| The Hippocratic Corpus #59: On Mind Energy |
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Written by menofuntall The Mind Energy is the only method of healing your team mates. Invaluable in DMs, it holds the power to completely revitalize an ally who survived a skirmish with 1 HP. You won't see this in TD much, and you surprisingly don't see many in DM either. The reason? Most likely because it takes away one spot that could've been used for more weapons. But to you, who uses it anyway, learn to love it, abuse it, and annoy the ever-loving **** out of the other team.
Statistics, Usage, and Whatnot Cost: 27,000 PEN Ammo: 20 per clip, infinite stock Reload: 5 at a time Recovery rate: Normal - about 2-5 HP per half a second, Critical - about 10 HP per half a second Left click: Heal Right click: None Straightforward and simple to use, the Mind Energy uses only one button. You do not have to be 100% accurate while healing, because the beam that emits from the Mind Energy will usually track the target as long as you're aiming somewhere near it. However, being accurate will result in criticals, which heal twice as fast. Laggy teammates, however, are very difficult to critical on. Mind Energies like to get confused whenever people are bunched together. Often you'll find that it does whatever it likes and fails to heal who you want...even if you're at point blank. General Strategy In TD, there isn't much of a use for Mind Energy. Deaths aren't usually how you lose a game, so HP is usually not a problem. You might have an issue if your entire team is at 10 HP, though. Occasionally you might find the ball runner low on HP. It's not a bad idea to heal him if the coast is clear. If he keeps on running to the goal...well, it's up to you. One healer alone cannot outheal an entire team's ammunition entering one man's flesh. It does work occasionally, so feel free to try. Two healers, you've got a better chance. If you have a whopping 5 healers, then by all means, go for it. You can mostly heal off any damage the runner takes, and the enemies are inclined to shoot the healers, which means you effectively take bullets for the runner. DM is where Mind Energy belongs though, where deaths count against you. Never pass up an opportunity to heal unless the situation is dangerous. Constantly check in with your teammate's health by equipping the Mind Energy. "Ubercharging" your teammates while they fight hasn't been an effective tactic in my experiences. Instead, you should help them kill the enemy. Heal them afterwards. Campy teams do best with Mind Energy. Shield, hit and run, heal, shield, hit and run, heal, repeat. It is extremely aggravating to fight nearly invincible opponents, and is very effective. Watch out for overly aggressive people who break up your team with barrages of CS slashes. Tips for the Healer Boom, headshot! The most essential thing to keep in mind is that criticals with Mind Energy occur when your cursor is directly on your target (not necessarily at their head, though). You could just aim it wildly, but that gives you an extremely slow rate of heal. A constant stream of criticals will restore HP much faster. Against some laggy teammates, however, you may find it impossible to critical on them. The only thing you can do in this case is grit your teeth and heal them anyway. ADHD Keep moving when you heal. This holds especially true for you, because shooting the defenseless healer is easier than someone who is getting healed as you shoot. Just make sure you keep up the criticals. Miracles do not happen at 9,800 feet In order to critical, you must be at the same altitude as your patient. If he's jumping like he should, you should try to jump in unison with him in order to maximize the amount of criticals. For this reason, Flying and Mind Energy do not go well together. I need recovery! If someone asks for recovery, find them as soon as possible. It is your duty, after all. 3 at once? Hot. You might find yourself with 3 people low on health at once, but who do you heal first? The answer is "whoever is the least likely to die after being healed". You should try to keep away from the other people and keep as close as possible to the target in order to prevent confusion. Doctors like to neglect their own health. Remember that fellow medics cannot heal themselves. If they're healing someone else, make sure you heal him as he heals. Hopefully, they'll return the favor if possible. Whose footprints are these?! You can heal through walls and obstacles. It's not a bad idea to take cover while healing, but you still should be wiggling around as much as possible. This might hinder your criticals a bit, though. Hey, is that an RPG? Aimed at you? If your recipient has your back covered, do the same and pay some attention to his back. If you spot an enemy who poses a threat, take out your gun and fire. With any luck, your patient will get the message and help you out. Heal some more afterwards. For the swarm! If your recipient decides to advance while you treat him and he comes across an enemy, it is often more effective to double up on the enemy rather than split up. Besides, you can keep on healing him afterwards if necessary. Telepathic Pain Sensory?! Simply equipping the Mind Energy will let you see all of your teammate's HP at once. When you seem to have nothing to do, equip it an scan your team's health status. The Necromancer Due to the inevitable lag, you might find that on your screen an ally that has 0 HP but is still alive, but doesn't necessarily have the red lag symbol over them. You cannot heal these people, presumably because it would be an ungodly abomination to heal the undead. But don't count off everyone who appears to have an empty bar, because they may very well be at 1 HP. Just run your Mind Energy through them real quick to test. Invincibility is not an option You cannot use a shield and Mind Energy at the same time. Next time, bring a wrench You cannot heal Sentries. Being an hero, and doing it wrong And before you ask, no, you cannot heal yourself. Tips for the Recipient ADHD...again Here's a problem I see with a lot of people: they stand there while they're being healed. Don't. You must keep moving. Because, if you don't, you too, become a nice, red target for snipers and sneaky people. And you don't want that HP to go to waste, do you? If you're going to thank your healer for his or her service, use the hotkey command. Any moment you spend idling around, typing, can be a moment where you die. LEEEROOOOOOOOOY...JENKIIIIIIIIIINS Don't be afraid to ask for recovery when you need it. Just make sure there's even a healer on your team to begin with. And, in the least, try to take cover when you ask for recovery. Oh, cool! There's an RPG aimed at you too! Remember, your healer cannot see what's behind him while he heals you. Try to pay attention to his back if you can. Your healer will obviously be seeing what's going on behind you, so hopefully no worries there. whar did u gais go :( By the way, don't always expect your medic to constantly heal you on the battlefield. Often, it's much more efficient to just gang up on the enemy instead of one person shoot, one person heal. ADHD...again? It might just be me, but I find that if you stand still, it's really hard to critical heal for some reason. All the more reason to keep moving. LEAVE BRITNEY SPEARS ALONE, RIGHT NOW Remember that your healer cannot heal himself, but he can heal you. Never a bad idea to take a bullet or two for him. Doctor, what the heck are you doing? If you know you lag a little, this will probably happen to you quite a bit. Though on your screen, you are not dead by any means, other people might see you at 0 HP. If this happens to a healer, they cannot heal you. So, if your healer comes in, attempts to heal, and leaves without restoring a single HP, you probably have the zombie syndrome. Closing Words Keep criticalling. Keep moving. Keep aware. That is all. |