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[cordinia]

Hi. I've been playing on and off for a bit, but I just finished a battle and lost two of my team whereupon I realized there isn't a way to resurrect them? I wish I had known that beforehand, unless I just missed something. I went to the town, checked all the screens there, plus checked my char. screen. Nada. I hope this isn't going to be how the game is progressing 'cause it will only encourage step-saving play, which completely slows down the game. Did I miss something?

[Eran.Yaacobi]

Hi @cordinia,

The game features Permadeath, meaning ones heroes die they are lost and cannot be resurrected. This is part of the design - loss of heroes is intended to be acceptable.

Permadeath cannot be disabled at the moment, but we plan on making it possible to disable it (as for some it only hurts the experience instead of improving it). When disabled, heroes that die will be available for recruitment (at a price) at the town.

This is likely to happen in the next few months, but there's not yet a definite date for it.

[cordinia]

Thank you for your prompt reply. It's nice to know someone actually reads these ;-) While I can appreciate the design decision, a problem arose when I lost two of my team and couldn't recruit any more? It happened early on so maybe things will unlock so I am able to do so, but at the point where I was I was stuck since I was unable to complete any more missions with only one character. Maybe the perma-death could unlock after there was a way to either reincarnate or purchase replacements?

The other problem with perma-death is that the characters you buy typically come in at a lower level (maybe even first). That means it's very hard to continue progress without backtracking and grinding levels. I have played plenty of rogue type games, and perma-death can be a way of increasing tension; but it shouldn't be too much of a burden in a game where creativity is encouraged imo.

Thanks again and I am looking forward to playing more.

[Eran.Yaacobi]

Originally posted by cordinia:

Thank you for your prompt reply. It's nice to know someone actually reads these ;-) While I can appreciate the design decision, a problem arose when I lost two of my team and couldn't recruit any more? It happened early on so maybe things will unlock so I am able to do so, but at the point where I was I was stuck since I was unable to complete any more missions with only one character. Maybe the perma-death could unlock after there was a way to either reincarnate or purchase replacements?

You've played the campaign, right?
In the campaign, you can only recruit new heroes once you finish the first story mission.
Specifically for story missions, if you don't have all heroes required for the mission, new ones are created for free, so even if you have just one hero left you can still take that mission. Once the mission is over, you can recruit heroes from the town.

As to losing heroes right at the start - in 0.11.2.2 there's a problem where there may be difficult fights right near the player's town, so there's a reasonable chance for new players to take too hard fights just at the start without noticing they are too hard. In the new version just released (0.12.0.1) the spawning algorithm was changed so it'll be less likely for players to lose heroes before they gain enough resources to recruit new ones (or before they reach the first story mission in the campaign).

Originally posted by cordinia:

The other problem with perma-death is that the characters you buy typically come in at a lower level (maybe even first). That means it's very hard to continue progress without backtracking and grinding levels. I have played plenty of rogue type games, and perma-death can be a way of increasing tension; but it shouldn't be too much of a burden in a game where creativity is encouraged imo.

While it's true new heroes being at low level makes them less viable right away, keep in mind that you can have more than one party, so you can buy heroes and level them up before losing heroes. There are also buildings and guild upgrades that make all your heroes stronger, so even a new hero will still be viable in mid-game. However, I think we will add some ability for players to increase their base level of heroes available for recruitment via a building or an upgrade.

As to encouraging creativity and experimentations - I agree that it's important, but I feel that specifically because you still have the ability to circumvent Permadeath via restart/load (unlike rogue-like/lite games) on the whole players can still experiment without irreversible repercussions. There's a balance between "encouraging experimentations" and "your actions matter", and I think we should allow players to choose between the two, via toggling off Permadeath, or the other extreme of toggling on ironman mode.

[davea]

I appreciate that your short description on the steam store page clearly says "permadeath" several times. People who don't realize that can be easily put off. In my first couple of hours I did have to restart a few times due to deaths, but that was just while I was getting the hang of it. It is definitely helpful to have at least two parties around; the secondary party can even have just one hero and some creatures. If you put that one into some easy fights, the hero will level up a few times and should be viable to add in as a backup.

[Vulture]

i am not a fan of permadeath and reading this kinda turns me off, is it still not optional? can we get a update on this?

[Altron]

It's not yet optional. But we do have plans on adding it later on. If it's not done by release, it will almost definitely be added on a later update.

[Vorshin]

Question - Is it true that all progress you had made with your characters is wiped out when progressing to a new chapter?
Have read a negative post and this has me wondering about this?

here is what was posted :-



Not Recommended
11.9 hrs on record (8.7 hrs at review time)
EARLY ACCESS REVIEW POSTED: 14 JANUARY
YoY!

So, Fort Triumph isn't bad at all in term of game mechanic, combat and ambiance.

BUT, I desinstall instantly the game after the first chapter when i realise that I lose all my progression the moment i enter the second chapter, all my heroes and items just gone! What's the point of exploring a big map like this and loosing everything after? I was happy with the game until that moment. Change it.

There is no point of exploring and developing character without getting rewarded for it.

This could also be an issue for me as i would have to agree losing everything you had done when going into a new chapter would be frustrating a little.

[Eran.Yaacobi]

Hi,

When progressing to the next chapter, you retain all levels and abilities of your primary four heroes (one of each class). The "primary" four heroes are implicitly selected based on the heroes that participated in the final mission of the act. However, all artifacts, buildings, upgrades, resources (and any other heroes) are not retained. This is done in order to maintain a fairly consistent state for players who rush through a chapter and those that clean its map completely (thus having much better artifacts/buildings/upgrades).

However, due to feedback we got about this decision (both in this review and several other comments), we are looking into modifying it, allowing players to retain some extra things between acts, all the while without breaking the balance in the other chapters.

[Akrux]

Let me know when your progress is retained in a RPG game and when permadeath is optional and only then will i buy the game.

[Vorshin]

hmm artifacts should also be kept, buildings new zone new building new start thats fair, maybe increase some resource that you can take with you.upgraded items (weapons armours should also stay).

Otherwise there would be no piont fully scouting each map, may as well speed run through, since you will just start off the same as someone who scoured the previous map.

After all their choice to skip through rather than check out the zone area (aka chapter). but yeah i am on the fence here, and will also wait to see what happens.

[Eran.Yaacobi]

Keep in mind that while the game has some RPG elements, Fort Triumph is primarily a strategy game, with focus on tactical battles. The closest resemblance for the strategy part would be the Heroes of Might & Magic series, in which also nothing is retained between chapters except hero levels and abilities.

So while we do our best to try and address all feedback we receive, we always need to abide with what the game is (a strategy game), and have the changes made serve that. So the element of retaining progress across chapters/levels (which is common in RPGs, but not so much in strategy games) cannot take full precedence over that.

In our case, Permadeath is something that we can allow turning off because it can be easily balanced from a strategic point of view (by having an associated cost for resurrecting dead heroes, either in resources or in time). Retaining all progress (even when excluding buildings) however is not possible, so we need to find a balance here, between making it not feel like you've scoured the map for nothing, and not breaking the game.

I'll keep you posted when the changes are ready.

[ChaPaTi]

My opinion is Permadeath is ok when playing at normal level. But at legendary (I skipped classic) I think priest/healer is a must.
Currently I'm stuck at needing to choose as many paladin as possible as they are the only one with healing ability.

[Adeptus Stark]

Originally posted by Akrux:

Let me know when your progress is retained in a RPG game and when permadeath is optional and only then will i buy the game.

The entitlement of gamers today...

I'm glad the devs here speak in the forums, sorry they have to deal with some people. A simple I like X in games and hope to see implemented in this game in the future would have sufficed.

[malcher]

Since the full release date has been announced, can you tell us if permadeath option is going to be it in at release or later?

[Altron]

Hey Matcher,

We've added the option to recruit your fallen heroes back at the guild. So if somebody wishes it, they can toggle permadeath off. The price of a hero is based on their level.