Downsides of the Advanced Strategic Icons mod

Still, I think that this thread has run its course. Possibly spending patreon money on changing icons is already quite far removed from the downsides of the ASI mod.

I would like to thank everyone for their contributions, I certainly learned a lot, not the least of which that the Advanced Strategic Icons mod does in fact have clear downsides as well!

If you have any more direct comparison pictures (taken at the exact same zoom level and all that) of the ASI mod obfuscating information, especially for land armies, please put them below. As mentioned multiple times, I think that would be a valuable ressource for any future icon modders.

I don't get how minor icon improvements are outside any scope

Is there anyone who thinks differentiating ACU's from SACU's is not worthwhile?
Or giving SMD a more prominent icon?

That's honestly already 80% of current frustration gone.

I don't mind taking a crack at putting together a different set of icons, though it would take time, i've already done it for my own amusement on the medium set of ASI but like others have said, the visibility of units is still quite a bit hit or miss.

It seems that many players are fine with how the general units/tanks/arty and such appear, and many of the complaints stem from the other icons just being "TOO MUCH" visually, which is a fair complaint. I felt the same way when I first used them and while I did get used to them, many times its just a wash of icons.

So I think perhaps just starting out with like others have said with TML, nuke, acu vs sacu ( which i already did for myself) but also perhaps the TML, radar, are still not subtle enough.

what are thoughts on what a good compromise should be? I personally like having the mexes a little more distinguishable, but maybe ASI design just isn't it. I changed my Engies to have 1, 2, and 3 visible because I can't see the little tech lines zoomed out, but maybe that is also too much. I linked that above.

Perhaps people can provide their own versions to find something that could become a new default if it's popular enough. No reason we can't crowdsource this.

@cheeseberry said in Downsides of the Advanced Strategic Icons mod:

So it's not out of any reasonable project scope, you just think we shouldn't prioritize it. That is something different to be discussed then.

Yes, and I think it’s out of any reasonable scope because it is so low priority. Stupid comment.

@cheeseberry said in Downsides of the Advanced Strategic Icons mod:

which is demonstrably untrue, as shown by some of the people here in this thread.

I know you’re new, but I shouldn’t need to explain to any veteran that people will say they want to do something and then won’t do it - including me. This is very extensive free work with a long iterative design phase and large amounts of tedious menial gruntwork. Claims to work on it amount to nothing.

You would be very brave to want to buck the trend but I would hesitate to call it smart - most people need to do jobs that allow them to eat.

Exactly. Instead of arguing further all of you who have issues with the default icons should just start working on better icons. You don't need a tournament for that. And you certainly don't need to argue about throwing money at it and hoping that someone shows up to do it for you.

ASI shows that you should absolutely avoid making the icons bigger than the default ones. Other than that, open any image editor and go to town.

Yep, download GIMP with the DDS plugin and you are good to go. The base icons are pretty small pixel wise, so hard to design something with much definition unless you make it a little larger, which maybe why ASI were bigger in the first place.

If you increase the size you instantly get the issues again with icons overlapping more. If you want to have an icon set with even a chance to have no downsides to the original ones, you need to stick to the size limits.
Of course if you want to just make yet another custom icon you can do whatever.

Well I think it's fine to have slightly larger icons for particularly unique structures like SML or SMD as you rarely build several in a spot. The problem is more when you give big icons for like, everything that goes into a t2 firebase. Structures that are more generic could get bolder shading or whatever for their icon as they increase in tech level or something.

The different player colors probably prevent having unique enough shading to be noticeable, or they would work with some colors, but not others. Some things like TML don't really need a player color, but unique shapes are also feasible. The ASI mexes sorta already do this with with center square turning into an x like symbol that gets slightly larger. Maybe SAM, and Radar can have their own shape for instance. The Radar doesn't necessary have to be square, everyone recognizes the radar symbol on its own, as long as it stands out from the map textures.

Shading is probably the wrong word, what I mean is let's say you have a + identify a PD, you make that larger/bolder as the tier increases rather than the icon box itself. I mean really I don't have a problem with any of the generic icons at all so I'm probably the worst person to suggest changes.

I changed my Engies to have 1, 2, and 3 visible because I can't see the little tech lines zoomed out, but maybe that is also too much.

I'm looking at your screenshots and not totally a fan, but I do agree that with the default icons finding that T2 engy is too hard. Perhaps use the spanner symbol, then make it a double/triple spanner for T2/T3 engies? But the 1/2/3 icon is good enough to also make an option, if you are willing to make a few variants.