forces and resources, on-screen health bars and training completion. This is apparantly OK as long as nobody talks about it, but try to openly improve the game for everyone and suddenly I'm overreaching.
All 4 players in that game are very high profile "pros". I would personally be quite surprised if they were not all running that same software. The local player was clearly using a gaming mouse with automatic clicking.
No I am not interested in naming either my source, the player who recorded it or the other players in the game so we can got through some facade of a witch-hunt, I'm sure we/they all know who they are. I just enjoy the game and I'd rather do something positive.
maintaining a consistent playing experience for everyone since after all this is a competitive multiplayer game. if it's not standardized, then none of the outcomes mean anything.
AGREE.
So let's cut the crap. Is the problem that I'm talking about mods openly? or that I'm making them available to non "pros" ... or am I seriously supposed to believe you have all been playing this game and running the server and the tourneys for all these years without ever knowing about any of this stuff? .... Please. Prosplain me that.
Now let's all have a nice discussion about the unfair advantage chop bars are providing.
Anyone want to buy a vowel? How bout an "O"?
Love you guys
Please read and consider all of this post before replying. Please also consider simply replying "Cool mod Lamb, thanks"