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Resolving complex combat interactions - simply

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thoughtfulmonkey
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Joined: 12/04/2014

A couple of the entries in the "MSP-Games Micro Game Challenge" competition included a number of unit types, which had some complicated relationships of who beat whom.

It got me thinking of how this might be best represented on the pieces themselves, rather than in an additional table.

You can view a possible solution in this image. You could line up the top edges, and look-up the result.

What do people think? It might be a bit confusing to players at a casual glance, but basically the semi-circles go in the opposite order to the arrows.

DifferentName
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Joined: 09/08/2013
Yeah, there were a lot

Interesting solution. I definitely like the idea of doing that sort of thing visually instead of requiring players to memorize a big list, or to go through a spread sheet.

Also, there are other ways to get a rock paper scissors effect without explicitly stating what beats what. Using things like armor, damage, and attack speeds can open up strategies while allowing the player to feel clever for figuring out what counters what.

For example, a knight with high armor could prevent damage from a small blade allowing the knight to defeat a rogue. A rogue's high attack speed allows it to defeat a wizard before the wizard can complete his slow attack. The wizard's high spell damage and range can get through the knights armor. Instead of making a chart that says wizards always beat knights, you can do this through their stats and abilities.

The Professor
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Joined: 10/25/2014
Exceptionally Clever

Thanks for sharing the image...it's amazing, that even after nearly 60 years when Diplomacy was first created, we have such a rich conversation about different game-mechanics.

The last month or so since I've joined BGDF has been an incredible experience...partly because I wasn't aware that there were so many folks interested in the creation of board games; but moreover, that one place had been designed solely for this level of dialogue.'

Cheers,
Joe

danartman
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Joined: 12/15/2014
I agree Joe

I agree. It's fun to read this sort of stuff.

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