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[Spish]

I'm sure those of you who have stumbled across a cave in adventure mode know that it is incredibly difficult to find your way out after venturing a certain distance from the exit, what with that speck of a ramp being virtually impossible to differentiate among the countless others.  So rather than an obvious solution (being able to track it via compass, bigger and more numerous exits, etc.), I propose a more scientific one by way of being able to check the flow of air with the W key. If you know the science behind it, you know that the cool air inside a cavern is displaced by the warm air from outside (or vice versa if the outside air is colder), which results in an inward current. Something along the lines of "There is a gentle draft of fresh air blowing from the east/a draft of cavern air flowing westward." While it's sort of unrealistic to be able to feel it so far from the surface, it's a technicality that can easily be overlooked for the sake of gameplay.

[NW_Kohaku]

This would be a fantastic idea... if we had air flows.

Right now, the game really doesn't have air at all, and a creature can survive indefinitely in a tiny sealed chamber. 

I really like the notion that we would be able to have actual air quality, if not some sort of way to have some sort of thermodynamic mixing of different quality air. 

So far as you seem to be suggesting it, I guess what you're doing is just making the game A* you to the nearest exit of the caverns, and tell you the proper chamber or tunnel to take, but having noxious air pockets, especially as a hazard in Fortress Mode, where you have to actually manage them, would be a wonderful addition to the game.

[Jeoshua]

The only problem that I have with this concept is that it requires that every open space square be turned from emptiness into a fluid.  That would seriously affect FPS and overall game playability.

Great concept, but our computers are not worthy.

[Avo]

Hes not suggesting air be added to the game. But yeah, getting out of those caves is maddening. I cant wait until we can just tunnel out.

[Jeoshua]

Theres gotta be something possible, yeah.  At the very least, cavern exits and Mountain Home accesses should be easier to spot.  As it is it's just one up arrow that you can EASILLY miss.

[Ahra]

call it an cave and if you search within an certain radius it says "you fell an faint,weak,moderate stream of air"

[Demonsul]

Add it to checking the weather when you are underground. 'You feel a stale breeze drifting to the northwest' or some such. Simply pathfinding-calculated to the nearest 'Outside' space. If there are none in the vicinity, it responds 'the air is stale' or simply nothing at all.

[Zesty]

This would be a fantastic idea... if we had air flows.

The only problem that I have with this concept is that it requires that every open space square be turned from emptiness into a fluid.  That would seriously affect FPS and overall game playability.

Why? Why program it the most complicated way possible?

Within a certain distance of a cave exit, you would get, "There is a slight breeze coming from the South-West". This would hardly be any more complicated than the indicator telling you which direction a camp, city, or cave is.

[Jeoshua]

Yeah that is a much better idea.  Maybe not show any wind movement when you're farther than a certain distance away, too... wouldn't want to make it TOO east, would you?

[Zesty]

Precisely.

[NW_Kohaku]

Why base it on distance?

Caves are basically contained tubes, the winds inside them would carry on with the same overall strength for the entire length of the cavern. 

In fact, the winds would become stronger the more narrow the passage was, and weaker the more open the cavern was, just because the same amount of wind and force are flowing, regardless of the width of the "tube".

It really does flow like a river or at least, water in a pipe.  Air is a fluid, even if we don't have to model it as one.

[Jeoshua]

Balance, of course.  Being able to have what basically amounts to a magic compass pointing to the nearest cavern exit would make things easier, but maybe too easy.  There would be no challenge left in spellunking.  In addition, the caverns are not a 1 dimensional system, like a river or a pipe.  They're a 2.5d volume which expands in 2 dimensions semi-infinitely and 1 dimension for several z-levels.

[NW_Kohaku]

Balance, of course.  Being able to have what basically amounts to a magic compass pointing to the nearest cavern exit would make things easier, but maybe too easy.  There would be no challenge left in spellunking.  In addition, the caverns are not a 1 dimensional system, like a river or a pipe.  They're a 2.5d volume which expands in 2 dimensions semi-infinitely and 1 dimension for several z-levels.

Why shouldn't air flow all the way through a cavern if it flows halfway through a cavern?  If the wind is caused by a temperature or pressure imbalance, all the air in the system would need to equalize, not just the air near the surface.

[Jeoshua]

Well it's the same reason that blowing through a straw creates a powerful, sharp point of wind, but blowing through a cardboard tube produces a weak, wide, somewhat more immediate gust.  The volume present within the caverns is extremely high.  The narrow confines of the cave extending to the surface would produce sharp blowing winds, but as you went farther from the "undermouth" of that cave's entrance into the caverns proper, the volume of the space around you would increase greatly, leading to the same amount of air moving over a much larger space... meaning there would be hardly any "wind" to speak of unless you were within a certain radius of the "undermouth"

[aepurniet]

The only problem that I have with this concept is that it requires that every open space square be turned from emptiness into a fluid.  That would seriously affect FPS and overall game playability.

or you can just fake it on demand.  you dont have to model a whole world of liquid air, to tell someone which way the exit is.