Eco Management Worsened by Patch 3652 feature

[Morax]

"Multi-upgrade: Added UI support to upgrade structures several levels at once (i.e: cybran shields, hives, mexes, factories etc)"

So, this feature is definitely nice, but it has harmed the eco management of mass extractors by making it more difficult to see how many of each extractor tech level is on the field.

A scenario from before the patch:

1) Zoom out, use the "select all mass extractors" command
2) You can see which mass extractors of each tech level are on hand (1, 2, 3)
3) Select tier extractor manually or use "select nearest lowest tier idle mass extractor" command
4) "upgrade structure" command to begin upgrade if desired
5) Eco increases - hooray


A scenario with the new patch:

1) Zoom out, use the "select all mass extractors" command
2) Graphic in bottom bar UI shows the upgrade to t2 or straight to t3
3) No quantity of extractors are given
4) Confusion
5) Lose track of quantity of extractors unless you zoom and count them individually (not easy in a battle)
6) Pain
7) Anger
7) Fear
8) Suffering
9) Dark side of force leads to forum post

Conclusion:

I'd like to see the UI display the quantity of extractors again. It's nice to upgrade structures to the highest-tier level, but you usually don't do that with t1--> t3 mex, if ever. I've never done it before in most situations unless you are steamrolling in a game.

[TheKoopa]

It didnt do this before either though? If you selected all t2 mexes it would display an upgrade to t3 rather than the quantity, same thing for t1 -> t2

[Morax]

Watch what TA4Life does in this replay to see how many t2 extractors are on the field:

https://youtu.be/VAg9C9AFqAs?t=1486

You can't do that anymore, or at least I don't think.

[briang]

There are UI mods that put numbers on mass extractors. Use them.

[yorick]

Watch what TA4Life does in this replay to see how many t2 extractors are on the field:

https://youtu.be/VAg9C9AFqAs?t=1486

You can't do that anymore, or at least I don't think.

just tested this and it worked the same way for me as TA did it. If this still happens to you, try disabling all UI-mods, maybe there is a conflict.

[Zock]

that way still works, but if you selected mex + some other buildings, you'd get the list of all buildings too. Now you just get the mex upgrade instead.

You can't easily select everything anymore and then pick in the list what you need.

[IceDreamer]

I'm pretty sure the building overview tab works the same as it ever did. It's one more click guys... In return for so many less in stuff like shields, I'd say that's worth it?

[Zappa]

I often/always used the Select All Mex feature as described by violence, and noticed the change too. Now i just manually click a mex of desired tier (usually t1) then use my hotkey for select All Units of Same Type. Old way was only slightly more convenient. You could also use a hotkey for 'lowest tier mex' followed by Same Type to avoid searching the mex.

[Morax]

I'm pretty sure the building overview tab works the same as it ever did. It's one more click guys... In return for so many less in stuff like shields, I'd say that's worth it?

First and foremost, no. Do not ever, ever think that "just one more click" is okay. Stop changing the flow of gameplay for the sake of this community.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but besides the Cybran shields what other unit has more than two upgrades? It seems silly to overhaul the UI and add convenience for one unit. There would be a lot less bugs and broken stuff if people in the dev team would stop making these decisions.

Petric did say he uses the straight-to-t3 mex upgrade so maybe there is some super-quick eco skills involved that I don't use as I'm no where near as talented as he. Care to chime in, Petric?

[CodingSquirrel]

I really like the upgrade UI change for things like sonar too. Get a few t1 engies to build a sonar and upgrade it straight to t3 (especially on a big navy map like Roanoke). I personally think the change is better than what we had before.

If the extra click is added annoyance for you, there are some mods that will show your mex count and the like. Supreme economy and I believe UI party will do that for you.