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Tactical Layer = Some ideas for other Actions

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Thu, 11/04/2021 - 23:18
questccg
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In my current WIP (Work-In-Progress), I have an Action Point system which is used by the "Tactical Layer" of the game. What is the "Tactical Layer"??? Well to be quite honest, it's a Movement/Collection mechanic.

So basically players are moving around the Play Area trying to collect Crystals to match their own personal sequence of "resources". There are three (3) types of resources: Food (Hunger), Treasure (Greed) and Battle (Bloodlust).

In addition to Movement and Collection, I have been trying to think up of OTHER "Actions" that could be performed. Here are some of the concepts that I am thinking about using:

1. Warp = move to the Nexus (starting Game Tile) which allows you to be more proximate to certain Game Tiles. This costs 1 Action Point.

2. Level Up = If you have an Ex-P Crystal, you can use it to Level Up a unit in the Area of Play. Your Avatar MUST move to that Game Tile (like Warp but to the specific Game Tile chosen).

3. Clash = If there are two (2) Avatars on the same Game Tile, by spending 1 Action Point, you can send the opponent back to the Nexus (similar to Warp but in this case this is a penalty - meaning the opponent is FORCED to go to the Nexus whether he/she wants to). This costs 1 Action Point.

Currently the game has a limit of 5 Action Points per turn with AT MOST 3 Identical Actions. So this means you can move up to a distance of 3 Tiles and you can at most Collect 3 Crystals per turn.

So I've been wanting to think up more actions that could be relevant to the Tactical Layer. Suggestions of what can be done or added would be greatly appreciated.

Share your ideas ... they may spark new and interesting Actions! Cheers.

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Fri, 11/05/2021 - 18:27
#1
questccg
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Here's what I got so far

Added to the five (5) Actions above, I thought about HOW the game could benefit from maybe some extra "Bonuses". Something that your Avatar could do to improve the game for the player. These "Bonuses" could be applied by ANY Player and then I thought why not have "Penalties" also!

So let me explain them here and now:

4. Buff/Enfeeble = Add or Subtract 1 Attack for 3 Turns. This costs 1 Action Point.

5. Fortify/Weaken = Add or Subtract 1 Defense for 3 Turns. This costs 1 Action Point also.

6. Reward/Bounty = Add or Subtract 1 Loot for 3 Turns. This costs 1 Action Point too.

The Avatar MUST be on the desired unit/Game Tile to perform these Bonus Actions... There would be 5 tokens per Action (for a total of 15 Chitz), on one side you have the color (Red, Yellow, Blue) and on the opposite you have Black with the corresponding color which symbolizes the Penalty (instead of a Bonus).

I don't know YET how "influencial" this additional Actions will be... But in Total eight (8) Actions sounds pretty reasonable. Five (5) was a bit limiting and how with these Bonus Actions the game might have a layer of "When should I use this??? Or Ahaa, that's what that Action is for!"

We'll have to see during some prototyping and then playtests! Cheers.

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Fri, 11/05/2021 - 19:52
#2
questccg
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I'll see if these "ideas" spark new ones...

I'm not 100% sold on the validity of these Actions. Right now they are just ideas and I'll obviously playtest them and see what evolves. Right now that's what I have additional "Actions" and while they SEEM reasonable... Only playtesting will demonstrate if this is accurate or not!

Note #1: Whoa! The price of chits at "The Game Crafter" are +$7.35 for 15 chits!!! I guess I need to RE-THINK those additional Actions because there is no way I can ADD +$7.35 for only a few chits... We'll see what I can come up with that requires no ADDITIONAL increase in production costs.

Note #2: I am thinking about NOT adding additional components to the game when it comes to adding "Actions". I am thinking about what could be added to the game to increase the level of strategy for the Tactical Layer. More to come on this soon enough!

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Sat, 11/06/2021 - 13:41
#3
questccg
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Some early thoughts...

If I was to ADD a "Pattern" to the Lord and/or Lady Game Tile and it would mean that as a PASSIVE (maybe?!) ability or have it active with some winks (something not too expensive when it some to a component). But the idea is that each player would MAYBE have like three (3) ability tokens and you spend 1 Action Point to lay down the tokens according to a preset pattern...

These are just EARLY ideas... TBD how I may be able to evolve them into something more obvious... We'll see.

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Sun, 11/07/2021 - 20:49
#4
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More advanced thoughts following a day outdoors

Been focusing some thoughts today while working outdoors... It's not like I had a ton of time to THINK about this WIP... However I have decided that I ONLY want to spend a few dimes on the components required for additional "Actions". And I've gone through multiple passes on different possibilities.

Right now I've added 3 Winks for each Player. So a total of 12 Winks at $0.08 each. That totals = $0.96. Under a $1.00. That is COSTLY ENOUGH!!! These seem like the least expensive option and I'm not interested in paying more for additional "components".

As of NOW, the concept that I am planning is EACH Lord/Lady has a one-time Bonus Tactic they can perform (Once per game) and have a "Active" Ability then can use by spending Action Points (APs).

So Lord Dunken, the "Forsaken Knight" can Battle Twice (2x) on the SAME TURN once per game. In addition, he can give a -2 Attack Penalty by spending 2 APs for the unit/Game Tile he is presently on. This is his "forsaken" nature... Again just some EARLY thoughts. This is like an "enfeeble" effect!

Again I'm not so sure how beneficial this "Ability" will be. Should it be 2 APs or 3 APs ... Again not sure. This effectively means that Lord Dunken can inflict -6 Attack ... Which is pretty POWERFUL if you ask me!

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Mon, 11/08/2021 - 21:54
#5
questccg
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Does anyone have any other suggestions???

I was wondering if anyone had IDEAS with regards to the USE of "Winks" (@$0.08 each) in tandem with my Lords and Ladies?!

Right now since you can only perform three (3) of ANY given Action per turn ... So that means that you would use 3 APs to Move and then be left with 2 APs!

I'm thinking that maybe it should be like -1 Attack for 2 APs (for Lord Dunken). This would mean that MOVEMENT would be optimally plotted to suit whatever units and/or Game Tiles that the player would WANT to visit in order to leave that kind of PENALTY?!

So you can MOVE for 3 APs and drop one Penalty for 2 APs covering all FIVE (5) Action Points available to the player.

Just throwing this out-there...

Anyone have any other ways of using winks or something similar???

Cheers and thanks!

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Tue, 11/09/2021 - 16:16
#6
questccg
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Some other thoughts following more thinking

Well I realized that the Play Area at 5 x 5 (25 Game Tiles) is rather SMALL for six (6) winks/tokens. It would mean that too many tiles would be occupied with winks/tokens ... And I wouldn't want that.

Instead I have been thinking that EACH Player has one (1) wink/token. And that wink has a double-effect:

1. It gives a Bonus or Penalty of 2 to the corresponding "stat". This will cost 2 APs (Action Points). In addition this is the placing the wink/token. Every time you want to MOVE the "porthole", it costs 2 APs.

2. It allows that Player to WARP to that location. Also costs 1 AP to Warp to the wink/token location.

This is similar to the "Warp" Action which allows you to warp to the Nexus Tile. But instead you are warping to a location chosen by the player. I realize that it ain't perfect... Because more tokens would mean better coverage (depending on how the Area of play unfolds)... However it may be too EASY to move around simply WARPING around the Area of play.

One (1) Wink/Token SOLVES that issue and makes that the bonus is applied to only ONE (1) unit/Game Tile...

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Tue, 11/09/2021 - 21:19
#7
questccg
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After some more thinking and helping FOCUS a bit...

I have come to the conclusion that "EX-P" Gems grant a player BONUSES when it comes to the Units/Game Tiles Stat Path. Having a "multi-function" token/wink seems to detract from that aspect of the game. I know it was ONLY for one (1) Unit/Game Tile ... But still it takes away the desire to choosing "EX-P" Gems.

For example why should I choose an "EX-P" Gem when my Lord can simply Grant a +2 Attack, for example??? Granted that in the Stat Path there could ALSO be a sort of boost which is similar (like +1 or +2 Attack)...

And so after much thought, I am thinking that the ONLY purpose for the winks/Tokens is to add a "Warp position" somewhere in the Area of play. This will be a way to travel faster in the ever growing Area of play! I think this is the best purpose for the wink/Token...

There could be some rules like:

A> You can only place your wink/Token on one of your own units/Game Tile.

B> Or any unit/Game Tile that has already been conquered.

Something simple like that... When you "Warp" you can choose to Jump to the Nexus or your "Warp Point"... And when a player "Clashes" with your avatar, you must return to the Nexus (as a penalty).

Nothing more complex that this. Cheers!

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Sun, 11/14/2021 - 00:19
#8
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Tic-Tac-Toe Scoring Mechanic

So I finally had a BRILLIANT idea for scoring. It's still embryonic and needs to be validated more... But instead of requiring a PLAYER to complete a SEQUENCE of nine (9) resources, I got the idea of instead using a "Tic-Tac-Toe" mechanic for trying to WIN the game.

I also purchased two (2) Dry Erase Markers for the Job.

Basically I would need to make some "adjustments" to LOWER the amount of LOOT each Unit/Game Tile produces... But Green would be YOUR "Actions" and Red would be an OPPONENT's "Actions".

So IF you as a player focus on collecting the "First" CENTER position of your scoring board. This will open up more possibilities ... For future options to WIN the game.

This is still in an infancy stage. I've just had the idea about 10 minutes ago and would need to see how it works with all of the other pieces of the puzzle. But the gist of it would be that you COLLECT for BOTH you and your opponents.

When your opponent claims a resource and plays it... This opens up the opponent's score card to have an OPPOSING resource played against the opponent to TRY to BLOCK the opponent's number of routes to a Victory.

This is a real CLEVER scoring mechanic... And I will investigate this method of scoring to see if it can be used. As of this moment, I find it very INTERESTING and full of potential...

Cheers.

Update: I've decided that this scoring mechanic is too difficult to use. The SEQUENCE will remain as it suits best the stats as they are. Some of the reasons is that using a Tic-Tac-Toe mechanic for scoring would reduce the number of corresponding crystal matches would be LESS than nine (9) ... Could be like 4 or 5 instead.

This would drive the "Action Points" (APs) down in usefulness. And the Loot values would all need to be reduced and it just wouldn't work well (with what I've got currently).

It just mucks with the design TOO MUCH! But in the future, I will keep this in mind (Tic-Tac-Toe scoring-like mechanic). Never know when such a mechanic may be useful in another context!

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