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D6 Combat system

9 replies [Last post]
Mon, 08/12/2013 - 20:12
Thebigkirbousky
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Joined: 06/05/2011

Hello all,

I am working on a combat system for a war game I am developing and have decided to go with a D6 combat system where units will be assigned a "power" value and will hit on a roll > or = that value. For example, a unit with a power value of 4 would "hit" on a 4, 5, or 6. This is not an original system and I'm sure there is a name for it that I am overlooking.

The game also has several modifiers that can give units plus or minus to hit. My concern is that with the modifiers and the limited range of power value possibilities (1-6) I will soon run into units that auto hit or auto miss.

I have been play testing on a small scale with a few units and it seems to be working fairly well, but as I add unit ideas to the game I am already feeling a little limited.

I am curious if anyone has any suggestions on how to solve this potential problem, or some examples how other similar systems handle this? I would like to stick with one die per "attack", but I have considered going to D10. This game will require rolling tens of dice at a time though, so that is why I am trying to stick to the D6 for now.

Maybe I am over thinking this, but I feel once I get to 30-40 units in the game I am either going to have a lot of similar units, or units that auto hit or auto miss depending on the modifiers.

Thanks for taking the time to read, and any thoughts/advice are welcome.

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Tue, 08/13/2013 - 01:19
#1
laperen
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Joined: 04/30/2013
im still not clear of how

im still not clear of how your combat system works

you mention every unit has a number where anything beyond that number in the dice roll constitutes a win, does this mean that every unit needs a dice roll?

IMO it would be better if you roll only one dice, the dice will apply to all the units. so say your army has 30 units:
12 of the units win if the dice result is 5 or more
10 of the untis win if the dice result is 4 or more
6 of the units win if the dice result is 3 or more
2 of the units win if the dice result is 2 or more
results 1 and 6 could have special effects

with one dice roll, your army succes rate is determined by the make-up of your army. maybe the units have a sort of training time on them, units with a lower success number take longer to train.

OR

you could make the number on the unit, the number needed to defeat it. so when a player rolls the dice, its not deciding the success rate of his army, but the failure rate of the opponent's army. so say you roll a 4, any unit with a number equal ro less than 4 dies, and the enemy does the same at the same time.

just some suggestions, hopefully gives you some ideas

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Tue, 08/13/2013 - 19:25
#2
Thebigkirbousky
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Joined: 06/05/2011
Thanks for the comments! Let

Thanks for the comments!

Let me try to do a little better job of explaining the combat system.

Each unit is made up of individual figures, and each individual figure has an attack that is represented by 1x D6. Each figure also has a power value that represents what that figure needs to roll to hit his opponent. So a figure with a power value of 4 would hit on a 4, 5, or 6 when attacking.

Each figure also has a defensive value. Once the number of hits are determined the defensive player rolls a D6 for each one, and if the result is > or = to the figures defensive value that hit is negated.

The figures in a unit will all have the same power value and defensive value. So adding or subtracting figures in a unit will increase or decrease the number of attacks that unit has and the number of health points the unit has.

So a round of combat between two units would look like this; The attacking unit rolls a D6 for each attack in the unit, and tallies hits based on the attacking units power value.

Then the defending until rolls D6 for each successful hit and for each roll > or = to the defending units defensive value a hit is subtracted. The number of hits that "get through" are then subtracted from the defending units health points.

This is used in several very popular miniatures games, and I know there must be a name for the mechanic I just don't know what it is.

My concern is that when I start to stack modifiers on top of the D6 rolls, and branch out to 30-50 unique unit types I will be limited by only being able to work with values of 1-6. I was curious if anyone can speak to this or if any math wizards out there can speak to how much versatility i would add by replacing the D6 with D10.

But any ideas are welcome, and I will definitely* play around with the suggestions made.

Thanks again!

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Tue, 08/13/2013 - 18:42
#3
eviljohs
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Joined: 03/10/2012
Use a larger dice.

A d12 for example. same basic stats a a d6. Like a d6 on crack. If you want the same probability range of the d6 then use the even numbers. >=2, >=4, >=6, >=8, >=10. and then of course you have all the other numbers to use as well.

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Wed, 08/14/2013 - 18:04
#4
Thebigkirbousky
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Joined: 06/05/2011
hmmm, yea a D12 might make

hmmm, yea a D12 might make more sense than moving to a D10.

anyone know where I can get a boatload of 12mm D12s? lol

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Wed, 08/14/2013 - 18:48
#5
questccg
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Joined: 04/16/2011
I know of a few...

You can try Koplow games: http://www.koplowgames.com

Or Chessex: http://www.chessex.com

Chessex is more expensive but you can get all kinds of *fancy* dice for your game. I don't believe Koplow retails (to my knowledge no) but you can see if they might be willing to sell you dice in bulk.

For casual buying (for a protoype, etc): http://www.mtgfanatic.com/store/dice/dice.aspx?catid=358

I have bought several different types of dice from them. They arrive really quick in the mail (fast processing and delivery).

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Wed, 08/14/2013 - 22:46
#6
StagCutlery
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Joined: 06/02/2013
Two rolls...

Do you really need a To Hit roll and a Soak Damage roll? Could the attacker just roll and try to hit the def number?

The attacker could roll all the dice and have the defender sort out all the hits.

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Thu, 08/15/2013 - 20:22
#7
Thebigkirbousky
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Joined: 06/05/2011
I thought about having the

I thought about having the defense just be a static number, but I think players like to have a chance to influence their own fate. That is why I ultimately decided to go with the "save roll".

Once I start seriously play testing I could end up going to a set defensive number depending on the feedback.

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Sat, 08/17/2013 - 07:45
#8
Evil ColSanders
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My wargame is based on d12,

My wargame is based on d12, attack roll, static number defense, and I can tell you that it's GREAT. I had playtesting of Attack Roll vs Defense Roll and was met with groans. Gameplay took too long, not enough damage was dealt, and it was very random. If you want players to take their lives into their own hands, don't do it with rolling defense dice. Add abilities which improve odds, add dice to your defense or take away from attackers, or mitigate damage. Defense rolling only adds to the time it takes to play the game. Also, stay away from d6. A d6 is too restricting. Infinity has an excellent system with a single d20. If you are set on rolling defense dice, I suggest you look at the X-wing Miniatures Game. It is an EXCELLENT system.

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Sat, 08/17/2013 - 12:06
#9
eviljohs
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Evil ColSanders wrote:My

Evil ColSanders wrote:
My wargame is based on d12, attack roll, static number defense, and I can tell you that it's GREAT. I had playtesting of Attack Roll vs Defense Roll and was met with groans. Gameplay took too long, not enough damage was dealt, and it was very random. If you want players to take their lives into their own hands, don't do it with rolling defense dice. Add abilities which improve odds, add dice to your defense or take away from attackers, or mitigate damage. Defense rolling only adds to the time it takes to play the game. Also, stay away from d6. A d6 is too restricting. Infinity has an excellent system with a single d20. If you are set on rolling defense dice, I suggest you look at the X-wing Miniatures Game. It is an EXCELLENT system.

LIKE

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