Alright, I''m working on a little battle system demo for a turn based strategy game, but I have run into a design problem Basically, battles take place on an 8x8 board, and each side is able to have a max of 8 units on the board (not including summons). Now, the problem I have is differentiating player turns. I have 2 real options: 1. Each player can have each piece move during his turn Upside: Player can create large team movements for advanced strategies. Downside: Each turn takes a long time, and could make the battles too easy for the player who''s turn is first. 2. Player can only move/attack with/use magic from one unit per turn. Upside: Turns are short, and the battles are easier to bablance out. Downside: Battles are long, better chance of a stalemate. So what are your opinions on this? ...and that''s how I successfully lead operation Desert Storm.

If you use method 1, use initiative to balance things. That is to say, during combat stage, both players have their turns at the same time. One of them picks actions first, of course, but when it comes time to actually execute those actions, the unit that actually goes first is the one with the best speed (plus, perhaps, a random modifier)..

So if player A had a djinn (speed 8), a gnome (speed 3) and a salesman (speed 6) and player B had a slug (speed 1) and Jesse Owens (speed 7), then despite the fact that player A chose who to attack first, and B chose second, the actions would go:
Player A: Djinn
Player B: Jesse Owens
Player A: Salesman
Player A: Gnome
Player B: Slug

Don''t listen to me. I''ve had too much coffee.

You could AI it... though that''d be a bit odd. Player on turn decides how to change their AI all in one bunch and then let AI jesse owens it. The slight benefit to this is that the battle can go without any interjection on the part of the players, or could go with constant readjustment, though it would have to run slightly realtime, like if a player hit his interrupt button, then it wouldn''t take effect until whatever move is currently going on stopped.

-> Will Bubel
-> Machine wash cold, tumble dry.

The main reason that there are only 2 options there is because I have explored the options you people have made references to, and hated them. The gameplay just seemed too awkward.

...and that''s how I successfully lead operation Desert Storm.

What was awkward? There''s plenty of wiggle-room in choosing a turn-based model; to give us a multiple-choice question ensures that you will get a minimum of helpful responses. Help us help you.

Don''t listen to me. I''ve had too much coffee.

Well, first, there is the in battle speed bonuses, which are almost crucial in most decent strategies. If the game was speed based, and the speeds kept getting modified, eventually, you would be to confused in which unit has which speed value to know who will go when.

As for the AI thing, that''s a bit too much like point and click combat in MMORPG''s. People who like point and click combat probably have birthday''s for their cats too.

...and that''s how I successfully lead operation Desert Storm.

You can list the unit''s speed during a mouseover, or elsewhere on the UI, if you get confused. This is an interface problem, not a rules problem.

Don''t listen to me. I''ve had too much coffee.

Yes, but would you like to keep having to check every units speed each turn? I want an easy to use AND easy to comprehend system.

...and that''s how I successfully lead operation Desert Storm.

You could just say "Okay, when the player''s turn comes up, he gets to make three actions." My turn, I move this pawn forward three spaces. Your turn, a pawn 2 spaces and a Capitalship 1 space.

-> Will Bubel
-> Machine wash cold, tumble dry.

Tricky question. As Sneftel has said, you could always use the GUI to display current unit speeds graphically as a speed bar for instance (and add a toggle feature for their display). This would make it easier for humans.

The major downside of the single piece per turn rule is that the utility of moving a powerful piece is often much greater than other pieces. It does seem to work well in chess though, but whether it would work well in your game would depend a lot on the mechanics.

One other option is to use command points - players have a set number of command points per turn, and using a powerful unit takes more command points than using weaker units. The values don''t need to be precise, since the intent is only to reduce the disparity mentioned previously. I think MOO3 is going to use some variant of this.