Rules, and a wishlist

[Bjartmarr]

Hey, thanks for the game.

I've read the help file, and it's useful as far as it goes, but is there a more complete description of the rules somewhere? I ask because I'm in the middle of learning about the hydra cannon by trial and error, after having learned about the rest of the game by trial and error, and it's getting kinda boring every time one of my guesses turns out to be wrong and I have to restart the level.

Also, the following would be useful:
* An "undo" button, for when you meant to move forward but instead turned right, costing you two CP. (But you shouldn't be able to undo combat or anything that reveals additional information.)
* Better descriptions of mission objectives. Perhaps they could be marked better on the map; it's not always obvious where the "switches" are, or to which of the orange squares you're supposed to go.
* A way to see most (all?) of the map on the screen at the same time, for route planning.

Again, thanks for the game!

[Cory Trese]

Thanks for the post!

We are working on updating the help file for the Hydra cannon.

If you do have any questions about the complete rules, please feel free to post.

I feel that the help file is a complete (in English, at least) set of rules.

If we have missed something I'm excited to discuss it and update the help file.

I cannot do better if I don't know what you want tho

[Cory Trese]

Undo -- It is on the list but way down in priorities. Just hasn't been getting as many requests as other features in the e-mail stream.

Mission Objects -- any levels or types in particular?

We are working on a zoom map but it's lower on the list than trooper types and equipment functions.

[Bjartmarr]

Hey, thanks for the response.
Here's a list of stuff that would have been helpful to read about rather than learn by trial and error.

* Xeno movement is divided into 3 phases. In each phase, a xeno may either move or attack. After each phase, any templar with CP left over may move or attack as a reaction.
* Templar lose 1CP at the end of each xeno phase. (This really confused me before I figured it out).
* I understand that CP=3+(Q+T)/2. (The help file currently says Q+T/3, though.) But what does it mean if a guy's "shooting" is 6? Does that mean that he hits 60% of the time? Or on a 6 or less on 2d6? Likewise for defense and hand-to-hand. I can't make smart decisions about where to allocate my XP if I don't know how the game mechanics work.
* What do "plating" and "shielding" do on armor? Is it better to have plating=2 and shielding=0, or both=1?
* What is "damage type"?
* What does "attack bonus" do? (the Heavy Lev. only has attack bonus 1, while the regular Lev. has attack bonus 3; I want to know what the bonus does so I can decide if it's worth it for more ammo.)
* What does "burst" do on a weapon description?
* Captain's special ability may only be used once per turn, and only 2 times per level.

And yeah, I realize that the game isn't finished and the above list is extensive. But, you did ask.

Also, another (small) suggestion: it would be easier to keep track of which traits effect which skills if the upgrade screen had the warrior and evasion buttons below the strength button, and the ranged and tactics buttons below the quickness button. That way the strength-based stuff would be on the left, and the quickness-based stuff on the right, instead of cross-ways as it is now.

I don't remember which levels had confusing objectives right now, but I'll post them when I find them from now on.

[Rico's Roughnecks]

This is just what I have deduced.

Three OR MORE aliens movement phases. In higher difficulty they randomly get extra actions... I've seen as many as 7

Templar lose 1cp after each alien phase... except for a glitch wherein, if one templar can see an alien, other templar who CAN'T see an alien lose a cp before their chance to react. So if 2 templar are next to each other facing different directions both have 2cp when turn ends. An alien takes 1 action and moves into sight of one templar. Now you can react... the templar who sees the alien has 2cp to react. The one who is facing the other way and can't see it only has 1cp... meaning he can't turn and fire. Let's say neither templar acts and you end your reaction turn. The aliens take another action, and your templar who can see the alien now gets to react with 1cp remaining but the one who can't see it has lost both cp already.

Cp is actually (q+t/3)+4. Your Soldier/hydra templars wear armor that gives them a -1 cp penalty. Scouts (including captain) have armor with no penalty.

I don't know about plating and shielding. I have found by experimenting that armor makes no difference when taking damage from fire.

The game tells you your chance to get a critical hit (whatever that means). The heavy leviathan, with attack bonus 1, is 10% less likely to get a critical than a standard levi with bonus 3; a light levi with bonus 2 is 5% less likely. It probably affects your to hit chance also but I don't have data on that.

I like games with minimal instructions that require trial and error... I lose interest once I have it all figured out. I certainly won't lose interest in this anytime soon!

[blackgauntlet]

Feb 6, 2012 17:49:45 GMT -5 Rico's Roughnecks said:

I like games with minimal instructions that require trial and error... I lose interest once I have it all figured out. I certainly won't lose interest in this anytime soon!

See, there are 2 types of gamers.

1) The type that buys a game, gets home, open up the box, read the manual, install the game, browse through the manual again, and then start playing the game with knowledge on the basics.

2) The type that buys the game, rips open the box on the way home, sniff in the new game smell, reach home, install the game while excitedly shaking their legs, then start playing the game with no idea where is the "Any" key.

You're obviously Type 2 and Bjartmarr is Type 1.

And both of you can exist for the same game, simply because you may or may not choose to read the instructions. The most important thing is there is one in the 1st place.

Regarding Plating & Shielding, I think Shielding is the chance to block off an attack and Plating reduces the damage done on self from a successful attack.

[Rico's Roughnecks]

Feb 6, 2012 19:12:38 GMT -5 blackgauntlet said:

Feb 6, 2012 17:49:45 GMT -5 Rico's Roughnecks said:

Regarding Plating & Shielding, I think Shielding is the chance to block off an attack and Plating reduces the damage done on self from a successful attack.

Ok now you have done it... you proposed a theory, which requires me to prove or disprove this theory BEFORE it is pronounced true or untrue by fallen (the voice of God) or Cory (God).

And God works on pacific time... the cheater. I gotta light both ends of the candle on this one...

[blackgauntlet]

Well, I THINK it is. Since my Lone Cap seldom gets hit (but it could be due to his Evasion) but loses a kidney if a blow lands. As there is only 1 Plating on Captain's Armor.

Which is why I want to test out with a Heavy Leviathan Suit on him.

[Rico's Roughnecks]

ok so help me I actually tested this. I had more free time at work than usual.

So here's my methodology. I took one Normal difficulty captain with Str+Ev=5 and put him in Scout armor for one test and Incinerator for the other, because those have the biggest difference between their armor values. (Plating1 vs plating 2shield 3). I used up all my CP each turn so there was no "converting remaining cp to defense" and let a purple alien attack me from the front. I interpret that If there's no blood spray when it attacks me, that's a miss. If there's blood but no damage, that's a hit but armor reduced the damage to zero. After I got hit once and there was blood on the ground, I aborted the mission and started again because I couldn't tell the difference between a miss and a 0 damage. and, once again so help me, I actually recorded 100 attacks in each armor type.

Here's the weird part. The armor wasn't that different. Both times, the aliens missed exactly 38% so armor didnt affect that at all.
Scout armor, miss 38% zero damage 15%, 1 damage 15%, 2 damage 14%, 3 damage 15%, 4 damage 3%
Incincerator miss 38%, zero damage 15%, 1 damage 8%, 2 damage 22%, 3 damage 9%, 4 damage 8%

Overall, of the 62 attacks that hit the average damage was 1.79 for incinerator and 1.61 for scout, so the incinerator with higher armor values took more damage on average, and took the maximum 4 damage twice as often. I had a pretty big survey sample, but the incinerator still seemed to have some random variation because 2 damage was the highest. That would probably average out with more data, but it looks like it would shake out to be pretty much the same as the scout armor. I already found fairly confidantly that armor doesn't affect fire damage...

So my answer is much longer but still the same... I don't know about plating and shielding.

[celu]

Wish: We probably do not need the CP and ammo count on right lower corner since we already have the same info on the left side. With that said, please have the space for "Next turn" button ONLY for the "next turn" button. I pressed that accidentally so many times, when I thought I was switching weapons.

Maybe we can expand the buttons on the bottom. Have the abort and weapon button always visible but on dark grey if disabled at the moment. Like the HUD on ST.

[blackgauntlet]

Feb 9, 2012 12:37:04 GMT -5 Rico's Roughnecks said:

ok so help me I actually tested this. I had more free time at work than usual.

So here's my methodology. I took one Normal difficulty captain with Str+Ev=5 and put him in Scout armor for one test and Incinerator for the other, because those have the biggest difference between their armor values. (Plating1 vs plating 2shield 3). I used up all my CP each turn so there was no "converting remaining cp to defense" and let a purple alien attack me from the front. I interpret that If there's no blood spray when it attacks me, that's a miss. If there's blood but no damage, that's a hit but armor reduced the damage to zero. After I got hit once and there was blood on the ground, I aborted the mission and started again because I couldn't tell the difference between a miss and a 0 damage. and, once again so help me, I actually recorded 100 attacks in each armor type.

Here's the weird part. The armor wasn't that different. Both times, the aliens missed exactly 38% so armor didnt affect that at all.
Scout armor, miss 38% zero damage 15%, 1 damage 15%, 2 damage 14%, 3 damage 15%, 4 damage 3%
Incincerator miss 38%, zero damage 15%, 1 damage 8%, 2 damage 22%, 3 damage 9%, 4 damage 8%

Overall, of the 62 attacks that hit the average damage was 1.79 for incinerator and 1.61 for scout, so the incinerator with higher armor values took more damage on average, and took the maximum 4 damage twice as often. I had a pretty big survey sample, but the incinerator still seemed to have some random variation because 2 damage was the highest. That would probably average out with more data, but it looks like it would shake out to be pretty much the same as the scout armor. I already found fairly confidantly that armor doesn't affect fire damage...

So my answer is much longer but still the same... I don't know about plating and shielding.

Good job on that one! You can apply for the job opening of one of Cory's android players. ;D Not paid though. But you do get to play awesome games the whole day...

[Cory Trese]

I will investigate, but I'm not sure I know what to say about the test results because my own results are different, and I see in the code that it will be different.