i think an approach like
Gazz wrote:Cornflakes_91 wrote:I think your hierarchy is too deep before you give the first command, it should be faster to give an attack order.
Cornflakes_91 wrote:The intent behind this UI discussed here is that it is agnostic to the amount of ships you have.
This.
I imagine the role-based well... organisation to be an alternate plane of existence.
There are all those ships, squads, fleets, wings, and whatnot with lots of connections on the whiteboard.
Now you wipe away
all the connections, leaving only ships.
Then you draw the role "connections" for the ships.
Taken to extremes and with ships having multiple role "tags", you would not
need a dedicated organisation into wings and fleets!
You can have a whole cartload of features and structures... with only one system!
Fighter_413 has the roles: Interceptor + Blue Wing.
Fighter_285 has the roles: Interceptor + Red Wing.
Corvette_35 has the roles: Escort + Blue Wing.
See where this is going?
Send a command to "Blue Wing" and Fighter_413 + Corvette_35 get it.
Send a command to "Interceptor" and Fighter_413 + Fighter_285 get it.
Command Blue Wing to follow / dock at Carrier_18 and you have stationed these ships on the carrier, from which they will launch as necessary.
The order is the structure.
Now if every ship remembers it's last homebase, you get a rather dynamic fleet structure.
Order your "Interceptors" to follow Carrier_18 and they immediately become part of this carrier's complement. (and may split to carriers following Carrier_18)
Order those interceptors to attack something, then RTB, they return to their last homebase... Carrier_18's group.
could be used for effectively sorting fleets, but with a difference to what gazz described.
Tags dont exist on the same level like gazz suggested but they create a "folder structure"
so multiple tag groups with #squadron 1 could be used, but in different fleets / aboard different carriers
so the whole tag would be for example
#fleet 1 #carrier group 1 #carrier 1 #squadron 1
so this would be the first squadron of the first carrier in the.... (you know)
this could create semi-automatic scoping of commands
so you can make yourself part of #sqadron 1 and any quick commands (like "help me" or "retreat") only affect squadron 1, and not the whole fleet or even every #squadron 1 instance in your posessions...
this would work with any size of ship arrangement, so if you command #carrier group 1 every quick command affects the whole hierarchy below.
we could also expand this to multiple tag fields (in my mind 3)
one for allocating the organisational structure
his is for allocating resources and reinforcements
one for defining home bases
a fighter might be under command of a C4 ship but has the carrier of the group as home base
and one for defining default position in the greater formation
so a fighter might default to enter formation with one of the escorts of his carrier
so the whole tag structure could be (for a single fighter)
#fleet 1 #carrier group 1 #carrier 1 #squadron 1
#fleet 1 #command ship
#fleet 1 #carrier group 1 #escort 1
this is pretty complex, but also very powerful and easily readable in my opinion