Element Order / F12 tips / Starting Prep Time

[gwho]

As a newcomer with a newcomer's mindset and experience, i would like to point out things that will be helpful to someone who picks up eleTD for the first time.

STRENGTH CHAIN SUGGESTION

since LD and N are non splash, let's have those adjacent.

lets mak the chain l > d > w > f > e > N > L

(here, this is not a cosmetic suggestion, but actually chainging the chain so that fire > earth > nature > light.

the order doesn't really matter, right? It just follows the "pairing", so that we have light-dark, water-fire, and earth-nature.

Just switch earth and nature so that all the splash and non-splash elements are consecutive.

Make the order of elements uniform on all:

1) the upgrading tower to spawn bosses,

(currently LD/WF/NE)

2) on the scv's command card

currently (LDW/ENF)

3) on all tower's command cards

(currently LDW/FNE)

- why so many different orders? all of them should be 2 rows x 3 columns (or the same matrix size), and in corresponding positions, all uniform. (there is room to make it 2x3 on the main ele tower)

- reading order is best (no U-turns like it is currently for tower command cards)

I believe LDW/FNE is best. b/c it follows the weakness/strength chain, in it's a standard order that we're familiar with: reading order.

And since the order is LDWFNE, lets go with that theme in the website's main page, where it lists all the towers. ( http://www.eletd.com/towers.php )

Instead of starting off with darkness for doing all the combinations, start with whatever order we choose from the above.

If we go with the suggestion of LDWFNE, then do all the combinations of light, then darkness, then water and so on.

TOWER UPGRADE orders:

don't have it so that the bottom left is the identical. block out the position that element would be, and put the identical element on the bottom right or something.

That way, all the element positions are retained.

Also, add a tip in the F12 menu that

1) light > darkness > water > etc. > light

2) fire < water < darkness < light < etc < fire

3) that all "non-adjacent" elements have no relation in terms of damage values

(incredibly helpful for noobs)

when choosing short or extremely short mode, give a longer time to startup.

Unless you're a seasoned veteren who has exactly planned out what you want to build, 30 seconds or so is not enough to choose what you want.

more starting money/gas mean more choices. more choices mean more time needed to read/ weight/ etc.

It doesnt have to be extreme.

probably around 30 seconds for normal, 45 for short, 60 for extremely short.

[Karawasa]

I will look into the element order for the tower command cards. It should definitely be LDWFNE and not LDWENF.

More information will be coming in the F12 menu. Probably a general gameplay tip with stuff you mentioned, and a tech tree tip for dual and triple.

Startup time is currently 45 for Short and 60 for Extra Short?

Edit: This may take some getting used to for the older players. People are used to alphabetical, say DEL for laser instead of LDE.

[gwho]

I will look into the element order for the tower command cards. It should definitely be LDWFNE and not LDWENF.

More information will be coming in the F12 menu. Probably a general gameplay tip with stuff you mentioned, and a tech tree tip for dual and triple.

Startup time is currently 45 for Short and 60 for Extra Short?

Edit: This may take some getting used to for the older players. People are used to alphabetical, say DEL for laser instead of LDE.

I can see that, about alphabetical.

I think the weakness/strength chain is the more sensible guiding principle even for older players.

Of course, for noobs, it's a godsend, who are frantically trying to figure out waht towers exist, dont know the strength chain, and are bombarded by all the tower names, while trying to actually play the game ^^

my bad about the starting times. i played a couple of games on non normal and it still felt pretty short

I wrote a pretty big wall up there. just to extract and summarize things that might have been messy or gotten lost in the wall of text.

- change the actual strength chain to LDWFEN b/c NLD are non splash, while WFE are splash, and it keeps it nice and adjacent and orrganized.

- for upgrading earth to earth, one idea might be to blank out the earth position, and have a reserved slot elsewhere on the command card for "like-element upgrades". but if you dont like that, keeping it in the "earth slot" would be less confusing, instead of having it in the bottom left, where Fire should normally be.

[Chiquihuite]

Maybe my mind works differently, but I like having the same-element upgrade consistently in that one slot. I can see the argument for moving them, but it might confuse people that way too. I like the idea of adding tips to the F12 menu and making the weakness chain more obvious for new players.

[Karawasa]

How would you guys feel about changing the alphabetical element ordering to match the strength chain. For instance, in the Laser tooltip it says (Darkness + Earth + Light) and this would become (Light + Darkness + Earth). The website would be reordered to match as well. The button positions on the command card already match this.

[Chiquihuite]

Well, for that purpose, I think alphabetical order is more intuitive and natural.

[gwho]

Maybe my mind works differently, but I like having the same-element upgrade consistently in that one slot. I can see the argument for moving them, but it might confuse people that way too.

thats what exactly what i am suggesting. i hope i didn't make it sound otherwise.

ohh for tooltips. +1 for uniform ordering no matter what.

I dont mind too much about tooltips though. positioning in reference charts, and command cards is by far more important imo.

we're only dealing with 3 items at max, for tooltips. I woudln't throw a fuss either way though. combinations are combinations.

edit: honestly, idk what alphabet has to do with anything. what matters is what element it is and the best way to keep track is to be systematic.

[gwho]

oh, u have the products and everything. u can't chose the order of nature and earth. xp

i guess it would be a pretty small benefit to change, compared to the work and the other things it messes up. nvm scratch changing the order of nature and earth

[Twilice]

Changing the character orders wouldn't mess up anything for me, but if you messed up the element order. Wow I would be screwed.

Also water > fire > nature

So unless you want nature to pawn light or darkness it will be nature > earth