I want to suggest a new feature for the construction hammer building system: a construction mode hotbar.
When entering the construction mode using the construction hammer, the player’s hotbar would be replaced with a construction-mode hotbar to which different recipes from the construction mode catalog could be bound. The player could then select up to 8 different recipes that are mapped like that without entering the catalog and without having to acquire them with a mouse click.
Exiting the construction mode would restore the normal hotbar, and re-entering the construction mode would bring up the construction hotbar with its configuration preserved from the last time.
The motivation for this suggestion is my experience with the new construction system when building circular floor plans. Building circles requires quick switching from triangles to squares and back, and while it’s certainly possible to do with point-and-click to acquire an existing piece, it’s not as fast and easy as simply using a hotbar shortcut and it takes me out of my flow constantly.
I’ve been saying they need to add a hotbar for the construction hammer since the first pre-release stream showcasing the changed system. I knew the loss of that was going to be painful and slow down my building, and I was proven right when I actually got to play it.
Having a second hotbar of some sort, using your existing hotkeys, will require some sort of minor change to entering/leaving build mode though. Right now you just hit the hammer hotkey and you are in build mode, then hit any other hotbar number to leave it.
If they give us the new hotbar we want, we can still enter build mode the same way, but then we can’t exit it the same. We need some other button to now exit that isn’t a hotbar number. That change alone is probably enough to make Funcom never want to do it, even if it would greatly improve the new building system so much further.
This would be great, my biggest annoyance building with the new system is switching pieces when mixing styles, i just built a new home base (roughly 25k reinforced brick worth) but when in the menues since each set has different number of pieces and some different pieces, finding the location of each one from multiple dlcs gets a bit mind numbing doing it over and over
Well, that is part of the way there already! Still requires users to have an extra keybind they. Not sure how that is handled on consoles or if it is more annoying for them, but that is where the biggest issue would probably be since Funcom loves their console users so much.
I hope Funcom just does it to make the system better for us instead of a step forward/step back like it is now.
I’ve been suggesting/wanting a dedicated construction hotbar since… always.
I feel like it’s l less necessary now with the construction hammer, which I like a lot - or to clarify: I like the system. The hammer as an item is ‘meh’: not a problem, but also not necessary in my admittedly uninformed opinion.
Maybe it’s because I never developed a fixed system for where I’d place the different construction pieces in the old system, I’ve always built in a much less organized, more organic/on-a-whim basis, and the new system facilitates that, where the old one didn’t. Maybe it’s because prior to returning I played a bunch of Valheim, and this system is very reminiscent of how things work there.
That said, I still wouldn’t mind a dedicated construction hotbar - if nothing else it would be useful for all those handcrafted pieces that still exist as items!
It’s a good idea. @Den said during one of the early live streams that he would consider supporting the old way along side the new if there were enough folks asking for it. Your idea takes care of it in an elegant way. I hope they consider it.
Although I’m not sure it needs to replace the hotbar per say. It could be part of the construction screen. Press F and there is group of 8, 10, or 12 icons somewhere on the screen - maybe an FIFO selection history? Run through the flip-screens and shift-click to select the pieces you intend to work with and load up those icons. Then when building it’s:
F → Click icon → build. Then maybe give them a keybind so people can map their Number-pad keys or whatever.
I dunno, I’m just thinking that would be easier to implement than hot-bar replacement and if it’s easier they might be more inclined to take it on. I’m okay either way myself but sure, if people want something resembling the old hotbar style, then why not?
Maybe it would help with other players’ pain points, but it wouldn’t really get rid of the specific problem I described.
Let’s say I’m building a circle of foundations. I’ll start with the innermost ring of 6 triangles. Then I’ll build the next ring outwards, 6 triangles and 6 squares. The reason hotbar was so good for that was that I could aim my mouse where I want the next piece and just press a button to switch between pieces. With the new system, I have to not only press a key, but move my mouse around to select a piece. Your idea is the same.
It’s not just circular floors, either. If I’m building a wall and I know exactly where the door goes, I’ll go “switch to wall, place, place, place, switch to door, place, switch to wall, place, place, place” without breaking the flow of my mouse movement. Same thing for building spiral staircases: “switch to stairs, place, switch to wedge, place, switch to stairs, place, switch to wedge, place”.
I may be the only one but this new construction hammer is a pain in the buttom on ps4 we have pretty much stayed on our private server since update new ps4 update loading now hopefully better when 1.81 is installed. At least with admin you can build the old way. Hopefully there is a fix for everyone.
Actually neither is true. The new systems lets you toggle between two pieces with a single button press like you describe - no mouse movement. So, that’s the new current system. My suggestion would make it single button swappable between 8 or more pieces. Right, if there were hot-keys for each as I suggested then after the slots were populated it would be:
KP 1 → Place Wedges → KP 2 → Place Foundations → etcetera
I know I can “acquire” an already placed piece with a binding (mouse or key press), but I have to aim at it before I can acquire it. I know I can open the construction catalog (default binding is F), but then I have to find and select the recipe I want, which AFAIK involves mouse and definitely doesn’t qualify as a “single button press”.
What am I missing?
So, like the hotbar, but it isn’t presented as a hotbar in the HUD? Yeah, sure, I’m happy with that. Anything that would allow me to switch between X different pieces with single button press for each switch!
Uhhhh, yeah, we might be talking about the same thing. Here’s me clumsily using it:
Yeah, basically, yes. I figure that way they don’t have to mess with the existing Hot Bar code and unintentionally mess something up - and maybe easier overall?
I cannot understand all the suggestions no matter how much analysis you’ll give. I can only understand some things while playing them. I always support changes, especially the ones that ask improvement! I do see that the new system have space for improvement, but to be honest I didn’t totally “unlock” the new building system to judge it! I want things to be done but as simple possible please.
If someone has a YouTube channel and plays on Playstation, I would beg him to make a guide video how to build! I still don’t understand how to erase or to elevate the first foundation. I use the wall trick to elevate the foundation but this is not enough. Sometimes map rooms has to go lower or higher to fit in some spaces, or pens the same. Please help!
Look at the key binding - that should tell you. The new system has a mode switch. One mode rotates and tilts, the other mode raises and lowers. Almost always when something isn’t making sense or isn’t readily apparent, a visit to the key bindings page in settings will set you right.
The new systems lets you toggle between two pieces with a single button press like you describe - no mouse movement. So, that’s the new current system. My suggestion would make it single button swappable between 8 or more pieces. Right, if there were hot-keys for each as I suggested then after the slots were populated it would be: