serpents

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Kistral
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serpents (0)

I know this has been discussed before, but I really didn't learn much from reading the previous posts. My question: can anyone explain, in detail, how exactly the snakes decide which way to move? People have been tossing around something about every 5 moves, but I can't seem to find anything that consistently happens every five moves, or after five moves (therefore every sixth).

Can anyone explain, in detail, how exactly these buggers move? I can't wrap my head around it, and I'm sick of playing by guesswork.

12-16-2003 at 07:13 AM

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Mattcrampy
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Re: serpents (0)

Hmm, I'll update the site now that the monster descriptions are going to be spoilery.

Snakes will move towards you, either attempting to get in the same row as you, and only then column, or the other way around. You'll have to work out which by observation.

They change their preference every five moves, so if a snake is trying to get in the same row as you, after five moves it will instead try and get in the same column.

The only exception is when you are behind its head, in which case it will go straight forwards until it hits a wall. Some holds exploit this behaviour.

That help?

Matt

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12-16-2003 at 02:30 PM

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Kistral
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Re: serpents (0)

Ooooh... yes, the helps a ton. I guess I wasn't reading the rest of the comments on this site the right way. It's very difficult behavior to observe and understand.

12-16-2003 at 05:13 PM

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The_Red_Hawk
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Re: serpents (0)

It's also been mentioned that serpents can't "see" you if you are not in their line of sight, but it will still move tomorrow.

Anyways, one tip is that when you are getting a serpent into a dead end, you either stand on the other side of it and make it try to go to you, or stand opposite from it and move down when the serpent is in front of the "hole". However, the second one only works about 50% of the time.

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12-16-2003 at 07:03 PM

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Kistral
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Re: serpents (0)

The_Red_Hawk wrote:
It's also been mentioned that serpents can't "see" you if you are not in their line of sight, but it will still move tomorrow.

What do you mean by "it will still move tomorrow"?

Another question: If a snake is in "match beethro's column" mode, is moving left and hits a wall, and I'm on the other side of the wall, how does the snake decide whether to turn up or down?

12-16-2003 at 07:44 PM

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The_Red_Hawk
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Re: serpents (0)

Kistral wrote:

The_Red_Hawk wrote:
What do you mean by "it will still move tomorrow"?

I wasn't thinking straight. I meant "towards you"

Another question: If a snake is in "match beethro's column" mode, is moving left and hits a wall, and I'm on the other side of the wall, how does the snake decide whether to turn up or down?

There's a way that it chooses, but I don't know how. If the snake is brained, it will of course take the shortest route. But otherwise.....

____________________________
Slashing, whirling, diving, twirling,
Snapping, turning, rising, swirling,
Screeching, flipping, gliding, sliding,
The red hawk's dance of death.

.....the king of the skies.....

12-16-2003 at 09:04 PM

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cattivik
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Re: serpents (0)

This discussion is very enlightening but still there are a few things that don't seem to be explained by these theories:

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I know they are not supposed to move randomly, but they certainly seem to!
Anyone who could shed more light on the matter?
/andrea

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12-18-2003 at 11:58 AM

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DiMono
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Re: serpents (0)

If there's a 2x2 obstacle between you and the snake, the snake will turn toward you if possible. If you're already on the same axis, I believe it takes the shortest path.

If it doesn't take the shortest path, then it probably prefers right over left, or left over right, etc.

As for the circling, if the snake can't see you then it's worse at pathfinding. I'm not entirely sure how the code determines if the snake can see you, I haven't gone digging through the code, but it's probably related to distance from the head.

I've got nothing for your second question.

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12-19-2003 at 01:28 AM

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The_Red_Hawk
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Re: serpents (0)

The serpent goes as diagonal as it can when it is brained.

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Slashing, whirling, diving, twirling,
Snapping, turning, rising, swirling,
Screeching, flipping, gliding, sliding,
The red hawk's dance of death.

.....the king of the skies.....

12-19-2003 at 05:09 AM

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DiMono
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Re: serpents (0)

Diagonal's not the issue, it's a sine wave.

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12-20-2003 at 03:11 AM

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zex20913
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Re: serpents (0)

Or a cosine wave.

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12-20-2003 at 05:48 AM

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agaricus5
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Re: serpents (0)

DiMono wrote:
Diagonal's not the issue, it's a sine wave.

Minus the time axis, of course.

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12-23-2003 at 02:16 PM

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