agaricus5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1838
Registered: 02-04-2003
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I don't know if this is an intentional behavioural trait, but I discovered this in a room I am making, and want to report it before I continue just in case it is a bug (I can't exploit a bug that may be fixed).

If you start behind a set of force arrows that block the only approach to you, then brained monsters will move as unbrained monsters, as is normal. However, if you step over a set of force arrows to a point where the brained monsters would not be able to get to you normally (you are sheltering behind a wall, in a passage protected by force arrows), the monsters will still continue on and attack you, treading over the force arrows that you yourself have stepped on. Is this direction of monsters through force arrows that you have already stepped on a bug?

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The_Red_Hawk
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 783
Registered: 09-02-2003
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Weird. That would be an easy way to kill serpents. I can see the sense in it, but it could lead many a serpent to its doom.

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

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

mrimer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5064
Registered: 02-04-2003
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agaricus5 wrote:If you start behind a set of force arrows that block the only approach to you, then brained monsters will move as unbrained monsters, as is normal. However, if you step over a set of force arrows to a point where the brained monsters would not be able to get to you normally (you are sheltering behind a wall, in a passage protected by force arrows), the monsters will still continue on and attack you, treading over the force arrows that you yourself have stepped on. Is this direction of monsters through force arrows that you have already stepped on a bug?

Thanks for finding this one, Wesley. Sorry it took so long to get back on this one. I finally figured what was going on. When Beethro crosses over a force arrow partition, then the brained "path map" to where Beethro was just standing on the other side doesn't get reset. This, for better or for worse, is a bug (monster behavior should depend only on the current state of the room, not where Beethro has been before) and has been fixed for the sequel. I know this will make some rooms that specifically exploited this bug unsolvable, like Mikko's Nine Rooms, One Beethro : 1S1E. But the intended behavior is for no brained movement to ever occur if monsters are separated from Beethro by force arrows. A "new brain" might be added to a future version of DROD that is smart enough to lead monsters through force arrows, but the current one should never do so.

[Edited by mrimer on 06-24-2004 at 12:05 AM GMT]

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agaricus5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1838
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

File: Bug Hold.hold (697 bytes)
Downloaded 75 times.
License: Other
From: Unspecified

This bug also manifests itself in yellow doors. If you step on a closed yellow door and step off it, the monsters will still be attracted to it and will behave under the influence of the brain, even if you are now in an inacessible chamber.

The attached room should allow you to reproduce the bug.

To replicate it, first open the inner chamber with the inner orb.

Stand on the opened inner chamber doors and trigger the second orb. It should open the outer door and close the inner one. If you do not strike it again, the monsters should attack you as brained monsters, although they cannot actually reach you.

Now step backwards into the inner chamber. Although you are now inside the chamber, the monsters still head for the square of door that you were standing on and the monsters in the room still behave like brained monsters.

If you then hit the inner orb twice to open and re-close the inner chamber door, the effect is removed, and the monsters outside will behave normally.

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Resident Medic/Mycologist

agaricus5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1838
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

mrimer wrote:

agaricus5 wrote:If you start behind a set of force arrows that block the only approach to you, then brained monsters will move as unbrained monsters, as is normal. However, if you step over a set of force arrows to a point where the brained monsters would not be able to get to you normally (you are sheltering behind a wall, in a passage protected by force arrows), the monsters will still continue on and attack you, treading over the force arrows that you yourself have stepped on. Is this direction of monsters through force arrows that you have already stepped on a bug?

Thanks for finding this one, Wesley. Sorry it took so long to get back on this one. I finally figured what was going on. When Beethro crosses over a force arrow partition, then the brained "path map" to where Beethro was just standing on the other side doesn't get reset. This, for better or for worse, is a bug (monster behavior should depend only on the current state of the room, not where Beethro has been before) and has been fixed for the sequel. I know this will make some rooms that specifically exploited this bug unsolvable, like Mikko's Nine Rooms, One Beethro : 1S1E. But the intended behavior is for no brained movement to ever occur if monsters are separated from Beethro by force arrows. A "new brain" might be added to a future version of DROD that is smart enough to lead monsters through force arrows, but the current one should never do so.

[Edited by mrimer on 06-24-2004 at 12:05 AM GMT]

I've just got one more question, however. Will this behavior work if Beethro is standing on a force arrow, or will standing on a force arrow also have the effect of nullifying the brained movement?

Oh, and will this bug be fixed for other items in the "objects" layer, such as scrolls and potions?

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Resident Medic/Mycologist