Can I have a word with you about the module placer?

Chairs. I spend far too much time placing them. Can I have a table/chair combo set up, please? Preferably one where I can drag the length and it just keeps placing chairs as I go?

Shift-click for multi placement is a nice touch, but the new item is in the original rotation. For example, I want a cot to go north/south, but it's east/west. I rotate it, hold shift, click, rotate, shift-click, (wait a few seconds for it to register) rotate, shift-click. If I'm placing 10 cots, or 2 tables, or more, it is a real pita. Especially that delay bit.

 

Sometimes, when I'm dragging a module blueprint around the inside of a workshop for precise placement, the pointer arrow drifts outside the workshop border, which causes the module blueprint to halt at that point. Even though I know the reason, it feels like the module drag is getting stuck unexpectedly.

Modules can't overlap, in placement mode, and this behaviour even prevents blueprints from being dragged through existing furniture, which leads to unexpected loss of control, again. I'd prefer to be able to drag blueprints anywhere inside a workshop, but for offending squares (where placement is impossible) to be highlighted red instead (and maybe an 'invalid location' warning if you try to place it there anyway).

Another minor thing I'd like to see is modules that align themselves, lengthwise, against workshop walls, when dragged against interior walls (doors behave this way already, but on exterior walls).

You know the way you can run some programs in a window, and have the mouse pointer bound to that window? The mouse can continue moving and functioning, even if it's up against the edge of the active window. That's the sort of feel I'd like to see.

 

1) Right click needs to deselect, so I can choose/place a different module
2) If you attempt to drag a module somewhere it can't go (i.e. you put your cursor outside the building), the module should go as far as possible in the direction of your cursor, not stop completely
3) Module rotation should be preserved when shift+clicking

Those three changes should go a long way towards addressing the outstanding issues, in particular the second.

 

It feels... finnicky?

Because of the cursor/border issues, you have to be a little careful when moving a module around or it'll "drop off" the cursor, necessitating shaking it to re-attach the module. Getting your blueprints hung up on the terrain is a bit of a hassle too.

But I think the largest problem I have (because of the way I design my buildings w/ extra corners?) is that the "snap to" nearby walls is just too forceful and insistent, sometimes overriding attempts at rotation. It takes me a long time to place a door exactly where I want it because it'll consistently snap to the wrong surface and refuse to bulge, and then I have to move the cursor around, but it's a door, so there's a chance it'll get lost outside the module itself and on and on. When I put down multiple cots I can rotate one to be orthogonal to a wall, for instance, but then if I'm not *super* careful, the next one will align automatically to be parallel to the wall and despite my right-clicking it won't change. So I have to move the mouse so that there's space between the cot-module and the wall, right click to rotate, move it back carefully and in 9 / 10 times it works just fine. Then once in a blue moon it auto-attaches parallel-wise to the wall section again, and it becomes a repeating problem.

Is there a way to preserve the "snap to" that makes placing paintings and doors and such easier, while also avoiding that it's so insistent as it is?

 

The biggest irritant for me is how module rotation happens for reasons other than player input (with the sole exception being for wall attachments, where it makes sense). Chairs, beds, etc should only rotate when the player inputs for them to.

What I would like to see tried (assuming it doesn't exist already somewhere) is keyboard assist for module placement, independent of the camera controls. Key bindings to rotate modules in both directions, and ones to nudge the selected module in one-square steps in the directions of the grid -- ideally, such a nudge would move the mouse cursor as well, snapping it to be centred on the square the module's anchor point just got moved to, so a twitch of the mouse hand wouldn't frustrate by immediately undoing the effect of the nudge input..

 

I think I missed the lesson when we learned how to rotate modules.. ..someone just remind me?

Have had problems with moving already placed modules - they seem to disappear and never get built, but their ghosts are still there when the module placement wireframe is up.

People seem to get stuck in unbuilt modules sometimes. Building a door often rescues them.

Deleting modules both already built and unbuilt also desperately needed.

 

Seems you forgot a word

I guess you could put it at q/e when in module mode. I am not sure if that's a good idea though, because then you'd have to see the building from another angle you're kinda screwed.

 

I totally agree with Wolg, the most frustrating thing in my opinion is the fact that modules seem to change almost randomly without player input. I have spent far too much time trying to perfectly align the beds in my colony.

Module deletion/deconstruction is also desperately needed. If I deconstruct an existing module I assume I will get the raw materials back?

I don't know if this is totally against the general consensus but I prefer to have right click as rotate a module rather than cancel it's placement. Esc or clicking another module is fine for me when I no longer need to place one.

While we are on the topic of modules; I'm sure it's been raised before but are there plans to actually have us able to click on and interrogate the paintings our colonists create? Currently it seems random whether I can actually find out what the painting is.

 

I agree that the current system with rotating is just fine, as said above. I have never had a problem with that part either. But I won't resist change either, don't care much either way.

About deconstructing, it wouldn't quite make sense to have it all back I think (Depending on module,but a painting is gonna make some shitty planks), but maybe like a chance for each piece, so you might get all back, but you might also only get 2/4.

 

I find that the current system for rotation prevents me from placing stuff in corners the way I want to, ovens/beds in particular. I really don't like having them auto rotated when I am trying to move them into the buildings corner, only to have them no longer fit due to the auto-rotation.

 

Center mouse? Or hold left click and drag? Or have it all be rebindable?

I'd argue that one of the worst things for game UI is when controls work differently across different actions (DF has this problem in SPADES). Right click should always cancel placement, shift-click should always duplicate items, etc.

I also want to mention that the issue with module movement stopping when your cursor is in a 'dead zone,' instead of continuing along that path, also applies to dragging blueprints. If your cursor goes into a patch of non-flattened land, the blueprint should go as far as it can towards your cursor, not stop instantly wherever it is.

(Or better yet, let us set up blueprints over unflat land and have the colonists flatten it automatically).

 

Edit: Mellowed out tone.

I prefer preserving rotation in a right click, because it ties in neatly with placing rotated items on a left click. You can cancel by hitting escape or just closing down the menu, which works fine, and it seems arbritary to make cancelling module placement rightclick sorted. If it it cancels just the module currently selected, you're left with clicking on another module type (Have bed, right click to nothing, click on cabin), which is already contained in have A click on B to replace with B. If it drops you out of module placement mode entirely, you either need to be done, prepared to constantly go back in the module placement menu or only ever need to place one or two modules of the same type. None of that seems workable.

In different strategy games right-click cancelling works fine because there's usual one building for one thing, and they're all contained in the same general interface space while also being uni-directional output units. I need to place six factories, click-factory click-sixtimes rightclick-done. In CE you've got modules subdivided by building type (so technically nesting one option inside another option in build mode), so rightclick cancelling gains you absolutely not a thing when designing your buildings, whereas rightclick bound rotation does. If there were less individual components of each building, or even just the need to place one large building labelled "Kitchen" and another that was "Factory", complete with innards with one click I'd say the gain would be fine but it seems an odd thing when each building requires several components

I agree with attempting to preserve unity of command input as much as possible. It's not always feasible, and I love Dwarf Fortress as much as the next maddened dwarf, but god, remembering which key does what in which menu gives me nightmares. Terrible, terrible nightmares.

Anyhow, my complaints about "finnicky-ness" is contained in Wolg and An Actual Englishman's words too - independent alignment rotation of modules messes with my ability to put things exactly where I want them because it's often contra to what I'd want and I end up struggling with the auto-rotation. It's okay for wall-fixed items, because walls are generally longish stretches of samey-placement, but I can't figure out why cots rotate the way they do or why carpentry workbenches consistently want the poor colonist working on them to have his back against the wall.

 

Unfortunately I'm still finding it to be finnicky, the biggest gripe for me is that some modules change positions at random when placed. For example I can align a bed against a wall lengthways and when I actually place it it will shift positions. This has happened on more than one occasion and I'm sure the larger the module the more chance that the item will re-orientate itself when placed so I get it most often with the 3x2 bed and the 3x3 spinning mule.

Apologies for the bad news but hopefully the feedback helps!

 

A: it gets stuck a lot as has been mentioned.

B: it needs some way to cancel a module build order. I'm not talking about deconstruction but cancelling accidental orders that havent been filled yet.

 

I have managed to successfully construct a door to nowhere by placing a door and then moving it after the foundation has been constructed. This results in a gaping hole that is never filled, and a door that opens up to reveal a wall, which the populace is perfectly comfortable clipping through.

+1 to problems with auto-rotation, most of the time it's not even helpful.

I've had a lot of issues with colonists being stuck inside of modules for cog knows what reason. The usual remedy of moving the module out of the way helps until a colonist gets stuck on something more permanent, like a stove. I find that placing modules so that the green circles are completely unobstructed and don't overlap works well to mitigate this, especially when I build large arrays of cots with only one tile in between them.
In light of that, you may want to consider going the route that Theme Hospital did and making the access point of a module part of the module itself, so you cannot place anything on top of it.