Army Controller information at IGN

[Soup]

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/8498/paraworldacsmall3yg.jpg

We asked ourselves: How can we let the player access and control his units efficiently? What if he could access every single unit any moment? How can we provide an overview so that no unit will be attacked or even killed without the player noticing it?

That's what we're doing with the Army Controller. It does list every single unit you have, shows its status and lets you access it. One does not only immediately recognize idle workers, you'll also always see what the other ones are currently busy with. Thus being able to anticipate potential shortages. You'll also see if there are units under attack or soldiers that are about to die, so that you can pull them back.

Full article talks more into detail about the Army Controller as well as the Army Builder, which sounds very interesting. Click here (http://pc.ign.com/articles/700/700700p1.html).

[DeGrue]

Wow, thx for finding this Soup. Looks really great! :go:

[Angryminer]

I sincerely hope that that monster of a menu to the left side will be configurable to be smaller or slimmer.

Angryminer

[Julian]

I sincerely hope that that monster of a menu to the left side will be configurable to be smaller or slimmer.
Yes, it can be minimized. But hardly anyone I know actually plays that way, it simply works that well. :)

[Angryminer]

Not "minimized" as in "Go away" but "make smaller" as in "doesn't cover a third of the screen but less while still being functional".
Hint: Ever heard of minimal-HUD concept? :wink:

Angryminer

[Tavenknaughtlin]

It actually doesn't look that big. I mean, Warcraft 3's interface takes up nearly as much if not more room than that, only it was on the bottom of the screen. Nearly all RTS games have a large HUD, though many have the option to close it, not many have the option to resize it (without mods of course). The only recent RTS games without a hud at all that i can think of is Lord of the RIngs: Battle For Middle Earth 1 & 2, and Ground Control 2. (there's probably more, but those are the only ones i know).

Personally i like the AC, it gives me details on all of my units, and i'm a player who hates to lose a single unit, so it will come in handy if one of my units is sneak attacked. I'm not the best player, and this at least gives me a chance of defending my troops without having to scan the map looking for them.

[Neox]

Not "minimized" as in "Go away" but "make smaller" as in "doesn't cover a third of the screen but less while still being functional".
Hint: Ever heard of minimal-HUD concept? :wink:

Angryminer

you mean like in Age3? ;)
Or like Black&White2, where no interface should be but there is and its huuuuuge and solid?
However if you don't select something there isn't much left of the hud, but your ressources, groups and the minimap.
And even if all is maximized you can see through it because its semi transparent and not just wasted, solid space like in classic rts games ;)

[Aphelion02]

Interesting concept...but I hope I won't have to use it much except to promote units and stuff. With only 50ish units, It shouldn't be too difficult to keep track.

[Neox]

you'll definitely will be a weaker player if you don't use the features of the army controller a bit more then just to promote you units, which is in fact also possible without the army controller ;)

[Aphelion02]

Of course, I'd have to play the game before I can really make an informed judgement, and I'm really quick to adopt anything that will give me an advantage.:cool:

On first impressions tho, it seems like a cool concept, but not anything a person can't duplicate w/ a good hotkey setup.

[Neox]

well shortcuts won't help you that much, if you have 4 archers _somewhere_ in your base that need to be placed into a titan, normally you'll search for them, with the armycontroller you'll just select them and send them to the titan, just with a few clicks and not searching one unit after the other and then searching the titan and then sending them to him. Or if you have freelancing workers and a new stone ressource, just select them in the armycontroller and send them to the stones, without having to move the screen to search for your workers. There are so many possibilities that you just can't do as fast as the army controller just with some shortcuts ;)

[Aphelion02]

mmm...that does sounds pretty cool actually :go: