Reserving TU reset or "click click clickidiklack"

Hello everyone!

I realize i´m probably late for the party, since developement on this game will cease in a few days (no update after release... ever? Makes me sad...) and i´m not sure if this has already been brought up (been a lurker since before the kickstarter, but didn´t read every thread):

One thing that really drives me crazy with this game is the way TU reserving is handled, which to me seems worse than in TFTD: After every time i´ve force-fired a weapon, the TU reserve resets. Meaning - since i tend to use it all to time to see how far i can go and still shoot - i have to click it again next turn. And again. And again. As if i didn´t do enough clicking already. What makes it worse, is that i´m not even able to define a hotkey for TU reserving.

To me, it feels REALLY clumsy, and was imo much more elegantly handled by a game that´s now about 19 Years old. I always felt an UI where i can do the same things in less clicks is a superior UI, but maybe i´m the only one who feels this way. Any thoughts on this?

I´m sorry if this comes off as a rant (and, to make matters worse, having started a new thread for this...and as my first post), but i didn´t know since yesterday that the plan seems to be to not update this game at all after release. And after trying to play the last experimental release around half an hour ago i felt the need to get this off my chest...

Don't matter what the guys from Goldhawk say, I really believe that Xenonauts will make more success then what they think and they will eventually puting even more work in it, with patches and maybe some expansions or DLCs! I really hope so!

Let me see if I got your problem right. It's about your reserved shot indicator reseting to "none" everytime you runs out of enough TUs to do the previously reserved shot? Like... you reserved a normal shot for a soldier, but another one spotted and enemie and you use the TUs from the first soldier to shot at this new target. His reserved shot indicator resets back to none in that turn and in the next one, instead of "remembering" in the next turn how many points you want reserved?

Well... I think it's a minor problem. Speaking by myself I almost never use it, anyway. It would be awesome also if the reserved TUs indicador also sets wich shot type you want that soldier to shot at enemy in case of a counter (I dont know if it already is that way).

Let me see if I got your problem right. It's about your reserved shot indicator reseting to "none" everytime you runs out of enough TUs to do the previously reserved shot? Like... you reserved a normal shot for a soldier, but another one spotted and enemie and you use the TUs from the first soldier to shot at this new target. His reserved shot indicator resets back to none in that turn and in the next one, instead of "remembering" in the next turn how many points you want reserved?

Well... I think it's a minor problem. Speaking by myself I almost never use it, anyway. It would be awesome also if the reserved TUs indicador also sets wich shot type you want that soldier to shot at enemy in case of a counter (I dont know if it already is that way).

Pretty much, yeah. Again, i realize it may be a small detail for some (most? All?), but the way i play X-Com (and, by extension, Xenonauts) means i have to constantly click extra for this, which to me makes it inferior to the Originals UI (and that IMO wasn´t a shining example of usabilty to begin with *g*).

Frankly, it´s bugging the living hell out of me. But if i´m alone in this, i probably have to try to live with it (or take OpenXCom for a spin instead...).

No, no. I think you are right to ask for it. Especially about the hotkeys. I love to have hotkeys for everything in the UI!

I don't remember how it was handled in TFTD but I would prefer for the shot to be remembered even if you go below that reserve level.

I think that could be classed as polishing rather than a new feature.

It would be awesome if the path indicator changed colours to reflect not just the ability to fire, but every single fire mode available to the trooper. For added awesome, a colour-coded tile overlay like the path indicator would appear on the tile occupied by a selected trooper.

9/10 times I need to look at the GUI or interact with some part of it, I'm either checking the actions available to a trooper, or reserving TUs for an action. With the dead simple change described above, I would pretty much never have to do either. Nor would anyone else. It's the absence of exactly these sorts of things that can make turn based games feel slow and cumbersome.

... By the way, while we're at it I would really like a GUI button and/or hotkey for interacting with doors. Clicking on the doors themselves is kind of fiddly and quite often results in mis-clicks.

I completely concur: I avoid using the reserve system entirely simply because of this annoyance

yep, started using it the first time I loaded up the game and stopped using it that same time due to all the clicking, much easier to glance at the values and do it manually atm.

I see two cases:

1) an alien is already spotted, you want to run close to him reserving some TUs for shooting

2) alien is not spotted, you just want to choose a safe place to end the turn at the same time reserving TUs for reaction fire

You also want to be able to reserve 2-3 shots of the chosen type, and have an opportunity to turn/kneel on the last tile.

Solution: select the desired mode on Reserve TU panel (it stays unchanged). Then choose the spot you want your xenonaut to run to. The game calculates the _last_ spots upon the path where it's possible to make a selected shot, or 2x or 3x shots etc. At these spots the indicators are displayed like "2B+3" or "S+1", which means "2 bursts plus 3 TUs left" or "1 snapshot plus one TU left". The game does not restrict your movement in any way.

So you clearly see all the options prior to executing the movement, the game just helps to make a decision doing some calculations for you.

upd: attached an illustration...

...OR don't touch the reserve TU system at all. Show the indicators when the Shift is held, for the currently active shot type. Also, put another indicator at the last tile of the path