BattleTech - Prototyping Turn Order

In this update Jordan Wisemen talks about turn order design for Battletech and how Harebrained will handle turn-based moving and shooting. Theres a bit to digest but Jordan breaks down why the computer experience can't be exactly the same as the tabletop.

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So - Where Did We End Up?

Here's the basics:

• Each weight class of ‘Mech has an Initiative value. Light ‘Mechs are the fastest, with an Initiative of 4 and assaults are the slowest, with an Initiative of 1.
• Combat rounds are divided into 5 Phases, counting down from 5 to 1. ‘Mechs are allowed to act during the Phase that matches their Initiative. (That 5th Phase is the province of extremely skilled MechWarriors piloting Light ‘Mechs.)
• Each Phase, each side takes turns choosing a ‘Mech to Activate. When a Mech is Activated, it can both move and then fire its weapons. However, once the ‘Mech fires, its turn is over and it can't act again until the next Round of combat.
• After you Activate a ‘Mech and take a turn, the game attempts to give the next action to the other side. If the enemy has units available to use in the current Phase, they get the opportunity to activate one of them. If, on the other hand, they have no more units they can activate in the phase, and you do, you'll get to go again.
• This means that if you and your opponent are both using full lances of assault ‘Mechs, every Round will be pretty predictable: You'll go, then your opponent will go, and so forth until all eight ‘Mechs have been Activated and have taken a turn.

• When the game finishes counting down Initiative values and Phase 1 units have taken their turn, the Round ends. The Phase counter resets to 5, and every ‘Mech is ready to act again.

And now the really cool part:

We think this is a neat system because it reinforces and distinguishes between the different weight classes of ‘Mechs - but the place where it really becomes really interesting is when you start reserving ‘Mechs' Phases for use later in the Round.

Any ‘Mech that isn't an assault can be held in reserve when its turn to act comes up. That temporarily sets its Initiative Value one lower. So a Light ‘Mech that normally acts in Phase 4 will instead act in Phase 3.

With this system, you can keep reserving your ‘Mechs' actions, holding an entire lance of ‘Mechs until Phase 1, if you wanted to.

What's so interesting about reserving actions? First of all, consider the case of a whole lance of Light and medium ‘Mechs being reserved until Phase 1, where they'll get to act right at the end of a Round. Then, when the round ends and a new Round starts, they'll immediately get to act again in Phases 4 and 3! (This tactic isn't theoretical - in a recent battle, I snuck up behind our Lead Designer Kevin's Centurion with a Jenner I'd reserved to Phase 1. Then, on Phase 4 of the next Round I got to make a full alpha strike right into his back armor.)