[FIXED B709] Is shift-clicking not supposed to add units to a selection?

[Rangoon]

I can't recall how this worked in the past with CMANO (just getting back after a long break), but I thought you could shift click other units to add them to a selection. I have tried this in both GROUP and UNIT view, but not having any luck. The only way I can seem to select multiple units is by click-dragging a box around them. But if there is a set of units I want to select, and other units which I don't want are in the middle, drag selecting won't work. Well, of course I don't need to explain why this selection option is useful, but it seems like I'm either missing something that should be obvious or my game is having problems.

EDIT: I am able to shift click in GROUP view, but only if I select a single ungrouped unit and then shift click a group. I cannot, however, select a group, and then select a single unit which I want to add to the group. Does that behavior sound normal for CMANO?

Also, I knew this seemed familiar. I had a thread about this a year ago. Either there is logic to this system that I'm still just not getting used to yet, or something is still wrong/inconsistent about shift-clicking units. As long as I click a single unit, then a group, it works fine and I can add to the group. Is there some way to see what ungrouped units you have selected? When I drag select, I can't see which units I have selected other than the top one. Makes it more cumbersome to create the groups I want. Just takes longer than it seems it should.

[mikmykWS]

Shift click seems to be working fine here

I'm holding down shift and left click each unit. The only place where this isn't possibly is if you're using group view with members visible.

If you can please walk me through your clicks. You might be doing it differently.

Thanks!

Mike

[Rangoon]

ORIGINAL: mikmyk

Shift click seems to be working fine here

I'm holding down shift and left click each unit. The only place where this isn't possibly is if you're using group view with members visible.

If you can please walk me through your clicks. You might be doing it differently.

Thanks!

Mike

Sure, here is what I'm seeing:

Conditions:
- GROUP or UNIT view makes little difference in my descriptions here (I've tried both repeatedly) *except* to the extent that being in unit view will show individual group members separately from the group icon if there is enough lateral separation. (EDIT: see the last few paragraphs; something changed while I was typing this and testing, but that's then, this is now, so to speak.)
- UNIT A is a single unit
- UNIT B is a single unit
- CLUSTER A is a couple of *ungrouped* units stacked such that you can't see their discrete icons, but they are not grouped
- CLUSTER B is a *group* in UNIT view which has such tight proximity that the individuals are not represented with discrete icons
- GROUP A is a group
- GROUP B is a group


Test sequences:
- click on UNIT A (selects), then shift-click on UNIT B: both are successfully selected.
- click on CLUSTER A (selects), then shift-click on UNIT A: both are successfully selected.
- click on CLUSTER A (selects), then shift-click on UNIT B: both are successfully selected.
- click on CLUSTER A (selects), then shift-click on UNIT A, then shift-click on UNIT B: all are successfully selected.
- click on UNIT A, then shift-click on CLUSTER A: UNIT A is deselected while CLUSTER A becomes selected.
- click on UNIT A, then shift-click on UNIT B (both selected), then shift-click on CLUSTER A: UNITS A and B are deselected while CLUSTER A becomes selected.
- click on any CLUSTER or GROUP and then shift-click on any other CLUSTER or GROUP: only the final shift-clicked group/cluster remains selected.
- click on any group, then shift-click on any single, discrete unit: both group and unit are selected.
- click on any unit, then shift-click on any cluster or group: only the final cluster/group is selected.
- in UNIT view, click on any unit, then shift-click a unit which is part of a group but which is displayed as a discrete unit icon: both will be selected (CLUSTER B).
- in UNIT view, click on any unit, then shift-click a unit which is part of a group but which is displayed as a group icon: only the grouped unit will be selected.
- in UNIT view, click on any unit, then shift-click a unit which is part of a cluster: only the clustered unit will be selected.
- in UNIT view, click on any group or cluster, then shift-click any discrete unit icon: both the cluster/group and the unit will be selected.

I think that pretty much covers the various possibilities. I did this by setting up a few groups, then launching a 4-ship and having one unit peel off in a new direction, and another unit peel off in a third direction. So you have two units which are separate from the 2-ship element and from each other, displayed with a discrete icon regardless of the view mode, while the two units which remained on the original heading show up as a single unit icon but are a cluster of two units stacked together. The groups then show up as a group icon except in UNIT view but then *only* as discrete icons if there is enough separation laterally from their group.

So this all leads me to a related question about clusters. They seem to behave like groups in terms of this selection algorithm. However, the only way to actually select multiple units in a cluster is to drag-select (allows you to group). If you click the cluster, you've only selected one unit (cannot group with the others in the cluster). Yet by simply clicking (not drag-selecting), the selection acts as if it's a group when it comes to combining with other units (and vice versa, combining a single unit with the cluster). So I'm curious how this is supposed to work or what the logic is, and I'm also wondering: is there is any way to see when you have multiple single units selected if they are a part of a cluster (or clusters) or even groups for that matter? With a single group selected, you can see the group's composition (or, with two groups selected, you will see one of the groups' compositions). But with clusters or drag-selects, or add-selects, there is no way to see this and to see the composition, is there? And if clicking a cluster (not drag-selecting) only selects one unit from that cluster, why does it behave like a group regarding selection?

And if all of the above sounds crazy, my CMANO world just changed:

All I did was create a group with the 2-ship cluster from the original 4-ship which became UNIT A/B and CLUSTER A. Once they were grouped, now *in GROUP view* I could select and shift-click in any direction between that group (or any other group) and the single units, whereas before I couldn't. In UNIT view, I still can only do this in one direction, but not the other. I'm losing my mind trying to keep this straight now. I then also launched another couple of formations. I didn't group any of them, so now they are just clusters. In GROUP view, I can select the cluster, then shift-click single units and then shift-cilck a group, and all remain selected. However, if I click the group, shift-click single units, and then shift-click the cluster, only the cluster remains selected. In UNIT view, I click the cluster, then shift-click single units (all selected) and then shift-click a group: only the group is selected. I click the group, then shift-click the single units (all selected) and then shift-click the cluster: only the cluster remains selected.

So this is evidence of some inconsistency, it seems, either with my instance of CMANO or with the algroithms driving selections. At first, the UNIT/GROUP view made little difference, but now there is a more apparent difference. Not sure if it's because I created that 2-ship group or what caused the change.

I also now created a group with one of the two freshly launched formations (clusters). In GROUP view, the cluster and group now act differently: I can add a single unit to a cluster or a group, but I can only add a group to a single unit (not a cluster to a single unit). In UNIT view, both act the same: I can add a single unit to a group, but not a group to a single unit (same with cluster rather than group).

Is your head spinning? Mine is.