Real Time Strategy games are different than (board) War games

After testing out several way's to balance weapons for video RTS.
Where not only cooldown is used. But also charging.

I discovered that it is indeed possible to balance charging. Well, I have found the hints that this is possible.

And obviuosly, for a board game, you need practical balance. Where the used method of calculation will give a number that is roughly usable.

In RTS (video games) you need to be much more precise for balance.

The math that is needed, is heavy. I almost feared having to use integrals. But luckily, it ends at my favorite sum equations with a limit to infinity.

That said, I finally discovered a way to use "first shot" in combination with the "repeatable part". In such a way that it all makes sense.

It might still need some finishing touches. And I don't know when I can do so.

But the weight of each individual shot can be used to determine the complete set called "repeatable part".

The results however will trigger my OCD.
For a video game, you need rounding.

Think a weigth of 27/65, is actually 0.415
We need 65 of these to get a weigth of 27.
I used the ratio of 3 for my board game. The new method requires me to calculate with (2/3) to the power of anything. O man, the math was suddenly heavy.

It is kinda like going from Newton to Relativity, just to calculate the correct orbit of Mercury.

I have landed on a fun part now :D

I am trying to see if I can get some balanced weapons done.
Made an Excel for this.
First thing I noticed is that the approach I used to have with salvo's of 1 moment of damage. Is actually close to the "perfect" balance.

Now I get to play with the Excel :)
For the best fun, I play with my ratio of 3.

Weapons will have a weigth, damage, cooldown and charging.

weigth 3, damage 3.0, cooldown 1, charging 0
damage set is 3.0- 3.0-3.0- 3.0 etc.
weigth 3, damage 5.0, cooldown 2, charging 0
damage set is 5.0- 0.0-5.0- 0.0 etc.
weigth 3, damage 7.5, cooldown 2, charging 1
damage set is 0.0- 7.5-0.0- 7.5 etc.
weigth 9 (total);
damage set is 8.0-10.5-8.0-10.5 etc.
weigth 4.8, damage 8.0, cooldown 2, charging 0
damage set is 8.0- 0.0-8.0- 0.0 etc.
weigth 4.2, damage 10.5, cooldown 2, charging 1
damage set is 0.0-10.5-0.0-10.5 etc.

Ok, that already made me drool...

***

Now to get some realy funky stuff out.

Weigth is 2;
Damage set is 2-2-2-2 etc.
I thought, let a part of the weapon start up much later but have the same cooldown, a cooldown of 3 that is. The charging time is the entire cooldown, thus a charging of 3.
Weigth is 2;
Damage set part A: 2-2-0--2-2-0--2-2-0--2-2-0 etc.
Damage set part B: 0-0-0--3-0-0--3-0-0--3-0-0 etc.
Damage set total : 2-2-0--5-2-0--5-2-0--5-2-0 etc.

Another one of weigth 2, but with cooldown of 2;
Damage set part A: 2-0--2-0--2-0--2-0 etc.
Damage set part B: 0-0--3-0--3-0--3-0 etc.
Damage set total : 2-0--5-0--5-0--5-0 etc.

***

When trying to get salvo's. It is hard to find combinations within the cooldown. And this is for ratio of 3. I can't imagine how hard it will be to find combinations with a higher ratio.

Seeing as how the same salvo is used in every next round. I can still use the original numbers.

Pretending an unit has infinite life.
However, the numbers involved still make it hard.

And the combat resolution is very deadly.
The salvo of that soldier that I described. Would do 8 to 9 damage in total to other soldiers.
With a ratio of 3, that would mean almost 3 kills in 1 round.

Originally, it was 1/3th of a kill...

Of course, the weapon has a weight of 2, that would mean 6 health. Still, doing 6 times more damage.

I need to test things out after getting some more interesting (usuable) salvo's.

My hobby game benefits more from the new idea, than the public version.

Because the interactions of the pieces follow up in a better way.

The hobby game also gets faster. And actually looks more like RTS now.

***

I can make little stories now:

The Torrent (weapon weight 12)
0 - It stops its movement within the region in order to lift the missile battery.
0 - It selects targets within range.
35 - Salvo of missiles 1
35 - Salvo of missiles 2
35 - Salvo of missiles 3
0 - Repacking

The player pays 1 AP, 2 times. In which other players can get the hell out. Then a mass load of damage is done over a course of 3 turns. The coolddown is 1, which is paid after the last salvo?

I am not sure yet. But I think i need to have the AP being reserved and only let the player pay after the completion of the entire salvo.

And the main reasons are:
- It is fair/balanced.
- It represents RTS the closest. Torrents fire until done. Obelisk of light will charge again, while the cooldown is not added. Those are 2 important examples.

I am still thinking about how the AP should be spend.

But so far, I reached the conclusion that a multi salvo unit needs to pay all AP, once the first part of a salvo started firing.

A 6 AP attack where the third turn is the first part of a salvo, will cost 1 AP each turn during charging. The first part of the salvo will cost 4 AP. And the other 2 parts of the salvo will be "free". Well, the player already paid for them.

With this, one new strategy opened up.

Units with a salvo of 2 or more. Where a salvo of 1 would be just as effective. Can be designed by the players in order to have multiple squads fire at the same time.

Example: A squad that has an AP and salvo of 3 and a squad that has an AP and salvo of 2.
The player pays 3 AP for the first squad to start firing.
The second turn, this squad will still fire. But another squad will pay 2 AP and starts firing.
Eventually a third squad can be added that only needs 1 AP for their 1 turn salvo.

Obviously, other players can move out of the way. A firing squad cannot move if it was not part of the action.

Nor am I sure about having units with salvo's, move around with their gun... Perhaps during a salvo. The movement costs would automatically be higher.

2 AP salvo, would have a movement cost that is 3.
Thus very expensive already.

***

Fairness?

When charging fails.
The remaining AP don't have to be spend.

When a salvo fails.
The remaining AP has been spend.

Units that have a salvo of 2 or higher. Spend AP lineair to these salvo's. While other units have a penalty on doing multiple attacks.
Pro for the salvo: Cheap AP costs.
Con for the salvo: Other players can move out of the way.

Unless a transformation is allowed.
See the siege tank of the terrans in Starcraft.
The Jaguar of AoW3 is the same principle.

What do I mean?
Well, some games allow the player to choose a weapon.
At the moment of choice, that weapon is used.
While the weapon looks the same during the choice, it might act completely different.

An example in this is loading rockets into the 8-ball, which can be seen in Unreal and any Unreal game afterwards.
The same example can be used for any secondary fire.

If you want such effect in RTS. It is still easy to switch.

Now to board games.
I have showed severals examples of how different types of weapons should be calculated in terms of weight.
The weight of the effect is actually added to the total costs. Meaning that having 2 individual designs will cost less than 2 designs that give the same choices. One design chooses A the other design chooses B. In a sense, it is practical to get a design that allows this choice. But at an end game, a player obviously wants to have switched to 2 individual designs.

The biggest problem is: how to calculate the change in weight when action points are involved.
In fact. I have talked about this one before. Where a weapon will be oding 1 damage, but the player can choose to pay 1 or 2 action points.

It gets very complicated.

Ok. The very first design that allows the players to make a choice and has effectively been used.

Make no mistake; 1 round can contain up to 7*players turns.

It is a weapon that allows to fire in 2 turns.
Each time it will do 1 damage.
The player can choose to pay 1 AP or fire a second time and pay 2 AP.
The total weigth is 125% that of a 1 AP weapon.

Other weapons of 1 AP; either cost 1 AP, then 2 AP and finally 4 AP. A total of 3 damage per round possible.
Other weapons of 2 AP and that occasionally will mis; either cost 2 AP and finally 4 AP. With 1 AP to spare. Assuming that the first projectile of the salvo hits. There are 2 moments that the target can walk away. The damage per round will be 2 to 4.

The choice weapon takes away the issue with enemies that are suddenly out of range.
It can act like the 2 other weapons above.
And adds 2 more possibilities.
The damage is 0.8 times though.
The most important aspect would be that taking a risk to pay too much AP is lowered. 1 < 1.6 < 2. With the middle situation offered by the choice weapon.

***

1 or 2, costs 125%
1 or 2 or 3, costs 127.7%
Not much more. But a small window of extra effectivness can occur.

The most optimal combination would be doing a salvo of 2, then 3. Costing 7 AP in total again. And doing 3.9 damage.
This situation is rare and the targets have 3 moments of walking away.

Any AP saved by the player can be used to do at least 1 more damage.
Needless to say that a weapon with a salvo of 7 can do 7 damage for the same price as a salvo of 1. Which would do a maximum of 3 damage per round.

While I posted damages above. These are already lowered by the price.
Obviously, bodies weren't included. Which would actually increase the damages. (Yes Mark.... you didn't include those effects, now did you?!?)
The 1.6 would secretly be close to 1.8.
And the 3.9 would secretly be 4.4

No, I am not going to make a new topic about having a limit of 1 action per squad.

Instead I will type a scenario to see how others might think about it.