Tei wrote:
H will heal your currently selected hero.

Thank Tei, you can have a cookie.

There is a pause ??? Did not see that, will make thing simpler on poor on plans playthrough

There are already items with auto healing in the game, though I think their implementation is intended as another type of armor rather than something to save resources. My melee fighters appreciate them, and auto-regen items are usually rare.

Aye, something like that would be nice. The low HP characters can easily go from full health in the time it takes you to take your eyes off of the health bars to check the screen, to dead by the time you look back up again. When they die before you're even aware they're taking damage, some kind of preparatory/pre-emptive measure would be good.

I think an auto-heal mechanic would take away from some of the stresswork that is important in creating the tension of each new door opened. Firstly, you have to manage the resources to have enough to heal liberally during an enemy attack. Secondly, you have to know where your heroes are, and what state their in - a bit like an MMO healer - watching everyone, using the limited heals you have to maximise victory and prevent any deaths. An auto-heal would give the player less to think about, less to do in terms of keeping the heroes alive. Placement and health are the biggies in an attack, and manual healing seems to be a big part of making the difference.



Some custom items with limited auto-heal functionality could be interesting, but might make the player waste manual heals on an auto-healing hero. So not sure I'd want to complicate the keeping the heroes alive last desperate measure.

I'd love to see this implemented. Then again, I'm very anti-micromanagement and think the autocast options in Warcraft 3 are ingenious.



Devices that give auto-regen are a good compromise, but I still have the occasional accidental death when multiple characters are under attack.



Edit: Just checked Amplituide's list of community feedback and auto-heal isn't consistent with their vision of the game.

That's a great idea Ralhen. It would meet the requirements I put forward and probably be easier to understand and implement.



One of the other reasons I was suggesting this function was to easy players into the combat system, to make it easier when they're starting out. Heroes rarely die once you're use to the game (and enjoying it!) but getting to that point could be punishing.



Arguing over if using the pause function is a good or a bad thing is totally valid, I can see good arguments for both sides. I am keen to see what the devs and the player base in general think of it (can we do vote threads?). Specifically I'm talking about if the game turn based, real time or hybrid.

Ralhen wrote:
In my opinion, rather than an auto heal option I would add some special item that you had to buy before combats so that your hero auto-used it when their health reached a certain percentage, something like a "potion". It would be more expensive than getting healed during the combat (maybe double or triple the price), but it would make sure that the character who had it didn't die (so fast, haha). This way, you wouldn't buy many of these and you would give it only to your weakest characters (or the ones you send to explore).

Hmmm, or what about something like a dispensary module, that "bundles" X amount of 5 packets per door, and the heroes can use these automatically? Anyway, I like the idea ^^

In my opinion, rather than an auto heal option I would add some special item that you had to buy before combats so that your hero auto-used it when their health reached a certain percentage, something like a "potion". It would be more expensive than getting healed during the combat (maybe double or triple the price), but it would make sure that the character who had it didn't die (so fast, haha). This way, you wouldn't buy many of these and you would give it only to your weakest characters (or the ones you send to explore).

I submit that the implementation of the healing mechanic be improved with an optional auto-heal function in order to improve game flow and provide a better range of risk v reward options.



I am presuming you wish to provide a range of risks v rewards levels to players, which are at least partially based on strategic decisions, (as opposed to based purely on mechanical skill) while also reasonably reducing potentially punishing incidents and improving game flow.



Right now the core mechanic of using food to heal and free full heal on cessation of combat is fantastic but implementation is problematic, specifically the interaction with the pause mechanic, the pace of combat and reliance on mechanical skill.

In order to maximise scare resources heals should be used only if absolutely necessary. This precipitates either using heals at the last possible moment (clutch heal) or interrupting game flow excessively with the pause function.



I suggest a better alternative is to keep the existing process as is and add an optional auto-heal function. This function should be less efficient than manual heals by providing less healing per equal resources. Set per hero the function should also have options for "Always Heal" or "Only Heal # Times per Combat".

This will enable a more gradual range of risk v reward levels based on strategy as well as based on pure mechanical skill or excessive use of pause. Existing mechanically skilled players will still be able to clutch heal as normal and reap the rewards.

The game will flow faster and be more enjoyable while still incorporating the essential risk v reward game play.

The enhances heal mechanics will also enable additional potential strategies such as 4 separate & simultaneous solo combats with healing and without it degrading split second slivers of time.



I believe this improvement will both widen the scope of players and the scope of strategies that can be practically used.

LtNoX wrote:
As was mentioned earlier, the spacebar gives you all the time you need and that's also the reason I would personally not like to see an auto-heal function, since healing is basically the only thing I do next to positioning while fighting the aliens.

For now. Sooner or later the active skills will be added to the game, and probably a manual targeting system.



I'm not sure about this auto-heal option. It could be too useful. But on the other hand, I don't like so much a real time gameplay.

As was mentioned earlier, the spacebar gives you all the time you need and that's also the reason I would personally not like to see an auto-heal function, since healing is basically the only thing I do next to positioning while fighting the aliens. Take the healing away and you're basically waiting for the waves to die.



I'm not entirely sure I understood this correctly, but one of the main arguments you (seem to) have, is that you want to maximalize the use of your heals by waiting until the very last moment, risking death, since you don't want to use the (scarce) resources inefficiently. While I completely agree with the sentiment, I've noticed heals don't heal you back up to 100% from any %, rather they seem to heal you somewhere around the 20% per 'heal' mark, meaning you don't have to risk death at all (unless heavily underleveled/undergeared, naturally).

Also, if I did misread it and you meant you don't want to heal unless absolutely necessary (in the situation where your guy has 10% and the mob's near death), I'd say that's part of the game. You're taking a risk, it could pay off or heavily backfire. Since the game advertises itself as a roguelike, I'd prefer keeping those little elements in myself.

Digitalhawk96 wrote:
I do not know if there is a hotkey to heal a Hero on the spot

H will heal your currently selected hero.

Digitalhawk96 wrote:
I do not know if there is a hotkey to heal a Hero on the spot

H will heal your currently selected hero.

Tei wrote:
If your heroes are dieing before you can heal them then they haven't been properly leveled. The only time I have ever lost a hero was because I, myself, was not paying attention to their health and neglected to heal them or get them to safety before they died. Roguelikes are supposed to be hard. And with this sort of system I probably won't see myself ever losing any heroes. Especially when the game currently boils down to amassing food for heal spam since you never need industry again once you have your halls setup intelligently.

At its current state yes, you can simply amass food and heal your heroes constantly when they need it, this is likely to change when Science is introduced and therefore FIDS production balance will change, this is also likely to change once we can reach stages higher than 3 and can reach hero levels higher than 5. This option while nice for people beginning so some frustration is avoided, simply should not tone down the difficulty and would probably be there for lower difficulty levels - however this option is probably not needed; a player of DF myself, you either learn to do the right thing or die because you didn't heal.



However during one my recordings which i ditched because my voice was way too quiet . I lost a hero because the inventory screen blocked the heal button, however the only thought I had was that I should not have had the screen open at that point in the first place - I do not know if there is a hotkey to heal a Hero on the spot, but that would be rather helpful if such a key doesn't exist... to well exist.

If your heroes are dieing before you can heal them then they haven't been properly leveled. The only time I have ever lost a hero was because I, myself, was not paying attention to their health and neglected to heal them or get them to safety before they died. Roguelikes are supposed to be hard. And with this sort of system I probably won't see myself ever losing any heroes. Especially when the game currently boils down to amassing food for heal spam since you never need industry again once you have your halls setup intelligently.

Hi Digitalhawk96, yes I was implying that auto-heal would add an extra check on hero receiving damage and heal them if they would otherwise take lethal damage.

Your example about heroes in other parts of the dungeon taking damage too fast to have a chance to react is quite apt.

If I am understanding you correctly - where if i heroes health reaches a minimum level it will auto heal them - then I like having this as an option, even if It is a feature I will probably not use it myself, the benefits of it are quite clear. I have had a chance to play DoTE before actually owning it; there has been 3 times so far where I have lost a hero due to their health depleting very rapidly and missing the chance to clutch heal them, usually because I'm busy paying attention to one area of the dungeon and while the hero(s) in question is/are in another part of the dungeon - this could also be partly the fault of the lack of a mini-map at this stage in the Alpha build, less situational awareness. This has not stopped me from completing the game 4 times however.