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Ebongreen · 04-17-14, 10:09 AM

First, my thanks to the PF developers for creating such a fun game. I've been a wargamer since I was a boy, staring with Avalon Hill games - computing has made being a gamer so much easier and quality entertainment so much more portable! I read good things about PF at Pocket Tactics, and am very happy I gave it a try.

But if there's one thing about PF that drives me nuts, it's the gunnery sliders. Both slew and elevation are absolute controls (slew is 360º along the horizontal, elevation 0-45º vertical). For helm control, an absolute slider is fine, because precision doesn't matter that much, and you're limited in latitude to 60º total on the slider; the degree of control required is easily achieved.

But it can take 10-15 seconds to tweak out the last tenth of elevation to hit a target because the slider keeps moving as I lift my finger! It's maddening and frustrating, significantly distracting from the fun of "Main guns - FIRE!" Slew control is also difficult; the slider area that works for 60º on helm fails to provide the precision for 360º of gunnery slew.

I have a couple possible suggestions to solve the problem. One is to use dial controls: for elevation you could have three indexed wheels for tens, ones, and tenths, for example. Finger velocity could control the speed of dial spin.

An alternative, and perhaps better, option would be to narrow the displayed range on each slider and make them relative: show only 5-10º of elevation at any time and let the player's scroll velocity and direction determine what segment of elevation will be shown. Fix the elevation "marker" and float the elevation meter, like on some styles of spring-operated kitchen or postage scales. This latter scheme would translate to slew easily: show only a segment of the 360º slew range, and allow the player to scroll left or right to position the slew range necessary. For weapons like torpedoes and depth charges, you could even restrict the slew to the weapon's actual firing constraints.

I hope this is the kind of feedback that you as a developer appreciate. Thanks again for the fun; I look forward to more hours of enjoyment in the future.

04-17-14, 10:09 AM	#39
Ebongreen Nub Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 2 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Interface tweak: Gunnery First, my thanks to the PF developers for creating such a fun game. I've been a wargamer since I was a boy, staring with Avalon Hill games - computing has made being a gamer so much easier and quality entertainment so much more portable! I read good things about PF at Pocket Tactics, and am very happy I gave it a try. But if there's one thing about PF that drives me nuts, it's the gunnery sliders. Both slew and elevation are absolute controls (slew is 360º along the horizontal, elevation 0-45º vertical). For helm control, an absolute slider is fine, because precision doesn't matter that much, and you're limited in latitude to 60º total on the slider; the degree of control required is easily achieved. But it can take 10-15 seconds to tweak out the last tenth of elevation to hit a target because the slider keeps moving as I lift my finger! It's maddening and frustrating, significantly distracting from the fun of "Main guns - FIRE!" Slew control is also difficult; the slider area that works for 60º on helm fails to provide the precision for 360º of gunnery slew. I have a couple possible suggestions to solve the problem. One is to use dial controls: for elevation you could have three indexed wheels for tens, ones, and tenths, for example. Finger velocity could control the speed of dial spin. An alternative, and perhaps better, option would be to narrow the displayed range on each slider and make them relative: show only 5-10º of elevation at any time and let the player's scroll velocity and direction determine what segment of elevation will be shown. Fix the elevation "marker" and float the elevation meter, like on some styles of spring-operated kitchen or postage scales. This latter scheme would translate to slew easily: show only a segment of the 360º slew range, and allow the player to scroll left or right to position the slew range necessary. For weapons like torpedoes and depth charges, you could even restrict the slew to the weapon's actual firing constraints. I hope this is the kind of feedback that you as a developer appreciate. Thanks again for the fun; I look forward to more hours of enjoyment in the future.