Building new roads should take existing roads into consideration

[wl-zocker]

When a new road is built, it is built around existing roads instead of "using" them in its path.

This is annoying to new players that do not understand the size of big buildings. In the screenshot, the player tried to connect the well with the flag, but the cattle farm blocked the field.
I suggest now to use the existing roads to find a better solution: The algorithm should connect the well with the headquarters. From there, a road already leads to the flag -> road is completed.

It would also help to improve the AI, which builds its road sometimes strange and then has to rearrange it several times (see the other screenshot). The shortest way would be to use the flag in front of the fortress. (I have currently no game that shows how the AI really behaves in that situation, but I hope it is clear what I want to say.)

[SirVer (sirver)]

I have no strong feelings about this issue. However an algorithm that takes your existing road infrastructure into account will be significantly more complex than the one we currently have.

[Thorsten (thorsten--groth)]

I'm not shure that this would even be a good idea. What if you want the new road. Perhaps for more efficient transportation.

[wl-zocker (wl-zocker)]

If you want a new road, you can still build it in two steps. The algorithm should search the shortest possible way, which is efficient if not too many wares are transported. For transport efficiency, it would be more important to buld short roads (length of two).

I thought mainly of new players who might get frustrated. They do not care about efficiency that much. If advanced players do not want the feature, it can be disabled in the option menu.
For the AI, it could be a possibility to avoid useless roads.

If the algorithm is too complex so that it is not worth the effect, the feature does not necessarily have to be implemented. It was just an idea how the game could be made more "beginner-friendly" and the AI could be improved.

[SirVer (sirver)]

>I thought mainly of new players who might get frustrated. They do not care about efficiency that much. If advanced players do not want the feature, it can be disabled in the option menu.
No, that is not an option. Changeable options are generally a bad idea
in Widelands: they are rarely changed by players and only add to the
burden of testing.

>For the AI, it could be a possibility to avoid useless roads.
The AI could also be improved to make good roads right now as well.

[SirVer (sirver)]

Setting to incomplete for bug sweeping.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for widelands because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[SirVer (sirver)]

I think that the tutorial makes it very clear that you need to plan your roads and build them carefully. I also think this is a big chunk of the joy in Widelands: optimizing your road infrastructure.

So I think this is a won't fix. Setting to incomplete for more discussion again.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for widelands because there has been no activity for 60 days.]