City fighting from cloud level

AJ · 2005-02-01T02:28:36

What are some interesting ideas for different types of units fighting inside a city? I'm trying to make this a high level abstraction, meaning you don't really know where units are, whether they have line of sight, or other nit-picky things like ammo or facing direction. Your view is basically as if you were managing things from up in the clouds. The fighting rules are supposed to be generic: It could be power-armor suits versus Aliens-style xenomorphs; it could be musketeers versus velociraptors, doesn't matter. Basics To start, I've broken this down into five unit types: Solo, Squad, Mob, Column and Ultra. Each has a subtype: Solo: Scout (stealth short range), Ranger (medium range weapons), Assassin (stealth + long range), Sapper (traps / explosives) and Close Fighter (has to be in contact). Squad (a mixed force deploying intelligent, tactical skills): Specialist (commandos), Light and Heavy. Mob (which range from unarmed civilians to armed militants/creatures): Unarmed, Mixed, Militant Column (which are mixed troops / vehicles organized for self protection): Troop, Light Armor, Heavy Armor Ultra (special category for huge mecha, floating starships, Godzillas, etc): Beast, Amorphous, Light Mech, Heavy Mech Assumptions Here are some assumptions: Just because you're high-tech doesn't mean you're impervious to tactics. I want the system to allow a force like Star Wars Ewoks, for example, to beat the Empire. Terrain makes all the difference: In open fields, the Ewoks are dead meat, but in the forest, they have a chance The rules need to be fast and straightforward, so there isn't a lot of room for subtlety unless that subtlety will really add to the combat Unit stats: Attack - Ability to assault and damage a target Defense - Ability to resist assault based on armor and tactics Speed - Movement speed Stealth - Ability to perform sneak attacks or attack and withdraw without being hurt TL - Tech level (0 to x) (Not sure if this is needed) Range - For ranged units, range of attack, also should help decide how often a unit can defend with ranged weapons when being assaulted Training - Green, Regular, Veteran, Elite Number of Attacks The larger the unit, the greater the number of times it should be able to attack. This can either be expressed as overall damage it does, or in the number of times it has a chance to do damage. Solo - 1 Squad - 3 Mob - 5 Column - 8 Ultra - 15 Hit Points This is supposed to be the armor, hit points and health of the unit, all rolled into one. Solo - 1 * TL Squad - 3 * TL Mob - 5 * TL Column - 8 * TL Ultra - 15 * TL Rules This is where it gets ugly! There are probably three types of attacks: A close assault, a ranged assault, and a stealth / surprise assault. In general, the attacker has to win the majority of the battles. Close Assaults Attacker's Attack score + Defender's Defense score = Total; Attack / Total = chance for success. Example: Att 6 vs. Def 4 = (6 + 4) = 10; chance for success = 6/10 = 60%. Success is a random test under 60%, in this case. Every time a unit wins a battle, it takes 1 HP from the loser for every 10% of success. So if the test was 40% as above, the damage is 4; 30% is 3, 20% is 2, etc. The difference in training level acts as a modifier. The difference in tech levels acts as a buffer. Formula: [ (Test % * 10) + (Attacker TL - Defender TL) ] * (Attacker Training / Defender Training) Ranged Assaults In general, a ranged assault is the same as a close assault except that the defender doesn't have a chance to harm the attacker unless they are of equal or superior range. Stealth / Surprise Assaults The difference here is that the attacker and defender have a contest of Stealth + TL vs. Stealth + TL. The winner gets to attack the defender first. For every 10%, the winner does 1 extra HP of damage. So a Stealth 5 + TL 1 (6) vs. a Stealth 0 + TL 4 (4) gives a contest of 60% for the attacker, who is able to do 1 to 6 points of damage per successful attack. Tactics: Terrain Modifiers The tactics should probably depend heavily on the terrain: Open (parks and fields): Standard rules Obstructed (corners or areas with cover, grassy fields, trees): Defense +1, Stealth + 1 Lowrises (streets, alleys and small homes and buildings): Defense +2, Stealth +2, Speed -1, Range -1; units of up to Column size only Highrises (big buildings, garages, causeways between buildings): Defense +3, Stealth +3, Speed -2; units of up to Mob size only or Column Troops Complex (collapsed ruins with lots of hidey holes or sewers, forests): Defense +4, Stealth +4, Speed -3; units of up to Mob size only or Column Troops Exceptions: Unit AbilitiesSolos All solos get Stealth x 2 in terrain Scouts ignore all speed penalties Assassins always withdraw at 1/2 damage when attacked Sappers take no damage when defending (they use traps / bombs) and may set traps/bombs Rangers always attack first unless facing another ranger, in which case normal TL rules apply Squads All squads get Stealth x 1.5 in buildings or complex terrain Squads have double defense when surprising any other larger unit Specialist Squads ignore all speed penalties and take only 1/2 damage when defending (defensive perimeter) Light Squads get +1 movement bonus vs. any speed penalties Mobs Mobs may only stealth in buildings Unarmed Mobs withdraw at 1/3 HP damage when attacked (they scatter) Mixed Mobs withdraw at 1/2 HP damage (scattering) Militant Mobs effectively double Def when attacking (swarming) Mobs can never be Elite Columns Columns can only move over Open or Obstructed terrain Columns may demolish buildings by attacking them, converting them to Complex Troops may Entrench, effectively doubling Def stat Troops have a chance to panic smaller units when attacking, causing them to withdraw automatically (TL + Training vs TL + Training) Troops have -1 Stealth Light Armor has +1 Move over open terrain, -2 Stealth Heavy Armor has -3 Stealth Ultras Ultras may not stealth Ultras may demolish buildings, converting them to Complex; or may demolish them by moving into them, doing damage on a contest of TL vs TL Beasts lose 1 point of attack for every 10% HP lost Amorphous may ignore all move penalties and terrain restrictions Light Mechs have Def x 2 in open terrain, Speed +1 Heavy Mechs have Def x 3 in open terrain Ultras have a chance to panic smaller units when attacking, causing them to withdraw automatically (TL + Training vs TL + Training) [Edited by - Wavinator on January 27, 2005 7:24:13 PM]

Game Design and Theory Game Design

Started by Wavinator January 27, 2005 07:07 PM

14 comments, last by Wavinator 20 years ago

Kars

184

January 28, 2005 01:33 PM

Unarmed Mobs: increase in HP if they are winning. This represents bystanders joining the fight.

flying units:
Gliders, plains, etc.
Terrain Modifiers:
- No movement penalty for any terrain.
- A bonus to defence.
- reduced number of attacks/bomming runs.
- Attack penalty equal half the defence bonus for the terrain.
- Can mistake friendly stealthy units for hositals.

KarsQ: What do you get if you cross a tsetse fly with a mountain climber?A: Nothing. You can't cross a vector with a scalar.

Madster

242

January 30, 2005 03:51 PM

About traps: they could cause friendly fire
If you rig a place too strongly, some friendlies are bound to trip some wires here and there. The rate of friendly casualties due to traps should be much lower, but proportional to the efectiveness of the traps.

Working on a fully self-funded project

Wavinator

Author

2,020

February 01, 2005 02:18 AM

Quote:
Original post by TechnoGoth
Ambush - like a surprise attack but planned.

Okay, I like that you get extra attacks for a surprise, but if it fails the enemy gets extra attacks on you.

Quote:

Mobs
Attacks 1;

Special - for each round the remains engaged in combat without breaking their number of attacks doubles.

This and Kars idea of bystanders joining the fight actually give mobs more teeth, which I like.

--------------------Just waiting for the mothership...

Wavinator

Author

2,020

February 01, 2005 02:20 AM

Quote:
Original post by Sandman
You mention ewoks, but you forgot to mention traps!

No, that's what Sappers are for! Heh, I guess all the Ewoks are Sapper units! [smile]

Quote:

Traps could of course vary in sophistication from big logs swung from trees, to setting explosives on city infrastructure so it can be demolished on top of the enemy troops.

Of course, traps take some preparation time, and may involve sacrificing some parts of the city, but they can turn a guaranteed defeat into a victory.

For the internal rules I think a preparation penality would work.

Maybe traps should be less effective or impossible in ambushes and surprise attacks, then?

--------------------Just waiting for the mothership...

Wavinator

Author

2,020

February 01, 2005 02:26 AM

Quote:
Original post by Kars
Unarmed Mobs: increase in HP if they are winning. This represents bystanders joining the fight.

Nice, I like this. Actually, I think I'm going to try to be more subtle and make this based on some kind of popularity variable. This could control both how quickly things got out of hand and how much of the city was affected.

Quote:

flying units:
Gliders, plains, etc.
Terrain Modifiers:
- No movement penalty for any terrain.
- A bonus to defence.
- reduced number of attacks/bomming runs.
- Attack penalty equal half the defence bonus for the terrain.
- Can mistake friendly stealthy units for hositals.

I totally forgot air power! I wonder if they deserve the same complexity as ground units? There's VTOL hovering, which should be able to make use of high rise terrain but would be subject to increased attacks from smaller random units (spears, bullets).

In contrast, there are less accurate but faster moving air units that can fly through the city and possibly hit allies as well as enemies.

Then there are super high altitude units that can't be hit by a certain tech level... hmmm... maybe getting too deep here.

--------------------Just waiting for the mothership...

Wavinator

Author

2,020

February 01, 2005 02:28 AM

Quote:
Original post by Madster
About traps: they could cause friendly fire
If you rig a place too strongly, some friendlies are bound to trip some wires here and there. The rate of friendly casualties due to traps should be much lower, but proportional to the efectiveness of the traps.

This reminds me of the old Army saying, "make a base so impregnable the enemy can't get in and YOU can't get out!"

This MIGHT be a detail that's more appropriate for building/complex level strategy, though (which I'm thinking about).

--------------------Just waiting for the mothership...

City fighting from cloud level

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City fighting from cloud level

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