Make unexplored territory non-traversable

[Copernicus]

One thing I would like to see, if possible, is for the pathing mechanism to avoid crossing areas that have not yet been revealed.  Several times now I've clicked on a spot on the map that my team has already uncovered earlier, only to have them suddenly choose an unseen route through the darkness, sometimes hitting traps or coming up against unseen foes.  I have to keep reminding myself to limit the distance I allow them to traverse at one time...

EDIT: changed title from "fog of war" to "unexplored territory", a more appropriate term.

[fallen]

Copernicus - sorry, we simply cannot do this. It would make all moving a terrible chore and I know that we'd get a huge wave of negative reviews. You'd have to constantly make short movements to avoid fogged in areas. I couldn't play the game anymore!

[Copernicus]

Hmm. So, when you play, you are _expected_ to click on unexplored sections of the map? No "farsight", no preparing your party to enter a dangerous region, just "dam the torpedoes" and full speed ahead into a black region of the map?

I guess all that effort at the beginning of the game to teach you how to utilize the sneak's abilities is a complete waste of time.

No, I'm not trying to bog down the game. But really, what is the point of "fog of war" in the first place? If the layout of a cavern is already known to your party, such that they know the shortest path between two points _even if that path has not yet been revealed_, then please do let _me_ see it as well!

EDIT: Also, I find it irritating when the auto-path mechanism sends my party right through a secret door I didn't know about, although that's a slightly different question.

[Copernicus]

Actually, perhaps I am using incorrect terminology. I do see that there is a notion of regions of the map which are visible enough to see precise details of monsters, regions where no more than the presence of monsters can be determined, and regions of the map that are completely black (unexplored). What I am talking about is those unexplored sections, not areas that are simply beyond current line of sight. Sorry if I'm being imprecise...

[Cory Trese]

Sorry

We will try to improve for the next game!

[Copernicus]

Thanks! It's not a huge deal, just would be nice to have. (As fallen described above, I just constantly make short movements to avoid accidentally entering unexplored areas. That feels more appropriate to role-playing the game anyway...)

[fallen]

Copernicus - simply put, it would multiply the clicks required to play the game. Hard to even estimate how bad the fall out would be. Yes, it is intentional that you can click in areas that are fogged over and move there. From what we see, very few players are scrolling over into the fogged areas and just clicking around randomly trying to find something. They are using it to make moderate length moves into areas they haven't been before.

It certainly has issues, as you've mentioned, like the secret door issue. The system is not perfect but it is baked thoroughly into the game and won't be changing.

[Copernicus]

Hmm. I agree, clicking on a part of the map that has already been revealed makes sense. You've already been there, and have presumably already dealt with any issues in that region. But just sending your party off into a blacked-out region of the map? A place that could be filled with traps or ambushing monsters? Totally ignoring any tools you've been given to explore the unknown, like the Thief's foresight? I just don't get that...

Like I said, not a big problem for me. I just have to keep an eye on my troop and cancel their move if they start running off into the darkness unexpectedly.

EDIT: And yeah, I shouldn't be arguing against players actually doing that if they wish.  I think the real issue for me is when you select a point to move towards that has already been explored, and the game chooses a path to reach it that goes through previously unexplored territory...

[Cory Trese]

*Hard to even estimate how bad the fall out would be.*

[ntsheep]

Mar 4, 2018 12:08:56 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

*Hard to even estimate how bad the fall out would be.*

Depends on the size of your thermal nuclear device.

Oh wait, wrong thead

[Copernicus]

I've tried to wrap my head around this answer, but I'm just not understanding something here.  If you don't mind, please consider the following screenshot:


I wish to move my party from their current location to the spot marked with the green "X".  What path will my party take?

As it turns out, the Yellow path is the one that the game chooses.  We can't take the Blue path, as that would obviously require tunneling through solid rock.

I would prefer that the game choose the Red path, as that does not involve passing through any previously unrevealed territory.

But here's my question: what in this situation involves increasing the number of clicks?  No matter which path is chosen, I only click once on the spot marked with the green "X"...

[En1gma]

Movement has always been kinda iffy (in regards of pathing and traversing blacked out areas that some make sense to take)in this game...

From what I've gathered, having played this game more than I care to admit... your character will always go directly toward your X.

When you get to the point that you can go in that direction no further, the game will direct you to the next closest point on the way to your X, and so on and so forth until you actually make it.

Following this behavior, you can see why the game didn't choose the red path, as it would initially take you away from X. Yellow was the most direct route initially, and so the game choose that.

I'm not sure more improvements are coming to the pathing algorithms, so as an efficient workaround, get used to moving no more than 5-8 squares beyond what is revealed by your line of sight. This will prevent 95% of stupid paths and will give you a much better experience when it comes to traversing the map and activating enemy spawns.