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Hi, I'm banjo1735. I'm the proud owner of the 156th best FPL team out of all Terran users on this site so I think I'm a pretty big deal.
Anyway, I'd like to write a little bit about the MBS (Multiple Build Selection) interface of Starcraft 2, or specifically, the lack of unit progress indicators on most buildings.
First, there are the Protoss Warp Gates:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/EAnx1OB.jpg)
Look at those beautiful spirals!
Each Warp Gate has its own spiral to indicate its cooldown. Not only that, but there is also a little icon that pops up that shows how many idle Warp Gates you currently have. Pretty wonderful, right?
Let's take a look at the Terran (or Robotics Facility/Stargate) interface:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/VdPMtPY.jpg)
White dots... hooray?
There is no indication of the unit production progress at all for multiple buildings. I understand that spirals couldn't work with a reactor'ed building, as two units might come out at different times. However, I don't see why Blizzard implemented two very nice macro indicators for multiple Warp Gates but the other production facilities get nothing.
Something as simple as colors could work:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/XjUa1n4.jpg)
Look at those beautiful colors!
Protoss doesn't have to deal with this as often as they usually only have one Robotics Facility and/or Stargate and the game shows unit progress for single building selections.
Zerg has a similar interface limitation. After injecting a hatchery, the only indicator (besides individually selecting hatcheries/Queens) is a little bar above the hatch:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ZhpQSWf.jpg)
Bars
Cooldown spirals could absolutely work in this circumstance:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/sQJ0L6x.jpg)
So pretty...
Well, I think it looks nice.
Why hasn't Blizzard added these sorts of things to the game?
One reason could be that they thought that macro might become too easy with this. For Zerg, I can understand this. Each race has macro mechanics that force the player to look at their bases:
- Terran has MULEs, Supply Depots, and Production Facilities.
- Protoss has Pylons, Chronoboost, and also Production Facilities.
- Zerg has Inject and Creep Tumors.
Putting cooldown spirals on the hatcheries would actually allow Zergs to inject perfectly without ever looking at their base by using the minimap method of injecting. That's a bit absurd, so I understand why there are no spirals.
However, this doesn't explain why Terran (and Robo/Stargate) doesn't get a better MBS interface. Terran players would still have to look at their bases the same amount to MULE, to make depots, and to add production facilities. They would still have to spam hotkeys to see when to add units to the queue. This sort of thing would just make it so they could queue more efficiently.
Also, it's just a bit strange that only Warp Gates get a progress indicator. If they are going to show unit progress for one building's MBS, shouldn't other buildings have the same treatment?
These aren't changes that would greatly affect professional players, who already have excellent macro. They would, however, benefit lower level players with not-so-excellent macro.
So, in summary, I think MBS should have unit progress indicators across the board except probably for hatcheries.
What do you guys think?
Thank you for reading.
 
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Never realized that before, maybe because warpgates can't queue units up?
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Wow this is a pretty good idea.
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Canada11511 Posts
Dunno. If you're going to go for the timer thingy, you might as well look at the old C&C method. Greyed out icon that becomes coloured as it completes. Much more clear/visible than the warpgate version if clarity and visibility are the issues.
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Well, the issue isn't clarity or visibility. The issue is that you can't see when your production is ready for another cycle unless you are dealing with Warp Gates or single-building selections.
It is true that the spirals are needed on Warp Gates because of their inability to queue. However, that doesn't mean that the other production facilities shouldn't have unit progress indicators. Queuing units has its own, sometimes very hefty, price: you're investing money into units that are doing nothing until the current cycle finishes. A queued marine isn't such a big deal, but it's a different story when you're queuing Medivacs, Tanks, and Thors!
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There are other weird inconsistencies about the game UI too, like how warpgates have a hotkey and icon but other production buildings don't. It'd be nice if they added features for the other races to give more parity in that regard but I don't think it's a huge deal.
Edit: I mean, this would be nice but I think it wouldn't change much.
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The simple answer is probably that Warpgates actually have cooldowns like abilities do, so they show a cooldown spiral. It is built into the editor in this way. They probably didn't think much about it when they implemented it, and then they stuck to it.
The other things that you are mentioning are features that would have to be specifically added. You could name hundreds of other features too that would make it easier to play the game, but that doesn't mean that all of them should be implemented in order to make the game easier. I can see how it would be logical to add a macro indicator to all production structures, because Warpgates have one. But I think it's way more logical to either take the macro indicator away from Warpgates instead or just leave everything as it is now.
But that's just my personal opinion.
edit:
Oh yeah, and I think that it is weird how Warpgates have a built in Hotkey, too. I don't really see the purpose for that.
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I think it would certainly be easier to remove the indicators from Warp Gate but I don't think it is the most logical decision. People have been using those spirals, pop-ups, and hotkeys for like three years now. Taking them out would be a big change for many Protoss players.
Warp Gate needs to keep these features. On the same note, other buildings should also get similar functionality so that macro is somewhat streamlined. It's really strange that there is an inherent punishment for using MBS on some buildings while single-building selections are fine.
Anyway, as the game continues to evolve, shouldn't features be added rather than removed?
It might not be a huge change but it would surely be a change for the better.
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EPT
