Dear Fallen Enchantress team,
I think tactical combat, equipment, and traits would be significantly improved by splitting the existing functionality of initiative into two separate stats. Currently, initiative determines both which unit goes first and how frequently a unit acts. If initiative only determined who went first, and attack time determined how frequently a unit acted, you (the designers) would have another dial to turn for tuning and we (the players) would have a fun tool for building different varieties of heroes and units.
The system I imagine would work like this:
- The unit with the highest Initiative acts on the first second of combat.
- Each action, including movement, takes a certain number of seconds before the unit acts again.
- Small fast weapons take fewer seconds to attack with, but do less damage in exchange.
- Every unit gets access to a charge maneuver that lets the unit move and attack all at once.
- Units get a free attack (at reduced accuracy/damage) against units that leave base contact.
Basic actions and weapons
Action Time Description
Move 10 secs Move unit's movement speed
Dagger 6 secs Attack for Strength * 0.6 damage
Sword 10 secs Attack for Strength * 1 damage
Giant axe 15 secs Attack for Strength * 1.5 damage
Charge 9+weapon speed secs Move unit's movement speed and attack for weapon damage. Can't do twice in a row.
Fire Darts 10 secs Ranged fire attack spell
Summon Wolf 30 secs Summon shadow wolf spell (no more need for clunky "turns to cast" mechanic)
Bow 12 secs Attack for Strength * 0.8 damage at range
Systems like this can break down if you pile on enough reductions to action times, so there should be a minimum speed of 5 seconds. (With maybe a rare high level trait that lowers the cap to 4 seconds.)
Traits, Spells, Equipment, and Magic Item properties
Haste Spell Reduce time for melee or ranged attack by 1+1 per air shard
Focus Spell Reduce time for spellcasting by 1+1 per water shard
Alertness Trait +10 Initiative
Nimble Trait -2 seconds for unmounted movement
Horseman Trait -2 seconds for mounted movement
Horse +1 move, -1 seconds for movement, +30 carry weight, hard to knock down, count as mounted
Tricky Trait Gain Withdraw maneuver that allows an attack then move without provoking the free attack (charge only allows move then attack, not vice versa)
Tumbler Trait Never provoke free attack for leaving contact
Quick Hands Trait -1 second for weapon attacks
I know that adding another stat is a major challenge, but I really think it would be worth it. Imagine the diversity of heroes and units. The assassin is a nimble tumbler with quick hands, darting around the battlefield applying the poisoned status to every unit. The knight is a terror on his first attack thanks to his lance's bonus charge damage and his Charger trait that adds to charge movement and damage, but then is no better than the typical warrior once he is stuck in melee. The alert brute wields a massive maul, knowing that if he goes first, it doesn't matter how long it takes to strike a second time when the first hit does enough damage. The spearman stands firm against charges, gaining a bonus to defense and doing a few points of damage when charged. The horse archer kites enemy units until they corner him against the woods, but does less damage than the unmounted archer. The nation with strong air and fire mages equips their troops with daggers, knowing that once haste and flaming weapons have been cast, the flat damage bonus of flaming weapons will tear through enemies. The nation with strong life and earth mages equips their troops with giant mauls, knowing that once stoneskin and strength have been cast, their units will easily withstand the pinpricks of lesser races until they can wipe them away with a single blow.
