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Need to find a better Combat Mechanic for Insania Lupina // Any ideas ?

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Wed, 03/02/2011 - 11:12
le_renard
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Hi, I posted most of the rules for my work-in-progress game Insania Lupina ( in the Mechanics & New Game Ideas section... ) and one of you gave me some feedback about the combat system...
The current system is here : Close Combat System

This is the comment :

Quote:
Combat: I would, as a player, want something that was a little more engaging and tactical than rolling dice and adding/subtracting stats. I would like something that offered me more choices, opportunity to bluff, or manage a resource.

Do you have any suggestions of a combat mechanic that could match this highly thematic game ?
My old system works, but I totally agree on the fact that something more innovative could be found...

( in the game, when you capture a city, you gain the support of its population - a fixed value each turn... if you need some "resource" )

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Wed, 03/02/2011 - 11:28
#1
Yamahako
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A quick basic idea - though

A quick basic idea - though might incur a greater cost depending on the number of characters would be - is to have a hand of cards for each character that would encompass the rolls that character could do. You must use all of the cards in the hand before you get to return all the cards to the hand.

When you would do a combat roll, you instead choose a card from the hand, both players would put their card face down, and flip them at the same time. Same as with the die, high card wins. However now there's a bluffing element - am I going to play the 1 on my wolf hoping you burn one of your 5's on your knight? My opinion would be that you would have to keep the "discard" pile for each character secret - so that it would require a bit of memory on the part of the opponents to remember which values you had left in that character's hand.

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Wed, 03/02/2011 - 13:45
#2
Jackhalfaprayer
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What funtions do unit's need

What funtions do unit's need to serve in the game?

Claim territory? Destroy opposing units? Gather resources? Anything else?

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Wed, 03/02/2011 - 14:04
#3
le_renard
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Claim territory Destroy
  • Claim territory
  • Destroy opposing units
  • Gather resources : Peasants can be used as "weak" fighters or converted into Cultivators ( and cannot move or fight anymore. They just produce food )
  • Special Actions : Heal, Curse or Bless, Lay traps...
  • Another thing is when the Werewolf Leader secretely moves, he leaves traces behind him, traces tokens that are placed on his previous location. When a character picks this trace token up, he can "spend" it to draw a City Tile inside a bag that is used by the Werewolf Leader to determine randomly where he's secretely moving on the board.
    The more "traces" you gather, the more City Tile you can remove rom the bag, the more chance you have to guess where he's hiding and force him to reveal.... We can say that some characters are more likely to be used to "investigate" than fight....
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Wed, 03/02/2011 - 14:51
#4
Jackhalfaprayer
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How does a unit claim

How does a unit claim territory? By standing in it?

The real meat and potatoes of this thread is “how does one unit kill other units?”

Some options:
Stats + dice-roll (you’re currently using this one)

Blind Bidding (an army is comprised of many units. When two armies move into the same space both parties secretly bid how many troops they want to commit to the combat. The army that bids higher completely eliminates the other. It then loses a number of units equal to their winning bid. Dune uses this system)

Hard number + blind bid (Game of Thrones uses this. Each unit represents 1 point of combat strength. When two armies exist in the same space, each force know exactly how many points of combat strength the opponent has. Players then each secretly play a card with a value on it. These values might range from 1-5. After both cards are selected they are revealed simultaneously and added to the combat strength of the units on the table. The larger value defeats the smaller. The losing force retreats to friendly adjacent territory. Certain card have the ability to kill and or save units.)

Rock-paper-scissors: Certain units have the ability to kill certain other units but in turn can be annihilated by yet other units.

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Wed, 03/02/2011 - 17:44
#5
le_renard
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Thanks to both of your for

Thanks to both of your for your suggestions...

In Insania Lupina, I don't deal with huge armies... it's more about archetypal characters representing those forces...
A Soldier is a single soldier, for instance. If I want to form an actual troop, I have to gather them first and make them move together.
It's not like in Battlelore where there are several soldiers in an infantry unit...
Well, I guess it's actually the same thing... Health points are more or less like the number of soldiers in a unit...

I might be wrong but I feel like your suggestions are maybe more larger-scale-oriented....

  • Blind Bidding : I have the feeling that in a 1 vs. 1 combat, a single round of combat could be quite frustrating. I like the idea of several rounds in a combat.
  • Hard Number + Blind Bid : I like the idea of managing cards with values and adding this to the combat strength.

    • Do you think there could be a way to adapt that to the actual scale of my game or do you definitely think I should go for troops instead of single characters ?
    I mean, can some of those generated Support Points be used also here, as the blind bid ?
    This way, one would have to choose between spending a lot of Support Points to be the First Player ( and gaining the privilege of choosing the neutral Ally he wants ) or keep them as Combat Strength modifiers...
    thematically, we could see that as receiving the help of the local population....

  • Rock-Paper-Scissors : I like the Fury of Dracula combat system... but the "hiding werewolf" + this system may sound like a rip-off which it's definitely not....
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