[MUD-Dev] Re: mobile movement

[quzah]

From: Kylotan <kylotan at globalnet.co.uk>
Date: Monday, January 11, 1999 12:26 AM
Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: mobile movement

>Secondly, real-life studies indicate that people tend to navigate by using
>waypoints, such as landmarks or settlements, rather than a mathematical
>consideration of the shortest path, especially when such a consideration
>only makes a small difference overall. Many people will take a slightly
>longer route if it lessens the chances of getting lost, for example. Also,
>should the average NPC know enough about all the interposing areas such that
>he or she can make such an accurate mental calculation? Therefore, given
>that areas tend to correlate highly with what might be waypoints on a mud,
>this could also be viewed as an improvement to NPC AI :-)
>
>Kylotan.


Perhaps you could add in another factor when path finding then. Already
people do a cost_per_[move/square] calculation when finding the path with
the lowest "cost", how about adding in a safety factor then? Any square
with an aggressive mob in the area has a higher safety coast or something
similar. In addition you could set it up per terrain type (as it is in
your standard diku-esque) to where it not only has a normal movement cost
assigned to it, but also a safety factor. Say a "road" type terrain would
have a low cost of movement, and a good safety value. However, if you had
an overgrown path (Yes, it goes a bit beyond the standart sector types in
diku, but it could be a lot more fun :) would have a bit higher movement
cost, yet be easier to move on than thick forest, and would have a better
safety factor than thick forest, yet a worse safety than normal road. It
would be a sort of perceived safety.

You could add in a tiny bit of memory to the creature in question. If it
is a way they have gone before then they know the terrain and thus have
a better safety factor than unknown terrain. This leads to your above
statement, where I may opt to go around on the road, even though it is a
greater distance out of my way, rather than cut through the thick forest
where it is hard to see, etc etc. In addition, you could add in the time
of day to the safety factor. Is it dark? This really boosts the unsafe
factor of overgrown forest. Are their known creatures that like to eat
people like me? And so on.

Nice idea, btw.

Quzah.