>>718579654
>>718579779
to clarify: if two creatures occupy the same tile during travel, they will "step aside" (move to an available adjacent tile) if possible, to go around the obstructing entity, or else they will freeze in place due to "bumping into" this other entity. the freeze duration is related to the difference between the remaining movement timeout for involved entities, and is compounded for each additional entity on a given tile.
ensure that all major traffic passageways are 3x3 at minimum, and rather than using single staircase tiles for vertical ascent, use a plus-shaped arrangement of up/down staircases (which use the X glyph); units pathing vertically along the central staircase will have 4 tiles available for collision avoidance, and a plus shape allows for the 4 corner tiles adjacent to the stairs to be occupied by statues or other high-value objects that can generate happy thoughts to passersby.