> On a sparse map, you can tune A* all day, but ultimately if your paths involve more than 1) vertices on the obstacles or 2) straight lines from src to (maybe

> On a sparse map, you can tune A* all day, but ultimately if your paths involve more than 1) vertices on the obstacles or 2) straight lines from src to (maybe some of) those vertices to goal, you have created suboptimal paths. You would still be choosing a node with the best f-value, so you'll get optimal solutions with any admissible heuristic. In a 2D-grid your heuristic should also be consistent, which will result in pretty good behaviour.