Hm, time for me to put thought into this and come up with a proper response, instead of scattered "I like this" or "I don't like this", I think.
I'll start by saying I agree with the train of thought that destructive skills should have one of two orderings:
- Basher, Fencer, Miner, Digger (horizontal, two diagonal, vertical) [BFMD]
- Fencer, Basher, Miner, Digger (diagonal up, horizontal, diagonal down, vertical) [FBMD]
I can see similar patterns arising in the constructive skills obviously, but also the permanent skills. Thus, depending on which of these is picked, would also affect what I think should be picked for those two groups.
(I could also see a third acceptable order here: Basher, Miner, Fencer, Digger. But it seems few if any people like that one. In terms of what factors support it, it would be in the same position as BFMD, except with one less factor: BFMD preserves the existing order. While that in and of itself isn't always a good reason to keep something the way it is, I do think it's fair to consider it a tiebreaker between two otherwise very close options.)
Finally, I don't have a huge amount of preference on what order the groups are in. But where I do, I'll mention it.
Permanent skillsClimber should come first or last. Reason: It's the only one that doesn't allow surviving an otherwise-unsurvivable obstacle, giving it a unique factor compared to the others.
Floater and Glider should be together. Not particularly worried about the order of the two; though if we're going Miner > Digger for destructive and Builder > Stacker for constructive, maybe Glider before Floater makes sense (the diagonal skill comes first).
Arguably, one could extend that with directions and consider swimmer the horizontal survival-permanent. This is a bit of a stretch. However, unlike Climber or Disarmer, Swimmer doesn't have much else going to determine where it should be - the only other real argument is "does its existing position make sense, if so, why change it?"
However, alternatively (or as well), one could consider a climber as an "inverse floater", similar to a Fencer being an "inverse miner".
Disarmer is the only one that doesn't involve movement. It should come first or last.
Thus, I think:
BFMD: This groups the two diagonals together, so likewise, we should group the two verticals together in these skills. So, Swimmer, Glider, Floater, Climber. Since the first and last should be Climber and Disarmer, the overall result -
Disarmer, Swimmer, Glider, Floater, Climber.
FBMD: This one goes through the directions (for a right-facing lemming) clockwise, starting from closest to straight upwards, so likewise, do the same here. So,
Climber, Swimmer, Glider, Floater, Disarmer. (Disarmer going last for the same reasons it went first in BFMD.)
Additional advantage to putting Disarmer last: If the next group is constructive skills, or bomber/stoner, Disarmer is next to skills that modify the level in some way; it's also the only permanent skill that does that too.
Blocker, Bomber, StonerBlocker has a somewhat permanent effect. Bomber is destructive. Stoner is constructive. However, I'd definitely say these three are their own subgroup, rather than those skills being part of each of those groups respectively. This does give rise to very easy ordering - whatever order those three major groups are in (relative to each other), reflect that with this. If the skill panel's overall order has permanents > constructive > destructive; order this one Blocker, Stoner, Bomber.
With that being said, I can see one other way that would work well. Place this group between constructive and destructive skills (I'm assuming that the new order will retain "constructives come before destructives"), and order it Stoner, Blocker, Bomber. I don't like how this seperates Stoner and Bomber with another skill, but I do like how it puts the two of them next to the major group they're closer to.
A more radical idea: Use that "put inbetween and order appropriately" for Stoner and Bomber. Reclassify Blocker as a movement skill, alongside Walker and Cloner.
Constructive skillsFollow the same order (directionally) as the destructive skills. 'nuff said.
Movement Skills (Walker, Cloner, Jumper, Shimmier(, Blocker?))
I feel in the overall order, these should be placed first. They're basically like permanent skills, except non-permanent, so should be next to that group.
Direction doesn't really work for ordering. Walker can be 0d or 180d from current direction, depending on situation. Cloner is 0d
and 180d. Jumper moves at a forwards-upwards angle at first, but the ultimate destination is horizontal. Shimmier moves upwards at first, but eventually follows a horizontal path. Blocker doesn't move at all.
Instead, one way we could order this is based on how permanent the effect is. There are two ways of looking at it - the effect on the level overall, or the effect on the individual lemming. I would say the correct ordering, for whichever one of these is chosen, would be "least permanent to most", given that the permanent skills are the next group on the panel.
If we are looking at effects on the level overall, the order should be:
Walker, Jumper, Shimmier, (Blocker,) Cloner. Although the cloned lemming can die or exit, it won't ever be "uncreated" (whereas a blocker can be freed) - if a cloner has been used, you're either killing one more lemming, or saving one more lemming, than the base amount. This is weak and maybe arbitrary, I would not be very strongly opposed to switching the two - indeed, it could be argued that blocker actually creates an obstacle, Cloner just adds a lemming. Maybe I do prefer this way. If Blocker is not put in this group, it's irrelevant - Cloner is definitely more "permanent" in a global sense, than Shimmier. (Shimmier vs Jumper simply comes from "I suspect the average shimmier assignment will take longer to complete than the average jumper assignment".)
If we are looking at effects on the individual lemming, the order should be:
Cloner, Walker, Jumper, Shimmier, Blocker. Cloner doesn't affect the target lemming at all. Walker gives a single instantaneous effect and the lemming goes on as normal. Jumper and Shimmier take some time, with the latter (usually) taking longer. Blocker remains so until freed or killed. With that being said, I can't put my finger on a logical reason
why, but this order feels weird to me. If we're taking this approach, despite it not technically following the guideline, this alternative feels more right to me - but again, this is purely based on how it feels, not something I can back up with logic:
Walker, Cloner, Jumper, Shimmier, Blocker. Perhaps we should just avoid this and use the "global effect". But I don't know why, I just really seem to prefer this one.
After thinking about all the above and trying to come up with one single proposal, here's my final suggestion.
Movement skills1. Walker
2. (Jumper)
3. (Shimmier)
4. Cloner
5. Blocker
Permanent skills6. Climber
7. Swimmer
8. Glider
9. Floater
10. Disarmer
Constructive skills11. Platformer
12. Builder
13. Stacker
Lemming-killing skills14. Stoner
15. Bomber
Destructive skills16. Fencer
17. Basher
18. Miner
19. Digger
This also has the advantage of being fairly close to the existing order. Cloner is moved to 2nd (or 4th, once Jumper and Shimmier are inserted). Glider and Floater are swapped, and Blocker is moved forward. Stoner and Bomber are swapped, and moved further back. Finally, Basher and Fencer are swapped. Aside from that, it retains the existing order.
In the case of Lix, the Batter is tricky to place in this classification. It's a skill that only directly affects one lemming, but can cause that lemming to have an effect on others, similar to the blocker. It's less permanent, so maybe just before the blocker?