Do you use click to move?

I think it's kinda cheating if you enable this feature. If you don't know what I'm talking about test it for yourself. Otherwise if you're too lazy, here's why.

If you click on a location to move your character will move there, but your character will also avoid all traps and take the long path or completely stop if it reaches a one way corridor with a trap in the way. This makes the game easier as traps are next to useless with this option enabled. I like to call this easy mode.

Your thoughts? Have this topic been brought already?

 

Nope, never do. He never goes the way I want him to, and the pathfinding renders all jittery.

 

I've become extremely careful of traps anyway, so I almost never (well, anymore) accidentally trigger a trap when using the keyboard. But Fax has a point in that the pathfinding is odd and that alone can get you in trouble if, for example, a mob suddenly spawns, or appears from outside of your view. Click to move may save you from accidentally triggering traps, but it does have other drawbacks.

Just to play Devil's Advocate, click-to-move's quirk of having you avoid traps does serve a purpose -- remember that all traps are visible anyway, if you are one space away, EXCEPT that terrain objects (book cases, vending machines, obelisks, etc.) in the foreground can block your view of them. So the question becomes, is that intentional, or just an undesired consequence of how the graphics are done? If it's intentional, then I withdraw this argument, but if not, then click to move is a legitimate way of dealing with that shortcoming.

 

Although this is just a suggestion, maybe make it so that if you click on a location that is further away than your current trap sight radius, you will automatically step on the trap and all other traps undetected that you come across. If that's too extreme just stop when you step over AND trigger the first trap (let's praise the sneakiness stat some more!) Still enable the "attempt to avoid all traps and take the long route" mechanism of the click to move feature. And of course you have to leave it up to the game's pathfinding skills and hope it doesn't screw you.

e.g. your trap sight radius is 4. You click on a tile that's 4 spaces away and it happens to be a trap. You stop in front of the trap just like how it originally works. However, taking the same example with the 4th tile being a trap, if you click on the 5th space (the tile directly behind the trap on the 4th space) you won't know what's on that 5th space. If you click on the space and it happens to be a trap then you will step on it. The game will attempt to move away from the trap on the 4th tile but due to the ambiguous pathfinding of the game you will run into any other traps you may come across, and undetected, while reaching the 5th tile you originally planned to move on to... or stop if you trigger a trap (0 trap sight radius is quite dangerous )

Just another reason to not neglect trap sight radius if you do already.

 

I use click-to-move almost exclusively, explicitly because of traps, and I don't feel the least bit cheaty about it. My character knows when there's a trap, and perfect trap avoidance is just a matter of diligently checking before every step. I don't think we should be forced to make the same trivial decision thousands of times in a turn-based game.

Now in real-time games, dividing one's attention appropriately moment-to-moment is part of the challenge, but in a turn-based roguelike, I'd rather save my attention for more interesting choices than "should I step on that corruption fluid trap or not?"

A corollary to this opinion is that trap sight radius should be removed, possibly to be replaced with a percentage chance to detect the trap. I also think there should be an option for a confirmation before keyboard-moving onto a trap, which would bring the two methods in line with one another balance-wise.

PS: I'd like to add that whoever came up with the idea for non-automatic disarm chance topping out at 45% is a genius. Nothing is more frustrating than failing a 95% disarm roll. That leap from 95% to 100% chance is enormous (even a 5% chance of death etc. is often unacceptable in a roguelike), and this system explicitly acknowledges and incorporates that. Genius.

PPS: To respond to asnxknight's post and elaborate a little on my own: I don't like the "traps are not avoided outside sight radius" idea for the same reason I do like how click-to-move currently works, i.e. the danger is easily but tediously circumvented. I could just never, ever click outside my sight radius, and this mechanic is suddenly equivalent to the current state of affairs. It'll just take me a few more clicks (depending on sight radius) every time I need to move a long distance. DoD is an awesome, awesome game, I'm addicted to it, I've bought all the expansions, so I say this with love: the very last thing it needs is more tedium.

I like how traps are either a hazard or a resource depending on your gear and build, two things I don't mind thinking long and hard about. I think that if changes are made, they should ideally work to reduce the time I have to spend micromanaging my movement, while making the (IMO) interesting choices of whether to invest in skills and gear relating to traps even more interesting.

 

I never noticed that click-to-move avoided traps; but even with this knowledge I still prefer WASD. I prefer feeling in-control for every cardinal movement, otherwise dictating my orientation is difficult and puts my eyes out of focus. I also like to play with pretty high, so identifying traps usually isn't an issue.

 

I prefer WASD. The auto trap avoidance feels a touch cheaty to me but mostly I prefer it so I don't accidentally click past a bunch of monsters. One bad click can kill you faster than a tap of the keys in most occasions.

 

I use click to move when I remember to, but its so damn slow that I often unconsciously switch back to wasd.