Just, seriously, pathfind through water.

[x4550]

Can dupes seriously just pathfind through water, please?  I mean, I know there's a reason behind them only being able to pathfind through 9 blocks of water - like, they don't want to put themselves in grave danger - but I know for a fact that, when they get close to that point, I can click on them and move them a little further, and then a little further, etc., which just leads to a lot of tedious micromanaging when I absolutely need something done under water.  So can they just pathfind through water the same way they pathfind through noxious gasses?  I mean, either way they just have to hold their breath.

 

Just walk to the ladder!

[Kasuha]

I guess it's one of cool ideas that was added to the game in the early pre-alpha stages and there wasn't time to reconsider yet. It does not affect gameplay too much, it's not hard to work around that limitation, it just does not make much sense.

Personally I would also prefer if dupes were only limited by the time for which they can hold their breath when moving under water. Plus maybe instead of limiting the pathfinding, the game might make dupes seriously slower when underwater, depending on how much water is in the two tiles the dupe occupies it could be anything from 100% (no water) down to e.g. 5% (completely submerged) movement speed. It would make more sense to me that way and players would be more careful about sending dupes through water too.

[x4550]

3 hours ago, Kasuha said:

maybe instead of limiting the pathfinding, the game might make dupes seriously slower when underwater

That is a good idea.  It would definitely make the "amphibious" perk more relevant.  

The pathfinding limitation would make more sense if it only applied vertically - as in, after a certain point, the pressure would crush their little skulls XD

 

[Lumina]

Ah, this is why i had trouble digging in a big pool of water. This isn't very obvious in game.

[harpyeagle]

Another idea: Make it so that they can use extended pathfinding if they are trying to escape danger, avoid starvation, get to dry land, in red alert, etc. but continue refuse to do mundane tasks in deep water. That way there is still an incentive for the player to try to deal with the water or find another way to accomplished whatever it was they wanted their dupe to go in the water for.

Edit: Also make it more obvious when dupes won't do a task due to the water.