# "feel out terrain"
**URL:** https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/feel-out-terrain/10717
**Category:** The Drawing Board
**Created:** [October 21, 2015, 10:34pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/feel-out-terrain/10717 "2015-10-21T22:34:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Midaychi](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Midaychi)
#### Post date: [October 21, 2015, 10:34pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/feel-out-terrain/10717/1 "2015-10-21T22:34:02Z")
As in the topic, I’d like to request a thing you can toggle on/off. While it’s on, your speed drops significantly but nearby terrain features get highlighted no matter what’s covering them.
One major use of this command is mine toxic gas, where currently the only way to not perma-end your character without cheating is to assume that every stairway at some point is going to be covered in dense toxic gas you can do jack-all about, and abuse a game weirdness with how it handles multiple items on a tile.
You can already do this in a horribly clumsy and time consuming way by stopping every few steps and going into advanced inventory, and checking every single angle.
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### Author:  [@kevin.granade](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kevin.granade)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2015, 4:46am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/feel-out-terrain/10717/2 "2015-10-22T04:46:19Z")
Hmm, it doesn’t need to cost any move speed though, you’re supposed to be able to tell what’s under it, you can see what’s on the other side after all.
How about a button that toggles on/off fields being drawn in general?
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### Author:  [@Midaychi](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Midaychi)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2015, 9:07am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/feel-out-terrain/10717/3 "2015-10-22T09:07:50Z")
That’d work too. I was just trying to think of a way to still simulate dense gas being a legitimate problem underground. I mean, irl you could probably use a fog lamp to see through it but I’m guessing this is cthulhu gas or something.
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### Author:  [@Coolthulhu](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Coolthulhu)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2015, 12:46pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/feel-out-terrain/10717/4 "2015-10-22T12:46:43Z")
[quote=“Kevin Granade, post:2, topic:10717”]Hmm, it doesn’t need to cost any move speed though, you’re supposed to be able to tell what’s under it, you can see what’s on the other side after all.
How about a button that toggles on/off fields being drawn in general?[/quote]
It’s only smoke and fire that obscure everything.
Changing their display alone would help a lot.
Something like making them affect the background rather than drawing the symbol.
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### Author:  [@jcd](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/jcd)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2015, 1:06pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/feel-out-terrain/10717/5 "2015-10-22T13:06:26Z")
If there is no penalty, why not just always draw adjacent terrain features no matter what is covering them, but use the old implementation for features further away?
Assuming we can always see terrain features up to 1m away, we don’t really need two fields of vision.
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### Author:  [@vache](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/vache)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/feel-out-terrain/10717/6 "2015-10-22T16:08:12Z")
[quote=“jcd, post:5, topic:10717”]If there is no penalty, why not just always draw adjacent terrain features no matter what is covering them, but use the old implementation for features further away?
Assuming we can always see terrain features up to 1m away, we don’t really need two fields of vision.[/quote]
I like the idea of obscuring details at a distance, but still letting adjacent terrain be visible. This solution has my vote.
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### Author:  [@Coolthulhu](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Coolthulhu)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2015, 6:09pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/feel-out-terrain/10717/7 "2015-10-22T18:09:10Z")
> [@vache](#):
>
> I like the idea of obscuring details at a distance
The details aren’t actually obscured. You can view them with the look around command.
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### Author:  [@jcd](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/jcd)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/feel-out-terrain/10717/8 "2015-10-22T18:57:15Z")
> [@Coolthulhu](#):
>
> [quote=“vache, post:6, topic:10717”]I like the idea of obscuring details at a distance
The details aren’t actually obscured. You can view them with the look around command.[/quote]
True, but it is actually suboptimal to have to look in order to see obvious features.
I guess the problem is with tiles containing something else: the “something else” is shown, be it a furniture or a field, or anything else.
In light of this, i guess what i posted is actually wrong, as we need to choose what to show: terrain or other features?
So the dual field of view has merit.
Besides that, maybe also a ‘flashing’ tile, continuously alternating between terrain and feature, (only if the terrain is stairs) would work better?