Auto-Explore command
issueid=2985 05-16-2014 07:48 PM
Junior Member
Number of reported issues by Vivisector 9999: 2
Auto-Explore command

It'd be really nice if ADOM had an Auto-Explore command, a la Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, Xenocide, TOME, etc. It's just one of those conveniences I've become used to in modern roguelikes, and I miss it in ADOM.

Basically, you hit a button and your character goes to the nearest unexplored tile, then the next, then the next, and so on. It keeps uncovering new tiles until a) you hit any key to make it stop; or b) the character spots a monster, item, pool, trap, has a status change, or anything other situation that the player may want/need to respond to; or c) all reachable tiles on the current level have been explored.

The command won't work if a monster is currently visible or if it cannot proceed to an unexplored tile. When Auto-Explore finishes, the game should generate a message indicating why - "Spotted a monster", "Level is fully explored", "Auto-Explore end, some tiles cannot be reached", and so forth.

In the aforementioned games, Auto-Explore will open doors if it needs to, but I would prefer if it did NOT open doors in ADOM, since doors are much more dangerous. Auto-Explore should stop if it cannot proceed on a level without opening a door, the player can then deal with the door as they see fit, and Auto-Explore becomes usable again.

I know that some people would say Auto-Explore would take away the realism or immersion, but if they don't like Auto-Explore, they don't have to use it.
Issue Details
Issue Number 2985
Issue Type Feature
Project ADOM (Ancient Domains Of Mystery)
Category All with NotEye
Status Implemented
Priority Unknown
Suggested Version ADOM r48
Implemented Version ADOM r48
Milestone (none)
Votes for this feature 4
Votes against this feature 9
Assigned Users (none)
Tags (none)




05-16-2014 08:37 PM
Ancient Member
I am strongly against auto-explore in ADOM. Fundamentally, there's no justification for it because levels are way too small - unlike the other roguelikes that have it.

05-16-2014 09:13 PM
Junior Member
Obviously, I disagree... I think the levels are large enough to make it useful. I know I certainly would have found it nice to have when I started playing ADOM again earlier this year.

You may get your wish, though. Mr. Biskup has remarked (on the ADOM Steam group) that, while he sees the merit of Auto-Explore, it would also be tricky to implement due to all the variables involved in the game.

We'll just have to see if there are enough players interested in Auto-Explore for him to bother.

05-17-2014 02:43 AM
Senior Member
w>(direction) is usually sufficient for small ADOM levels, where in ToME level could be ~10 times bigger or even more - thats where autoexplore is needed.

Also, autoexplore tends to be horribly unefficient in turns count, which could lead to character starvation. I dont know if its explained in tutorial, but w>(direction) should certanly be there if its not.

05-17-2014 02:59 AM
Junior Member
I actually did not know that ADOM even HAD a tutorial. It didn't originally... is that a recent 1.2-ish addition?

05-17-2014 04:17 AM
Ancient Member
I don't really see any need for this in ADOM.

05-19-2014 07:54 PM
Member
The amount of work it would take to implement this and make it somewhat efficient isn't worth it. As mentioned each dungeon level on ADoM is already fairly small compared to DCSS. I wouldn't use this feature even if it was perfectly implemented

05-19-2014 11:22 PM
I'm strongly in favor of this being added, preferably as a single keypress.

05-19-2014 11:42 PM
Senior Member
The only argument stated against it so far is 'it's too much work for something that isn't that necessary due to the small maps' and similar. I don't think that's much of an argument against the feature itself per sae, just that it might be such a low priority that TB will never get around to putting it in. I don't see that adding it detracts from the game in any way so my vote is a yes; but I don't expect or really want to see it particularly soon, if ever.

05-19-2014 11:44 PM
Ancient Member
Quote Originally Posted by shockeroo
The only argument stated against it so far is 'it's too much work for something that isn't that necessary due to the small maps' and similar. I don't think that's much of an argument against the feature itself per sae, just that it might be such a low priority that TB will never get around to putting it in. I don't see that adding it detracts from the game in any way so my vote is a yes; but I don't expect or really want to see it particularly soon, if ever.
The best argument against it has been stated multiple times, including by myself.
Quote Originally Posted by SirTheta
I am strongly against auto-explore in ADOM. Fundamentally, there's no justification for it because levels are way too small - unlike the other roguelikes that have it.

05-20-2014 12:53 AM
Senior Member
How about something like what Nethack has, where you can auto-travel to a particular place on the map, stopping for monsters/items etc? It wouldn't apply to unexplored areas, but it would be really helpful when backtracking. I would say that ADOM needs this even more than Nethack, since it has multiple locations on the map, so backtracking through explored levels is very common. It works just like the prompt for teleport, for convenience. I have no idea how hard it would be to code, though.

05-20-2014 01:28 AM
Ancient Member
Quote Originally Posted by Yinghei
How about something like what Nethack has, where you can auto-travel to a particular place on the map, stopping for monsters/items etc? It wouldn't apply to unexplored areas, but it would be really helpful when backtracking. I would say that ADOM needs this even more than Nethack, since it has multiple locations on the map, so backtracking through explored levels is very common. It works just like the prompt for teleport, for convenience. I have no idea how hard it would be to code, though.
http://www.adom.de/forums/project.php?issueid=1685

05-20-2014 04:04 AM
Ancient Member
Personally, I'm against automating anything more complex than "repeat last action", which is why I don't use macros and wouldn't use this. I'm the one playing the game and I want to be held accountable for all events within, good or bad.

07-06-2014 06:05 PM

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