Introducing The Battle System

Hey Heroes,

This week's topic is Gordian Quests's battle system. If the map system is the lifeblood of the game, the battle system is the meat and bones. Our goal with the combat system to provide the following :

• Turn-based gameplay
  
• A highly tactical experience where every action counts
  
• An almost puzzle-like aspect when examining enemy actions and reactions
  
• Satisfying synergy and combos from items and party members
  
  

Let's delve into it.



Roll for initiative!
The age-old clarion call to battle - rolling for initiative. As the battle is turned based, every unit has their turn in the pecking order of when to act. Everyone's position in this queue is automatically determined behind the scenes by rolling 3 six-sided dice and adding the unit's Initiative score.

Every hero has a base Initiative score - agile and lightweight heroes tend to be able to act first. This score is then modified by skills and items. Remember that Initiative is fluid, and various status effects like Speed Up and Slow Down can influence the flow of battle.

And .... action!

Every unit acts can use a number of skills based off their AP (Action Points). All heroes start with 3 AP, with various skills costing a range of AP from 0 to 4 or more. AP can be increased through skills or items.



What's your intention?
There is value to being the first to act in battle - at a glance, you can view the intent of all units that have not acted. This means that you have the advantage of planning a strategy to counter your foes.

This means that if an enemy acts faster than you, you will need to play more defensively as you are unable to determine their next action. With that said ... read on.



Enemy intentions are fluid. They change if they they are unable to target anyone with their current skill - in other words, they switch to using the next available card in their hand. Use this knowledge to optimize how you spend your action points - avoid a powerful attack by moving to another lane, or take the heat off an ally by stepping into an enemy's sight.



Studying and outsmarting your enemies is key to winning battles unscathed. With the above information in mind, here are the rules of engagement when fighting enemies.

• Every enemy has a specific deck (the simplest enemies have 3 cards, while tougher opponents can have twice that)
  
• Enemies will draw and hold 2-3 cards in their hand per turn
  
• Enemies will pick the first valid card, from left to right
  
• Enemies will play 1 action from their hand per turn
  
• Powerful monsters can have 1 or more passive abilities that change up the battlefield, or knock players around. Be on guard!
  

You're up next
On your hero's turn, you're going to have to make some choices. Here's a simplified loop :

• Need to reposition yourself? This costs 1AP per cell moved.
  
• In a tight situation? Use a consumable. Each hero can only carry 2 into battle, but they cost no AP to use.
  
• Play a card in your hand. Discover synergies between certain cards that can grant additional effects, or let you play more cards on your turn.
  
• Out of AP? End the turn.
  

Sounds simple enough - but remember that every action counts. One wrong move can expose a weakness in your strategy, and your party will be punished for it.


There is no I in Teamwork
Heroes are strong by themselves, but that won't do when going up against more powerful elites. By working in unison, heroes can trigger supplementary attacks and effects that can boost their effectiveness. These skills are called Trigger skills, and are labelled as such.

Trigger skills are all about positioning. By keeping in the same lane, row, or any other position as described, a hero can activate other heroes in the same turn for a free action. Heroes can only be triggered once per round in this way.



As such, every Action Point matters. Weigh the use of it to change the enemy's intent, to get into the correct formation, to avoid danger, or to get in range for an attack. There are going to be some hard decisions to make.


Advanced strategies
There's more to the battle system, but that is outside the scope of this post. Utilize the many status effects to your advantage, all while deftly trying to take as little damage as possible. Here are a couple of unique ones to look out for ...

• Knockback - Push a target backwards in their lane (swap if they hit someone else)
  
• Channel - Every point of Channel will reduce the AP cost of certain spells by 1
  
• Burn - Every point of Burn will inflict 2 damage on the target's turn
  
• Frozen - Will lock up a random card in the target's hand
  
• Burning Ground - Units take damage when stepping into this cell
  ... and more!
  

This is just a taste of what we have to show for our Early Access. We'll be working on this and even more amazing content as we go on!



If you've missed out on our previous posts, here is all the teasers we've shown - this list will be growing as we go along!

• An Introduction To Gordian Quest
• Introducing Gordian Quest's Procedural World

If any of the above gets you excited, you'll be absolutely in for a treat with Gordian Quest. We can't wait to show you more, stay tuned!

Drop us a comment, wishlist our game and tell your friends about it :)

Sincerely,
The Gordian Quest Team