I often compare Stonehearth to Dungeon Keeper. There was a useful feature in DK which SH currently lacks: If there was a combat going on, DK added a persistent notification to the status panel as long as the battle continued.
“Combat” was identified as:
- An ongoing clash between your troops and enemy troops as long as both sides had at least 1 unit and they were engaged
OR - Enemy units attacking your traps
OR - Your units attacking enemy traps
OR - Enemy units attacking your civilians
Why do I think the game needs it?
Right now the game only informs you when an approaching enemy group is detected. Further notifications are received only when your heartlings are low on health, and that is usually too late to intervene (in case of traps you don’t get even this, and they are quite fragile - and costly). Also when the enemy attacks your traps you can only understand something’s going on because of the battle music. It is entirely up to you to find the location. More than once I’ve found myself nervously scanning the (paused) map in search of enemy units.
I believe it is only logical that, if your heartlings know there is a battle (music), they also know the location where they are attacked - and so should you.