Hey guys,
. I feel so glad being surrounded here with people who just want better tactical combat fun. Yay!
. Let me humbly join in by pointing out that I thoroughly enjoyed this discussion. Any well-informed discussion about improving tactical combat gameplay is just… refreshing and gives me hope for better (and more difficult) games to tackle and enjoy.
. Let me also point out that I’m new here and this is my first post in this forum.
. One last note is that I enjoyed DoS2 very much in that it was the most tactically versatile TRPG (that stands for tactical rpg, right?) I have played. Little to none choke point stuff. Variety and transformability of terrain effects, high ground, just wonderful.
. While PoE2 was reasonably well translated into TB (turn-based), the combat was ALL choke point stuff.
. (New) Wasteland games… they’re such beloved classics in so many ways it’s hard to put blame on them, but combat… too one-dimensional. Aside from cover mechanism, it’s just who shoots faster and more.
. Shadowrun games are excellent sci-fi stories, well above the average political understanding, but the combat is just child’s play.
. My apologies for probably wasting your time with all the above, my aim was just to give a slight context.
. While I greatly enjoyed all the different arguments in this thread, what prompted me to sign up&in and start writing this reply was the “food during combat” issue. And, in conjunction, the “realisticality” of it all. To what degree does a “fantasy” rpg need to be “realistic”?
. Well, I think it does. And a great deal at that. As the starter of the thread pointed out: I have sucked down a pint or two during some fights, but that didn’t add to my health. Let us remember that soldiers in WW2 (and probably others in other wars) were forbidden to eat just before combat (let alone during) or else they would throw up because of the sheer physical effort they would have to muster. Imagine shoving down a giant whopper just before a big match of *sport of your choosing*. You would throw the f… up after your 3rd sprint.
. So, even if it’s a fantasy being such as, say, an elf, it’s an organic being, so it’s subject to some sort of physical rules. (Just like the arrow it sends flying from THAT elevation is subject to gravity and THUS deals extra damage) So, it might throw up if it tries to go full melee on a full stomach.
. So, I guess it’s already obvious that in my humble opinion it’s extremely annoying and unrealistic that a character can eat a “prepared meal” to increase health during combat. In a single turn. For a single AP. Ridiculous.
. A character may very well choose to eat or drink during combat. He’s free, after all. At her own risk, at a great disadvantage, though. The case may be that an arrogant dwarf takes a break cutting down goblins for a sip of ale. Complacency. A very organic flaw. But the careful npc archer (read: good AI) at the back line should spot his insolence and punish him immediately. Should the dwarf dodge the arrow, that would infuse him with exceptional morale (applicable buff) since he very well knows that he got away with it cheaply.
. If we go back to the WW2 example and the issue of the realisticality of any representation of combat (i.e. video game) Combat: What is it, essentially? Why does anyone do it? Why do you attack a position? To claim it for your side. You attack other people with sticks and stones so you can have what’s currently theirs. Something valuable: treasure, factory, sacred temple, women, offspring, city, whatever. So, unless you’re fighting hired mercs with low motivation, they should defend it fiercely. Thus, offense is always costly. The military doctrine dictates it. You’re at a major disadvantage against organized, fortified enemy. No self respecting TRPG should have npcs leaving their advantageous defensive positions just because you shot an arrow at them from stealth. Come and take it, mother…..! should be their attitude. Well, let’s see who’s funneling who into choke points then.
. Every fighting unit must have a commanding structure. Be it guerrillas, regular armies, anarchist FAI or Makhno militants, children playing sticks and stones. Doesn’t matter. It’s just the nature of the thing. A military effort needs to be organized. A commander giving morale and discipline values to troops, steadying their defense and deploying and keeping them at correct positions could be an element in the games. (Better AI must be coded in any case. And I write this with utmost possible respect for the difficult job and talent of programmers, whose job I have no clue about. I’m an anthropologist
Down the commander and the battle should get considerably easier. Now let’s see some tactics.
. How to create better representations of combat? And do that without sacrificing the entertainment value, since it’s not Barbarossa, Ardennes or Market garden but people sitting at their computers trying to have (even a bit masochistic) fun? Cover, elevation, light, LoS (line of sight), reaction shots… all good mechanics when put to good use. We should find even more. But a dumb motherfu…. leaving his considerably well defensive position to run into the LoS of my ARs in reaction shot/cover to get blown into pieces doesn’t create much fun. To me at least.
. I hope my ramblings weren’t too irrelevant or uninformed. I am eager to see better tactical games created and enjoy them; a wish I’m sure everyone in this forum would share. Peace.
