Targeting idea? Multi-unit targeting.

[Psychedelic_hands]

This just poped into my head. I'm not the best at explaining things though, so sorry If I'm unclear.

Basically Left click+ drag= select units. Right click + drag =target group of units.
The Target box should be red in colour.

The purpose of this should be fairly clear I think.

[John.d.h]

This just poped into my head. I'm not the best at explaining things though, so sorry If I'm unclear.

Basically Left click+ drag= select units. Right click + drag =target group of units.
The Target box should be red in colour.

The purpose of this should be fairly clear I think.

I think I suggested this a long time ago somewhere.  Either way, it's one of my favorite features in Homeworld and could be a good addition to GAE.  I've always hated the "everybody attack this one specific guy" command that seems to be the default behavior in most RTS games.  It's not just for attacking either.  You could also tell your harvesters to go gather from those piles of resources over there, tell your repair units to fix that group over here, and then tell your fighting units to go kill all the enemies in some area.  Very handy way of doing things.

[Omega]

Agreed, this could be very handy for gameplay! I don't recall hearing it mentioned before, though...

Ideally, you'd just select the group of units, then select the group you want them to attack, and the engine will split your group evenly to all the targets.

[Zoythrus]

it should be toggleable. there have been times where i want all of my units to focus their fire on one unit (eg, a player's battle machine or other high priority target).

[Psychedelic_hands]

It's called a single click. 

[Dritominous]

Oh, so you're suggesting a double-click = multi-unit targeting attack?

If that's the case, I think this is a wonderful idea!  It would enhance the gameplay tremendously! 

[John.d.h]

Personally, I was thinking something more like this:

You'd pick your command (either by clicking on the icon or using the hotkey) and instead of clicking on one target, you'd just draw a box around the group, which is how it's done in Homeworld.  I can see how double-right-click could be handy for "attack/repair/whatever all of this type on the screen", since it would go along with double-left-click for "select all of this type on the screen".

[Omega]

Right click + drag =target group of units.

That's what it says in the first post, see?

I assumed that's what you meant the entire time, and think that's the best method, that way you could, say, choose what group of units you want to attack (that way you won't end up attacking buildings too... That's an annoying thing about sending units to attack the foe, they are too stupid to know what to attack first. A harmless building is last priority, the guy hitting me with the big stick is first priority ).

+1 John.

[Psychedelic_hands]

Yes I meant Click + drag. A double click seems like it would be trickier to implement, plus I find sometimes GAE doesn't pick up my target straight away. So I usually click more than once anyway 

[will]

If left mouse button selects units and right selects targets for those units...

It seems natural that holding down right mouse and dragging selects all in quad,  right click with shift or control does multiple selection etc?

[John.d.h]

It seems natural that holding down right mouse and dragging selects all in quad,  right click with shift or control does multiple selection etc?

One drawback to that would be the awkwardness of doing it on an unconventional mouse, like a laptop touchpad.  I can't really think of any software I've ever used that uses RMB-drag.  On top of that, what I suggested would (theoretically) work for all commands, not just whatever the RMB default is (so you could tell your Battle Machines to use their arrow attack on a group instead of the default axe attack).  Shift already has a function -- queuing that unit up as the next target.  I'd kinda like to keep that functionality.  I'm not sure what control-RMB should do.  Maybe that would be "target all units of this type"?

[-Archmage-]

Right-click drag should be fine.
Touchpad? Oh, please if you're going to game get a USB mouse for 5 bucks. Anyway I don't know about you but my laptop has a right mouse button on the touchpad.

[John.d.h]

Anyway I don't know about you but my laptop has a right mouse button on the touchpad.

Have you tried to drag with it?  It's not the most "natural" movement.  If somebody is carrying around their laptop with them, they probably don't want to lug around extraneous hardware.

[-Archmage-]

I had a convient little thing until it broke. A mouse where the wire wound itself up in a little thing, the mouse was so tiny you could carry the whole thing in your hand easily, worked well until the end. It's buried under nothing on my shelf right now.

Right-click drag is as easy as left-click drag....

[will]

All touchpads are an awkward compromise.

Ctrl and shift modifiers are fairly normal, as is holding a mouse down and dragging a selection.

The key thing is, everbody likes the idea of a group target instead of only being able to target individuals.

[Psychedelic_hands]

Call me crazy.... But I actually love the touchpad mouse on my laptop. 
I don't find it different at all to a normal mouse... I can photoshop with it, I can use Blender with it, I game with. (Excellently I might add  )I can do anything I could do with a normal mouse.
Right click drag SHOULD not be a problem.

[silnarm]

Awesome idea... I'm on it.

...plus I find sometimes GAE doesn't pick up my target straight away. So I usually click more than once anyway 

This is not a problem unique to GAE, skill cycles can't be interrupted, so there is a delay before the new command will begin, you can trust that they will do what you asked at the next available opportunity, clicking again doesn't actually help, be patient

I think the double right click to target all of that type (within a certain radius, as per selecting your own units) would be handy, but I'll just start with the drag select and think on double click thing (and consider thoughts from anyone else who cares to express them...)