Movement in a Space Tactical Combat System

Michel Mony · 2015-02-13T18:01:15

Hi folks, So I'm tinkering with tactical movement in a space tactics game and I ended up visiting a few different solutions. [attachment=25871:Origin.png] Let's imagine this is a spaceship. The blue arc represents the ship's fore. I know, it's just a ball, but fare with me... The first solution I've thought about was to implement a system that would come from a tilemap (move forward, turn, etc.) with a points system, but I realized this was adding unnecessary complexity given that the game could handle these computations and that I needed to focus on the actual input. The first input scheme I've thought about was the one from X-Wing Miniatures, where each unit has a preset list of maneuvers they can employ. These maneuvers have preset start and end positions which correspond to a specific movement in space (for example, a 2 sharp turn gives you exactly 90 degrees and a very specific distance to travel): [attachment=25874:X-Wing.png] This approach felt a bit fixed, so I've started researching other games. I've stumbled across Battle Fleet 2, which proposes a system in which you can determine the final heading your ship should have, and the throttle (total distance) of the movement. The thing, however, is that the game does NOT tell you where your ship will end (how wide the arc will be, etc.) so it gives a bit of a guessing game which can be fun (am I going to end close enough? will I collide with the enemy? etc.). [attachment=25870:Battle Fleet 2.png] I've also played a small Pirate game which I can't remember the name of, but which sported an interested system. It basically projected an arc in front of the ship that listed all possible outcomes, and the player would drag a control in that area to determine final position. Then, the control would allow to be "turned" to give final heading, and that heading would also be limited by all possible movement patterns to reach this area. [attachment=25872:Pirate (1).png]And once move is carried out:[attachment=25873:Pirate (2).png] At this point, I'm leaning towards the pirate approach, which gives me a lot of flexibility, and simpler controls, but I'm not sure this is the best approach. In an environment when movement and heading matters (mostly because ships have various weapons with greatly varying firing arcs, and ships have shapes that make it harder or easier to hit from an angle), do you feel that this is the best approach to movement / movement input? Thanks!