Keyboard Interfaces

from GalCiv2 Forums
I've just started playing the beta, but would it be possible to have keyboard equivalents
for some of the actions rather than clicking. My main bugbear with GC1 was that I all
I seemed to do was click. It would be nice if, at least, could close windows with
the "return" key, or space bar. It's to stop moving the mouse to find the close screen
button, etc etc... would make the game much much more playable on a laptop and
save me some RSI pain.

R
7,691 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I second this. A mouse will slow down a good keyboardist. Keyboard shortcuts do wonders when they are used. Having both Keyboard and mouse options allows more freedom as well.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Most of the windows generated by GC1 (such as the events window, the GNN news, and others) could be closed just by hitting the ESC key.
Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Most of the windows generated by GC1 (such as the events window, the GNN news, and others) could be closed just by hitting the ESC key.

But not all, and some would send you to the options screen i stead. And anyway this is GC2 so I second the motion, in fact I have done so every time it has come up. I want to be able to play the whole game without ever touching my mouse.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Guess what. That same request was made in the beta of GC/OS2. I believe it came very close to happening before it shipped.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I would also like to chime in and ask for complete playability using a keyboard. I think Galciv has contributed quite substantially to my carpal tunnel syndrome.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
How much of the keyboard interface of GC2 are you using now? (Or on GC1?). The number pad allows you to move your ships, the tab key lets you find your next unmoved ship, the "a" key sets a survey ship on auto servey, the "g" key sets a ship in "guard" status, the "s" key puts a ship in "sentry" status, and much more (and this is just when in the main view). And this is just the beta 1 level.

In the GC1 beta extensive accelerator keys were added in one of the last two beta levels, such as the function keys F1 through F9 were programmed to: F1 - return to the main map, F2 - bring up the planet list, F3 - bring up the ship list, F4, bring up the domestic policy screen, F5 - Bring up the foreign policy screen, F6 - bring up the research screen, F7 - bring up a selected system's planet view (I just discovered this one while researching the function keys of GC1 for this post), F8 - display the sector influence window, and F9 - switch the main screen from "normal view" to "tactical view" (another new discovery for me), Also, when a ship is selected, "a" sets a survey capable ship in auto survey mode, "d" disbands a ship, "g" sets a ship in "guard" mode, "r" sets a ship in "auto retreat" mode, "s" sets a ship in "setry" move, "w" sets a ship in sector sweep mode, and "x" brings up the rally point list. Other keys: tab will "find" a ship that is not on auto pilot that has moves left and "p" will bring up the "set rally point" arrow. There may be others.

Unfortunately, GC1 did not provide accelerator keys that were screen sensitive. By this I mean that when one of the dialog screens were up (domestic or foreign policy, for instance) the sub screens could not be activated by a key stroke. I hope Stardock will look at this for GC2. With the use of the F1-F4 keys we see in Beta 1 of GC2, it is obvious some departures in accelerator keys are in the works. I hope we will see a big improvement in accelerator keys in future beta levels. But I think we all have to admit that there are some things that can be in conflict when attempting to assign key strokes to them, such as moving the pointer icon (how will a program know whether you want to move a pointer, move a ship, or move to another star system or another sector?).
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I use as many keyboard shortcuts as I can and know of. However, I would like to be given the option to map different actions to different keys as in other games! That would help a lot creating a layout that works best for me. Perhaps that is added quite simply with the new DesktopX interface technologies?
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

There don't appear to be any keyboard events in DesktopX and no one is around at the moment for me to ask.  Remapping keys wouldn't be impossible even if we had to make our own config file, but it is low priority at the moment.