Hey guys, this is my first post. I'm designing my first game and I have found this forum to be very helpful, but I'm running into trouble with the battle mechanics of my game. It's a fantasy strategy/war game. The scale is meant to be group based (i. e. Basic Infantry are comprised of ten people.) The number of people in each group is fixed and doesn't have much influence on the basic combat mechanics. The number of people has more to do with winning popularity/influence points which help capture cities and gain new recruits. The combat system I've got now involves too much stat checking and rolling of dice. In my playtesting, both sides had three basic infantry units and the battle went on for ten minutes! Clearly this will bog down a game deisgned for up to four players where you must be the last man standing on a continent with four countries. Here are the rules for combat as they stand now:
1. Roll one D6 for Initiative.
2. Determine all stats. Attack Power = # of Units in combat x Unit Attack Power - Terrain Rating. Defense Power = # of Units in combat x Unit Defese Power + Terrain Rating.
3. Initiative winner rolls one D6 for every unit in combat. Drop the lowest roll. Defending player rolls one D6 for every unit in combat. If the attacking player rolls higher than defending player, the attacking player rolls for damage.
4. Attacking player rolls one D6 for every unit in combat. Drop the lowest roll and subtract the terrain rating from the total. Subtract the total from Defending player's Defense Power.
5. Defending player now attacks (Go back to step 2). Combat continues until a winner emerges or until one/both armies retreat.
I do not want to get rid of the Terrain Rating because it plays an important aspect in the strategy of the game. I come from an RPG background, so I have already assumed that I am doing much to much rolling for the scale of the game. Can anybody give me some advise on how to streamline and balance the mechanics? Thanks for all the advice, in advance.
Hello speedbasssux,
this is also my first post here (I'm also working on some games and I'm trying to work out the mechanics for myself in order to find what questions to ask). As for your question, I tend to favor a system where there is a minimum of dicerolling.
Maybe you could lessen de dierolls to one die for the attacker and one dieroll for the defender. You could add up the number of units in the attacker force and add one dieroll (for instance a d6) and the defender adds his/her number of units and adds one dieroll. The die roll will determine the amount of units lost and the difference between the scores will determine the extra losses for the losing force.
For example a 10 unit force attacks a 4 unit force. The attacker rolls 2 and the defender rolls 5, given a result of attacker (10+2) 12 and the defender (4+5) 9. The attacker will lose 5 (die roll) units and the defender will lose 1 (die roll) + 3 (the difference between the total scores)= 3 units. The attacker has won but at a large cost (half his strenght).
Certain units (veterants, knights, ogres, giant etc.) could give a bonus to the total force strength and certain units could give bonusses bases on terrain features (each dwarven unit gives a +1 in mountainus terrain, elves in forest etc.). Furthermore, terrains can give a bonus to the total number. When taking losses these bonusses can also be used (when you have to remove 2 units in a forest battle you can opt to remove 2 human regular unit or one veteran or regular elven unit).
As an example: A force of 3 human regular, 1 human veteran and 3 elven units attack a force of 4 orc regular units and one ogre unit in a forest terrain. The attackers strength is 3 (human regulars) + 2 (human veterans) +6 (elven regulars in forest terrain) =11, the defenders strengt is 4 (orc regulars) +2 (ogre unit) + 2 (foresty terrain). the attackers/defender strengts are 11 v.s 8. The attacker rolls 2 and the defender rolls 6 giving a 13 v.s. 14 result. The attacker loses 6 (die roll) + 1 (difference) = 7 units and the defender loses 1 unit. The attacker opt to lose 3 human regulars and 2 elven regular units (which count as 2 for the forest terrain) and the defender loses 1 orc unit. For the next attack round the attacker has a force of 1 human veterans and 1 elven regulars comprising an attack force of 4 while the defender has a defending force of 3 orc regulars and 1 ogre force plus a forest terrain bonus of 2 comprising a defending score of 7. The attacker can chose to press the attack in a 4 v.s. 7 battle or retreat.
This system will favor those that choose their battles carefully based on terrain features and their unit's strength but (as the example shows) will not garanty succes and all that with a minimum of die-rolling. The "strengt" of the die roll (d4, d6, d8 etc) should be dependant on the expected value of the average force, when average battles are fought between forces of 50+ units on both sides a d10 or d12 might be better than a d6.
I hope this helps as a possible example with only a few die-rolls. Then again, rolling multple dice , might still invoke that exitement in the game your looking for.
Greetings, Arjen