A Comment On Party Formation

[British Fiend]

I know this must have been done plenty of times to be considered FAQ-worthy, but I've gotta know, why would anyone consider having Shamino, Dupre and Iolo riding on the Avatar's arm as a better formation than the original?
Plus, it seems like they tend to stray into any open door they come across...much like non-party member NPC's who are set to "Follow
Avatar"...

An example of what happened to me:

Avatar: "Iolo! Attack that ugly, STD-ridden troll!"
Iolo:"Oh lookie! An open door!"
Avatar: "Iolo...no!!!" *dies*

[x-bow]

Begin FAQ quote:

3.6. Why is the party formation different?

In Exult the party (the Avatar and his companions) move quite differently than they do in the original. This is actually not a bug but a disliking of the old style. Recently Jeff changed this a bit but it still is not the same as the original.

Jeff:
It's not a bug, it's a feature! I like it that way. Everyone is sensitive to different things, and I always though the formation-walking in the original U7 looked really stupid. Eventually, someone may add the original type of walking to Exult, probably as an option.

End FAQ quote.

[British Fiend]

Perhaps you didn't read my post, I've read the FAQ, I am simply wondering why on earth Jeff might like such a formation, it just doesn't work that well...characters tend to get lost easily. Infact I don't know where Dupre is right now. Last time I saw him he was sleeping, its been two days since that and hes not with the party.

[Oblivious]

Jeff seems to be the only Ultima player who likes it. If I remember correctly, last summer somebody started a "Petition to fix party formation" thread, and just about everyone signed it, but Jeff still didn't budge.

[Darke]

You'll also notice that none of the rest of the exult team 'budged' either, if we _really_ didn't like it that much, surely we'd fix it ourselves? *grin*

Just for the record, it was repeatedly stated that we weren't going to do any 'major' changes to the engine until after version 1.0. This _is_ a relatively major change. Also Jeff did alter the formation so it was 'tighter' around the Avatar.

Darke
(Who thinks the current formation is infinately better then the silly triangle formation of the original. *grin*)

[British Fiend]

Well I think the triangle formation is better.
Actually, if they were in a row, behind the Avatar- that would be excellent. then again if they were horizontal of the Avatar(yet not overlaying him) that would be great too.
P.S Darke, I think its sexy when you grin

[drcode]

I haven't >refusedhard<.

Now, I did make a fairly fundamental change recently, as Darke pointed out. The party members follow a lot more closely and consistently, and there's much less slowdown or delay when one of them gets stuck. The code is also simpler, so it should be easier to modify when one of us does try to implement formations.

[Darke]

Sexy? Me? I'm afraid you may have me confused with some other lagomorph. *grin*

Hmm... isn't there a "No flirting on the forum" rule in the FAQ? *checks FAQ* Apparently not.

Darke
(Who wonders if he should take it as a compliment if a _Fiend_ is compilmenting him. *grin*)

[Roman]

oh please make it so if they don't get sleep they walk into walls and attack random people...please please please

[British Fiend]

hehe, Darke, I'm a british fiend;) that says it all.
O'course my compliments are compliments.
Why wouldn't they be.
Anyway, I agree with the latest poster on this thread, lets have Iolo attacking random people due to sleep deprivation!
Or maybe I'm just a bane in fiend's clothing...err or something...