Leaving area during combat

[Aralvar]

I think maybe you should prevent the character from leaving the area during combat. This tactic has saved my life, but it's fairly unrealistic and almost seems cheap to me. Thoughts?

[Eliasfrost]

I've thought about it as well a few times. In some circumstances it felt cheap (like the mutant area, going up and down the stairs to regen almost felt like I was meta-gaming) but I don't know if removing it is a better idea because it completely eliminates the ability to flee from battle (since there is no other way).

Perhaps there is a way to compromise to make fleeing from battle a bad thing, such as enemies regaining health, first strike when you re-enter the area or something similar.

That's my thought.

Oh and welcome to the forums!

[Aralvar]

Maybe all enemies from that combat instance respawn in their original places and all xp from that combat scenario is lost, and it gives you a warning when leaving the area during combat.

And thanks, I've actually had this forum account for awhile but never used it until now; since I actually have the game now.

[LazyMonk]

Maybe when you came back and your enemies were fully healed this tactic would feel so cheap.

I believe that there are other ways of achieving the same without leaving the area.
If you have a key for a door you can lock yourself inside, during combat, and you are safe to heal yourself as well.
I am not sure if a stealthy character can pull this off as well. I have to check it...

[Aralvar]

In the situations where I used this tactic, it really is a life saver. I would be outnumbered and almost dead because of those rat dog things, and needed to escape to get back to the doctor. I really wouldn't have been able to defeat them otherwise, as I have few health injections. Maybe getting rid of this tactic would force me to buy things (I currently refuse to buy anything and try to scavenge for all my supplies, it isn't working out well lol).

[UnLimiTeD]

It can be cheesy, but it's impossible for the game to find out when.
When my char has sprint and beats out 120 movement, I think switching sectors is the equivalent of just running away, which the game engine won't allow because the mobs kind of always know where you are once combat starts.
Ladders, well, it's ladders, you can always climb them and sit on the hatch.
Just moving one back when surrounded and suddenly being save again, that might be questionable.

[Aralvar]

Maybe if there was something that would imply that switching sectors is actually you running away from combat, like an agility check when trying to leave the area.

[Styg]

First of all, making a realistic implementation of this is effectively impossible. When you have area transitions in this sort of game this is one of the downsides that you have to accept.

There are already a few downsides of leaving an area mid combat:
- if you return to the area stealthed, they will still see you
- if you return to the area they will get first strike

What I'm also considering is having their health and psi regenerated. This is a bit tricky because for story reason some NPCs should have missing health and not regenerate. So I need to find a way to tell these apart from the rest.

Or maybe (and this is a big maybe) I'll make the creatures follow the player into the new area. The time at which they would enter the other area would depend on how far they were from the transition and their speed.

What I certainly won't do is prevent the player from leaving the area.

[Aralvar]

That's okay, it was just a thought.

When I used this, the enemies were usually right next to the entrance to the area. That means they would probably follow me to the next area, if that feature is implemented. Right?