[Solved] Sell All Buttons Are Dangerous

[Dioxine]

The functions to 'sell everything' and 'sell everything but 1 of each item' are not only near-useless (I cannot ever imagine a situation when I would want to sell everything or everything but 1 item each from a base, and I have never encountered such need in 30 years of playing XCOM), but actually detrimental to gameplay, since their hotkeys (Z and X) are situated right next to CTRL and ALT buttons, which you use to sort base inventory by size or price. That way it is easy to accidentally sell everything you have on your base by the means of a slight finger slip, meaning the need to replay two missions on average (because that's the usual amount of time before you notice what happened), which is both a major distaste and a lot of real life time wasted.

There should be at least a confirmation popup when these functions are activated from the basescape, ie. when you press one of these hotkeys, 'are you sure you want to mark [everything / everything but 1 item each] for sale on your base?'.

[Meridian]

The functions to 'sell everything' and 'sell everything but 1 of each item' are not only near-useless (I cannot ever imagine a situation when I would want to sell everything or everything but 1 item each from a base, and I have never encountered such need in 30 years of playing XCOM)

I use these buttons after almost every mission.

The first 10-20% of the game, I use the "sell all but one" button... to easily sell everything for money but keep one of each for research/interrogation.

The remaining 80-90% of the game, I use the "sell all" button to sell all the junk (even more in mods than in vanilla), and just undo a few items I want to keep. It's much easier and quicker to select a few items I want to keep than always select all the items I want to sell.

PS: and yes, I know "auto-sell" feature exists, but I simply cannot use that... it's so wonky, I simply cannot trust it and/or use it effectively... I've burned myself too many times overselling or underselling (when the game thought it knows better than I)

That way it is easy to accidentally sell everything you have on your base by the means of a slight finger slip, meaning the need to replay two missions on average (because that's the usual amount of time before you notice what happened), which is both a major distaste and a lot of real life time wasted.

You can easily deactivate both shortcuts in the Options > Controls.
Just right-click to deactivate.
They will never bother you again.

[Juku121]

I know "auto-sell" feature exists, but I simply cannot use that... it's so wonky, I simply cannot trust it and/or use it effectively... I've burned myself too many times overselling or underselling (when the game thought it knows better than I)

A bit offtopic, and I don't disbelieve you, but can you give a simple example? Maybe I've been sabotaging myself without knowing it, too...

[Solarius Scorch]

I've never burned myself with the auto-sell feature, but I did burn myself with the "sell all but 1", since the key is right next to Shift and Ctrl (necessary for sorting). One mission later I noticed that my stuff is missing and I have 10 times more money than I should have. Took some time to fix, luckily I still had older saves.

I disabled the Z shortcut, but perhaps it would be a good compromise to select some letter which isn't so deceptively close to other keys used in this situation?

[Meridian]

A bit offtopic, and I don't disbelieve you, but can you give a simple example? Maybe I've been sabotaging myself without knowing it, too...

It's simple, the player has no control over what gets on the list and what doesn't.

I'm an aggressive seller, often selling everything... but that doesn't mean I want it placed on the auto-sell list without my approval !!
Next mission maybe I don't want to sell what I sold last time.
And since there is also no GUI to review (and fix) the auto-sell list, I would end up having to painfully review everything everytime after just a few missions... which completely negates the point of the auto-sell list... well, at least for me.

I disabled the Z shortcut, but perhaps it would be a good compromise to select some letter which isn't so deceptively close to other keys used in this situation?

Yes, you can change it to a different letter/key on the same GUI.
Choose whichever you like.

[Juku121]

...but that doesn't mean I want it placed on the auto-sell list without my approval !!
Next mission maybe I don't want to sell what I sold last time.

If that's the only issue, wouldn't it be solved by adding an 'always auto-sell' toggle or equivalent? Since UI space is at a premium, perhaps something like the 'infinity' option for auto-selling manufactured items? So there'd be "sell this many", "sell all of them this time" and "I don't care, always sell those" options.

[Meridian]

If that's the only issue, wouldn't it be solved by adding an 'always auto-sell' toggle or equivalent? Since UI space is at a premium, perhaps something like the 'infinity' option for auto-selling manufactured items? So there'd be "sell this many", "sell all of them this time" and "I don't care, always sell those" options.

I seem to be the only one having this problem, so I opted to not use the feature instead of making the UI more clunky for everyone else.

[Juku121]

Spoiler" Last word, gotta get it!":

Understandable. I haven't had much trouble with auto-sell myself, since I'm a micromanaging pack rat who periodically prunes his owerflowing stores instead of selling everything ASAP.

If it still seriously irks you, perhaps a hidden setting (like 'displayCustomCategories') or an extra setting for the auto-sell option itself? It's possible that there are others like you, but they're too shy to admit that they don't like auto-sell as it is...

If it doesn't, I guess this auto-sell off-topic can be considered concluded.

[Solarius Scorch]

Yes, you can change it to a different letter/key on the same GUI.
Choose whichever you like.

Please don't ridicule me. I've just said that I've already dealt with the problem on my end. My intention was to suggest an improvement for everyone, since this is an obvious trap, which puts everyone using sorting in the sell screen at risk of losing stuff (and not even noticing).

[Meridian]

Please don't ridicule me. I've just said that I've already dealt with the problem on my end.

I'm sorry, that was not my intention.
(You've said you disabled the shortcut, not changed it. I was just trying to help.)

My intention was to suggest an improvement for everyone, since this is an obvious trap, which puts everyone using sorting in the sell screen at risk of losing stuff (and not even noticing).

The shortcuts were not chosen at random, and certainly not as obvious traps.
I chose the shortcuts intentionally, so that I don't have to move my left hand while playing.
I will consider changing the defaults when I get a few more similar reports.