Just a thing that’s been nagging at me for a while.
Opening a car door/hatch should certainly take time, but you are currently penalized for moving through them as if you were walking across a bare frame, taking ~250 ticks to step on and off of them rather than 100.
Given that the car doors only take up a space at all out of technical necessity (really they’re only a few inches wide - not a 1 meter tunnel), you should be able to pass through any standard vehicle door space at normal movement speed rather than suffering the obstructed movement penalty.
This is pretty important given the relative frequency with which you need to fight/dash through these openings when surrounded by zombies.
You pay that penalty already moving onto the car seat, which is already twice as slow as normal.
It currently takes 36 seconds (6 turns) to climb from the pavement into your car seat - not counting the time it takes to open the door, which would bring it to 42 seconds. 24 of that is moving from seat to door, because you’re paying the penalty for both actions, the other 12 is for door to street.
Besides, I’ve seen the Dukes of Hazard - boarding a vehicle through the open window of a closed door only takes, like, 2 seconds tops.
You have to admit though, 6 turns? That’s excessive. Can it not be some multiplier of your current movement speed rather than a preset 250/450 point punishment? Moving usually takes a turn and a bit(?), so make entering a car… 3 turns and a half maybe? 160% speed to go through the door and uh, 190% to sit down on the seat? D-does that math check out?
I like to think of it as game balancing, even though I don’t know if it is intentional. Being able to always walk into cars easily as knife through butter would be powerful, as most creatures simply get stuck on them, and also some people’s cars are simply impenetrable. Having to spend six turns entering is a good way to make you think a bit your strategy, if you are running away from something. No idea if it is intentional or not, probably not.
I just think it’s a reasonable, easy solution when somebody makes a point about ‘X person might traverse Y more efficiently than portrayed in game’ (in this case, them Duke boys). Think someone might be able to run down stairs faster? Use parkour to slide down the railing. Cars? Parkour. Rubble? You guessed it.
Essentially as long as it’s merely irregularly shaped terrain that seems to be the solution. Things like swamps, thick foliage or even icy floors (if ever included) present another problem entirely.
Heck, when Z-levels start becoming a priority you could even lay a two by four or ladder across rooftops and try to keep your balance moving across, or even try a running leap.
I like the line of thinking about Z-level traversal. Always been a fan of how DF handles that type of movement.
To make an actual contribution to OP’s topic: how about removing movement penalty when the door and next tile has no roof? You wouldn’t expect convertibles to be hard to get into, parkour or no.
