For a game which is marketed to focus on strategic and tactical combat, there sure is alot of base building annoyances. Having to select an engineer, select the correct extractors and place them over and over (since there are many tiny expansions). The extractors are so easily destroyed by air that I have to re-check them very often. Engineers gets destroyed, having to queue it all over again. I find myself focusing on base building 90% of the time spent in a game, mostly because of these resource buildings.
So here are some suggestions:
1. Replace all resource building buttons with one.
While a minor thing, it prevents clicking the wrong type. It would even only use one hotkey.
Keep the in-game models the same; If it's placed on a metal spot, it builds a Metal extractor, Radioactives extractor for radioactives, Amplifier on a power generator and a Quantum relay if built on empty ground.
2. Autobuilding engineers.
If an engineer is near a resource point, it would automatically start building on those resources.
Think about it, now you have to spend several seconds building on an expansion. With this option, all you'd have to do is select an engineer and right klick that node on the map.
3. Followed by 2, Imagine a drop-down list with different levels of automation.
Level 0, nothing is different from what it is now.
Level 1, the engineers automatically builds resource buildings if they are near resource points.
Level 2, the engineers would first do Level 1 stuff, then build a radar followed by a couple of AA buildings.
Level 3, followed by some other defense buildings.
4. Building by click and drag.
Placing a building, if you click and drag, it would construct 2x2, 3x2, 3x3 etc evenly spaced.
5. Blueprinting.
Something Supreme commander had (or maybe it was mods..) is the ability to save constructed buildings as a blueprint, usable between games, to easily place say a group of defensive buildings.
