Automatic control group adding on warpin
I use several control groups for different units and/or unit types. When I warp in units via the minimap, I have to still go to the warpin location with my screen in order to command and/or assign them to a control group.
I suggest that (either by default or as an option) units are automatically added to the control group that is currently active when they are warped in. So when I want to warp in a unit and add it to group 3, which already has some units in it, I can select 3, hit B, and warp in via the minimap, then use group B for the new units as well, since they are now added to the group.
I think this would be an awesome addition and I hope it can find it's way into one the the future patches.
Comments
Have you tried the Army, Army and Hero, Select basic units, Select slot 1 units and Select slot 2 units special control groups? They do what you described, though only for specific stuff.
Let's say that you want to warp in Purifiers, put them in control group 1, and also warp in Wisps and put them in control group 2. You would do what follows:
Done! You warped your units, added them to their respective control groups and haven't moved the camera at all.
Those automatically created control groups are awesome.
Thanks you for the info on some unit control option. Some of them I did not know so far.
However, it didn't fix the problem. Let me explain the exact situation I often find myself in:
Let's say I have 4 control groups.
Group 1 is my Army of Hydros and some scuttleguards.
Group 2 consist of some quadrapi and frostcallers.
Group 3 is a shadow thats around the map.
Group 4 is a lone scuttleguard farming critters on his own on a side lane.
Now lets say I am building another scuttleguard to add to my army. I don't see any way to do that without going back the warpin point to click on it separately for adding it to group 1 if I don't want my lone scuttleguard to also become member of group one. It should be obvious that I want the group 4 scuttle remain at the critters for farming so I cannot use the all army button. Sure, I could exclude the scuttle from the all army button, but thats a lot more work, especially if done for several units if I for example have 2 scuttleguards farmin different locations and also shadows that are supposed to not be in the same group as I want them to scout etc.
Not to mention I'd have to do that over and over again when I rebuild my farming scuttle after it being killed and for that I definitely have to switch the screen to there to individually remove it from the all army group. Thats just shifting the problem, not solving it.
It would be way easier if I could just hit control group 1, war in the scuttle and be good to go.
Now Imagine I just build another quadrapus and a frostcaller and warped them in. sure I can use the army buttom, click the quad, add it to group 2, use army button again, click the frostcaller, add it to group 2. In that case, what you suggested would work but it would take 6 buttons (2x army + shift + group) and 2 clicks that have to be at the edge of a screen.
When I just go back to the warpin location, thats one click at the edge of the screen, then a boxing unit selection, an add to the group and going back to the army by double tapping its hotkey. Thats one click on the edge of the screen, the boxing (which already has your mouse back to the middle of the screen) and 4 buttons (shift + group and double tapping the armies control group (1 for me). Thats less buttoms and the curser already in position in the middle of the screen when coming back to the army.
As you can see, using your method here would make it even worse.
Also, when creating a unit that I want to go into an empty control group, I still have to warp it in, select all army, go at the edge of the screen to click it, then group it. With my suggestion, I could just select am empty control group and warp the unit in. Simple as that.
Now I can certainly see what you said working in certain situations and there also a lot of people that just use the all army button and nothing else (which I consider very bad habit and it makes controlling units in multiple locations quite hard), but in many cases, I think my suggestion would really add to the way you can form control groups.
I really nope this can get implemented. One important thing when doing so is to make sure empty control groups can get activated my clicking they group buttom so that warped in units can go into previously empty groups as well.
Luckily there's a way to prevent your lone Scuttleguard and your Sentinelss from being selected by the Army Control Group. Go to Options > Keyboard > Advanced and check both checkboxes ("Enable alt key remove and set from control groups" and "Allow preset control group modification"). Now, when creating the Control Groups 3 and 4 for the first time, you would use Alt + [Shift]* + Control Group #X instead of Ctrl/Shift + Control Group #X (that's no extra work). So, from then on, when you select the Army Control Group, Control Groups 3 and 4 are excluded.
Also, what you could do is create/add control groups with Alt every time. That way, the Army Control Group would have just whatever you warp in. So you could warp in > select Army (which holds the warped in units only) > create/add to Control Group #X (while holding Alt). (that's 3 more buttons than your suggestion, but better than having to move the screen or click on the unit portrait on the HUD).
My suggestions are workarounds that can improve your "playflow". However, your suggested feature is actually a more flexible version of the Auto Control Group concept. I love the idea, as we would be able to select a control group (even an empty one) and warp into it.
*Optionally, if you wish to add to existing group instead of replacing it.
I really like this. Gonna try to use it. However, it will take some time to get used to doing it.
Once they added the warping into control groups (which they hopefully do) it will be way easier
I don´t know warping onto selected group would work so good. Lategame I often build like 1 sludge and 3 shuttleguards at the same time, and I want them in different groups, but you have to warp them all in at once.
As Sir said, the alt+group key is a powerful tool for these things.
I think another intuitive sollution would be to make "ready for warpin" units selectable just like normal units, so you can shift+click on the hud to add one or more of them to a group and then warp in. That way you never need to look at your base
Another feture would be to set a default group for each unit type, in combination with alt+4 your lone shuttleguard that would satisfy your needs.
That's a great suggestion! As an alternative, we could shift-click units on the "ready for warpin" queue and then warp them selectively into a control group, as Aswan suggested.
When I started playing GoA I was pleasantly surprised by the Automatic Control Groups (Production, Upgrades, Army + Hero, etc); it made so much sense. Players use the same control groups every time, so why not have premade control groups? And it's not like you would ever want to have your production buildings split into different control groups, anyway.
Personally I'm using all three premade building control groups, and also the Army + Hero Control Group as the "main army", and then creating every other control group with Alt. That way most of the stuff I warp in is already in the control group where I want it. That's like a whole league more accessible than SC2, where you have to manually put every single new building and unit into a control group. In SC2 I spend like 60 Effective APM on producing and control grouping alone (as Zerg).
Minimizing the click tax of control grouping stuff goes a long way on making the game more accessible. We're almost there, and the suggestions of @Aswan and @angrySloth would make GoA's controls even more awesome.
Another thought I had on warp in: What if the warp in target could be outside the blue area; units would appear at the nearest warp point and then move towards the target point. Might need to be a modifier key to be less dangerous to new players. Or riffing on the above, being able to select units ready to warp from the UI, the could be given groups, and then giving an order would make them warp in and start that order.
Very good discussion. I think something needs to be done in the long run about these warp ins and unit grouping; let's say the standard way of unit production is have the units pop out of a certain building a walk to a rallypoint, this is very intuitive. GoA warp ins are basically like Protoss warpgates, and those could only be done around a pylon; it takes a bit more micro to get your units out but you've got more freedom where to place your units.
In SC2 this makes sense in a whole other way, since you for example can choose where to build your pylons.
It just feels very clunky, a bit like having to manually assign each worker to working minerals in SC:BW. There's at least 3 suggestions in this thread which would "fix" this.