I am been working on combat system for a civ like game for years and I probably tried at least 30 different system that failed one after another. The reason I am writing is because I found and Idea that could probably work and I was looking for comments and suggestions.
What makes it complex is that the system must respect the following criterias
- Allow a large variety of units: It must be possible to have between 50-100 different unique units. So a high range of stat permutation must be allowed.
- The resolution must be quick: The whole warfare resolution must be resolve in less than 1 or 2 minutes.
- Allows special effect add ons: It must be possible to easily use spell or abilities to add a large variety of effects to the battle.
- Used in 2 games at once: The unit design must also be reusable for a more detailed tactical game focusing only on the battles. So the same unit must be used in a simplified and detailed system.
You might say that I am asking for the moon, yes I am. But I think I found a solution lately to the problem that could respect all the criteria above.
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First, the difference between the tactical and simplified version will be mobility. In the tactical game, the unit will move on an hex map like any other war game. In the simplified version, units will be arranged in a formation before the start of the battle following a hex pattern as a front/bottom row. Each player place their formation in front of each other, and each unit can target 2 different unit in front of them (like a binary tree). The type of unit (archery, cavalry, infantry) will determine which unit can be targeted.
The second difference between both games is that the simplified version will roll the dice once for the whole round of battle instead of seperatly for each attack. Not sure if there will be 1 die per unit type, or per flank, I'll see to that. The goal is to speed up the resolution by avoiding multiple rolls.
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What ever the method used above, units are going to get matched together and they are going to fight. The resolution system is very simple. Roll 1D6 + attack value > 4 + defense value. It's a simple linear system similar to Eclipse where 1 and 6 are auto fail and success. This is nothing new.
Now the particularity is that each point of attack and each point of defense is in fact a unique Icon that explains why this unit has this bonus. For example, an enchanted cavalry unit could have 3 icons for attack for a +3 on their die roll because of:
Lance + Charge + Flame Weapon
A rogue unit could have the following attack icons
Sword + Poison
This follows the idea that there are no weapon deadlier than others, so instead of giving a damage rating to each weapon, you simply count the number of ways the unit can kill it's target.
Same thing for defenses, a knight could have the "Heavy armor" icons that will raise TN to hit by +1.
Enchantments simply add icons to the unit's attack or defense.
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Now this is where it gets tricky. The reason why the source of each icon is detailed is because each of them can be countered individually by a counter icon. A counter icon, is generally the same icon but of a different color. Attack icons would be red, and counter-defense icons would be yellow. While defense icons would be blue while counter-attack icons would be green. Here is an unit example:
Halberdiers
Attack: Halberd + [Heavy Armor]
Defense: [Charge]
The [] marks that it's a counter icons, so the color is different. In the example above, the halberdiers get +1 on their attack (for the halberds) and they will ignore the heavy armor and the charge icon of their opponents. So it will reduce the attack and defense value of their opponent.
So the idea of detailing icons is that I can have an infinity of permutations allowing a very level of unique units. Some icons will be more common than other, or some icons will be more countered than others making some of them more valuable.
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What do you think?
Will it be interesting?
Will it allow a large variety of units?
Will it be fast to resolve?
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Unfortunately, in game customizable units will not be an option. Too much management, too much components. Even in video games like Elemental:Fallen Enchanteress, I don't like it. But if people want to make custom units as a variant, that could be possible to do.