What additional hotkey should revert to realtime?

[TonyE]

Some players over the years have complained about the Enter/Return key being the only way to quickly force 1:1 time compression since hitting Enter can accidentally answer a staff assistant message with an undesired option. My first stab at it is to use the \| key except it is pretty much only for US layout keyboards (I liked that it is bigger than normal size on many keyboards). Whatever happens, the Enter key will still hold the functionality as well.

See http://harpgamer.com/harpforum/index.php?showtopic=3572 for the existing key mappings (posts 12 and 13 in particular as of this writing)

[hermanhum]

I voted: Don't use the \ key (please elaborate on your alternative)

Harpoon players are international and this fact should be respected.  I suggest picking something that all Harpoon players can use.

One additional thought: I would suggest not using a key that is already being used by ANW.  One day, HCE/ANW may wish to support the same hotkey functions and it would be a real shame to have key XX do one thing in ANW and do something else in HCE. 

Some of us guys just like to play both versions.[8D]

[TonyE]

ORIGINAL: hermanhum

I voted: Don't use the \ key (please elaborate on your alternative)

Thanks Herman, care to suggest a key? I admittedly don't use the keyboard commands as much as you (and don't even know many ANW ones if they aren't on my command card here).

[hermanhum]

If the arrangemement for foreign keyboards is the same, I would suggest the single quote button ['].  It is right next to the return key and would be closest in similarity. 

I checked for its use in both ANW and HCE and it does not seem to be assigned any function at this time.

[TonyE]

unfortunately the single quote key is also US layout specific. A short list of US specific keys are:

;: for US
/? for US
`~ for US
[{ for US
\| for US
]} for US
'" for US

[hermanhum]

Damn those Yanks for their keyboard imperialism!  [:@]

Okay, how about using the letter [l], then?  It appears to be the next closest and not too distant a reach from the Return key.  I looked in both ANW and HCE do not think that it has been assigned any current function.

[VictorInThePacific]

ORIGINAL: TonyE

Some players over the years have complained about the Enter/Return key being the only way to quickly force 1:1 time compression since hitting Enter can accidentally answer a staff assistant message with an undesired option. My first stab at it is to use the \| key except it is pretty much only for US layout keyboards (I liked that it is bigger than normal size on many keyboards). Whatever happens, the Enter key will still hold the functionality as well.

What I would like to see for this:

First of all, I am reasonably happy with the existing situation, so I would not be in favor of changing it. But bear in mind that I do not play the game as much as many other people. Probably far, far less.

Having said that, let us consider when you NEED 1:1 time. I don't mean PREFER 1:1 time, such as when you are manually tracking down a sub contact with your ASW plane and want to have reasonably fine control over your orders, or other non-critical situations. I am referring to situations where there are a whole bunch of nasty things coming at you (that weren't there an instant ago) and survival of some of your units depends critically on how fast you move your hands. In a situation like that, you want to bang your hand down on the keyboard (preferably without looking) and hit the right key every time. There are very few keys that qualify. The isolated ESC key in the upper left qualifies. The CTRL key in the lower left would qualify, except that it probably never is used in isolation. And, of course, the large ENTER in the lower right qualifies.

Having to hunt for a key in the middle of the keyboard somewhere while 30 min of game time go by every second could be a problem.

But having said THAT, are there any situations where nasty things have just showed up and you DON'T have a staff warning, which has just paused the game? I can't think of any right now, but it seems to me that there are some.

One situation that might occur is when things are really sticky (probably in many places at the same time) and you're entering a whole bunch of critical orders, and new nasties keep appearing, the staff assistant keeps giving you bad news, alarms are going off all around you, you're really concentrating on one particular area - don't tell me you haven't experienced this - and you want those messages to just GO AWAY !!!, and you hit ENTER, and it turns out that that was damaging to you.

Another question I would have in this regard is, when you get a staff message about new stuff showing up, what are the options? 1:1 time, intercept, show, select, and perhaps one (variable) other? Is there a uniform default? In Harpoon Classic, ENTER always exits the staff message at 1:1 time, but abandons the other options, and vice versa. In HCE, I believe you can do a whole bunch of things: show the action, select the affected unit, and THEN go to 1:1 time, all while the game remains paused.

Another consideration is that the key itself should have some mnomenic relation to the thing it does, for example = for equal time (but that's already allocated to +, which increases time compression, on the main keyboard). = on the keypad is actually ENTER.

See http://harpgamer.com/harpforum/index.php?showtopic=3572 for the existing key mappings (posts 12 and 13 in particular as of this writing)

Technical note: It may be that the image in post 13 there is only accessible to people who have accounts there, which was ok as long as that was a beta tester discussion, but we may have to move some things around now.

[hermanhum]

Now that ViTP has brought up the subject, I wanted to add something about the ability to slow back down to 1:1 time when needed.

Most Staff Assistant interface windows have a button that allows the player to drop down to 1:1. The exception that bothers me is the one which appears when a unit is within the AAW firing range (1/4, 1/2, 3/4, or optimum) of your fighters. It appears and there is no chance to drop down to 1:1. I think that the button is sorely missing.

[TonyE]

let me try to catch up

The , key is a possibility. Herman's screenshot points out exactly why I would have some use for an alternative key (no, changing the dialog is not an option at this juncture).

[hermanhum]

ORIGINAL: TonyE

The , key is a possibility.

The comma key is also used to drop sonobuoys in ANW.

[TonyE]

lol, oops, I thought you said the comma key Herman, not l. l as in Lima would of be a possibility.

[TonyE]

Okay guys, you have me rather depressed. Four votes, one of which is mine, surely the community can do better than that? If not, well, should we bother at all... [&:] PS, learned that move from JClark [&o]

[hermanhum]

ORIGINAL: TonyE

...learned that move from JClark [&o]

You mean that you are going to start banning people who didn't vote the same way you did? [;)]

[Warhorse64]

I've been perfectly happy with the enter key, but the L key seems like a reasonable addition, too.

[hermanhum]

Warhorse can stay.

Anyone who didn't vote the same way I did needs to be banned!  [:D]

[TonyE]

lol, at least there is still humor in the world

[Warhorse64]

ORIGINAL: hermanhum

Warhorse can stay.

Anyone who didn't vote the same way I did needs to be banned!  [:D]

(blushes)

Gawrsh, thanx, Herman!!! [&o]

[TonyE]

thank you to the few, the brave, the voters, the latest builds (available at HarpGamer if you like betas) remove the \ hotkey and add L for reverting to 1:1 time.