Expression loops need to be limited and streamlined

[TOOK14]

Post expression update, dupes will sometimes get stuck in expression loops, and while some of the more onerous examples have been dealt with, others seem to be overlooked.  I currently have a dupe about to starve because they are stuck in a loop of: pick up food>eat>interrupted to run to breathe(they have slimelung and there's a tile of CO2 I can't get rid of)>scrape tongue>wobble>pant>wobble>pick up food>repeat.  This loop has been going on for a few cycles now, and there's nothing I can do about it ATM.  Another example is: go pick up something at the bottom of a ladder>hit 50% air while climbing back up>go pant nearby>go back down the ladder to pick up the same object>repeat until something overrides the delivery work order, that particular loop is the bane of my existence, because I like building around a few long, centralized ladders, rather than some zig-zag pattern.  Last example, which I'm sure you are probably already working on, is dupes looping the shocked animation for half a cycle straight when they dig out a giant column of regolith.

My suggestion is simple, put a cap on how many expression animations can be qued within 5-10 seconds, and let dupes hold their cargo when they "move to safety".  There are other things about this I could get into, but I think those two changes are a mix of the most important, and easiest to change(I think).

[Ambaire]

18 hours ago, TOOK14 said:

Last example, which I'm sure you are probably already working on, is dupes looping the shocked animation for half a cycle straight when they dig out a giant column of

Yeah, this one is particularly annoying.

[Coolthulhu]

Shocked expression spam happens because dupe AI is too slow when the game runs under heavy load.

It also greatly slows down the digging itself, even if the dupe doesn't get shocked.