Headquarters: World War II News

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Hello!

It is Oleksandr from Starni Games with the second Dev log entry. Today, I will tell you more about how the attacks work in Headquarters: World War II and how randomness is implemented in the game.



Why invent a new system with 4 hit types?

On the very first days of preproduction - around two years ago - we asked ourselves a very important question: how do we approach the randomness of a battle?

One approach that could be seen in other wargames would be to make an attack either hit (and destroy a tank) or miss (and deal 0 damage) with certain chances. That means that the difference between the two outcomes is extremely stark. In this scenario, if you have a 10% chance to miss and you miss, and after that, your opponent hits and kills your tank - that is truly nerve racking. So, we wanted to preserve the unpredictability of battle, but make it less severe.

Another approach would be to deal an X amount of damage with each attack, with no “miss” chance, and will require a number of attacks to take out an enemy unit. This approach did not fit the tactical-level WWII game well, as oftentimes a single tank could be taken out with one or two good hits.

So, we tried to come up with the approach that fits this type of tactical game best in our opinion. It allows us to both show the unpredictability of battle, but also avoid the combat results being decided by a “coin toss”.

How do 4 hits types work?

In Headquarters, we have 4 hit types: Bull’s eye (a perfect hit), Hit (a good hit), Graze (a slight hit), and Miss. The higher your accuracy - the better your odds of having better hit outcomes. The final accuracy (after all bonuses and penalties) could be between 0 and 200, and if it is above 80 - your miss chance would be 0. This way if the situation is favorable - your attack would never miss. If however, your odds are not great, you could miss, but there is also a lot in-between Bull’s eye and Miss, so multiple outcomes are possible. At low accuracy values, you have Bull’s eye chance at 0, and at high accuracy values, you have the Miss chance at 0.
 
How much damage every hit type does?



Bull’s eye - Damage x3
Hit - Damage x2
Graze - Damage x1
Miss - Damage = 0

The base amount of damage dealt depends on the attack and defense values of the units. So, this is where the armor and unit facing from Dev log 1 comes into play. If you attack the Front armor of a heavy tank, your damage would likely be 0, so even if you hit Bull’s eye, you would still deal 0 damage and that would be called Deflected attack.

Is the damage also random?

Unlike the hit type that is decided by random (based on probabilities you have according to your accuracy), your damage is not random and you can see exactly how much damage would every hit type deal in the combat prediction window before the attack.


Are there any other elements of random?

From the early stages of development, we wanted to avoid randomness in many aspects of the game, so there are no random effects, random spotting, or other stuff like that - we wanted the tactical talent to be the key to victory. So, deciding which hit type your unit lands is the only random element at play - and you could control it to a degree by adjusting your position and getting a better accuracy value.

How does Morale help control randomness?
There is also a way to counter your units being “unlucky” which is the Morale mechanic. Every time you attack the enemy unit it losses some of its Morale. The amount lost depends on the Damage modifier, but not on the hit type. So, whether you land a Bull’s eye or a Miss the Morale loss would be the same. This means even if you miss a lot of attacks you could Demoralize the enemy unit with constant bombardment and eventually rout it.

How is the cover mechanic implemented in the game?

There are 3 types of cover: low, medium, and high. However, not all units can take advantage of it. All units have a certain profile - low, medium, or high. So, a unit with a high Profile, for example, a Tiger tank, cannot hide behind a low cover and does not get any bonuses from it. Infantry, on the other hand, has a low Profile and can take advantage of all types of cover.

Coming up next

In the next Dev log, I will focus more on the interaction with the terrain and destructible buildings, as well as our approach to the visual style of the game. I will tell you more about:
- Highly realistic graphics
- Different types of terrain and interaction with them
- Buildings and their destruction
- Destructible environment
- Elevated terrain (Hills)
- Line of fire

See you next time!

Hello guys!

It is Oleksandr from Starni Games. I have been working on the Headquarters: World War II game design from the very first days of pre-production (almost 2 years ago) and today I am happy to finally reveal some of the key mechanics to you and discuss them in detail.

Normandy landings

Headquarters: World War II is a tactical level turn-based strategy game. So, you can expect a realistic scale, with many factors being considered during each attack, including a major impact of your troops’ positioning. The game is set during the Normandy landings and has 3 campaigns: the British, the Americans, and the German sides. It also has a robust multiplayer for up to 4 players in a match. Now, let’s talk about a few of its key features.

Hill fortifications

Directional armour

All armoured vehicles in the game have directional armour - that means usually front armour is most powerful, side armour is less powerful, while back and top armour are most vulnerable. This idea can be found in many tactical games.

StuG firing

However, in many games, it is often a very basic representation, where if your attack angle is somewhere between front and side, it would just choose whichever is closest. In Headquarters: World War II, we calculate the exact angle of attack and arrive at an adjusted armour value based on the front/side armour value and the attack angle.

Flanking the enemy tank

For example, if you attack an enemy tank at 60 degrees to the side, it will have 1/3*Front armour value + 2/3*Side armour value = Adjusted armour. There could also be a third side - top armour - taken into account if you are firing from an elevated position.

Flanking from elevation

Directional cover from walls, fences, and other obstacles

Following a similar idea, if the unit is hidden behind a wall, but attacked from a certain angle - it would only retain part of its cover. For example, in this case, it would only get half of the cover from the wall.

Tank vs Infantry

Attacking angle and its implications

Now, let’s discuss how these rules affect gameplay. As an attacking force you will have to try and attack from the best angle available, and every tile you move closer to the enemy unit’s flank or rear gives you an extra edge.

Getting to the enemy’s rear

As a defending side, you will have to consider your unit’s positioning - which way your armoured vehicles are facing - and the possible routes of the enemy’s attack. Always make sure the enemy cannot attack your units from the rear and try to avoid being flanked.

Attacking from the rear

During a recent playtest my AT Infantry squad managed to ambush my colleague’s fearsome Tiger II tank in the woods (tank on the forest road, infantry in the forest) and attacking its side made quick work of the powerful adversary.

AT Infantry ambushes the Tiger II

Burning Tiger II tank

AT Infantry celebrates its victory near burned down Tiger II wreck

Combat prediction feature

The game is quite simple to start playing - just move your tanks and fire at the enemy. However, there is a greater depth to it once you start really getting into it. To allow you fully enjoy the “easy to learn, hard to master” approach we have two modes for Combat prediction - the feature that shows all the combat details and modifiers that affect your next attack. One is a brief combat prediction - a simple summary, another is a detailed combat prediction where you can see all the parameters. You can switch between the two as you play by pressing a single hotkey.

Short Combat Prediction

Full Combat Prediction

This feature allows you to filter how much information to receive at each moment of the game. At first, you might want to just play and enjoy the tank battles without going too much into details and feeling overwhelmed. Later on, as you’ve grasped the basics, you might want more info to better understand the intricate game mechanics. Once you have fully explored the game, you would probably once again disable the extra info as you already know what to expect and would only occasionally turn it back on to clear up some confusing situations.

Short Combat Prediction

More to come
Fortified positions on the cliff

I cannot cover all the juicy stuff in one Dev blog and this is just the tip of the iceberg. In the next Dev log, I will tell you more about:
- Randomness implementation in the game
- 4 possible attack outcomes
- How morale works
- Buildings and their destruction
- Cover and profile

*Please, note that some UI elements are not final and are subject to further change.

Serenity

See you next time!