Another thread on the Soldier Development screen

[svidangel]

I know a lot has been said on this already, and all the +1/+2s have been turned down due to having to fit 16 soldiers on that screen eventually, with the potential for a lot of stat increases.

Well, how about we add no extra space? Right now we have one color, green. Stat gains are capped at what, +2 per battle? So all we would need is a yellow +1 and a green +2 in some corner, or stated during a tutorial, and then just colorcode the increases. No size changes, no rearranging...

Information density.

[GizmoGomez]

That works. So, we could have it where it shows the name of the attribute and the new value for it, and have the name and number be color coded.

So,

Accuracy (75) Resilience (94) Etc etc...

[svidangel]

Yep, no major changes to the code or layout, and you'll know both what your new and old scores were.

[GizmoGomez]

Provided you can perform simple arithmetic.

[ThunderGr]

And that you know the color code translation. And that you can provide enough colors for all possible increases etc etc etc.

A tooltip informing you about the amount of increase looks much simpler and safer IMHO.

[RawCode]

colorcode legend can be placed in corner of screen.

also sometimes +3 possible, soo 3 green 2 yellow and 1 red.

[ThunderGr]

colorcode legend can be placed in corner of screen.

also sometimes +3 possible, soo 3 green 2 yellow and 1 red.

I think that +5, +8 and +10 are also possible. You are not compelled to complete the mission within a specific time. If you keep training your men, you could get great increases. I am, still, in favor of the tooltip. Nothing more needs to be added. Just hover over the stat that was increased and get the amount.

[thothkins]

The last I paid attention, the game capped the maximum amount you could increase to +2 regardless of hwo often you ran around the Chinook.

[svidangel]

The last I paid attention, the game capped the maximum amount you could increase to +2 regardless of hwo often you ran around the Chinook.

This. Makes the color code simple. I assumed +2 anyway since that's what all the others are capping out on too, no matter how much I abuse mechanics.

[Max_Caine]

Max per stats you can progress by in a single mission (according to gameconfig.xml)

AP: +2

Strength: +2

Accuracy: +2

Reflexes: +2

Bravery: +2 (Additional +1 for each medal earned, does not count to HP skillup)

HP: +3 (By getting +10 skillups combined from all other skillups in one mission and already have 2 progress points prior to getting the +10 skillup, or by getting +9 skillups combined from all other skillups and already have 3 progress points prior to the +9 skillup)

EDIT:

How to get max skillups in a mission (for one squaddie)

Step 1) Give a combat shield to squaddie

Step 2) Squaddie does 30 laps around the chinook. (satisfy AP requirement)

Step 3) While performing laps, ensure squaddie is carrying slightly too much (so weight is in red band combat shield should do this. Satifies strength requirement)

Step 4) Shoot Squaddie with pistol until looses all morale. Wait for squaddie to panic twice. (will require regular healing while morale damage is being taken. Note this value can be hacked to boost morale loss through traitor shots)

Step 5) Kill an alien. (Will increase morale for panicked squaddie)

Step 6) Give squaddie shield + pistol.

Step 7) Send squaddie to fight aliens! Pistol does almost zero damage, but has high reaction shot modifier. Multiple pistol shots will satisfy accuracy requirement. Multiple reaction pistol shots will satisfy reaction requirement.

Step 8) After mission complete, +2 HP skillups will apply (from all other skillups) and HP progress points will be banked.

Please note: Technique works best on light scouts. Management accepts no responsibility for loss or damage while applying technique. Trained personell only.

Edited July 1, 2013 by Max_Caine

[ThunderGr]

The tooltip is simpler and clearer than a color code. Come on people!

[svidangel]

Tbqh, coloring is "simpler and clearer." You may get more information from the tooltip, and fine you can add the tooltip in too but I'd never use it since I could get all the information I need from one glance at the colors.

[ThunderGr]

"Coloring is simpler and clearer"???? Hm. Sorry. I think this statement is, simply, irrational. Coloring needs translation, numbers in a tooltip do not. I fail to see the simplicity and clearness in a color coded word over the clear number of a tooltip. In addition, you need as many different colors as the increments and this is a pain to maintain, since you may change the number of increments at any point. Remembering colors(or having to reference a color table) is, in no way, simpler or clearer than a tooltip. This is self-evident, IMHO.

[svidangel]

I suppose if you can't handle two colors, it could be confusing. In general visual representations are used (pie charts, graphs, etc) because they are simpler and clearer ways to represent information at a glance.

And I didn't say we shouldn't have a tooltip, add it on. I'm sure it would help people figure out what the colors meant if we couldn't squeeze in a legend somewhere. I imagine most people wouldn't use it once they realized the two to three colors were giving them all the same information at a glance.

I do agree that it would be problematic if they were to change the stats system dramatically, but it has been constant throughout all of the development I have seen, and I haven't heard a peep about them revising it.

[ThunderGr]

In general visual representations are used (pie charts, graphs, etc) because they are simpler and clearer ways to represent information at a glance.

These are used because they give a quick comparative general idea. They are, always, accompanied by numbers, because numbers are the only way to have a comprehensive, precise knowledge of the magnitude of the measured statistic.

Color coding an absolute quantity(that is, non-comparative quantity) is, generally, a bad idea, unless the colors are used in their everyday accepted conventions. For example, yellow is a warning and red is danger. Green signifies that everything is OK. Assigning colors as numbers, on the other hand, is something that is only done in encoding and only when there is no better way.

Edited July 1, 2013 by ThunderGr

[svidangel]

Haha, thanks for finally agreeing!

[svidangel]

To be fair, I would probably have preferred the entire system be scrapped, and an XP based system put in. It would reward doing things successfully, and allow you to make your snipers more accurate, your rocket launcher and grenade thrower guys stronger, etc, without the run-around and stat up all your troops thing.

But seeing as the devs haven't shown much interest in changing the system or adjusting the display, this seemed like a low impact, easy to implement solution.

[GizmoGomez]

Haha, this is kind of funny, to be honest.

I don't see how green for +2 and yellow for +1 would be anything but simple, but obviously I'm not everyone.

A tool tip for the colorblind (I know that's not quite how that works; if anyone is actually colorblind I don't mean any offense ) would be appreciated, though.

[svidangel]

Haha, this is kind of funny, to be honest.

I don't see how green for +2 and yellow for +1 would be anything but simple, but obviously I'm not everyone.

A tool tip for the colorblind (I know that's not quite how that works; if anyone is actually colorblind I don't mean any offense ) would be appreciated, though.

I was actually thinking about that for the air combat interface today! Red-green is the most common colorblindness, I believe, and well, check out that air combat interface ;p Might be part of why more games are switching to Red vs Blue like Halo etc

[GizmoGomez]

Yeah, that's a good point. I actually would like red/blue for the screens, that'd look awesome.