Combat unit autoselection order

[Seravy]

Any recommendations for it?
Currently it cycles through all units from oldest to newest which is easy to code but pretty random and counterintuitive to play.

It could instead cycle from first combat starting position to last or from nearest to opponent to furthest from opponent.

One thing we have to be careful though is the autoselection order shouldn't spoil the correct strategy for the players, so it shouldn't select ranged units first.

[Slingers]

... It could instead cycle from first combat starting position to last or from nearest to opponent to furthest from opponent. ...

That sounds good enough for the first turn. But ultimately, the “best” order is different in every situation. How about monitoring the order chosen by the player in the first turn and repeating it in the following turns?

[Seravy]

... It could instead cycle from first combat starting position to last or from nearest to opponent to furthest from opponent. ...

That sounds good enough for the first turn. But ultimately, the “best” order is different in every situation. How about monitoring the order chosen by the player in the first turn and repeating it in the following turns?

I don't think that's possible. The player can select or even move units more than once a turn, as they aren't required to spend all move points in one go. They might also click on units they don't want to move to look at the stats or abilities.

[Slingers]

... I don't think that's possible. ...

Just looking doesn't count. And moved first is always moved first, no matter how many move points. Sure it works, but not sure if it's worth the effort to code or if others would like this or one order better than another. Any order would be better than random order.

[massone]

Well, I'm not sure it shouldn't select ranged first. That seems like an extremely obvious thing that anybody would realize after the first battle, and thereafter just becomes extra clicks and the annoyance that you can't just spam click end turn on the units you don't want to move because it might cycle to your ranged unit next and you'll accidentally end its turn.

[Anskiy]

Agree with massone, using ranged to fire shots before your melee units engage is fairly basic strategy. I don't think there's any benefit to intentionally "hiding" that.

[jhsidi]

Grouping identical units together would be an easy improvement that would cut down a lot of annoying clicks for me.

For instance, if I have a stack of mixed ghouls, bowmen and swordsmen I'll often get an order like: ghoul, bowman, ghoul, swordsman, ghoul... That forces a lot of annoying context switching (in terms of thinking about strategy), cursor moving (shifting to target near or far tiles), and glancing down at the status bar to see which seemingly random unit has been selected.

I do also think selecting ranged units first would be a good idea. Additionally, due to how common the firing retreat tactic is, I really wish that the order would prioritize: ranged units first; back row ranged units before front row ranged. But if there's some issue with that, just the unit grouping would help a lot.

[JustOneMoreTurn]

Maybe spellcasting heroes before ranged units? Move hero back and remember to cast battlefield spell (Prayer, Blazing March, etc) _before_ using regular ranged units.

[JustOneMoreTurn]

Add other heroes after the spellcasting ones, since others might have items with spells to cast.