Dev Diary #5: Turn-Based Combat
Hello everyone! I'm Brad Kraeling, a Senior Gameplay Engineer for The Lamplighters League. I'm super honored to be able to take you on a tour of a few of the systems that make our Turn-Based combat full of exciting choices, challenges, and strategies.
Time to Go Loud!
In our last dev diary we talked about Real-Time Infiltration and how you can shape the conditions of the fight through stealth and trickery. Now let's take a look at what happens when it's time to "go loud:" where the guns come out and the fight begins!
Your Agents, Your Tactics
Action Points: During Turn-Based Combat, you take control of the Lamplighter Agents and their unique abilities. Every player turn each Agent on the team starts with two Action Points (AP) These points are used to do a variety of different things in any order you'd like!
Examples:
- You could use one point to advance towards the enemy and then another point to shoot at an enemy!
- You could use one point to retreat into cover and another to reload.
- You can use a special ability and follow it up with Signature ability!
Turn Order: Full Flexibility
Each Agent doesn't have to use all their AP in a fixed order one after the other. You can switch between Agents whenever you'd like and you're given full flexibility with how you'd like to execute your Turn Order strategy. So if you'd like Ingrid to run to cover within melee range of a group of goons, and then have Eddie shoot them, and then have Ana Sofia retreat into cover and buff her allies before switching back to Ingrid to use her Signature on the goons before finally switching back to Eddie to reload in preparation for the next turn, you can! The freedom to decide the exact order you'd like things to happen really allows for interesting strategies to emerge and it can also really help change the tide of a battle that isn't quite going according to plan.
Unique Special Abilities
Each Agent has unique special abilities that act as different tools in Combat. We've talked about some of the great abilities player Agents have in some past diaries. It's been great to see all the theories / potential combo ideas folks have. (Seriously big shout out to the YouTubers that have paused at basically every shot of the announcement trailer and Gameplay First Look in search for more info - y'all are awesome ). I won't be focusing too much on specific abilities in this diary but I will say that each Agent being so different gives tons of opportunities to set up really cool plays and lots of combat variety depending on your playstyle. In future diaries we'll be diving into more details on Agent abilities and how different characters can synergize with one another to create effective combinations.
Ideal Conditions
Agents have different Range distances and conditions where they are most effective. For example, the sniper Purnima will have a much greater Hit Chance to successfully shoot a target that is farther away from her than one that is super close. Additionally, her passive, Dead Eye, gives her a bonus Crit Chance to deal bonus damage if she is positioned above her targets. In contrast, Agents like Ingrid are melee units, and where they do the most damage is right up close and personal. Learning each Agent's most ideal fighting conditions is key for unlocking their full battle potential - and it is really fun managing different individual Agent strategies while also combining their strategies to work as a team.
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