Cycle Button, Control Groups, Formations, Inventory and more

[icebender]

Kenshi Suggested Game Improvements

I want to begin by saying this is an amazing game as is. I recently bought the game during the last Steam sale (Jan 28) and I cannot get enough of it. Also, some of these improvements may already be planned for addition to the game. I have been trying to read as much as I can about the game, including the forums. Therefore, I apologize in advance for any inconvenience this post may cause.

- Cycle Button
- Control Groups
- Group Formations
- Inventory Management
- Pack Animals

Cycle Button
A mappable button, default Tab for example, that switches through each squad member sequentially. In the other party/squad RPG games that I have played, I use this feature extensively. It enables rapid comparison of inventory and stats screens.

Control Groups
This would allow a subset of the squad to be selected, say members 1, 2, 4 and 7, then press and hold the Control key on the keyboard along with a number to establish the group. Then the next time that group number key is pressed, all of those squad members will be selected. This feature is very common in RTS games. The current implementation of Kenshi allows only the first 10 squad members to be selected by the keyboard. This feature would open that possibility to other members or groups of members. My only other recommendation would be to add small numbers near the squad member portraits indicating which key number is currently assigned to them.

Group Formations
This does not have to be fancy like a "V" shape or assorted line variations. My suggestion is to somehow make the squad members aware that they are part of a subset group. For example, if I give a command to a group of squad members, they currently all process the tasks independently. The most immediate example is a move command. Most of the squad members have a different run speed, because of different athletic skills, maybe some are injured, or maybe some are carrying heavy items. The formation feature will make the selected squad members aware that the command has been given to a group and they will perform the task together. In the example of the move command, the members with a faster run speed will move slower to stay in line with their slower comrades. In other words, the group only moves at the speed of the slowest member.

Inventory Management
Other party/squad RPG games that I have played included a drag-and-drop inventory feature. An item from the inventory can be dropped onto a portrait or the squad member in the game world to quickly transfer that item to their respective inventory. Another feature of other games included the ability to open more than just two inventory screens at once. This could be done by having multiple members selected and opening the inventory, or by selecting additional members while the inventory was open. Obviously screen real-estate would need to be taken into consideration. Perhaps a more compact version of the inventory window could be used when more than two members are selected.

Pack Animals
This feature would allow the purchase of one or more beasts of burden to carry additional items for the squad. This animal does not need to carry much more than the standard squad member, maybe the normal amount plus half, but would have additional strength for carrying heavier items at higher speed. Also, this animal would be highly vulnerable to attacking enemies and therefore would need protection at all times. The animal could have a small defensive measure, but not enough to completely disable an attacker before being disabled itself. These animals should also have a high purchase price, similar to the specialized characters that can be hired, which further increases the luxury of them.

[hbrown]

Pack animals and formation are planned, you should check the roadmap. And actually if you make people follow someone slower than them they will match their speed, so you need for now to try make sure you make your slower guy the "grop leader".

Control groups i believe have been suggested like that, but i guess you would have to use a different key set, or evem, as it seems the game wil have multiple squads, so you could use each squad as a group like that, divide further more could be harder due to multiple keys, but strategecly needed sometimes .

Dont remember see a Cycle button request but coud be helpfull for those times you just want to check all your member 1 by 1 for their gear or make sure they just not idling.

Never seen that drag thing, did not play so much squaded games anyway, of this gender, but seems nice, just need to mae sure their inv is empty so could need some warnings in case fails of course, and i guess the current "trade system" betwee members is not complete as you ooting, so i guess there could be space to make more than one open, but i not sure how comfortable would that be till a point.

[PnzrNorm]

Control Groups
This would allow a subset of the squad to be selected, say members 1, 2, 4 and 7, then press and hold the Control key on the keyboard along with a number to establish the group. Then the next time that group number key is pressed, all of those squad members will be selected. This feature is very common in RTS games. The current implementation of Kenshi allows only the first 10 squad members to be selected by the keyboard. This feature would open that possibility to other members or groups of members. My only other recommendation would be to add small numbers near the squad member portraits indicating which key number is currently assigned to them.

The Roadmap states
HIGH PRIORITY STUFF, THAT WE WANT TO START ON SOON:
GUI re-skin and improvements, multiple squads allowing for more characters

Speculating that when multiple squads is implemented, that they will function similar to control groups.

Cycle Button
A mappable button, default Tab for example, that switches through each squad member sequentially. In the other party/squad RPG games that I have played, I use this feature extensively. It enables rapid comparison of inventory and stats screens.

I currently use my Razer Naga to cycle through the first 10 members of my squad. The last 10 are always useless meat shields because of this. xD

Group Formations

Check out the post I made on this topic:
http://www.lofigames.com/phpBB3/viewtop ... 988#p34988

Inventory Management
Other party/squad RPG games that I have played included a drag-and-drop inventory feature. An item from the inventory can be dropped onto a portrait or the squad member in the game world to quickly transfer that item to their respective inventory. Another feature of other games included the ability to open more than just two inventory screens at once. This could be done by having multiple members selected and opening the inventory, or by selecting additional members while the inventory was open. Obviously screen real-estate would need to be taken into consideration. Perhaps a more compact version of the inventory window could be used when more than two members are selected.

Kenshi could definitely benefit from a streamlined inventory system similar to the ones mentioned here, especially for the future when multiple squads will be implemented.
Perhaps reducing the size of the overall window and reducing the size of the stats box inside the window would help in this endeavor.

[Tolwrath]

I don't think the cycle button is quite necessary, but the ability to drag and drop items onto character portraits sounds immediately useful.

[Hatsune_Neko]

but the ability to drag and drop items onto character portraits sounds immediately useful.

yea that part least sounds useful. and an original idea.