@ftxcommando said in Downsides of the Advanced Strategic Icons mod:
@cheeseberry said in Downsides of the Advanced Strategic Icons mod:
@exselsior said in Downsides of the Advanced Strategic Icons mod:
@cheeseberry I thought he had something more specific, but right now I'm just finding this post with screenshots and his response right after: https://forum.faforever.com/topic/1186/ui-mod-guide-for-the-improving-player/10
The detrimental part is seeing how many low level units are in a clump early game. In higher level ladder that's really important. That being said, I'm not really sure exactly how detrimental it is to being able to count small numbers of units if you're using the small icon sizes. Not sure what size is being used in the screenshots here.
In the above I explicitly show that a clump of T1 units with the new icons is at least as distinctive as a with the default ones. The icons are the same size after all, so where exactly should the information loss be?
Show me a picture where a unit composition is clearly visible with the default icons while barely or not at all decipherable with the modded icons.
If Blackheart is right and "this mod will completely destroy your ability to improve past a certain level" then such an example should be quite easy to find.
Literally a random MML pops up in the unit mix here because it was entirely blocked by the icons.
![alt text](image url)
I have zero clue what is going on in the bottom screenshot, top base is significantly easier to read and if some of the other icons like the radar and mexes were ALSO default then it would ALSO be less cluttered and easier to read.
BH isn’t exaggerating, he genuinely considers the mod garbage because even with his crippled eyes he has no problem seeing and identifying things with base icons. Base icons are significantly easier to instantly read at a glance from a zoomed out level, making it immediately preferable if your goal is to be a competitive player because you want to spend as little time zoomed up as possible. This is why he strongly pushes back against it in his guide for improving since it reinforces bad habits.
I was of course not able to replicate the pictures exactly, but I think the base/unit density is roughly the same:
Note that any differences in my pictures are much less pronounced than in the ones you posted above. I think the reason for that is that whoever made those picture wasn't actually at the same zoom level in all of them.
For the base comparison this is definitely the case, as even though the icons are the same size, the terrain is not as can be seen by comparing e.g. width of the mountain on the right side:
Still, while I think that the unit icons are up to personal taste I do think you can make the information loss argument for the base comparison I posted above.
While the main icon sizes are still almost the same, the colored borders of the modded icons do take up a relevant amount of space. For example: One of the sams gets hidden beneath its two neighboring ravagers.
Thanks for the constructive feedback and an actual downside of the Advanced Strategic Icon mod FTX!