Do you feel bad when losing units in strategy games?

[witheringsanity]

i just did this last night! in final fantasy tactics, i lost my archer. i didn't want to quit the fight cause i was doing so well, so i just let him die (couldn't get to him in time to revive). the saddest part is... i killed him myself. accidentally cast Fire 3 on him

 

[Techno Squidgy]

I don't form emotional attachment to units because the game doesn't try and make me care about them.

Occasionally I get mad but that's not a response to the loss of the unit's presence so much as it is to the loss of unit's battle worth and frustration at my own stupidity.

For instance, Frozen Synapse, losing my shotgunner to a sniper because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time because I hadn't foreseen that particular possibility. That and the shotgun guys are bloody helpful in close quarter fights and I was pissed at losing that edge.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I feel bad about it, yeah. Forced me to think very strategically in Rome: TW.

Total War games are the worst offenders here. You lose in other strategy games, big deal, its just a battle. You lose in Total War, suddenly there's a gap in your defensive line, and the AI throws a couple stacks to flood into your kingdom.

The most bitter defeat I took was in the Rome Total Realism mod. I had a full gold star army, capable of tackling anything thrown at it. However, I was attacked by three stacks at once, and things went downhill. Two armies fell, but by the time the third arrived, I was at half strength and exhausted troops. They routed and were run down by cavalry.

The next turn, four more stacks flooded through into my realm. FFFFUUU!

 

[Canadamus Prime]

the turrets have men inside!

They do? I thought they were completely automated.

OT: No, not really. Maybe a little pissed if it's an important unit, but no I don't really feel any emotional attachment to them.

 

[Meggiepants]

Yes, but only in Company of Heroes. For some reason the little guys in that game are just a tad realistic for me. I can't stand losing them.

 

[Mrselfdestruct]

I don't like losing the really powerful units. It's like watching Boromir die...

 

[LiberalSquirrel]

Fire Emblem.



And im not talking that New fancy pants DS version where your characters are thrown around like paper and no one talks to you, im talking about Eliwood, Lyn and Hector, the three of them developing a bond that nothing can shatter. and not to mention the many other characters, all of whom were given emotional baggage....God, if lost even a single unit, I shut off the game. I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't leave a man behind.

It took my years to beat the game.

Yeah, pretty much this. I only played a bit of it, on a friend's copy, but... damn if I didn't get attached to those people. They weren't just units. They were characters... which probably helped with the "attachment" thing.

...I really need to pick up some of the Fire Emblem games for my GBA or something. I loved those games.

 

[Kayvaan]

I don't like losing useful units like medics, or when civilians die because of what i'm doing, or my builders... But other than that meh... doesn't really bother me...

 

[teqrevisited]

In RTS games I'll just happily send them into the meat grinder. I'd expect no less from anyone else who usually plays Imperial Guard. Guardsmen are the veneer of flak-jacket wearing, laser toting paint that keeps my artillery spotless.

X-Com, on the other hand.. It is one hell of a big deal when a squad member dies.

A recent example: I had a guy that had survived since the start of the game. All of his friends were dead, and some of his relatives (the random name generator gave him two brothers and a sister). He'd just made it through the first round of psionic training when the squad had its first intercepted terror ship. I led the front half cautiously through the fields and into the ufo's first floor, ended the turn and was forced to watch as a blaster bomb flew out of the darkness, around the corner and hit him square in the face.

 

[saxxon.de]

I play Zerg in Starcraft. There's no place in my heart for the 56th Zergling from the left.

 

[Sebenko]

Since I pretty much only play supcom, no. They're my little robotic legion. They aren't alive, even in the setting.

 

[Gorobrin]

real time strategy's i never feel bad when i lose a unit. Not even a hero unit in warcraft. but it upset's me greatly when i lose a unit in a turn based strategy like fire emblem.

 

[zabour]

Wow, that's an interesting thread. Heroes of might and magic is the strategy game I play the most and I must say: When I lose a unit from my original town, it annoys the hell out of me. However there are times when I intentionally put units from other towns in danger. Sometimes to make them "tank" the attack and die while preserving my main town units. At times I simply kill them because they annoy me.

Sounds like some kind of nazi>.<

 

[jonyboy13]

Usually not. Only exception is if it's my favorite unit and then I go berserk and revenge his death.
Usually it's a walker unit which rarely dies considering I like having a whole army of them.
(I'm looking at you Wraithlord<3)

 

[Leo257]

I used to feel sad when I lost Jools and Jops in Cannon Fodder, although that wasn't a strategy game. The only game since then that really had any similar effect was Valkyria Chronicles.

 

[balladofangels85]

I don't really feel bad about losing units in SC2, unless I lose them because I'm being stupid. The only time I really felt bad was in Pikmin 1. I had lost 2 to the night the "day" before and vowed that I would not leave another behind! Then I left an entire company behind.
"Yes! I lost no Pikmin today."
Screen: You left behind 30 Pikmin
":O The hell?"

 

[Bloodstain]

I feel bad because it's one lost unit. That's a deficit.
I like to play as perfectly as possible.

 

[ThreeWords]

Always.

I never like to see a single unit fall; I cannot stand to use Zerg Rush or Scorched Earth tactics, and I feel bad loosing even a few troops in a engagement. Therefore, I prefer to use heavily armed and armored units who can each take tremendous amounts of punishment, combined with (if possible) support/healing units to make sure that I need never loose a single warrior.

 

[Dango]

Yes, I feel bad when I see my units die, and I really hate it when I have to sacrifice a unit in order to win a battle.

 

[Lord_Gremlin]

Usually yes, but not always. Some units are meant for suicidal attacks for example...