Improving auto-explore

[Mithril]

Congratulations and thanks to tiger_eye and everyone else involved in bringing auto-explore to ToME. It is working really well

Exploration goes MUCH faster and the enjoyable, quality time part of the game has increased dramatically.

Some suggestions for further improvements:

1. Make the key for activation a single keystroke. Not a combination like shift+a. Auto-explore deserves to be used constantly and pressing two keys is awkward. I know you can change the keys but in order to give a good impression, especially to new players who is trying out the game to see if they like it, auto-explore should be easy to use from the start.

2. A function used constantly should also be very easy to use if playing only with the mouse. Fortunately mouse gestures are already implemented and works extremely well with auto-explore. Can also be combined with resting. Like "U" to rest and then "D" to auto-explore and you will never again die due to forgetting to rest! Personally I think something like the should be implemented as mouse gestures from the beginning and pointed out to new players.

3. Auto-explore moves very fast at least on my computer, So fast that I am somewhat disoriented when it stops and it is usually not immediately clear what caused the stop. The dust trail is helpful in showing from which direction I arrived. In order to pinpoint the location of what caused the stop the location of the disturbance could be briefly marked. For example, the background tile could blink by changing the color to white a few times quickly. Thus, if a monster is causing the stop the background tile of the monster will blink a few times. If a trap or an item is causing the stop then the player's background tile will blink. Say as long as the dust trail remains.

[tiger_eye]

Thanks, Mithril, I'm glad you're enyoying auto-explore!

1. Make the key for activation a single keystroke.

This is up to DarkGod and would be trivial to do. I really enjoy using "KEYPAD-0".

2. A function used constantly should also be very easy to use if playing only with the mouse [...]

Fair 'nuff. If ToME ever implements "tips" upon loading the game, then I'm sure mouse gestures and auto-explore would be included among the tips. I'm guessing mouse gestures are relatively under-utilized, so it may be helpful to design a mouse gesture tutorial, 'cause they can be very handy.

3. Auto-explore moves very fast at least on my computer, So fast that I am somewhat disoriented when it stops and it is usually not immediately clear what caused the stop. The dust trail is helpful in showing from which direction I arrived. In order to pinpoint the location of what caused the stop the location of the disturbance could be briefly marked. For example, the background tile could blink by changing the color to white a few times quickly. Thus, if a monster is causing the stop the background tile of the monster will blink a few times. If a trap or an item is causing the stop then the player's background tile will blink. Say as long as the dust trail remains.

Interesting suggestion. I attached a patch that temporarily highlights enemies that you see when you finish exploring or when you attempt to run (but can't because of visible enemies). Please keep in mind I'm still not entirely sure how to work with the particles system, but please check out the attached patch (if you can) and let me know what you think .

[tiger_eye]

(1) is done. Looks like it's now bound to "z" by default.

(3) is done for spotting hostiles. There is a single sweep of a red square that begins in the center of the tile and expands outward. It's nifty and not glaring or obtrusive.

I overlooked something when doing (3), though. "spotHostiles" is used elsewhere, which is easily fixed by applying the below (or attached): [EDIT: removed. See next post]

[tiger_eye]

Updated: posted (then removed) a revised patch that also avoids traps that are discovered while auto-exploring. Auto-explore + Transmogrifier chest + Trap Detection + Trap Disarm is a splendid combination!

[Rectifier]

Auto-explore eh, fine.

But let me ask you, do androids dream of electric sheep?

[Mithril]

Updated: posted a revised patch that also avoids traps that are discovered while auto-exploring. Auto-explore + Transmogrifier chest + Trap Detection + Trap Disarm is a splendid combination!

Sounds good!

A minor improvement would be to stop when encountering the hermit on the worldmap who gives an alchemist quest since you are often looking for him when exploring the wilderness.

One possible improvement would be to always rest until completely healed before starting the exploring when pressing the auto-explore button. This would eliminate a keystroke that very often happens before starting exploring and would also prevent stupid deaths from forgetting to rest. However, this may possibly be controversial if you have a beneficial effect that deteriorates with time. But I am not sure you would want to use auto-explore anyhow if time is so critical that you cannot afford to take the time to rest before moving somewhere.

[jotwebe]

One possible improvement would be to always rest until completely healed before starting the exploring when pressing the auto-explore button.

I'd rather not be forced to rest up when autoexploring. Is pressing "r" first really such a bother?

On a different note: I like the behaviour that when you are standing on one set of stairs, autoexplore takes you to the other one. However, when you are stopped (say, by taking damage from a trap) it'll forget its destination and move towards the downwards stairs again. That can lead to an annoying circle if the trap can't be avoided or wasn't detected, as it'll then pick the same route. It's no biggie, since it's always possible to use other travel options, but I think the maximum comfort would be achieved if it would remember destination it had in mind before it was interrupted.

EDIT: Oh, and thanks for coding this, I luv it

[Mithril]

One possible improvement would be to always rest until completely healed before starting the exploring when pressing the auto-explore button.

I'd rather not be forced to rest up when autoexploring. Is pressing "r" first really such a bother?

Yes, it is. Auto-explore is my primary method of movement outside of combat. In almost every case I have to press the rest button before I press the auto-explore button in order to be at full health/stamina/etc before starting to explore. Thus, I have to press this combination a LOT. The combination is likely the most common command I give to the game. Repetitive, mindless tasks should preferably be removed in order to increase the fun parts. Auto-explore is a great example of this.

One solution would be to have one command for just auto-explore and another command for the combination of rest and autoexplore (obviously the autoexplore part should be cancelled if the rest is interrupted).

[tiger_eye]

On a different note: I like the behaviour that when you are standing on one set of stairs, autoexplore takes you to the other one. However, when you are stopped (say, by taking damage from a trap) it'll forget its destination and move towards the downwards stairs again. That can lead to an annoying circle if the trap can't be avoided or wasn't detected, as it'll then pick the same route.

Done. It will be in the next update I send DarkGod. Exploration should also be a little more efficient with the next update.

Another option for traveling to next/previous levels would be to have two more keybindings, [CTRL]-< and [CTRL]-> (actually [CTRL]-, and [CTRL]-.) to move to the way to the previous level or next level respectively. The current system is simpler, though, and seems to work fine (especially with your recommendation).

EDIT: Oh, and thanks for coding this, I luv it

My pleasure I'm lovin' it too, and now I see why this was a much-requested feature!

As for automatically resting before auto-explore, perhaps that could be an option the player can set. Some classes (Hate-based or Positive Energy-based) probably wouldn't want to rest before auto-exploring, because their primary resources decay. I often use a Regeneration Infusion right before I auto-explore.

[jotwebe]

Noticed some less-than optimal behaviour in the labyrinth with a skellie rogue. While auto-explore will turn back at known traps that block the way as long as there is still unexplored stuff available, once everything on one side of a trap is known, it'll march right through. It would be nice if it stopped just in front of a path-blocking trap and only walked over it if you activated it again. That way you could put up a shield first, or blink across with dimstep...

[Aoi]

Just tossing in another opinion in to the fray: keep resting separate from autoexplore, or at least make it an default-off optional selection. Cursed, for example, might find it troublesome. I'm not sure if this is relevant anymore, but I've also run around with degen before, which would've been even more painful.