Vigilantes > Suggestions & Feedback

Delaying Action

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Daithi:
Hi, should start working on delaying action in next 1-2 days. There will be an AP cost for delaying your turn, which will be reduced, or removed with a leadership perk. Main thing in question is the number of spaces the character moves down the queue and the cost.

If increments are 1, it's not really going to be feasible to charge more than 1AP. This would be reduced to 0 with leadership perk, at which point, the player would have complete control over when to act. This is a pretty big advantage, and may require a corresponding AI team buff. Also, I'd prefer mechanics which are useful in some situations, rather than useful all the time. Granted, the player will have to invest in a leader type character.

If increments are 2, and AP cost is 2, could be reduced to 1 with leadership perk. It's a nice AP saver, and doesn't provide complete control over when to act, making it useful in some situations, but not all the time.

Thoughts?

Nomad:
lol.... I can see several ways of doing this (with varying degrees of difficulty  :P ).

I can see two basic ways of delaying.

By people or by initiative.

* By people is just the number of portraits that your character moves down.
* By initiative is based on the invisible number that represents what initiative number we got when we started the map. I don't know if that's just based directly off of Stats or if there's a random element. The player won't know exactly how far down they'll move. Though, if initiative is just Stat-based, then most enemies will probably have the same initiative, so this won't work.
The problems you have with setting the number of positions down the initiative you go, is that the impact varies greatly between fighting 4 enemies and fighting 14.
Here are some suggestions of implementation:

* Fixed amount - 1 or 2 positions
* Percentage amount - Move one third down the queue (number of positions is determined by number of enemies)
* Chooseable amount - When the player elects to delay their action, they get a dialog box with a slider or number field, or up and down arrow clicker and the player chooses how far down they move
One that would have great usability and justify the AP cost nicely would be dragging and dropping your initiative portrait where you want it in the queue. I expect that this one will be the most difficult to implement (and naturally it's the one I like the most).

ushas:

--- Quote from: Daithi ---If increments are 1, it's not really going to be feasible to charge more than 1AP. This would be reduced to 0 with leadership perk, at which point, the player would have complete control over when to act.
--- End quote ---
That's a good idea. Limits how much willing to spent. Note, it doesn't automatically gives advantage we have to think and then use it well... So perhaps 0AP isn't so big deal. I guess you can easily change the cost if too strong.
Why Leadership though? No Utility?:)                        (medic medic medic medic...)


--- Quote from: Nomad ---Though, if initiative is just Stat-based
--- End quote ---
I think it's: Initiative = Fleetness +1
If you think of it, that 1 AP cost would be cheaper for people with a lot AP, thus also correlates with initiative.:)


--- Quote from: Nomad ---One that would have great usability and justify the AP cost nicely would be dragging and dropping your initiative portrait where you want it in the queue. I expect that this one will be the most difficult to implement (and naturally it's the one I like the most).
--- End quote ---
Yeah, smooth but tricky? Though I would be content with wait/delay 1 position by button+key. Reason is that you can change your mind as others act in the meantime...


--- Quote from: Nomad ---that the impact varies greatly between fighting 4 enemies and fighting 14.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, but perhaps that variety isn't bad thing? If the perk makes it cost 0 AP, then it changes what can do in those big battles...

ushas:
Could feel like earning something powerful later in game.


--- Quote from: Daithi ---This is a pretty big advantage, and may require a corresponding AI team buff. Also, I'd prefer mechanics which are useful in some situations, rather than useful all the time.
--- End quote ---
Perk on some high ranking enemy would be interesting, indeed. But you're the AI, giving rules limiting when to use. Delay can help the enemies with Overwatch timing.

An alternative is making the perk reduce the cost, for example by 4 AP, so it's free but only the first 4 positions in case of 1 AP cost, or 2 positions in case 2 AP. Don't know 2AP cost seems a lot.

Can we do it in the middle of the turn? Like I have 9 AP: 4 AP use now and then hit the wait button, next unit acts, and now I can act again with having 4AP remaining.

Daithi:
@ Nomad: You're right on the initiative observation - it will have to be by positions. Not directly related, but will be rebalancing the character system and reducing enemies in V19 - 14 enemies is way too much. Also right on dragging and dropping on queue - agree it's slick, but would be time costly to implement - God knows where Ushas would try to drop the portraits in order to break the game :) Will commit a fair bit of time to polish though, near the tail end of development.

@ Ushas: It's jumping out as more a leadership thing, being able to direct the flow of battle. I'm all for some interesting medic abilities though, would be worthwhile addition. Starting to think of 1AP per move, with leadership ability giving a high (say 75%) chance of negating the cost. Makes it a little less powerful, and injects a little tension. Could give x free delays per turn/game too. Yeah, it will be possible to spend AP first then delay.

Again on AI, not sure if AI will make use of this. Haven't looked at usefulness/complexity of it yet. Immediate worry would be that it could undermine pacing if AI keeps deferring turn.

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