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My Clash Mechanic: Creature Clash - War of the Elements

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Toa Lewa
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Hi guys,

I’m wanting to get some feedback about my battle mechanics for a game I am working on. First, let me give you some background information about the game. The name of the game is called Creature Clash - War of the Elements. The board is composed of modular tiles (not sure of the exact number yet), and each tile corresponds to a type of element. There are five elements: fire, water, air, earth, and aether. Each player starts the game with a certain amount of creatures, and each creature will be composed of a specific type of element or element combination. During the game, players will generate elemental energy by taking control of tiles, and elemental energy allows players to create or level up creatures. The goal of the game is to completely eliminate the other player’s creatures, which happens during clashes.

The main battle mechanic is the clash, and this is what I am wanting feedback on. During a player’s turn, he or she may initiate a clash, and a clash can be initiated if a player has creatures on a tile that is adjacent to an enemy occupied tile. Each tile can be populated by up to four creatures, and a tile can be attacked by more than one tile at once. When a clash is initiated, each player organizes their defenders and attackers into a line-up (more on this later). After ordering their creatures, each creature takes turns attacking and defending. When it comes time for a creature to attack, the player can choose which creature it is targeting. After targeting a creature, the attacker rolls a number of attack dice equal to the creature’s level, and the defender rolls a number of defence dice equal to the creature’s level. The dice are like heroscape dice; the attack dice have hit symbols, and the defence dice have block symbols. If the number of hits is greater than the number of blocks, the defending creature is decreased by one level (if a level one creature is decreased by one level, the creature dies). If the number of blocks is greater than or equal to the number of hits, the attack is blocked and nothing happens. After the attacker attacks with a creature, the defender gets a chance to attack with the first creature in his or her line-up. In addition to attacking, a player can choose to have a creature delay its attack. When a player skips his or her turn, but he or she can attack with two creatures at the same time on the next turn. After the defender attacks, the attacking player gets to attack with the next creature in his or her line-up and on it goes. This continues until the defending player is eliminated or the attacking player chooses to retreat.

I would be very happy to see what you think of this mechanic.

Toa Lewa
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An Example of a Clash

Here is an example of a clash. Bob and Jack are playing. Bob is the defender and he has two level 2 fire creatures and one level 2 water creature on a tile. Jack is attacking with three level 2 earth creatures and one level 1 air creature. Bob orders his creatures as follows: water, fire fire (this means water will attack first for him). Jack orders his creatures as follows: earth, earth, earth, air. Jack begins his attack with his first earth creature, and he chooses to attack the water creature (water is weak against earth in this game, and he will get a bonus by attacking water with earth). Because Jack’s earth creature is a level 2, he rolls two attack dice. He rolls a hit on one die and a blank on the other. Normally this would count as one hit, but since water is weak against earth, the hit counts as two. Because the water creature is a level 2, Bob rolls two defence dice. Bob rolls two blocks, which cancels out the number of hits, and the water creature doesn’t receive any damage. It is now Bob’s turn, and he must attack with his water creature (since it is the first one in his line-up). He decides to attack the level 1 air creature. Bob rolls two attack dice for his water creature and they are both hits. Jack’s creature automatically dies since he can only roll one die for his level 1 air creature. The battle continues and eventually Bob only has his water creature left. Jack skipped his last turn and Bob just finished his attack. Since Jack skipped his last turn with his earth creature, he can attack with two earth creatures at once. He rolls four attack dice (two for each level 2 earth creature). He rolls 3 hits, which become six hits since earth is strong against water. The water creature rolls two dice and only one is a block, and the water creature is reduced by one level.

schattentanz
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Sounds generic

Hi,

first of all, the system appears pretty generic. Not that there is anything wrong with that - there isn't!

However, you are using special dice.
Special dice only appeal to a special audience.
If you want to reach more players with your game, you might want to substitute your dice with regular dice.

Two suggestions for substitutes with examples:

The "bucket of dice" approach (similar to what you are already using):
Attacker rolls dice equal to his creautre's level. Each result of 4, 5 and 6 counts as 1 hit (optional: 6 counts as 2 hits), double results, if you attack versus "weakness".

The single die approach:
This approach reduces combat to a single roll of a die and might require you to Balance everything else anew.
A creature's attack is successful, if the result rolled on one die lies between 1 and the creature's level.
A creature defends, if the result rolled on one die lies between 1 and the creature's level AND if the result equals or beats the attacker's result. If the defender's result is lower, substract it from the attacker's result. The total is the amount of levels, the defender loses.
If the defender botched his roll, he receives full damage.
If the defender has a weakness versus the attacking element, he gets a +1 on his result.

Just some thoughts...

Kind regards,
Kai

Toa Lewa
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Schattentanz, I agree that my

Schattentanz,

I agree that my combat resolution system is fairly generic (I didn't want to reinvent the wheel). However, I believe the clash system overall is unique. Basically, what I have been trying to do is merge turned based RPG attack mechanics with large scale war game attack mechanics. I wanted a way that units could have HP, but I didn't want it to be really complicated since the board may have 50 or more units on it. That is why I chose to have HP directly correlate with the unit's level. Also, organizing your attack and defense lineup is really crucial in this game (although it may not seem like it at first glance), because the ones that attack last may end up being wiped out before they can attack. I also like the ability to combine attacks together, but it can be risky because the creature that skipped its turn may end up dying before it can combine its attack with another creature.

Thanks for the dice ideas. I think I'll stick with the "bucket of dice" system I have but replace them with normal dice. I like your second one die suggestion, but it may mess up the mechanics.

Toa Lewa
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What do you think of the skip

What does anyone think of the skip your turn idea that allows you to combine two attacks on one turn? I'd like some feedback on this.

X3M
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Joined: 10/28/2013
some.... feedback

If charging an attack means a certain victory after risking a loss. The charged attack should have a little bonus.
1 attack = 100%
2 attacks = 200%
A charged attack in 2 turns = 250% ?
(200+50%, the bonus actually depends on the damage/health ratio, if you can give me that number, I can calculate the bonus for you)

Unless, a charged attack means killing an enemy instead of allowing that enemy to retreat. It should just be 200%.

It depends on the mechanic.
I love charged attacks, and many others do. Remember that these units are mostly filling in as a supportive role.

And are you going to allow 3 rounds of charging?

Toa Lewa
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Charging and Damage

X3M wrote:
If charging an attack means a certain victory after risking a loss. The charged attack should have a little bonus.

Well, I really didn't think about it being a charged attack. My initial idea was that two or more creatures were combining their attacks together, and combining attacks together would increase the chance of wounding a defending creature. I do like the idea of charged attacks though. I'll have to think about adding that idea.

X3M wrote:
the bonus actually depends on the damage/health ratio, if you can give me that number, I can calculate the bonus for you

I'm not exactly sure what you mean. Currently, health is determined by the creature's level. A level one creature has 1 HP, a level three creature has 3 HP, etc. As for damage, damage always and only reduces a creature by one level. My system doesn't have different damage values.

X3M wrote:
And are you going to allow 3 rounds of charging?

It depends on what you mean by charging. If you mean increasing an individual creature's attack value, I'm not sure. If you mean allowing multiple creatures to skip their turns and attack all at once, then yes. Attacking all at once with four creatures could be very beneficial (especially when attacking a high level creature, which are difficult to damage).

By the way, I am very seriously considering adding your charge idea to my game. Thanks for the idea!

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