Configuration options to control the alerting system. I want to be able to say "siren," "flashing" or "no alert" to events like "turret(s) engaged."
Why?
Late in the freeplay campaign, I have so many outposts, solar arrays and such a large base that my borders are pretty much constantly probed. I'm not exaggerating when I say that a siren goes off several times per minute. It's starting to drive me crazy. Almost all of these alerts are just "one of your turrets is engaged" or, on occasion, "a turret or unit of wall took (minor) damage."
My proposal
There are endless possibilities here, but my proposal has trivial logic and enough flexibility to meet most needs.
I propose five categories of alerts, each of which allows you to choose from three levels of alerting.
Categories:
- Turret engaged
- Fixed placement damaged
- Fixed placement destroyed
- Robot damaged
- Robot destroyed
- Flashing icon plus siren
- Flashing icon
- None (or mouseover only)
More Background
I love this game, but these constant sirens and flashing lights are annoying me to the point that I'm on the forums instead of playing right now. The siren goes off so often that my only recourse at this point is to turn off the sound altogether.
The general rule of alerting in user interfaces is that you shouldn't raise an alert unless it's something for which the user is likely to want to take immediate action. That a laser fired is simply not in this category.
Early on in the game, damage to one of my turrets is something for which I'd very much like an alert. Later on, I have robots to deal with minor damage and a couple hundred laser turrets precisely so I won't have to respond just because a few biters came near one of my solar panels.
I'm sure that someone will say that this is not a big deal and to just ignore it. However, sirens are intentionally designed to be maximally distracting so they will get your attention. When said attention isn't actually needed, that's almost the dictionary definition of "annoying." If the sirens don't bother you, that's fantastic. This simple improvement would dramatically improve my quality of life while in game, and I would bet I'm not the only one who would love this simple capability.
Thanks so much for your fantastic game and for your consideration of my suggestion. I've started looking for a mod to do this: if anybody knows of one I would very much welcome a pointer.
