I am currently working on a semi-cooperative space empire game, and I am trying to flesh out the current combat mechanic.
In the game, players are motivated to help each other out against invading threats. So, for example, a marauding Space Amoeba could attack a colonized planet and one or more players may send their fleets to help fend off the attack.
Placing aside right now the specifics of how the combat mechanic works (that can be another thread) I am looking for a fair way of distributing enemy hits amongst the defending players.
As a concrete example, let's say player A has 2 ships in the battle, player B has 1 ship in the battle versus a single enemy Space Amoeba.
A round of combat ensues, and the Space Amoeba scores two hits. How do you determine in a quick, elegant and non-fiddly way how those hits are distributed over the three ships belonging to the two players?
You don't want to give one of the players the ability to make the decision as he will always make it in his favor to the detriment of the other player.
Ideally it should be randomized, but how when you have variable amount of ships in battles?
Any good ideas?
Thanks,
--DarkDream
Thanks guys for your comments.
So say Player A has 2 ships and Player B has 1 ship. Player A attacks the Space Amoeba. At that point the Amoeba attacks back SIMULTANEOUSLY, such that both attacks occur at almost the same time. This way there is no need for an AI turn and trying to decide which player the Amoeba will attack.
This method works also if Player B attacks. The Amoeba will attack Player B when he attacks the Space Amoeba.
Your suggestion definitely does avoid the issue of how to distribute hits amongst multiple players, however, it begs the question of how to get the players to decide amongst themselves who attacks first. If it is a semi-competitive game, I will always want the other player to risk his neck first as it were.
Why would a helping player decide to take the hit or not?
Is almost the same as:
Why would a player decide to help or not?
I think, it would be the best to have the player that is attacked, take the first hit. Then the player who decides to help take the next hit. If a third player decided to help, clockwise perhaps?
And the hits are distributed evenly, untill all ships have taken a hit.
I think it is a good question as to why would a player decide to help or not. In the game, if the other player's planet gets destroyed the Space Amoeba will continue and possibly ravage his own planet. It is mutual survival. Plus I have added incentives with giving VPs for helping out a battle and so on.
Using some method of going clockwise and distributing hits evenly I also thought about myself. The problem is that the hit allocation is deterministic and if the battle goes through several rounds the said player will always be the first one hit. Seems a little unfair and somewhat unrealistic if you see war as a very random event.
It supports the theme: War is way less predictable than most games make it out to be, and not at all fair. The decision to participate should not be taken lightly. This approach assures that a player has no idea what kind of danger they're walking into when they join in a battle, and this ramps up the tension.
It supports the semi-cooperative nature of the game: They may lose their entire fleet, while the other player walks away unscathed. These sorts of considerations and experiences breed complex feelings between players. Doesn't this mimic what the leaders of allied nations experience in their dealings with each other?
It supports the perceived strength of your antagonist: Players can't predict their losses, and this fear will be psychologically transferred onto the enemy, making him feel more threatening and enriching the experience. Space is scary and largely unknown, and aliens even more so!
BBBlackwell, I am in complete agreement with you. It is much better from a gaming and thematic standpoint if the distribution of hits is completely random.
It also puts more tension in the game as you can put in a couple of ships along with a player that puts in twice that much and you have no idea up front (assuming you will take some hits) what will occur. Your allied player may loose all his and none of your ships will even experience a scratch. Or you may be completely eliminated yourself. You just don't know.
This seems to me quite realistic as well.
If we want to go this route of having a completely random distribution of hits where both players attack simultaneously and receive enemy hits, how can we make those hits distributed randomly over the ships?
--DarkDream