MWIF Game Interface Design

[Norman42]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

I am resigned to using Uncontrolled (perhaps I'll get use to it).

Uncontrolled sounds right to me.

The addition of the '2 of 2' info I think will be an improvement to the form. The rest looks good.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: paulderynck

ORIGINAL: sajbalk

What is the category under build points for "no path" indicate?

I'd bet it is resources you control that cannot be traced to any factory by rail or by sea.

There is another entry for that. I am thinking (without reading the code) that it is build points that are part of trade commitments. I am not sure what happens (re RAW) to the build points if they cannot be shipped to the assigned destination country.

[Froonp]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
There is another entry for that. I am thinking (without reading the code) that it is build points that are part of trade commitments. I am not sure what happens (re RAW) to the build points if they cannot be shipped to the assigned destination country.

What happens to BP that are part of trade agreements and that cannot be shipped to the assigned destination country is that they are lost.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
There is another entry for that. I am thinking (without reading the code) that it is build points that are part of trade commitments. I am not sure what happens (re RAW) to the build points if they cannot be shipped to the assigned destination country.

What happens to BP that are part of trade agreements and that cannot be shipped to the assigned destination country is that they are lost.

Ok, thanks. That is almost certainly what the No Path build points are. But I'll read the code to make sure.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

I had another idea for this form. Here is what the form looks like when you first examine it.

The new button I have added is the Expand List button.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Clicking on Expand List produces this.

My motivation for the change is that this form is used to decide where to send resources. Here you get a much longer list of your resources, or factories if you scroll down. The buttons and map at the bottom support this decision making; while the summary information at the top is not really needed.

You can flip back and forth between these views using the (now) Shrink List button.

[Froonp]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

Clicking on Expand List produces this.

My motivation for the change is that this form is used to decide where to send resources. Here you get a much longer list of your resources, or factories if you scroll down. The buttons and map at the bottom support this decision making; while the summary information at the top is not really needed.

You can flip back and forth between these views using the (now) Shrink List button.

Very good idea !!!

Another idea : How difficult would it be to make the "Production" / "Save" choice for each resource directly in the list using drop down menu choices, rather than use the bottom buttons ?

Also, would it be possible to choose the Destination for each using a drop down menu in the list too rather than the "Change Destination" button ?

[lomyrin]

The expanded list is very useful, a very good innovation.
 
Now for sorting capabilities next.
 
Lars

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

Clicking on Expand List produces this.

My motivation for the change is that this form is used to decide where to send resources. Here you get a much longer list of your resources, or factories if you scroll down. The buttons and map at the bottom support this decision making; while the summary information at the top is not really needed.

You can flip back and forth between these views using the (now) Shrink List button.

Very good idea !!!

Another idea : How difficult would it be to make the "Production" / "Save" choice for each resource directly in the list using drop down menu choices, rather than use the bottom buttons ?

Also, would it be possible to choose the Destination for each using a drop down menu in the list too rather than the "Change Destination" button ?

Maybe for the Use/Save choice (I don't know what Don't Use could mean).

For Destination, I think the list of possibilities might be too long.

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

Maybe for the Use/Save choice (I don't know what Don't Use could mean).

For Destination, I think the list of possibilities might be too long.

In CWIF I used "Don't use" for oil I wanted for reorganization purposes since you do not need to transport oil you own for reorg.

In CWIF the AI for transporting resources wasn't the best so I also used "Don't use" at times for CW on resources that screwed up my convoy lines. For example. I put convoy points to Australia to send 1 oil from NEI to Australia. But the AI then insisted to send 1 Australian resource to UK so I had to put "Don't use" on the Aus res in order to be able to save 1 oil in Australia.

-Orm

[Shannon V. OKeets]

I spent most of today correcting and prettying up the DOW on major powers form. Here is the result.

There are 3 screen shots here with the top one showing the start of the Lebensraum scenario. The German-USSR pact is still in place, but Germany can break it if it so desires.

In the middle screen shot. Germany has elected to do so, hence the pact has disappeared from the Break Pact list and the USSR has been added to the list of countries on which Germany can declare war.

The bottom screen shot shows that Germany has declared war on the USSR.

All three of these images are taken from the same place in the sequence of play, one right after the other. If Germany now clicks on OK - Done, it will be Italy's turn to decide about DOWs on major powers. And Italy will see that Germany has already DOW'ed the USSR.

[YohanTM2]

Looks good but what is the "Skip major power" button for Steve?

[Froonp]

ORIGINAL: Yohan

Looks good but what is the "Skip major power" button for Steve?

It is to skip to Italy, and then Japan, and then Germany if wanted.
That means that you're not obliged to decide now, you can pass the decision to your allies, and then come back again here to decide.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

ORIGINAL: Yohan

Looks good but what is the "Skip major power" button for Steve?

It is to skip to Italy, and then Japan, and then Germany if wanted.
That means that you're not obliged to decide now, you can pass the decision to your allies, and then come back again here to decide.

The most important use is when you want the US to DOW first and see if it succeeds or not, before deciding on whether other Allied Major Powers should DOW too (e.g., Japan).

The die rolls for US Entry are delayed until after all DOWs, but the die roll for whether the US succeeds or not is made immediately.

[YohanTM2]

Thanks, that makes sense

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Here are the changes I've made in the last 2 days to the Unit in Hex panel ans the Setup Tray.

This screen shot shows the Unit in Hex panel in the lowere left corner; it is about half of its previous size.

In the Main form there is now a Unit Data Panel. Because the cursor is over Taranto, the data shown is a summary of the units in the hex: no land units, one air unit with a 4 air-to-air factor, and 20 naval units with an attack strength of 46.

I've made the Country label bold so it is clear that this is summary data for the hex.

[Froonp]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

Here are the changes I've made in the last 2 days to the Unit in Hex panel ans the Setup Tray.

This screen shot shows the Unit in Hex panel in the lowere left corner; it is about half of its previous size.

In the Main form there is now a Unit Data Panel. Because the cursor is over Taranto, the data shown is a summary of the units in the hex: no land units, one air unit with a 4 air-to-air factor, and 20 naval units with an attack strength of 46.

I've made the Country label bold so it is clear that this is summary data for the hex.

This is great ! This uses most of the space that was empty previously in the main form, and gives that informations that I'm so used to look at all the time. Now it is embedded in the main form, great !
Moreover, you've put the hex coordinates & description right below, which helps in understanding what is shown in the data panel.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

2nd in a series of 5. By slightly moving the cursor so it is over a specific unit in the Flyouts, teh unit data panel now shows the details for the Re.2000 Falco I.

You might notice that the buttons in the Main form are rearranged. Reading the top row from left to right they are:
show rail lines, show map labels, show weather zones (Off), show units, show medium resolution unit bitmaps (Off), show weather overlays (Off) and show hex control (Off).

If you go back to the previous post, you can see information on the hex Taranto (it is controlled by Italy, is Clear terrain with a factory and a major port (P+), experiencing fine weather in the Mediterranean weather zone.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

3rd in the series.

The Commonwealth is setting up Poland. There is a line of text in the Main form that displays: the turn, the impulse, the phase/subphase and the # of activites available to the current major power. One bug is that the Sequence of Play form is not showing the Commonwealth flag to the right of "Setup Attacked Minor".

Note that the Flyouts now display the status indicators. You could actually remove the Units in Hex form at this point, and roll-up the sequence of play form to get it out of the way. That makes a large portion of the map visible.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

4th in the series. This shows the new Setup Tray at its minimum size. By removing the unit data panel (that it use to contain), I've been able to reduce its "footprint" on the screen.