Changes to Insta Heal?

[BenjaminCIV]

Hey, long time lurker first post.

Anyway, while re-watching Sunday's PAX streaming http://de.twitch.tv/2k/b/314356244
around 1:27 I noticed somthing new during the combat. The swordsman in the forest is almost dead after 2 attacks by War elephants, however after clicking next turn what appears to be a plus 50 appears and the swordsman goes from red health to yellow and proceeds to attack the elephant. That seems to be a insta-heal in use, given that he attacked it seems reasonable to conclude he didn't stop to heal. Has anyone else noticed this? Given that is just a demo can we conclude that insta-healing has changed? If it has is this a welcome change? I am inclined to think it is as it will still allow AIs to use the feature but won't allow the annoyance of watching 1hp units turn into 100hp units.

Sorry if there is a another thread on this, I didn't see one, but if there is I'm sure the mods can move this.

 

[Gucumatz]

Yea it was noted in threads, but no one started a thread on it.

And welcome to the forums!

Its a welcome change for me, and hopefully for others too.

 

[Haig]

Another thing about that battle is that someone wrote that the Austrian swords are fighting with combat penalty for no iron, is it true?

Because they are already taking more damage than in vanilla. I'm very glad that the battles will be longer and I'm excited for instaheal's change!

 

[BenjaminCIV]

Yes they do, if you watch the composite bowman shoot the swords its' pretty clear they do have a -50% penalty. Included a screenshot but it's not very high quailty.

I'm pretty excited about combat taking longer, via more hp and less insta, I think it will make the game more enjoyable, though it might make it harder to win at Immortal + (the whole get 5 keshiks to logistics, shot any unit to pieces move on may not work as well anymore, though it's great fun btw.)

 

[janboruta]

If the combat is prolonged, then Keshiks might shine through again - they have mroe time to shoot the enemy to pieces

If the insta-heal is changed to only 50HP, then I'm blissfully happy. Much more realistic (if we are talking about unit replenishment, conscription...), more balanced, and feels less of a cheat. You still lose the promotion, but war itself might become even more tactical.

 

[CoolLizy]

I hope this is the case. I've gotten to the point where I'm paranoid about AI units with red health bars. I've lost wars over the AI regenerating entire armies because I only damaged their units to whittle down many instead of trying to take out one or two.

 

[apocalypse105]

Anybody thought about the consideration that you're unit just heals some HP when it promotes?

 

[starstx]

Anybody thought about the consideration that you're unit just heals some HP when it promotes?
Apr 13, 2012 07:14 AM

Just when I started to get excited ... Apoc brings me back to reality. Entirely possible but hopefully not true ...

 

[Stefanskantine]

Insta heal of about 50% or less would be more reasonable.

 

[Scarpa]

Just when I started to get excited ... Apoc brings me back to reality. Entirely possible but hopefully not true ...

Later in the vid when one of the elephants gets a promotion opportunity you can see insta-heal is still a choice, so I doubt they also rolled healing into normal promotions.

Certainly looks like it's +50 now for insta-heal.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

I do think that insta heal will be absolutely overpowered now if with the 100 hitpoints, so I would have nothing against it being a automatic 50 heal. Even though I am one of the few people who just love exploiting the ability (no forced promotions and instant healing when my health is in yellow

 

[CoolLizy]

I wouldn't mind insta-heal being replaced with a third promotion tree that gives units more max HP instead. It'd give a little more variety to the simple rough vs. flat choice.

 

[Buccaneer]

I hope this is the case. I've gotten to the point where I'm paranoid about AI units with red health bars. I've lost wars over the AI regenerating entire armies because I only damaged their units to whittle down many instead of trying to take out one or two.

But isn't that the point of tactical decision making - damaging 4 units vs. killing 2? Anything that would decrease the possibility of losing wars vs. the AI would be a bad thing, imo. We win too many as it is now and it's shocking to see that one would want to mitigate losing battles.

 

[CoolLizy]

But isn't that the point of tactical decision making - damaging 4 units vs. killing 2?

Your opponent being able to negate damage by insta-healing kind of throws tactical decision making out the window. Especially when there's no good way to tell how close a unit is to having a promotion. If I damage an enemy unit it should stay damaged and be forced to either retreat and regroup, attempt to hold their ground and heal, or attack with a slightly damaged unit. My opponent should be forced to deal with the consequences of their decisions instead of just going "Attack, Attack, Attack!"

Keeping a frustrating (and arguably broken) game mechanic just to give the AI a boost in battle is not a good reason in my opinion.

 

[Gucumatz]

Yea I agree, I along with many others don't like the mechanic. Its annoying in multiplayer even more so because the faster computer (even if it is mine in some games) will be able to heal units in key situations instantly.

Its a mechanic that doesn't make any sense to me why its in here.

 

[drubell]

The 50 HP is certainly an insta-heal. With units being rebalanced so it takes slightly more hits to take a unit down, a full insta-heal would be even more effective than it already is in-game. The design change to 50 HP combats that issue.

 

[apocalypse105]

The 50 HP is certainly an insta-heal. With units being rebalanced so it takes slightly more hits to take a unit down, a full insta-heal would be even more effective than it already is in-game. The design change to 50 HP combats that issue.

firaxis doesn't reach his goals XD

If they say they thought combat evolved to fast then why did they ad a healing promotion wich led you move forward instead of going back and heal

 

[King of Prussia]

I personally would like to see the whole insta-heal be removed but if it's at 50% then I can live with that. It's a major improvement over where it was at before.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

I am one of the very few people (appereantly) who adores the insta-heal, I mean, I play games for fun, and it's nothing but annoying to know you have to go back and re-build your armies, so the instant heal is a big bonus, especially if you're a legs up in techs on Chieftain and surrounding the backward nations with your Riflemen.

But I will admit taht if they kept the instant heal to heal 100, that's just overpowered, so I think it's a good thing it's only 50 points.

 

[Camikaze]

Anybody thought about the consideration that you're unit just heals some HP when it promotes?

Just when I started to get excited ... Apoc brings me back to reality. Entirely possible but hopefully not true ...

Later in the vid when one of the elephants gets a promotion opportunity you can see insta-heal is still a choice, so I doubt they also rolled healing into normal promotions.

Certainly looks like it's +50 now for insta-heal.

Indeed. It wouldn't make much sense to introduce healing to promotions. Why would they introduce a semi-insta-heal to all promotions, when insta-heal is seen as a problem?

It seems definite that it's simply a change in the insta-heal ability, which is great news.