TFMurphy
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 3118
Registered: 06-11-2007
IP: Logged
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Stalwarts (+6)
I didn't really like the Stalwart puzzles in TCB. How well they survive is something that's very difficult for you to directly control. In keeping with that, though, I thought it'd be interesting to actually see what they were doing, in the hopes that knowing how they moved might help people use them a bit better.
They're still quite dense, but let's see what we can find.
Again, these are true for 3.0.0. Later patches may change things.
Basic Stalwart Movement
* First off, Stalwarts can be frozen by Aumtlich beams. If a Stalwart is frozen, then he forgets everything else and merely rotates clockwise on the spot, forever. This is in hopes that he'll break the beam, clearly. Unfortunately, he doesn't really care about Beethro when he's doing this.
* Otherwise, Stalwarts want to know if they can get at any accessible enemies. They look for all monsters in the room, and check to see which has the shortest path to them. If they don't find a path or don't find any monsters, then they'll just stay put and not do anything. If they do find a path, then they'll start following the shortest one.
Path-Finding
The Stalwart looks for the shortest path to available to any accessible monster. This is done in the same way Slayer Wisps find Beethro and Halph finds Orbs.
One quirk about this is that the path is only valid if the Stalwart can currently walk along it without turning. Since it tests for various obstacles and stuff like bombs, oremites, swords, guards and the like, this means that the Stalwart may suddenly decide it's impossible to get to the monster even if a single rotation would make it possible again. And since it pathfinds at the start of every turn, the Stalwart may have thought it possible last turn, then swung his sword to follow the path, and then suddenly found his current orientation can't negotiate the path.
Path-Following
Once the Stalwart has decided on his path, he will try to follow it.
* First, the Stalwart checks if he's already stabbing the monster. If so, he doesn't do anything.
* Then he checks to see if his sword is next to the monster. If it is, he decides whether he needs to rotate or move to kill the monster on this turn: if possible, he does so. He prefers to rotate to kill rather than move. In 3.0.0, a monster directly adjacent to him that would require a backswipe to kill will always be rotated towards: this usually results in the Stalwarts death since he won't kill the monster in time. I believe this has been fixed in the patch.
* If he can't move to destroy the target on this turn, but he's two steps away from his enemy along his chosen path, then he'll turn until his sword is pointing directly at the target. (Remember that he'll move to kill before this if he can hit the target in a single turn though.) If he's already facing his target, he'll move onto the final square along the path. Of course, if he gets to this point where his sword is pointing at his enemy and he can't do a one-step kill, then he's going to end up next to his target with the target still alive at the end of his turn. This is usually fatal to the Stalwart.
* Finally, if he's farther away than that, then he will want to follow his chosen path. If his sword is not more than one rotation from his current path, then he'll keep moving along the path: for example, if he's moving N and his sword is facing either NW, N or NE, then he'll move rather than turn.
If his sword is not facing one of those directions, then he'll try to turn his sword towards his target, favoring a clockwise rotation if he starts facing directly away from his target. In general, he wants to be facing in a horizontal or vertical direction if there is more than double the distance in one of the orthogonal directions than there is in the other (example: 15 S and 6 E has the S-distance over twice that of the E-distance, so the Stalwart would want to face south). The Stalwart will stay in place rotating his sword until its either pointing towards its target, or his sword is within one rotation of the direction he needs to take to follow his path.
Obviously, if the Stalwart cannot turn his sword, then he'll move instead, even if he wanted to turn rather than move.
Path Obstacles
A Stalwart considers the basic set of obstacles to be impossible to walk on. It also considers all swords and characters/monsters to be impassible.
A Stalwart also considers obstacles to its sword before moving. As mentioned previously, this can result in the Stalwart failing or losing paths even if it would easily fit if it turned. Stalwarts will try not to stab the player, any friendly characters (includes Mimics, Decoys and other Stalwarts, among other things) or bombs.
The exception to the above is if either Beethro, friendly character or the bomb is on Oremites. This can be particularly dangerous if the Stalwart himself is not on Oremites. It's quite possible for a Stalwart to blow himself up by walking past a Bomb that just happens to be on an Oremite patch while the Stalwart isn't.
EDIT: Oh, right, forgot one other thing. Stalwarts (and Guards... but not Slayers) are affected the same as Beethro on Oremites: when they move, they end up facing the direction they move. This confuses the hell out of all of them (especially if they really expected to kill something on their move), and is again exceedingly dangerous if Bombs and other things they usually don't want to stab are littered around. As an example, you could create a single tile of Oremite and then place Bombs two tiles away from it in various directions. Any Stalwart that steps on that tile is in for a nasty surprise.
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They're still really quite dense, especially with regards to what they consider to be "accessible paths". Quite likely some puzzle potential there, I guess, in that they often need to be babysat through areas of Mimics or Bombs, and that'll you'll quite likely either need to clear the way first, or try to get them to turn to face the right way to start with (not easy). It is, however, all too easy for them to be baited into a position where they'll get killed in the next few turns.
Still, used correctly, they're pretty versatile. And if a Brain isn't around, they're more powerful than Decoys at pulling monsters away from Beethro. And if Brains *are* around, well, the Stalwart can still backstab many of them. (And then get killed as it wades into the hordes).
Anyways, hope that helps, and apologies if I missed anything or didn't explain anything well enough - they're a little more complicated than briars, after all. If you have questions, feel free to ask. If you have stuff to add, by all means, go ahead.
[Last edited by TFMurphy at 06-12-2007 05:14 PM : Slight correction to Oremite addition]
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