More Functionality for the Context Menu
Big fan of the new upcoming expanded context menu functionality. In the same vein as the changenote here it would be really nice if we had even more functionality for the context menu, as it feels like a very natural way to interface with the game.
These are all just ideas, I don’t know how easy to implement each one would be and I assume there are other cool ideas that people can share below too. Consider this a bit of brainstorming of how I believe the Context Menu could be further expanded.
Here’s a few different ideas that I think would be very helpful to have:
- Add a “X Body View” option to any body, be it with or without colonies, and that selects and highlights the body in the “System Generation and Display” window.
- Add a “Show System in Galactic Map” option if the player right clicks on the background (no target basically) then if that option is clicked then it opens the Galactic Map with that system selected and zoomed into.
- Add a “Show Missile Salvo” option if the player right clicks a missile Salvo, if clicked then the Naval Organization window opens and the given missile salvo is highlighted.
- Add a “Create Fleet” option so that you can create an empty fleet at the selected body/waypoint instead of having to create a fleet in the naval tab then move it through the miscelanneous tab. Would be very useful for many situations, such as creating a destination fleet for tugs to release several stations into with minimal hassle, or creating a shipyard fleet for a newly developed colony.
- Show Subfleets under the fleet they belong to in the context menu, so I could choose the escorts of a fleet directly to save a few clicks.
- Add a “Remove Civillian Shipping from Context Menu” toggle in the main screen Display tab. This would be a big relief in the late game where my big colonies where all my fleets are orbiting are filled with Civvies. I just get a massive list of Civillian Fleets and can’t select my own fleets easily when I right click there.
- Add a “Show Individual Ship Combat in Context Menu” toggle in Display which then allows us to see each ship under a fleet + " Combat", then if we click that it opens the ship combat for that particular ship. Very useful for large engagements where you are coordinating fire from multiple ships. I think a toggle is better for this since it would be a hassle to always have it on. Having a “Cease Fire Fleet” option there with this toggle turned on would be very useful too, maybe even the “Fleet Auto Target MFC” & a separate one for BFC option for when you think the game can target for you.
- If you have a fleet with the order set to “Follow” then when you right click it should have the option “Set Follow Range” under the fleet and when you click it it opens a field to input range, after you do the order’s follow range is changed, allowing for easy selection of range during battle.
- If you have an active Waypoint in the same system as a fleet and you right click it it should have multiple “Move to Waypoint X” option under it, allowing for much faster control of ships in active combat zones. This could also be a toggle like “Fleet Context Waypoints” since I know some people use waypoints for other stuff.
- Have a display toggle for “Fleet Context Order Templates” and if it is turned on and you right click a fleet you can set it to follow either an order template or a standing order template, or even turn the toggle “Ignore Standing Order”. So I could just right click my Freighter Fleet and order template “Ship Automines to X” that I saved beforehand.
- Add a “Open Ground Order of Battle” option to Colonies that have ground forces in (could also be a toggle in Display, up to taste) that when clicked highlights the world in the Ground Forces OOB section.
- In the same way that you can now right click ship contacts, you should be able to right click ground force/population contacts and right click to have the “Intelligence and Foreign Relations” window open with that particular “Known System and Population” world highlighted.
Perhaps a better way to do a Context Menu with a bit more effort
Here’s some thoughts on top of my thoughts, instead of multiple “Display Toggles” these could be achieved with expanding context menus, like how other applications do said menus. Something like the following:
As you can see, with this setup I also added a few extra ideas, I’ll write them out here.
- Remove all Orders
- Set Max Speed
- Set Follow Range
- Set Follow Target > Categories like Fleets, Contacts, Bodies > Target
- Go to Destination > Destination Points*
- Divide into Single Ships
- Detach Subfleet > (List of Subfleets) [Only here if it has subfleets]
- Active On (Active radars) / off (if already on it toggles to off)
- Shields On / off (if already on it toggles to off)
- Detach Escorts (Only here if it has escorts set up)
- Recall Escorts (Only here if it has escorts set up)
- Transponder > On/Off/Friendly
- Delete Fleet
* - Destination points could be a new form of waypoint that shows up in this context option and maybe also in the Naval Organization menu under Movement Orders and they are basically a shortcut to get your ships to go somewhere. In the Naval Organization I picture them as being under Order Templates a “Destination Point: X”. All destination points must be created, like Waypoints, either in a point in space or if you click a world then the world becomes the destination. So if I click “Create Destination Point” in the Waypoints then click Terra a “Terra” destination is created. This is basically a shortcut to get the fleet to move to the destination quickly in the context menu, if I choose it then it will autoroute to that destination’s system, then give a “Move to” order to it.
Ultimate Pseudo Naval Org Context Menu with even more effort
An even more natural expansion to the context menu would be for it to turn pretty much into a simplified Naval Org menu. It would supplant and standardize many of the ideas I listed above. Basically, you can do simple orders using a “Give Order” fleet context menu option.
This would require the above Expanding Context Menu and a “Give Order” option that branches into a tree of orders. Something Like:
Fleet > Give Order > (Categories of Targets) > (Example: Contacts) > (Simplified Order List)
Categories of targets would be Fleets, Contacts, Waypoints, Colonies, Jump Points. I don’t think bodies are needed here. If you need to go to a particular body then make a waypoint there.
You could have a simple list of orders, stuff like Move To, Follow, Join*, Join as Subfleet*, Transit*, Squadron Transit*, Split into Single Ships, Refuel&Ressup from Colony/Tankers*
* - Context dependant just like the main Naval Org menu.