Something between a board and a card game?

Is that the combat resolution is not sufficient or overpowered.

1 attack per round is the same handling as what we do in our prototype game. The pieces fight, then are returned to the map (in this case, a deck).

Health is tracked this time. That is a primairy goal.
I could do the same as my Ogame variant. Which used threshold mechanics (do more damage than the target X in order to destroy it).
But since I want to do health tracking. I cannot have the sides combat till destruction either, without movement

So, a salvo would really be best. Which is multiple attacks in a combat.
My Ogame variant has a salvo of 3 subturn.
The pieces are tapped each subturn when used.
And out of range means, no roll.
But with health tracking, the balance of a salvo will be harder.

A h/d ratio of only 3 might be too short here too. But I could try it out. If it doesn't work, I need to reduce it back to 2...
But if it works, I could experiment with a higher ratio and maybe bigger salvo's.

This is regarding to health.

I am not sure how high I can get with 8+, 12+ or whatever.

But I prefer to have a force survive 3 attacks on average.
This means that I need a lot of health tracking.

How to track health on a card that goes back into the deck?
And the health remains as it is???

Edit: the numbers are preferably 2 to 3 digits in this regard.
But at most 3 out of 12 cards are affected in a round.

Right, so I used the prototype values in the above example.

These are 50 for the body and 50 for the weapon for the first tier.
But every tier is multiplied by this 50.
The default movement speed is 2.
The default attack range is also 2, but the accuracy is then 5/6th.
In both cases, a 0 for movement speed and attack range, would result in 30 as value.
An invalid rifleman that can only stab around would cost 60 instead of 100.

When using the threshold mechanic. The tier is not following a lineair system linked to a squared system, any more. But an exponential linked to a higher exponential instead.

1 is 1
2 is not 4, but 3
3 is not 9, but probably 6
4 is not 16, but 9

Things shift, so I need to make a good map of this.
Half tiers can also be used now. Only because the second tier provies us with 3. Thus the 2 is a valid option now.

In the old prototype, we had this 2 as well, but then the 50 would become 70. I never made proper rules for this part.

But we can certainly toy around a bit with 50, 75, 100, 150 and 200.
With 0 as movement or attack range. We get 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120.
The common divider is 15 for the 0. But 25 for the default.

5 in both cases. So, I think that the cost would be 20 for a rifleman. Not 2 or something low. Still, I have to design a lot in order to see what I can do with the cost value. The lower, the better.

I did some thinking.
Correct me if you think it is a bad idea.

Rights, so I think limiting the stock deck itself to X number of cards. While allowing players to put in as many cards of one design as they like.

Will add to flexibility of strategies with cards.

What I mean is....ok, here is an example.

Lets say, a player has 6 cards in stock.
Each card can be 1 to many units, depending on the limit set on a force.
With 6 cards, you can have 6 forces.
Or, you arrange these cards in less forces.

With every card added to a force, things like cover formations and the exchange of damaged units will increase.

Now, if the player is allowed only 1 force. You got 6 cards in that force. You can have up to 5 damaged units taking cover.

However, if you have 2 different types of units. Like riflemen and combat tanks.
Lets say, you have only 3 of each.
And thus, only 2 damaged units of 1 type can take cover.

The advantage is for the more expensive cards.
But a player could choose to have only 2 tanks and then 4 riflemen cards.
In a sense, the riflemen can have up to 3 damaged units take cover, while the tanks can have only 1 damaged unit taking cover.

And the tanks are now more forced in being destroyed triangular, than the riflemen.

Just a reminder, I did design the RPS and threshold mechanic in such a way. That fodder was going to be the better choice. But in a sense, this advantage is now competing with how many cards a player will put in the deck of a certain unit type.

While trying out some numbers. I realized that charging and cooldown should be part of the attack. (charging in like charging up a weapon, aiming more precisely etc.)

In my proto-type version.
Charging and cooldown would cost action points.
Charging required the target to remain in range and costed 1 AP per turn.
Cooldown immediately required all AP.

In my public version.
I never used charging and cooldown.

In my Ogame variant.
You couldn't move during an attack.

***

In the game without AP...

Charging would not be a problem. The target is the only other piece that can either move or return fire.
In both cases, it simply works out.

It is the cooldown that worries me. If you attack with any weapon that shoots in the first or second subturn. The third subturn kinda acts as a cooldown. The enemy can still return fire in that subturn. And the weapon is cheaper if it is the first or second subturn only.

This means that I need to rethink this for a while. Perhaps change the values. Or a rule. But I don't know what would be best at this point.

***

What I want to keep is the fact that if a force moves once, only the first 2 subturns of a salvo can be applied. No matter when the move happens.
And if a force moves twice, only the first subturn of a salvo can be applied. Again, no matter when the move happens.

This means that charging is extra difficult.
Yet an assault is simpler.

Options:
- I change the value's of each subturn, allowing movement if a force doesn't shoot. But is still reloading. Probably doubling the charging bonus damage, since it is a yes/no. I try with 50% instead. Pretending it is a ratio of 2.
- A force simply may not move after firing at all. After all, charging doesn't work like this either.

I need to think about this.

I decided to have the following weights:
First shot is 100%
Second shot is 67%
Third shot is 33%

This means that the damages that are weighting the same are:
1 for the first shot.
1.5 for the second shot.
3 for the third shot.

***

Let me know if this is clear.

Apparently the subturns are hard to grasp?
I honestly think that it was explained wrong then.

We got 2 parts of the game.
A minimap with a piece on it, representing the force.
This piece can move around on the minimap.
Then there is a deck of cards for each force.
It can be 1, maybe even 10. There is plenty of room for 10 cards.

The players have a round, consisting of 7 turns.
Each turn, the player can use 1 force.
In this turn, the player gets 3 subturns for that force.

The force can either move or attack per subturns.

If the force is in battle. The force will be placed on the table. Spread out, for fighting purposes. There is no need to do this if the force can safely move around only.

When fighting. Each card has a salvo.
A salvo cosists of damage and accuracy per subturn.
But for simplistic purposes, I will only show damage.

An example is the basic salvo:
3-3-3
This salvo will deal 3 damage per subturn.
But ONLY IF the force didn't move.
If the force doesn't move at all. 9 damage in total is possible.
If the force moves once, only 6 damage in total is possible.
Obviously, moving twice, in-shoot-out, the force will do only 3 damage.

The confusion might be in which 3 is being used.
It ALWAYS starts at the first shot.

Now, if a player wants to deal more damage with for example. Moving in, shoot, then move out, tactic.
The salvo 6-0-0 is a better option.
In the long run, it does only 6 damage.
But for the gurella fighting, it also does 6 damage.
It can do this 6 damage in 1 turn. It doesn't matter which subturn.

If you want to compete with this 6 damage. And this card is still moving towards you. If in range, a 0-9-0 salvo would be great. You aim at the card, while it moves. Then in the second subturn, both cards will shoot. The 6 damage card is still in the first shot. The 9 damage card however did "shoot" 0 damage. And is now allowed to shoot 9 damage.

I hope that these tactics are clear.

How the card should look like from top to bottom.

The name and cost should be on top.
Then a picture of the unit, structure.
Attributes.
Armor, movement speed amd attack range.
Salvo, which is; number of projectiles, accuracy, damage. And this 2 more times.
At last, some special features and flavour text.
The very bottom is gona have a serie number, i guess.

The maximum health is very 5. In fact, it is going to be as much 5 as possible. Exceptions will have a mention in the special features.

If a portion of the salvo has no projectiles. Only a 0 is shown.

If the unit or structure does something different than shooting. Then this will be dispayed instead of the salvo.

8f tye unit or structure has more than 1 weapon. This will be placed in the special features. Or, I can mamage to squees it in.

***

I will design right away with 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9 as types.
4, 5, 7 and 8 might be possible. But have limits.
The basic values have brackets of 1/3rd's. And the 2 has as basic value a 1.5.
But that will be ok.

I am not going to do factions.

I was thinking about see through cards that go with the card, back into the deck. For tracking the permanent damage.

But if the threshold is not broken yet during the first 2 subturns. This should still be tracked as well.
If only to give the fodder even more of an edge.

For this, I am thinking about acrylic cubes of different colours.
I am only going to allow those of power of 3.
1 Red
3 Orange
9 Yellow

So, when the damage roll has occured. And those dice that resulted in permanent damage have been replaced by a permanent damage marker.
Acrylic cubes are placed on top of what the attacker thinks is the next target.

***

Now, I did playtests with and without new cover formations during the 3 subturns.

Here are some examples, if reformation is not allowed:

Group 1 consists of an infinite riflemen.
There is no use in giving them a cover formation.
Since a damaged rifleman cannot take cover during the subturns.

Group 2 consists of 1 tank and 4 riflemen. The tank is a size equal to 4 riflemen.
Or, we put the tank in front. And it stays there for the entire turn.
Or, we put the riflemen in front. And they stay there for the entire turn.
If the tank falls, the riflemen are next. If even 1 rifleman falls, the tank can also be targeted.

Group 3 consists of 1 tank and 8 riflemen.
Or, we put the tank in front and have the riflemen take cover in a 2x4 formation.
Or, we put the riflemen in front and have the tank take cover. But the riflemen are better put in a 1x8 formation. Such that there have 5 riflemen to fall before the tank can be harmed.

In a sense.
I rather have the player do a reformation between subturns.
Although, the cubes might mostly become obsolete this way.

I like to analyse this part.

What are the chances of defeating an enemy card?
Assuming the cards have a maximum health of 5.
Assuming the cards cannot take cover, nor move away, etc., in between the subturns.

1-5-1 / 1-5-1 / 1-5-1

The damage shows it can only harm infantry for 100%.
Let's see, how big the chances are for each subturn.

1 attacker
Armor: Chance
1: 0% / 19% / 42% Same value
2: 0% / 0% / 3%
3: 0% / 0% / 0%

2 attackers
Armor: Chance
1: 19% / 61% / 85%
2: 0% / 10% / 37%
3: 0% / 0% / 5% Same value
4: 0% / 0% / 0%

3 attackers
Armor: Chance
1: 42% / 85% / 97%
2: 3% / 37% / 74%
3: 0% / 5% / 32%
4: 0% / 0% / 6%
5: 0% / 0% / 1%
6: 0% / 0% / 0% Same value

4 attackers
Armor: Chance
1: 61% / 95% / 99%
2: 10% / 63% / 92%
3: 0% / 21% / 65%
4: 0% / 3% / 29%
5: 0% / 0% / 7%
6: 0% / 0% / 0%
9:... Same value

***

Clearly, the riflemen aren't that good in the lower numbers. And a tank is a much better unit to use as a beginning player.
However, if we have a tank, and it is using a similar weapon. The damage can be higher, and thus the card more expensive.

This is considered to be the exact same design, but then in a higher tier.

The tank has:
1-5-9 / 1-5-9 / 1-5-9

While 4 riflemen face of against 1 tank.
The riflemen are never able to harm this tank.
In return, the tank has this:

1 attacker
Armor: Chance
1: 0% / 19% / 42% (25% value)
2: 0% / 19% / 42%
3: 0% / 19% / 42% (50% value)
4: 0% / 19% / 42%
5: 0% / 19% / 42%
6: 0% / 19% / 42% (75% value)
7: 0% / 19% / 42%
8: 0% / 19% / 42%
9: 0% / 19% / 42% Same value
10: 0% / 12% / 30%
11: 0% / 6% / 20%
12: 0% / 6% / 20%
13: 0% / 2% / 11% (125% value)
14: 0% / 2% / 11% (125% value)
15: 0% / 0% / 5%
16: 0% / 0% / 5%
17: 0% / 0% / 3%
18: 0% / 0% / 3% (150% value)
19: 0% / 0% / 1%
20: 0% / 0% / 0%

And at the top of this list. It does have a chance in harming a rifleman.
Actually, even a 42% chance on killing the rifleman at the end of a turn.

***

The fun begins, when we multiply the 4 rifleman vs 1 tank.
I now can look at the chances, or even a number of kills...
Albeit, this isn't accuracte, since the damage rolls need to be combined properly. 1+4 is better than 2+2+2.

1 Squad:
R: 0% / 0% / 0%
T: 0% / 19% / 42%-3% (0.45 kills)

2 Squads:
R: 0% / 0% / 7% (value is 0.28)
T: 19% / 61%-10% / 85%-37%-5% (1.27 kills)

3 Squads:
R: 0% / 7% / 73% (value is 2.92)
T: 42% / 85% / 97%-74%-32%-6%-1% (2.10 kills)

4 Squads:
R: 0% / 49% / 99%-1% (1.00 kill, but equal to 4 riflemen)
T: 61% / 95% / 99%-92%-65%-29%-7%-1% (2.93 kills)

With 3 times the basic match. The value of losses is already in favour for the riflemen.
With 4 times the basic match. For every tank that gets destroyed, only 3 riflemen die.

I have been cutting a lot.

- No more health tracking
- No damage roll
- Multiple units can put together their damage into 1 roll in order to surpass the threshold. Their chances are a bit better now.

There are some issue's too, that come with this:

1.
Multi dice units exist for a reason. They are supposed to deal multiple hits in order to kill multiple units if given the chance.

2.
Due to balance issue's. I had to have a double accuracy roll.
One standard of 2 or less.
And one given by the unit design.

3.
Should I still allow some damage tracking in order to give smaller groups a chance? For example, 3 riflemen can combine their power into 3 damage. But if the target has 6 armor, they need 2 chances. And a turn can have 3 attack phases. Thus, if they succeed in hitting, 3 damage needs to temporary tracked on the card. I find this fair to be honest.

4.
Another issue is, I don't know....if the following battles would really be in favour of the mixed group:
- 6 riflemen and 2 tanks against 12 riflemen
- 6 riflemen and 2 tanks against 4 tanks

The issue here is, does the mix have a better chance?
Does the cover behind the tanks or fodder even work?
The riflemen can combine their forces in an all or nothing event. Here is what we thought of:

***

Let's begin with explaining the 3 attack stats on the card.
A flamethrower has
3-5-1

The first number, 3, is the number of dice this unit can bring to the battlefield.
The second number, 5, is the accuracy of the weapon.
Roll 5 or less in order to keep the die.
The same die still has to roll 2 or less in order to remain a hit.
The third number, 1, is the damage per die that still hits.

Now, you can play with these numbers a bit.
The 3 dice can be turned into 1 die, while the 1 damage can be turned into 3 damage.
The accuracy of 5 can be turned into an accuracy of 1, while the 1 damage can be turned into 5 damage.
The number of dice, can also exchange value's with the basic accuracy roll of 2.

As long as the product of the 2 new value's equal the product of the previous 2 value's.

Whatever the player does:
- The player is NOT ALLOWED to reduce the damage given. Only increase.
- The player is NOT ALLOWED to incrase the dice given. Only decrease.
- Accuracy can go both ways. But have to remain rollable with a d6.

It is possible of a flamethrower to have 1 die, have a basic accuracy of 1 and an accuracy of 1, then deal 30 damage.
But dealing 30 damage with a chance of 1/36th is a big gamble.

A rifleman has
1-5-1
And he too can have a 1/36th chance.
But then would deal only 10 damage.
So, in the long run, 1 rifleman has a (1/36)^3 chance to deal 30 damage. Hürâh!?.....

Either way. The thing is, combining is possible too.

A tank can have 6 Armor. In order to defeat the tank. A rifleman needs to deal 6 damage.
6 riflemen, each deal 1-5-1.
So, in a sense, we have 6-5-1.
We can change this into 1-5-6.
So instead of 6 dice, each dealing 1 damage when they hit. We have 1 die that will deal 6 damage when it hits.

Combining damage will have the same average result. But the chances in getting the desired result is much higher.
In this case, from 38% to 62% chance in defeating 1 tank.
And the chances to defeat 2 or even 3 tanks during a turn is also very realistic. 19% and 2%.

The 2 tanks on the other hand, have no chance in killing all riflemen.

***

My biggest concern is, will this break the game?
Perhaps I should reconsider the threshold. And change these back?

Exchange of value's:
Still optional, but now we only allow the number of units combine their projectiles.
This means that 4 flame tanks with 3 projectiles dealing 1 damage.
Can either have 12 projectiles dealing 1 damage.
Or 6 projectiles dealing 2 damage each (or 2 kills of 1 armor)
Or 3 projectiles dealing 4 damage each (or 4 kills of 1 armor or 2 kills of 2 armor)

If the target has 3 armor, this mechanic is a bad idea for the flame tanks.
You cannot have 4 dice dealing 3 damage each, this is not allowed.
But, you could go for a 3 dice dealing 2 damage each and then 6 dice dealing 1 damage each. Thus 9 dice in total....
Well, still lots to think about.

***

It remains Threshold.
YES

***

Carryining damage over to the next phase is nesesary to the balance.
YES

***

We have yet to test mixed against pure...

I cannot have the attribute assault. Nor the action.

A force can either move or attack. And the maximum is 3 per round for a combination.

And if the attack is slow, this is simply shown in the turnorder.

The following weapons cost the same, but show how it is done.
1-1-1, deals 1 damage every time when it attacks. Can move up to 2 prior, once in between or 2 afterwards. Dealing 1, 2 or 1 damage in total.
2-0-0, deals 2 damage, only once. It can move twice prior or twice after. The best weapon for an "assault" by moving in range and then deal all the damage asap.
0-3-0, deals 3 damage, only once. It can move once prior or once after. It has to charge 1 turn, meaning units might be lost. This unit isn't that good as an assault unit. But can still be used that way. Meaning you loose twice as much as when it had the 2-0-0 damage.
0-0-6, deals 6 damage, only once. But it can never move. It has to charge 2 times. Or else it cannot fire at all. If the target is out of the way, this force is exhausted for nothing.

I still allow a shorter attack range to do their buisness first when they fight a longer attack range. This way, a short burst weapon like a flamethrower, will take damage first. But in the 2nd turn, it has a chance to do whatever nessesary.

I still allow a penalty on moving targets.
Shortest attack range is compared to the moving distance.
If the attack range is 2, and the moving distance is 1. The penalty is 1.
If the attack range is 1, yet the moving distance is 2. The penalty is still 1.

A penalty is a roll of 5/6th.
Multiple penalty can result in a replacement of the 5/6th.

Flamethrow infantry
3 credits per unit
1 damage per hit
accuracy 6
Can roll 6 dice, only in the 1st turn

Now I know the number of dice sounds ridiculous. And the total ammounts sums up to even 24 for 4 units.
I thought it would be 12 or something at most.
And why is this number so high?
The attack range is 0. This requires them to move even closer, once they defeated some units. But it can easily be done during the round as well.
From 2 to 0 range means an increase of 67% damage.
And they have a weapons value being 80% higher than that or the rifleman as well. This is a total of 3 times more damage.
Then everything is put in the first turn. Reducing the damage back to 2 times more damage in total.

A total is from all 3 turns. So, the riflemen have 6 dice. But these are rolled 3 times in 1 round too.

***

In direct combat.
Things go different than expected.
First the flamethrow infantry kill of all riflemen...the end.

But when the flamethrow infantry need to approach the riflemen.
The riflemen can shoot with a penalty of 1.
The flamethrow infantry cannot defeat the rifleman instantly anymore due to a smaller squad. This happens in the 2nd turn.
In the 3rd turn, the flamethrow infantry move 1 closer, and now occupy the same region.
Still, the flamethrow infantry win with 2.18 remaining.

***

Not sure. 24 dice now....
I think 6 should be the max. But the player simply rolls 4 times.
It isn't like something else will be simoultainiously except for other melee weapons.
So, the complete focus would be on these dice.