I managed to have an intelligent conversation with the chat about mechanics that I love and one that I think really needs some attention to in Pit 2. My Striker got to floor 38 and found a treasure hunter, who wished to join and end the run with me, but at this point I had realized how "clunky" the movement system became when the companion became involved.
Pros:
Companion will move on autopilot if no conflict is detected. This allows you to instantly tell whether you are under attack because of the separation of actions. Additionally, the companion benefits from the computer's Line of Sight, meaning that things which are off screen for you, can even be seen by the companion. This is GREAT.
Companions can reload their weapons ad infinitum. (infinite Photoufeki shots are a LOVELY thing)
They are a decent meat shield, most of the time...
You can drain their Psi/HP and use to farm warmind skill, making them a living battery
Cons:
Companions with access to psi powers will not allow you to command they use them, or they use them incredibly sparingly.
Once a companion is heavily damaged, there is little to no way to have them heal themselves, making them more like suicide soldiers.
There is no simple command system, even a stay/follow command would increase the utility. (if I want to eat HE grenades, I want to make sure "I" eat the grenade, not my follower)
Finally, the system when you are controlling two characters seems a little clunky, but this I will probably let slide due to optimization issues so that multiple issues dont appear with interfering/extraneous coding. (why introduce a whole new system of movement for a hypothetical situation that may happen once in 10-15 runs)
Idea
Pit uses a very nice system as a tile based roguelike, taking turns slowly allows you to move then fire when you establish Line of Sight with the target. However, much like how Pit uses a system which allows you to pivot while holding ctrl and a movement key, would it be possible to throw in a back-up/alternate system which allows you to plan your whole movement turn in advance? (think fire emblem style direction and attack) One one turn I could select the main character command them to move straight forward 1 tile, then fire at target at x tile, while also commanding my follower to retreat 1 tile and fire at y tile. Neither of these actions would be performed until all movement tokens have been depleted, and then in the same instance both actions occur, ending my turn, and making it much simpler than clicking back and forth in confusion between the two controllable characters. Even so, it seems incredibly wasteful to create this much pathing/movement code for a single specific situation, which is why I think binding "alt" + player action could be a good possible solution, allowing the player to do this even with 1 character, but opening up a huge potential for fluid movement options, and allowing the player to familiarize with those movement controls. Thoughts?
