Wayfinding

[chaleur]

How do you wayfind in this game?

Obviously the map is terrible ;).

I've got a three strategies that are kind of working for me, but I could use some others that might be better. General exploration strategy is "always go left" except with the modification that I never go down the return path until I've cleared all exits in a given area, so I catch loops that I might miss with strict "always go left".

Strategy one: draw arrows by placing three torches in a longish triangle, pointing back the way I want to go. Pros: this is the most clear method. Cons: it uses a lot of resrouces.

Strategy two: Use doors, entryways, arches etc as two of the sides of the triangle, and place a torch such that it "points" to the side of the passage pointing back. Pros: Works pretty well most of the time. Cons: Sometimes there's a large area with no doors, have to improvise, has several times resulted in me being confused.

Strategy three; Red right returning. I learned this from sailing. When you sail back to port, the red buoys are always on the right. So I make a path of torches on the left as I'm headed out (so they'll be on the right on the way back). Pros: makes it pretty easy to see where I'm supposed to go next. Cons: Dunno yet, I just started using this today.

Bonus Strategy: In the catecombs, I used wall torches to mark the quick route through in both directions. So if I'm just passing through I can do it quickly.

[Grumpy-Granddad]

In this game the map pieces, expect for the starter area, are optional in location.

In each world the map pieces are hustled and that means no 2 players have the same map.
Map peices are basicly the square blocks you notice on the minimap before moving to the next piece. (on the minimap it looks a but like the platfrm games of the old days)

Also keep in mind that if you see a rectangulair piece in the wall, of a map piece, that indicates there is a area behind there so it has to be explored.

[chaleur]

Originally posted by Grumpy-Granddad:

In each world the map pieces are hustled and that means no 2 players have the same map.
Map peices are basicly the square blocks you notice on the minimap before moving to the next piece. (on the minimap it looks a but like the platfrm games of the old days)

Thanks! That works great for some straight forward blocks, but some of the blocks have up and down parts. Sometimes I'm pretty sure I've had to leave the map block through another block to come back to the block I was in. And some of the blocks are just really convoluted and it's easy to get lost in them. The deep mines are particularly complex, but there are areas of the Lower Deeps and even the Western Halls that are pretty convoluted too. How do you deal with those?

[william_es]

Originally posted by chaleur:

How do you wayfind in this game?


Strategy one: draw arrows by placing three torches in a longish triangle, pointing back the way I want to go. Pros: this is the most clear method. Cons: it uses a lot of resrouces.

This was my go to. I used it on most of the map.

My only refinement was that I like to place the the triangles in doorways and pinch points. I'd put two torches on either side of "doorways", then a 3rd torch to create the triangle. I carried massive stacks of metal and wood for repairing, so I never noticed using it up. I had 1000's of this stuff back at base.

If there were large rooms, I just left single torches in a line, like breadcrumbs going from "triangle" to "triangle".

The red right bouy idea sounds interesting. But one huge problem with that is if you enter areas were you curve back on yourself in spirals while exploring, you might not be able to tell what was the "right" side.

The triangles are also better because three different paths could all converge into one room, and a triangle would still point which way leads "out" of that room.

Also, I used straight lines of torches to mark off whole areas as being fully explored and mined out. I'd put one torch on either side of a doorway, and a 3rd right in the middle, all in a line.

That meant to me that there was NOTHING past that point. No unmined resources, unsmashed furniture, unopened chests, etc. It cut down a lot of the lost wandering.

[Mihle]

When there is a route I wont go back to, no matter how big or small, I block the entrance with some of the wood platforms you get when you press V.

That includes when there is two paths leading to same place, I can block one of them.

It sometimes includes blocking the way to ore I don't think I will need, for example some iron or coal I have plenty of.