I'll be brief and state my question quickly. The "Real-Time Toggle"
Would it be easy for Toady to add a function to adventure mode that would let the world flow freely without player input?
Let me explain. It's all stop-motion right now. You slash a bogeyman in the head. Then, nothing happens until you command your character to move south-east, for example. That's the way adventurer mode works right now; turn-based.
While it works perfectly now, we may have situations in the future that would be better off with a set rate of turns per seconds. One screen update every three-two seconds, I don't know, the numbers are arbitrary. If you do nothing, it's just as if you pressed "." or "5". This function would of course be easily toggled by a single button. Combat would be unbearable if not. When delving in menus the game would be paused, of course.
So why would we even need or want this? Consider that your adventurer is affected by outside forces, that you don't wish to struggle against. I should be more concise and exemplify. For example, riding on a wagon that are steered by someone else. Instead of pressing "." like a madman, you'd just press one button until you've reached your destination. Or a transformation that takes a while to be fully complete, as I envision it to be like once we're given the possibilities. Or you're adventurer is chained in a dungeon and is incapacitated, or something along those lines.
That are the reason as to why we might need this one day. There are also some reasons that we should want it too. Just for when you're standing on the shore of your home continent looking out to the horizon. Wouldn't it be sweet to see the waves roll in? Things like that gives DF a more visual side, something that it hasn't quite as much right now. And imagine sitting on a bench outside the city's pub while just looking at citizens hurrying back and forth one afternoon.
Because there will be pubs, right? And NPC who at least set up a façade of having scheduled activities? And there will be the option to sit on a chair?