Entry Vaults with no Doors

[bobross419]

I came across at least one starting entry vault with no visible doors. It is a square shape with 2 higher tier monsters in the central square, you start in the outer square. Players have to search for doors to get out.

Not only is this a problem with burning satiation at the start of the game, a time when many backgrounds can't afford to be wasting satiation, but this could be a severe problem for a noob that is just picking up the game. I don't mind the entry vaults with a bunch of doors, but you shouldn't have to search for a door just to get started.

[mad]

I don't know about that - you could just as soon make a case for it revealing secret doors as a mechanic and/or encouraging players to find the locations of secret doors in places that look suspicious.

In any case the entry vault isn't a point at which you've made an irreversable investment in a character by any means and I think someone who doesn't know to search for secret doors will quit in disgust before they burn through all their food.

[Moose]

I'll second the OP's sentiments here for the exact reasons he enumerated.

[dpeg]

Hints mode should definitely have to say something about such a case. (More general, when explore does not carry on but there are no stairs to be used.)

[ais523]

The tutorial (=hints) mode in AceHack actually points out the location of the first secret door a player comes across, both to explain the mechanic and to help avoid situations like this one. (It's a freebie, but a small enough one that I don't really mind giving it.)

[dpeg]

ais523: That's a good one, we should steal it. I assume it goes like something like this: "There is a secret door nearby. See if you can find it? (command description)"

[jpeg]

ais523: That's a good one, we should steal it. I assume it goes like something like this: "There is a secret door nearby. See if you can find it? (command description)"

Ahem. The tutorial already does this. Twice in the first map, and there's at least one reminder in one of the later maps because it's that non-obvious and that important.

[ais523]

ais523: That's a good one, we should steal it. I assume it goes like something like this: "There is a secret door nearby. See if you can find it? (command description)"

Yep, that's pretty much exactly how it works.