Profile of cr4wler

not quite though... if i want to build an M8 i need to check:
do i have 280 MP? do i have 30 fuel? do i have 50 munitions for the skirts? this is true for most units that require more than 1 resource.

as for the costs lining up with resources: after playing a few games, you will have memorized most unit costs anyway, rendering the feature mostly obsolete (and even if you do not know exactly, as in, "was the sniper 330mp? 340? maybe 350?" you will still have a pretty rough idea, so pressing F2 and hammering S (or whatever the hotkey for sniper is) for 2 seconds will queue it up with almost 100% certainty)

the point about the positioning (far from any other relevant information) still stands too.

*cough* ...that must be way you floated about 1.5k manpower about 10 minutes into your first game yesterday, right? :-D

it's not as much about getting accustomed to something that is just designed badly. in case you know south park, just think of the "it" Mr. Garrison built. of course, ppl may get accustomed to having to insert a dildo into their anus, while sucking on another one and jerking off two other dildos to operate a vehicle... but you could have just used the regular controls (i.e. steering wheel, pedals).

the only "contestable" fact is whether it is easier to read the resources from left to right or from top to bottom, and i find it very easy to prove that reading them from left to right is a lot harder:

take for example a simple numbered list... which is easier to read?

1. blablablabla 2. blablablabla 3. blablablbalb 4. fu bitch 5. blablablalbal

or

1. blablablabla
2. blablablabla
3. blablablbalb
4. fu bitch
5. blablablalbal

also: in a horizontal alignment, the pictorials for the resources take up additional horizontal space, spreading the resource layout out even farther. on top of that, the resources are at a totally insignifcant location, UI wise, requiring a lot more eye movement (you can read this wikipedia article, especially the part that i linked to directly for a little more in depth info about design principles).

the resource positioning is just one other point among many showing that the game has been "casualized" beyond recognition (the reasoning behind the horizontal layout being that it is easier to check whether you have enough resources for a certain unit/ability/upgrade when hovering over the icon to purchase it).

The real warning signal for me is why aren't things like this and other competitive aspects of the game 100% ready by launch and why is the current vCoH online system so poor.

i thought you spoke with Quinn personally?
even from the very first interviews after coh2 was announced you could already read in between the lines that the competitive scene was an afterthought at best, and completely left out of the loop at worst.
CoH2 has proven time and time again now that it doesn't care for "us", but mainly for compstompers and basic matchers.
compstompers and basic matchers dont care about ladder/replays etc. working, all they need is a lobby (or maybe an annihilate automatcher) to start games.

well, i did use the flashlight on the glock out of curiosity... :-P

how about giving credit to boog, who actually made the SSSSS strat video?