WESN-theory

If someone could provide some insight into what this law entails, I would like to know!

sup, copyandpasting this.


~WESN

When the game has to make a choice, this is the piece of coding that’s called upon. An integral part of the walking sequence, when the square you want to get to is the same amount of squares on each side, you will always try to go west first, east second, and then south. You’ll never go north, since it’s the last choice. Feel free to try this if you want to see it for yourself!

Anyways, how does this affect the Great Orb Project? Interestingly, orb behave in exactly the same way, if they have to make a choice they will follow that order. Coin*endtally, the only time an orb will have to make a choice it when it is travelling diagonally, and it hits a corner. Which way will it go? Because of WESN, it will always go east or west. Apparently it can be overridden.. I just haven’t seen it happen yet.

I actually found out the precise ordering of this whilst firemaking. Ever noticed that after you light a fire, you go west? That's because of WESN. If you light a fire when a wall is directly to your west, you'll go east. If you light a fire with two obstacles on your west and east sides, you'll go south. You will only go north when there are obstacles on every side but north.

Interesting. :O

That's well said by San. The WESN theory can be used in various parts of Runescape. San's example was Firemaking, and of course it is easily demonstrated in that sense. A few easy to understand examples are instances where you use the 'Attack' or 'Follow' options on another character while having a barrier of some sort between the 2 players.



Shown in this image, the 'barrier' is demonstrated as a blue box. Player 1 is to the north, Player 2 is to the south. The barrier is between both characters. If Player 1 were to attempt to Follow, Trade, or Request Assistance from Player 2, he would find that his character will always run to the West, as long as that option is open (no barrier there). Player 2 will find the same thing. Knowing this, we can ALWAYS assume that if there is a simple 1-square barrier as shown in this image, and 2 characters are on opposite sides, if they are North/South, West > East. What about if they're North/South?

West
East
South
North

The priority is shown in order, spelling WESN. Therefore, if they are East/West, they can only run North or South. If they are East/West, South > North. This can be used to intentionally manipulate certain circumstances.



In this image, you can see a 'house' in the Fist of Guthix minigame. A popular technique in this minigame is 'house hugging', which is a WESN running technique used to evade damage. In the image, I am North, and my target is South. My goal is to evade my opponent... Using the knowledge I have of the WESN theory, I know that if my opponent attacks me, he or she will run to the West over the East, as both are the same distance. Therefore, my first step to evading said opponent would be to run East, putting myself in the same position as before, except on the East side. If executed correctly, damage is prevented.

My second step would be the same, except different directions. I would be on the East, and my opponent would be trapped on the opposite side of the house, on the West. As South is prioritized over North, my opponent will run South. Therefore, I must run North to effectively evade him. This will put me in the exact same position as Step 1. Eventually, the opponent will figure out the order, but this theory works like a charm while it lasts.

As you can see, the WESN theory is used all around the game, as long as you're interacting with other players, or an NPC. You can use it for trapping NPCs, trapping players, making fires, and many other special instances in the game. Much like angles in GOP, the WESN theory may be incorporated into your solo practice, and once learnt, the theory will require a lot less thinking and may be used to its full advantage. If you are baffled as to how this theory can be used in GOP, I suggest watching Timome's videos on various Gopologies, such as Orbdrag. These videos can be found on Timome's YouTube channel.

Nice, Redefinition! Thanks a lot! Didn't know that about FOG 0o! =D

Timo wrote:

Nice, Redefinition! Thanks a lot! Didn't know that about FOG 0o! =D

No problem. I find these kinds of things really interesting! Theoretically, this information can be combined with your well structured video on orbdrag to further simplify the orbdrag theory. Hopefully, one can solve where (or in what direction) an orb will drag them (if the orb will drag them), without needing to actually be in the game. Using the WESN theory to solve it, that is.