My favorite: Tactical Battles

from Elemental Forums

I am going to have a lot more to write about when I get my hands on the actual tactical system, but let me just say this is one of the primary reasons I bought the game.

I love good tactical systems. And I think Frogboy says he hates them, (Maybe I just thought I read that somewhere) which makes me a little worried the tactical battle system might not get as much love as the other features of the game.

So let me just offer a few ideas that may help from my previous experience with tactical battles.

Here are the common errors (in my oppinion) of tactical battle:
1)Standing your troops at the distance where your enemy can move just in range so you always get the first strike against the computer. I always find that a glaring fault in most tactical battle systems, to the point that if I am playing against a human we just stand our units at the perfect distance from one another and just wait till the other moves, because that gives the waiting player the first strike. Thus it is a stalemate of sorts. There is no incentive to rush and give your opponent the first strike.

2) No strategy involved, simply mathematical calculations. Sure I have a lot of spells, but there is only one optimal spell or action in this specific situation.

3) One strategy that is better than every other one. I like games where you can use more than one strategy and make other players change their strategy.

4) No gamble. I don't like strategy games where a brash move doesn't present a gamble. Let me explain, I like my strategy games to have you know the general outcome but not so clear cut that you feel that battles are more of an accounting excersise than strategy.

Possible suggestions (Note I haven't even played the tactical system yet so who knows if these apply):
1)Claimable territory rewards. This could be something like upperground, or such. This gives incentive to the player to more forward quickly to try to get a strategic advantage, despite maybe not getting the first strike advantage of waiting for the other player to move into range.

2)Besides randomly checking to see if a unit hits or not, and what the damage is. Add slight variability from turn to turn on things such as movement. That way players can't calculate exactly how far they or their opponents can move. They may be able to guesstimate, but never to the point of exact precission. So for example a unit has a base move of 3 but from turn to turn it might range from 2-5 with 3 being the most common and 2 or 5 being the least common and 4 happening occasionally.

3)Initiative rolls. Every turn units make a roll and add a speed modifier. Those with good rolls go first, those with bad rolls go last. Thus teams don't all move at once on the same turn, but rather units turns are staggered.

4) Fog of war? Okay so your scouts know what you are about to fight, but when battle begins you don't know how they are forming ranks or the like. 

Just some thoughts, but I will have more to say when I see the actual system. Frankly speaking, I don't want to have to skip battles unless it is 25 knights vs 2 spiders. Evenly matched battles should be left to skill and not accounting in my oppinion.

5,421 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

Agree with the general sentiment.

 

Don't like the idea of movement rolls, but rolls in general are a good thing for variability, so long as they're not so variable they can totally change the course of a battle which looked like it would only go one way.

 

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

I don't agree with suggestions 2, 3 and 4.

 

Combat should be tactical, not random.

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

1.Would be cool if there were spells to fog the positioning faze for your opponent, as well as spells(magic eyes, birds, etc)/items (binoculars, potions of greater seeing) /abilities (master tactician, ranger)/special units (scouts, rangers, ninja) to nullify that would be cool as well. 

Maybe some items like binoculars or ability of master tactician to allow you and see where the opponent placed his first 2< (based on lvl) troops & thus allows you to adjust your own decisions prior to the start of combat.  Maybe players can even have defensive items such as cataracts or spells that work as such that can be cast on grids prior to begging of combat that can help defend the troops or prevent opposing teams from moving in for a first strike.

Also making the tactical map equivalent to the size & placement of the engaging armies grids vs the grids occupied by your opponent.  This would allow for the incorporation of tactical maneuvers such as flanking & encircling into the game dynamics, could be a nice way to spice up the game prior to the tactical map engagement.  Maybe even spells that could be used to prevent your troops from being flanked.

2.  If you have such an engaging game & then ruin it by pre-calculated battles would truly suck, just play Evony or Lords Online in that case.  What would be cool though is to incorporate the use of pre-created maneuvers.  Like in NFL games or Rainbow Six, you can have pre-created maneuvers that your troops perform & you can jump in at anytime to adjust the moves or to activate another pre-created maneuver/tactic.  

3.  Yep sounds good, & maybe tactical spells to create/destroy obstacles that can modify the movement of enemy units.  IceWall Vs FireSpells or EarthWall vs Air/WaterSpells etc.  Another thing would be cool is if you can chain magic, like AirWall & casting Fire on it will create a flaming tornado or something, forcing the opposing team to either retreat or use a spell to counterbalance an active flaming tornado on the field of battle.  Maybe even spells like Fissure can be created to prevent troops from getting to your archers. 

 

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Agree that there should be some randomness in movement and initiative when in combat, as 's___t' happens in combat. 

 

The magic is supposed to add a lot of variability in play, such that your 2 knights might be able to defeat 10 knights if your Sovereign has enough skill and will choose to expend enough resources to alter the battle dynamics with spells. This IMHO is the heart of fantasy battles and will keep every battle fresh and exciting and thus FUN.  This represents the biggest difference between an encounter with a wandering monster and another player/AI Sovereign:  another Sovereign should have the possibility of really messing with your battle group if they choose to expend those resources, regardless of their battle strength.