Yeah, I must agree, the new tactical mode is pants – but it at least forced me to abandon it, reroll as a custom ‘The Black Prince’ with the warrior voice (to counter the let down that is the The Red Ponce). It’s rushed, which is expected, given everything else they had to do. This is strictly a WIP, as I see it. The enemies have just been turned into the equivalent of bullet sponges, which was just getting really boring as the game went on.
So it’s idea time. Personally, I’m in favour of keeping classic-mode stats on enemies, but adding something imaginative that genuinely makes the combat more tactical, rather just more chore-like. I’m a big fan of random events to take care of this. I also think it would be cool if tactical mode introduced a new enemy faction whose motives run parallel to the main story.
I was thinking of a group of source-addicts, whose mutations have forced them to terraform their habitats into source-infused biospheres (or something). They appear in combat as shadowy assassin types, stalking source users for potential harvesting. Like the magisters, they experiment with the source, but they’re focused on transforming plant life etc to create environments that can sustain their mutated physiologies.
In early combat, they’re just scouts reinforcing the ranks of existing enemies. They’d only appear randomly, perhaps flanking your team halfway through battle. They’d have classic-level stats, but the appearance of just 2 of them when you think you’re down to the last enemy should be enough to cause a manageable level of trouble.
As you progress, they bring a few extras with them. Source-mutated plants, like a snapping, dribbling venus flytrap type monstrosity, or a malicious spore spewing entity, or some vines-for-tentacles grotesque. At this stage, they’re also equipped with unique source-drug potions they made from their mutated plants, which grant random status boosts in battle (but never artificially inflate HP or armour). Again, they always appear at random stages during battle, when you least expect it.
Later, you’ll spark the interest of their masters, boss-like characters, who’ll also appear randomly in combat encounters. The source-plants can also randomly go feral, mutate into a much bigger mini-boss, and attack everyone, kind of like the voidworm. This should destabilise the battle, without being unfair.
So yeah, a focus on random battle events, with all enemies having normal classic mode stats.
As to the logic around why enemies like the magisters etc would welcome the aid of a separate faction, this could easily be woven in – as the new faction could sell themselves as ‘hired assassin’ types who don’t need to reveal their true motive. With regard to beast-like enemies, these source assassins could have some source trick that tames the beasts, with the result of them siding with the assassins.
Alternatively, the same idea could be taken, and the random additions to battles could just involve enemies sourced from the enemies already in the game – or even a healthy mix of both regular enemies and enemies from the new faction!
