In today’s development update we’re going to have a look at some nifty features and quality of life improvements we’ve already added to Silence of the Siren in the early stages of development. Let’s start once again at a Fossorian base. [h3]1. Dependencies[/h3] When expanding the base, there are various dependencies between the different upgrades. In the catalog, we directly highlight these when you’re browsing through the options. You can also see them all listed in the building details window of course, but that would mean opening another panel every time. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//43007216/511ea3fb98a0a299c2f9c4f0bc3473004aefc735.gif[/img] [h3]2. Shortcuts[/h3] Next, let’s have a look at how easy it is to recruit units: there are shortcuts to hire all units of each type and even to recruit the full army at once. If you don’t have enough resources, the two white buttons allow you to automatically hire as many units as you can afford, starting from the weakest or from the strongest type. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//43007216/9f1df4299c90354659da78aa4db9be1780a9c3b0.png[/img] [h3]3. Mini shortcuts![/h3] We can go one step further though, some buildings have a mini version of their shortcut panel that appears if you hover over them, so you can save one more click. :) [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//43007216/b9b56cd8260fff680760f5bcf1f2d1f183536c08.png[/img] [h3]4. Trading[/h3] The final place we’ll visit at the base will be our Trading Post. Sometimes you’ll need to exchange resources to be able to afford units or buildings, sometimes you’ll need to exchange a lot of them. We found out that giving a few options of how many to trade is more convenient than trying to fine-tune a slider. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//43007216/f7339d09f52166b5570f4765fe229df89b0f64af.png[/img] [h3]5. Reorder your commanders![/h3] Now, we’re out in the desert with Bulletproof Benni and Captain Holester. Sometimes you’ll realize that your commanders might have switched roles and they’re not in the order you’d like them to be in - no problem, let’s just swap them! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//43007216/ca82864e96eddd33c2b16ff3edca8525941ca382.gif[/img] [h3]6. One by one![/h3] Army management also allows quite a few options. You can split a unit stack in half or in any ratio, but for distributing for example your starting ranged units into several slots, you can drop them one by one by right clicking. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//43007216/d305a7233c53e453c6505359d4c4616e26f6741d.gif[/img] [h3]7. Outlines everywhere![/h3] While all the interactable and pickable objects on the map have quite distinct graphics, we’re finding ourselves quite capable of missing one from time to time - not if you press [Alt] though! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//43007216/9a3787f5e3533af7ce5bb2c5655f1a9b84850e71.gif[/img] [h3]8. Dialogs in check[/h3] The next two are closely related, so let’s keep them under #8: some dialogs will have a shortcut button for the most common action, saving you for example going to your commander’s inventory and using or equipping an item. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//43007216/13d43d5c49d152d175f7692639b39f905ece4b7b.png[/img] Clicking the end of turn button will check if you still have any available actions at your bases or any commanders that can still move. Still, if these dialogs don’t make sense for your playstyle or for example in the late game, any dialog with the eye icon can be disabled and for example all picked items will just go to the commander’s inventory. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//43007216/68569aab635e8dfec7199e897e703f343c2bf1be.png[/img] [h3]9. Mini me?[/h3] For the last two, let’s go into a battle! When big armies clash and the situation becomes a bit hectic, feel free to hold the [Ctrl] key. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//43007216/17871c23b5d33b0109e387abf0767f5063100612.gif[/img] [h3]10. Tactical knowledge![/h3] At the start of the battle, you often want to move as close to your enemies as possible without letting them reach you - no need to check their movement number in the unit info panel and count hexes, just hold [Shift] while hovering over them with your mouse cursor. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//43007216/c072ca87e28fd63e0a6e3852e821c65c34896fb9.png[/img] So, these have been some of the ideas we had and have implemented in the game (that we’d already find hard to live without). :) [previewyoutube=d_WUy7NRRR8;full][/previewyoutube] Do you have any other suggestions of for example features you’ve missed in other games or found useful when added by the modding community? Let us know in the comments! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2147380/Silence_of_the_Siren/