Smart movement speed

[jtgibson]

In addition to the Run, Jog, and Walk buttons, I'd like a "Smart" movement button that automatically chooses one of the three speeds according to the distance clicked. If you click (or click-and-drag) nearby (within approximately 20~30 metres in game), the entity will walk. If you click at a cross-town distance, the entity will jog (within approximately 200~300 metres in game). At any farther range, or if there is combat happening nearby the entity will travel at best speed.

This would be excellent for hands-on feel of your avatar.

A fifth movement option, Travel, would do the exact opposite -- manoeuvring at short ranges would be done at a run to minimise difficulty and time consumed with assembling formations, manoeuvring at moderate ranges would be done at a jog to reduce fatigue, and manoeuvring at long ranges would be done at a walk for long term sustainability (where the assumption is that a fatigue system will be introduced eventually).

[Marcuss2]

Added to suggestions list

[DrSalvador]

Interesting idea, though doesnt really make any sense to me. Why not just have your character(s) run at as fast as they can all the time? To me a smart speed would adjust your groups pace to take into account slower characters or injured characters so that they arent left behind, which is my usual problem

[Blxz]

Yeah, I agree with salvador. I can imagine that if fatigue is an issue that when issuing special long distance movement orders (as indicated will exist in the future from chris) that some sort of automatic walking pace is used to control fatigue. But for any standard orders I'd prefer if they used the top speed they are capable of or the top speed of the group if given a collective order.

[Scotterius]

Well, I would drastically shrink the distance required for full run. I would say 1-3 meters walk,3- 10meters jog, more than 10 run. Waiting for them to walk to vender so I can sell scrap is a waste of my time

Why not just have your character(s) run at as fast as they can all the time?

It is less jarring to see your characters move at different paces. I wouldnt mind a run up time too as the toon reaches full speed. Now, my character lurches around at full speed. The game is in alpha though, and this is a polishing touch.

[jtgibson]

Re: Why not always run, period?

Aside from the fact that the PC party is the odd one out here -- NPCs always walk and only run in danger -- I find myself jabbing the walk/jog/run buttons all the time to capture the proper feel of the moment, for proper atmosphere.

This is to say nothing of the fact that, given the level of biology already simulated (seriously, name the number of games other than Dwarf Fortress where blood loss is a factor ), I would be shocked if this game didn't get a fatigue and stamina system in the long term.

Great point on the "at best speed of the group" though. I think that should even be rolled into the "Run" and "Jog" options as well.

Re: Why not always run until fatigue becomes a factor?

The "Travel" option mentioned last already covers that requirement -- short distances are done at best speed, moderate at moderate speed, long distances at energy-conserving speed. Making that choose a speed intelligently for fatigue is pretty much its modus operandus; it doesn't necessarily need to be based solely on ranges and could easily be refined as needed to find the speed that matches the peak of the efficiency curve.

Re: Reducing distance needed for movement?

Yeah, actually, after thinking about it a bit, I would say that the distances involved should be anything that fits on your screen at a reasonably normal zoom level. My initial estimates were pretty generous and assumed you'd be zooming in for close-in work and zooming out for city scale and zooming WAAAAAY out for long distance work. So, <~3 metres is a walk, 3~10 is a jog, 10~+ is a run. This should be subject to tweaking for best feel.

Basically, this is "Diablo II style movement" -- the farther away you move the cursor while holding down the button, the faster you run. (In Kenshi I assume that "Run" is equal to Diablo 2's Shift-Click (Alt-Click? it's been a while). ) As far as a control scheme goes it feels very, very natural to do this, and Kenshi has a very Diablo-like control scheme in general already, albeit with automated actions and some tasks rather than just going ape-poopie with the left-clicking.

Of course, I would still say that the (Always) "Run", "Jog", and "Walk" buttons should remain in place -- in other words, "Smart" and "Travel" buttons would just take up some dignified places of honour beneath them. And, of course, combat AI always overrides whatever your movement speed decisions are -- so if you're under Territorial Aggression you're going to be proceeding to the enemy at combat speed regardless of whether you said you were going to walk.

[Mattk50]

When fatigue is actually implemented or whatever means you dont run 24/7, there needs to be at the very least a 16x time acceleration option. I'd suggest more. its too tedious to just stare at your characters moving like that.

[SpeedKiller]

it would be good if u wannt to waste your time tho

[Santaissick]

I don't like the time acceleration. It breaks the feeling of reality and coolness. I have noticed that when there is time acceleration, I always play with the fastest speed possible. The game doesn't feel like playing anymore, it's almost like working.

Let's say I want to build a base. It means lot of running between city and building place, carrying building material. I'm just using fast speed. Go to city. Go building. Go city. Go building... It's nothing but watching my squad run back and forth because I have to do it.

When I go with normal speed, I'm always looking for danger. Looking around, where are bandits that might attack me. There is group of sand ninjas that would kick my ass. What do I do? I try to go round them. I'm hoping I'm not rounding them too close. Oh shit they noticed me. RUN!...

It's playing. It's fun. When going in fast speed, it doesn't matter if there is problem ahead. I can just wait until the danger has gone away. It takes only half a minute. On real time playing, I don't want to wait for 5 minutes. I need to do something. And the doing is what makes us want to play games.

Also, when squad size is bigger and there is lot more , different stuff to do and we run whole faction, we can do other stuff with others while we wait one squad to finish their journey/finish building.

I can admit that at the moment, looking your squad to walk huge distances with normal speed gets pretty boring. So maybe speed acceleration is necessary in early stages. But when we get more features, there will be more stuff to do and speeding time turns only cheating/superpower, and we don't want that in Kenshi.