Copper Dreams - Combat Walkthrough

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Spaceman
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Copper Dreams have another update. This one focuses on combat mechanics and goes into a lot of detail.

We wanted to give a brief demonstration of combat mechanics, as this is a unique system to the CRPG world. We've had some questions on the basics, and while we'll continue to go over specific elements throughout the campaign this should act as a good starter to give you an idea of where we're headed with it. The premise is utilizing turn-based combat with simulated, timed actions. These actions can happen simultaneously, and create a more dynamic battlefield.

Below is a walkthrough of an encounter with a patrol guard:

[All animations and art are very much still a work in progress]

The Combat Bar

The core of the combat system is the combat bar, as pictured below. The combat bar shows you the players in combat and their place on the timeline.

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Upon joining combat, everyone rolls initiative to see where they are placed on the timeline, and then progress downward. The timeline is moving until one of your characters hits the Turn Bar. The actions of enemies are instantaneously chosen and the timeline continues without a break.

When one of your characters land on the Turn Bar, the timeline stops and they can choose an action. Once selected, that action plays out and the combat bar timeline continues.

During the execution wait time, the length of which is dependent on your action, your character is prepping their action: aiming, re-balancing for a swing, or preparing to use an item. At the Execute Bar they fire off the action, and return to the top of the timeline and resume traveling down again. If more than one action is required (like multi-shot or suppressing fire), the character is held at the action bar until complete.
More information.
 
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Ahh, a real rule set. How nice.
 
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The initiative system you describe sounds like D&D (roll a d20 then add your dex bonus). Is turn order going to be as unpredictable as that? Because that's a system that works in PnP but I think would feel arbitrary in a turn-based videogame.

If turn order is a central mechanic, I'd become frustrated if my high-speed characters had only a small advantage in striking first.
 
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I think initiative only determines starting position. After than it keeps moving by characters doing longer or shorter actions or using attacks and abilities that affect others.
 
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I think initiative only determines starting position. After than it keeps moving by characters doing longer or shorter actions or using attacks and abilities that affect others.

That's correct, we'll display the number of their initial roll as they enter the timeline to make that more transparent, but when characters finish an action they start at the very top of the wait bar. The wait timeline is 4 seconds, and all combatants roll a 1d6 (+ any initiative boosts or stats) to land on one of the 1 - 12 points going down it when they enter combat. So higher the roll, the closer to the action bar you'd start.
 
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Thanks for the very concrete reply!

Using a d6 rather than a d20 will make a big difference to the variability of the initiative rolls if the stat bonuses are in a comparable range. Do the relevant stats work similarly to D&D (e.g., unboosted human dexterity gives a maximum possible bonus/penalty of +4/-4)?
 
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Rules spelled out clearly can only be a good thing. I really like the idea of the rolls being displayed as well.

Thanks, we thought it would be important for all that information to be available if someone wanted to see it. It does interrupt the flow of combat briefly, but can be toggled as desired.

Thanks for the very concrete reply!

Using a d6 rather than a d20 will make a big difference to the variability of the initiative rolls if the stat bonuses are in a comparable range. Do the relevant stats work similarly to D&D (e.g., unboosted human dexterity gives a maximum possible bonus/penalty of +4/-4)?

We're using 7 primary stats for the game we're right now, and Observance dictates any pips given to your initiative roll. We're still playing with those numbers, but they can get up to +2 and down to -1. Items and other factors could also influence this.

There's a ruleset button on the bottom right side of the HUD (it looks like a small Burning Candle image), and that will open up a full ruleset book in-game of all the stats, skills, wounds and other rules. Should be convenient if one needs to reference something.
 
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