Combat order

[Taikei no Yuurei]

Perhaps I missed something in how combat works during the tutorial, but it seemed like characters should enter the 'battlefield' area in the middle in the order in which they're played, but I regularly have the enemy play their characters in a strange order. For example, I just got to go first and played one of my characters 'Slavomir', then the enemy went and played 'Striga' from his tactics hand, and it ended up being the first in the action queue. The computer didn't play any tactics to speed the Striga up or anything like that. So, I'm not sure if it is a bug, rules that I'm not aware of, or some sort of AI advantage.

[Yuuki]

Pointed weapons and 'first action' tactical skill can move you or your enemy in front of the queue. So pointed weapons move you in front of the last card played and 'first action' moves you right to the front.

[Taikei no Yuurei]

Ah, I didn't know about the pointed weapons thing. I don't think it mentions that anywhere that I've seen.

[falloutttt]

check this video for help. :)

https://youtu.be/v87n0WJSKTk

[Matty101]

Theres a lot thats not explained, i keep having the situation where i get strong fighters but they are always put as support and my weaker characters have to attack first, so i gear up and level the weaker guys then they become support and another weak guy takes his place...just cant get the strong guys to the frontlines.

[Leto]

Bad luck.

[Bomoo]

Huh, and I was wondering what pointed weapons do. Very interesting.

[Jyordhan]

There's a lot of info buried in the tooltips. If you mouse-over any stats on an item or character (you can open an item description by right-clicking on it in the inventory). A tooltip will appear that at first only indicates the name of the stat (not really useful) but if you stay on that stat a bit longer, it shows a better explanation of what that stat does.

A few examples:

- Blunt damage weapons: f you do more dmg than necessary to kill a foe, the "overkill" dmg will be dealt to the next foe.
- Poison damage is doubled against wounded foes
- Dexterity stat improves your hunting / sneaking attempts...

It would be a good idea to have the tooltips display all the info directly.

[xlnt4real]

Some ideas for consideration - color code monster strength OR implement some system that always keeps the monsters/creeps at the same level range (+/- 1-3-5 lvls maybe?) as the expedition. Maybe add a button before combat/challenge that says: "expert mode" that makes the opponents 5-10 lvls stronger and gives 20-40% more spoils of war.

[A'vee]

We are very against that sort of solution where the world constantly progresses at the same speed as the player. That kills the need for progress (if you don't progress - so won't your enemies) and also the feeling of achievement when you defeated something you knew was dangerous. However, we plan to add some sort of difficulty info on the groups and nests, so at least you have a rough idea what's coming.

[Matty101]

Yeah i hate leveling enemies, its one thing to level if they beat you but to auto level just because you level feels cheap it also takes one of my joys away from gaming...total domination when you've done well.

About the difficulty...if it was made as a scout skill it would be cool, the higher the skill the more info is displayed.

[KhashFirestorm]

I like the idea of scout skill :) I will email design immediately ;)

[Arturus]

Khash,

Take a look at the skill Mythology in Wizardry 8 - The ability to recognize the true identities of monsters and determine their characteristics.

As this skill levels through the game, you are able to see more and more information. The skill level also determines how much can be seen based on the monster's level...so you're always running into things that you don't have much intel to go on.

For example, at first you might not be able to see anything on that level 1 rat, put a few points in it and you can see the # of HP and Stamina...later down the road you find a low level monster and have high mythology and you can see HP, Stamina, MP, Resistances. etc.. <3 this mechanic


Then there's Lords of Xulima, you gather information about a monster the more you fight it, eventually learning all there is (not skill based).

[KhashFirestorm]

Player does not have contorol over leveling character so it could be irritating to some if their characters does not want to level scouting skill if its too important.
Also killing enemies to learn more is cool but the biggest problem with enemy is when you encounter it first time, as you have no idea if you can or should not attack it ;)

But yest this need deep thinking and that's what we would do :)

[Arturus]

Originally posted by Khash Firestorm:

Also killing enemies to learn more is cool but the biggest problem with enemy is when you encounter it first time, as you have no idea if you can or should not attack it ;)

Stands true in current state of the game...don't know anything about the monster group except the type & number of enemies. The only real thing we know currently is, skeletons & boars (goblins sometimes) are tough early game, dwarves & dragons are evil late game.

To add to the thought...the more you fight "monster type"...you gradually learn/are provided the average level, damage, armor, defense, HP, equipment used, etc..

[Matty101]

I also wouldnt display monsters outright since simply knowing whats there is plenty of info..i'd take an approach which is more realistic in tracking that levels like:

1, estimate of enemy numbers with 30% accuracy
2, estimate of enemy numbers with 15% accuracy
3, accurate enemy numbers
4, size of each enemy (small/large)
5, quality of each enemy(for instance higher levels could be more gear which means more weight in footprints).

then start showing what you can get if you win the battle or other scenarios if you choose them.

6, show 1 item of loot if you win/sneak/assassinate etc
7, 3 items
8, all items gained if you win/sneak/assassinate

now you start getting into specific types of monsters

9, actually enemy names and numbers
10, 33% of enemies have their health displayed
11, 66%
12, 100%


Scouts would also only be able to gather the information as a check in the pre battle screen...ie:

You find a band of enemy, do you want to:

1,Scout
2,Attack
3,whatever and so on..

On success you'd then be shown the enemy info and have the option of leaving or attacking...but theres also opportunity for failure where theres a chance your scouts are caught...then you can either attack and have a chance at getting them back alive or leave them to their fate.