Minions fall farther and farther behind

[MalReynolds]

This is a bug insofar as it leads to highly undesirable behavior which makes the game dramatically less fun. It largely wrecks autoexplore, and, even giving up the "Z" key to increase their survival, requires a fair bit of micromanagement during even routine dungeon exploration.

When @ walks, the minions sometimes have order-of-movement assignments which starts a farther-away minion first. If they are in a line (say in a long corridor), that means that the farthest minion simply doesn't move, because he's right next to a closer minion. Over time, this order-of-movement assignment can hit the farthest minion, then a middle one, then the second-nearest one, etc. Each time it happens all minions behind the obstructed minion fall farther behind. Gradually all the minions drift far enough away that they simply die.

This happens even if, for example, you are a ghoul, and moving slower than your minions. After a bit of autoexplore, your guys are doomed.

This means, if you have a minion you want to keep (I'm looking at you, Mr. Lich), you need to periodically pause autoexplore, and wait a few turns so they can keystone-kops catch up like billiard balls. You also need to micromanage if your soul cache is low, because you can't risk being caught without being able to summon any undead compadres.

I'm not sure how to fix this; the game is already doing a lot, and is at least moderately smart about pathing and so forth.

One fairly simple suggestion: reassigning walk order. If no enemies are in sight, then when the player moves, the action order of minions could be reassigned so that the nearest ((x0-x1)^2 + (y0-y1)^2) gets the first assignment regardless of energy, and so forth. This I think could largely eliminate the problem, and wouldn't do anything but slightly rejigger movement when there's no one around.

Right now, I am close to quitting my necromancer, because of all the micromanagement involved. I don't mind arranging them like bed pillows just so when I know a boss is around the corner, or when I'm opening a chest or coffin. But I can't handle the tedium which "Z" was supposed to remove in the first place. Thanks!

[HousePet]

My Necromancy+ addon has a talent for dealing with those slow minions... it makes them walk faster.