Dev Diary - How Combat Works - Part 1

Dev Diary - How Combat Works Part 1

I am taking a short break from talking about the bigger features of this game and will use this one to focus on what this game is all about. Combat. Really, that is what this game revolves around and I realize I haven't talked about it much mainly because it didn't seem flashy but considering this is what people play these games for I think it is time to go into the details.

Warning, this one may get a little crunchy on stats and details so not everyone will appreciate these details. :)

Positioning in Battle

Almost every battle starts with units on either side of the map. There are special conditions or events where players will start surrounded in the middle of the map, split up from each other, behind a wall, etc. However those are the exceptions.

Map Layout

Depending on where the battle takes place on the world map, it will determine what type of map you will fight on. Each type of terrain on the world map has different options for battle maps. These battle maps vary a lot. Some are more wide open with only a few trees and hills. Others have a lot of obstacles like rocks or gravestones. Also, unlike a lot of games out there, this has buildings. The buildings are meant to force different types of tactics. They make it harder to overwhelm with ranged units or numbers and allow the defenders to control the battle flow more.

These maps are a mix of procedurally generated, such as the open plains ones, to completely hand crafted, such as all the town ones. Many are a bit of both where I setup some key design aspects (such as a waterfall here and a bridge there) and then the system procedurally generates other terrain to make sure every map isn't the same.

How Terrain Matters

Terrain can slow you down (see below), block line of sight, add defense bonuses or even damage you.

TIP: To see exactly what an obstacle or terrain does/does not do, hold down Control and move your mouse over the tiles and it will tell you what it does.

Turn Order

Turn order rotates between units based on your initiative. Units with higher initiative can move more often than others. The fastest high end unit turns can come up twice as often as regular units and three times as much as the slowest. Typically small units not wearing heavy armor have higher initiative. You can see the next unit in the initiative bar.

Moving Around

Most units start with 3 action points and they are used for moving and actions. Open terrain costs 1 action point to move while obstacles (like rubble, trees or swamp) cost 2 action points. The tiles you can move will be in blue

TIP: Your unit race matters here as some races completely remove these issues, like elves in forest tiles.

Actions

Actions include basic attacking, abilities and spells. The action points used vary depending on what you are doing.

Basic attacking

This is when an enemy is in your range for your melee or range weapon and you simply click them. It does basic damage and has a lower fatigue cost. Now, sometimes you only need to do 1 damage to kill the enemy so waiting a full turn as you have 16 of the required 17 fatigue is just sad. So if you don't have enough fatigue to do a full attack, you will automatically be able to do a tired attack for a lot less damage (scales by how much fatigue you are missing).

The first basic attack costs 1 action point and subsequent ones cost 3 action points. This means with certain races and higher levels, players can make multiple basic attacks per turn. It also stops you from moving when you use these basic attacks (except for goblins who can hit and run_. This is by design as it leans into using abilities more strategically.

Where you can attack is marked in red

TIP: You can use movement abilities after basic attacks, so you can do a basic attack and then leap or fly away.

Abilities

There are around 70-80 different abilities in this game. Some are default for races or weapons. However the majority are unlocked by leveling up skills. There are many types including attacking, support, defensive, debuff, movement and those that are just plain fun (like the Ogre's Throw Ally skill). They each have different action point costs, cooldowns and fatigue costs. You can use as many as you want per turn as long as they are off cooldown, you have the action points and enough fatigue. Also, you can move after using them, unlike basic attacks.

TIP: At higher levels you will find having attack abilities even more useful as you have enough fatigue to attack many times a turn.

Spells

Spells are a lot like abilities but they are all unlocked through different magic skills. Fireball, Earthbind, Restore, Meteor Strike, Mass Haste, Life Drain, etc. They offer a lot more variety than abilities and they primarily range based.

Steam post image

TIP: Range attack stat is what is used for spell accuracy.

Fatigue

Every unit has a certain amount of maximum fatigue. Moving reduces available fatigue a little but attacking increases it a lot. Early game, fatigue management is tough by design. Your units will tire out quickly, forcing you to rotate your line to give units a couple turns rest. As your unit builds up fatigue, their stats drop as they are too tired to dodge or attack properly.

How much fatigue is restored each turn is based on their willpower stat as well as if they Wait. Waiting speeds up their next turn and gives a big increase to fatigue recovery.

TIP: Even though fatigue and willpower are not shiny stats like Melee Attack, they are important to keep your company fighting in long engagements. Steam post image

The blue bar shows fatigue left with the light blue showing how much fatigue attacking the unit would cost.

That's it for today. Next time I will talk about unit facing, determining to-hit, damage and how armor plays into things.