Oh goodness, can I begin to say how many trappers I have nearly lost to encountering and enemy, and then preceding to run away from civilization into a larger pack of enemies. So many man. So many.
I mean, don’t get me wrong guys, the current system of “TERROR” path finding is extremely accurate as far as actual human instinct goes. “Oh lord that thing is trying to kill me,” you think, you either stand your ground and fight the thing or you run blindly as far away from the thing as possible. Y’know, basic fight or flight, its a true fact that you don’t really care where you’re going as long as it is away.
However comma as accurate as it may be from the human standpoint, it is increasingly frustrating from a gameplay perspective. Like a single tiny ent chasing my trapper over half-way across the map before my footman was able to finish off the ones attacking her and then finally having to go track them down. OR running directly into a giant zombie. Y’know, definitely stuff an actual human would do, but still. A little frustrating.
So basically my suggestion is this: Have hearthlings attempt to path find towards civilization during the “running away” animation. I have no idea how possible that actually is from a coding standpoint, but maybe to avoid the hearthling running smack into the enemy if it’s between them and home, maybe have them circle around the enemy. Maybe this could involve the spirit level in some way, like, the higher it is, the more likely they are to circle around the enemy and run home, and the lower it is, the more likely it is for them to throw logic to the wind and run blindly in the opposite direction. I don’t know. Anyone have an idea you think would work better?