Running tweaks
Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 4:43 pm
I've been playing almost exclusively with the mouse lately and I find it's especially great for exploring areas quickly. However I have some things I don't like about the running algorithm, and some ideas to improve it a little:
1. Walking into a wall should not count as a turn used. It's easy to click slightly too much to the right or left and accidentally walk into a wall, thus giving all the enemies a free turn.
2. The run function seems to behave oddly when enemies are in sight. No longer does it figure out a path to where you click and move in the appropriate direction - instead it simply walks directly in the direction you click, which often means straight into a wall (see point 1). Sometimes I click several times before I realise what's going on! It would be nice to keep the path-finding operational whilst enemies are in sight so that you can keep clicking on the same point to move there. Currently moving around in battle is much easier and more reliable with the keyboard.
3. Would be nice to have the option to ignore molds and other stationary creatures unless within two spaces of them. It's irksome to have a harmless mold come into view and suddenly have to do lots of clicking to move just a few spaces. Alternatively have a force-move command - Ctrl+click on a target to move there even if enemies are in view, stopping only if damage is taken.
4. An auto-pickup option would be very handy. It should check that no enemies are in sight and that you have enough space in your pack. Perhaps it could be configurable by item types. At the very least it should be in place for gold. Currently the run function stops at a piece of gold and then stops again when you pick it up.
5. The run function will happily run over known traps to get to a location even if it would cost the same number of moves to avoid the trap. The A* or whatever algorithm should have weighting against moving over known traps to encourage it to find alternative safe routes. There do seem to be occasions where the run will stop before a trap, but for some reason this isn't 100% reliable.
1. Walking into a wall should not count as a turn used. It's easy to click slightly too much to the right or left and accidentally walk into a wall, thus giving all the enemies a free turn.
2. The run function seems to behave oddly when enemies are in sight. No longer does it figure out a path to where you click and move in the appropriate direction - instead it simply walks directly in the direction you click, which often means straight into a wall (see point 1). Sometimes I click several times before I realise what's going on! It would be nice to keep the path-finding operational whilst enemies are in sight so that you can keep clicking on the same point to move there. Currently moving around in battle is much easier and more reliable with the keyboard.
3. Would be nice to have the option to ignore molds and other stationary creatures unless within two spaces of them. It's irksome to have a harmless mold come into view and suddenly have to do lots of clicking to move just a few spaces. Alternatively have a force-move command - Ctrl+click on a target to move there even if enemies are in view, stopping only if damage is taken.
4. An auto-pickup option would be very handy. It should check that no enemies are in sight and that you have enough space in your pack. Perhaps it could be configurable by item types. At the very least it should be in place for gold. Currently the run function stops at a piece of gold and then stops again when you pick it up.
5. The run function will happily run over known traps to get to a location even if it would cost the same number of moves to avoid the trap. The A* or whatever algorithm should have weighting against moving over known traps to encourage it to find alternative safe routes. There do seem to be occasions where the run will stop before a trap, but for some reason this isn't 100% reliable.