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Bug Reports / [0.9.9.7|G|Win7] Mouse has inherent advantages over keyboard
« on: August 06, 2013, 12:47 »
Currently DoomRL has some UI problems that makes the mouse a much better option than the keyboard for many types of firing. I think this is a problem because both control methods should be equally viable, but this is not the case.
First, the most obvious problem is that the mouse can fire at any square regardless of line of sight or distance. The keyboard cursor cannot. I'm not 100% sure what determines the max cursor range, I've seen myself unable to move my reticle more than about 7 squares away from me, other times it's more like 15. However, any limit is too short, and targets that are far away often require absolute reticle precision to hit.
This is especially noticeable when your character has extra awareness from a computer map or Intuition. There are often targets that are very difficult or impossible to hit on the keyboard but they can be hit easily with the mouse. To make this fair, the max cursor distance needs to be removed when moving the cursor with the numpad.
Additionally, keyboard users suffer disadvantage when firing repeatedly into non-LOS squares. For some reason, the default UI will remember blind fires only if the blind fire was targeting a square within LOS. However, it is often the case that a blind fire will want to target outside LOS (Intuition makes this extremely frequent). For mouse users, this problem does not exist as they simply need not move the mouse between fires. But constantly repositioning a cursor with no memory is extremely tedious for keyboard users.
I believe the game should remember blind fire locations even when they target squares outside of LOS. Ideally, it should only forget a blind fire square when the player initiates firing from a different square. This is not the same as forgetting when the player moves, as some builds use movement to reload and may prefer to jump between squares between reloads, rather than pressing R. As long as the firing is happening in the same square, the cursor should remember its position regardless of LOS concerns.
Finally keyboard users are at special disadvantage in Intuition builds due to the game providing no help in selecting intuition markers as targets. Mouse users can select any square with equal ease, but keyboard users need help. This is why tab target exists. But, since tab target does not work with intuition markers, this build heavily favours mouse use.
To fix this, I believe that intuition markers should be considered valid, but low priority, targets for tab targeting. What this means is that tab will target them, but only after all visible targets have been cycled through. If only intuition targets are present, I think that either defaulting no target and forcing a tab, or just selecting the nearest intuition marker first, would both be valid options.
Thank you.
First, the most obvious problem is that the mouse can fire at any square regardless of line of sight or distance. The keyboard cursor cannot. I'm not 100% sure what determines the max cursor range, I've seen myself unable to move my reticle more than about 7 squares away from me, other times it's more like 15. However, any limit is too short, and targets that are far away often require absolute reticle precision to hit.
This is especially noticeable when your character has extra awareness from a computer map or Intuition. There are often targets that are very difficult or impossible to hit on the keyboard but they can be hit easily with the mouse. To make this fair, the max cursor distance needs to be removed when moving the cursor with the numpad.
Additionally, keyboard users suffer disadvantage when firing repeatedly into non-LOS squares. For some reason, the default UI will remember blind fires only if the blind fire was targeting a square within LOS. However, it is often the case that a blind fire will want to target outside LOS (Intuition makes this extremely frequent). For mouse users, this problem does not exist as they simply need not move the mouse between fires. But constantly repositioning a cursor with no memory is extremely tedious for keyboard users.
I believe the game should remember blind fire locations even when they target squares outside of LOS. Ideally, it should only forget a blind fire square when the player initiates firing from a different square. This is not the same as forgetting when the player moves, as some builds use movement to reload and may prefer to jump between squares between reloads, rather than pressing R. As long as the firing is happening in the same square, the cursor should remember its position regardless of LOS concerns.
Finally keyboard users are at special disadvantage in Intuition builds due to the game providing no help in selecting intuition markers as targets. Mouse users can select any square with equal ease, but keyboard users need help. This is why tab target exists. But, since tab target does not work with intuition markers, this build heavily favours mouse use.
To fix this, I believe that intuition markers should be considered valid, but low priority, targets for tab targeting. What this means is that tab will target them, but only after all visible targets have been cycled through. If only intuition targets are present, I think that either defaulting no target and forcing a tab, or just selecting the nearest intuition marker first, would both be valid options.
Thank you.
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