Unvanquished Forum

The biggest obstacle for normal PEOPLE to start playing this game is the default key layout: it's completely unusable: no buy binds, important keys are far from reach (like v for dodge or m for medkit, seriously, what the hell did Tremulous devs think when they did that?). Also, alien and human controls differ significantly, so they should have their own binds. Unvanquished needs a better default layout in order to attract more players.

This is what qualities a good layout I think should have:

• All important keys (sprinting, walking on walls, buying ammo, medkit, jetpack activation, dodging) should be within finger reach.

• Buy binds should automatically buy armor (that will hopefully reduce number of noobs attacking without any armor whatsoever).

• If possible, dodge key should be the right mouse button, so player will not have to let go direction keys to dodge.

Here's my proposal:

--- Humans ---

1 - buy rifle + larmor
2 - buy saw + larmor
3 - buy shotgun + larmor
4 - buy lasgun + larmor
5 - buy massdriver + larmor
6 - buy chaingun + suit
7 - buy pulse + larmor
8 - buy lcannon + suit

F1 - buy larmor
F2 - buy suit
F3 - buy jetpack
F4 - buy battpack

F5 - buy grenade

Left mouse - attack 1
Middle mouse - attack 2
Right mouse - dodge

AWSD - Move
Alt/X - sprint
C - crawl

Ctrl - use medkit
Z - buy ammo

Q - activate/deactivate jetpack
E - throw grenade

--- Aliens ---

1 - go granger
2 - go dretch
3 - go basilisk
4 - go marauder
5 - go dragoon
6 - go tyrant

AWSD - move

Left mouse - attack 1
Middle mouse - attack 3
Right mouse - attack 2

Alt/X - walk on walls (walks as long as pressed, as in sprint)

--- All ---

B - deconstruct

I have all my important say binds in reach

bind 0 "say you can't touch this! ; reconnect"

bind 6 "say /me ^3admintest: ^7is level 6 admin (^2Junior Admin⁷)"
bind 8 "say ^6you jelly brah?"

bind h "say Watch out for ^1The0}{^1Thing6's ^5co-worker ^2stealing ur ^5QKEY!"
bind i "say u grilled?"
bind x "say BASIBOMB away <3 <3 <# OH THE HUMANITY !"
bind z "say give my ^{6basi 2a} warm ^6HUG <3"

bind F5 "say umad, bro?"
bind F6 "say ugrilled?"
bind F7 "say ^6Epical Win in progress"
bind F8 "say ^6All I do is win"

bind 7 "say lol did you know over 10000 people are ^6raped2 in ^1U7S^{4A 2prison} yearly? ; say Even wore in ^6China, Iran, etc. ; say ^{3Stop 1censorship}2 and ^{3totalitarian} state² when you can :) ^5thanks Antiki for the idea"
bind h "say ¹| .-- .. H. .H AAAA I L; say ¹.-+-. . HHHH A. .A I L; say ¹__| | .. H. .H A. .A I LLLL ^{2hitler 4}(lol!)"
bind i "say u grilled?"
bind m "say ^1Mmm [granger] GRANGERS are ^3Tasty Snacks ⁶<3^2gotta catch them ; say Cook them and ^{1eat 2them} all :D ; say ¹[granger] grangers meet ^3so tasty ^2did you tried it yet? "
bind n "say Its ^{5funny 2because} it's ^6TRUE! ^3LOL hurrrrrrr :D"

It should be the defaults

What I found that works best for me is have all binds in a bind configuration file, that way you don't have to recreate the binds every time in new versions of Unvanquished. Plus it makes editing that much more practical and user friendly. It may not appeal to everyone, but it sure helps in some way.

However, I don't refuse the idea of having some auto binds implemented. These should be default binds for Evolving into alien class', choosing human equipment and weapons, and some team_say binds. All the other binds can be for personal changes where needed.

I agree on some parts from 1-0 buy/evolve binds.

 My armour binds are actually on the arrow keys, where up is jetpack, down is normal armour, left is battpack, right is bsuit.

However my evolve/buy binds aren't suitable for official default binds, you can see straight away:
Granger/Ckit I
Adv Granger/Ackit [trem 1.1] \
Dretch/Naked Rifle 0
Basi/Painsaw j
Advmara/Mara/Lasgun K
Goon/Shotty [Bsuit, although i usually sell it straight away] P
Adv Goon/Pulse [+Battpack] O
Tyrant/AdvTyrant[TremX/KorX]/Luci [Bsuit again] N

Unless stated otherwise, all human buy/sell binds buy larmour + helm.

And building:
Tube [
Turret U
Tesla/Trapper -
DCC (usually bound to +left) /
Om/Rc V
Repater ,

I used to have a build egg/node bind for wonderland, since it was critical to spawn and place a node before a goon chomps you in survival situations... Since then I never really used it so it's gone :(

What do you reckon?

The problem with implementing this all by default is that people cannot agree on a single universal binding layout. One thing we could potentially do is offer a few to choose from by default, but that might be awkward. I think the best solution is to reform the interface (which we're doing) so that you don't need complex binds in the first place.

Your binds a bit all over the place, Virus. This is from my bind configuration file:

// binds.cfg file for Tremulous
// AussieAssault

// Version 1.3
// Modified 6/January/2013

//============================================================

//
// Binds for Humans + Aliens
//

bind , "team humans"
bind . "team aliens"
bind f "itemtoggle blaster"
bind p "teamstatus"


bind 1 "sell weapons; sell upgrades; buy larmour; buy helmet; buy rifle; itemact rifle; class level0; echo ^7Rifle/Dretch"								//- Rifle/Dretch
bind 2 "sell weapons; sell upgrades; buy larmour; buy helmet; buy shotgun; buy rifle; itemact shotgun; class level1; class level1upg; echo ^7Shotgun/Lisk"				//- Shotgun/Basilisk+Advance Basilisk
bind 3 "sell weapons; sell upgrades; buy larmour; buy helmet; buy lgun; buy battpack; buy rifle; itemact lgun; class level2; class level2upg; echo ^7LasGun/Marauder"			//- LasGun/Marauder+Advanced Marauder
bind 4 "sell weapons; sell upgrades; buy larmour; buy helmet; buy mdriver; buy battpack; buy rifle; itemact mdriver; class level3; class level3upg; echo ^7Mass Driver/Dragoon"		//- Mass Driver/Dragoon+Advance Dragoon		
bind 5 "sell weapons; sell upgrades; buy larmour; buy helmet; buy prifle; buy battpack; buy rifle; itemact prifle; class level4; echo ^7Pulse Rifle/Rant"				//- Pulse Rifle/Rant
bind 6 "sell weapons; sell upgrades; buy larmour; buy helmet; buy lcannon; buy battpack; buy rifle; itemact lcannon; echo ^7Lucifer Cannon"						//- Lucifer Cannon
bind 7 "sell weapons; sell upgrades; buy bsuit; buy larmour; buy helmet; buy chaingun; buy bsuit; buy rifle; itemact chaingun; echo ^7Chaingun"						//- Chaingun
bind 8 "sell weapons; sell upgrades; buy larmour; buy helmet; buy flamer; buy rifle; itemact flamer; echo ^7Flame Thrower"								//- Flame Thrower
bind 9 "sell weapons; sell upgrades; buy larmour; buy helmet; buy psaw; buy jetpack; buy gren; buy rifle; itemact psaw; echo ^7Pain Saw"						//- Pain Saw
bind 0 "sell weapons; buy ckit; class builder; class builderupg; echo ^7Construction Kit/Granger"											//- Construction Kit/Granger (+Adv/+Adv)


//============================================================

It's pretty neat in not needing separate configurations for both aliens and humans. This is the same bind.cfg I use for Unvanquished from Tremulous.

And like Kharnov stated:

The problem with implementing this all by default is that people cannot agree on a single universal binding layout.

This problem is surely to crop up, that's why it would be good to manually input binds of you own and set them how you want them to be in the form of a configuration file or manually inside the game. I don't know how your reformed interface will be like so I can't exactly comment on that. However, it would be good to have some choice in which you would like to choose from.

kharnov wrote:

The problem with implementing this all by default is that people cannot agree on a single universal binding layout. One thing we could potentially do is offer a few to choose from by default, but that might be awkward. I think the best solution is to reform the interface (which we're doing) so that you don't need complex binds in the first place.

The problem is that the default layout isn't just disagreed on by some players, it's pretty obviously maliciously designed to drive noobs away from the game. And besides, interface is slow to use, it would be good to allow configuring basic buy binds from GUI.

'Maliciously'? Bit harsh.

Another issue is that not all keyboard layouts are the same. It is easier and more professional to create an intuitive interface rather than force players to memorize binds.

Ishq wrote:

Another issue is that not all keyboard layouts are the same. It is easier and more professional to create an intuitive interface rather than force players to memorize binds.

How about both good default binds and intuitive interface? So the players can use the interface first and then switch to binds? For example, using medkit using the interface will always be slower than using a bind that allows to use it with a single key press. The problem is that the current default layout of UNV/Trem is completely unusable: [v] dodge key is too far from AWSD - so it's virtually impossible to use dodge move effectively, medkit is [m], so it's impossible to apply medkit in the heat of battle: you have to let go of control keys and that usually means being bitten to death instanly, deconstruct key [e] is too close to reload and movement keys...

Amazonian1515 wrote:

'Maliciously'? Bit harsh.

Yes, clans must have influenced developers into not making more sensible default binds to drive noobs away, so the game would die when the clans die. I can't see any another reason for creating such a layout.