Right. So, there has been a lot mentioned about improving tactical combat, but I haven't seen a lot of actual discussion. This thread is dedicated to improving the tactical combat system.
General Mechanics:
1. Allow units to set a facing direction at the end of combat. Add a flanking bonus for attacking units not on the front. Say +15% from front flank, +25% from side, +50% from rear flank, and plus %75 from back.
2. Give an attack bonus when a unit is surrounded, the more friendly units surrounding an enemy the bigger the attack bonus, and the bigger the defense penalty for the enemy.
3. A general bonus for having more friendly units near, while isolated units do not share that bonus.
4. A bonus for having your sovereign close by.
5. Some sort of penalty if your sovereign or champion is felled in battle.
6. Attacks of opportunity against units trying to leave from, or pass through a square that is next to an enemy.
7. Ability to go into "defend" mode, which forfeits attack but increases defense.
8. Ability for mounted units to have a "charge" attack which increases both movement and damage in a single line of attack. Possibility of damaging multiple units if they are in line and ending up behind them.
9. Units with "spear" type weapons, or polearms, should gain a bonus when fighting against mounted troops.
10. Casting a spell should be somewhat equivalent to making an attack with regard to action points. Currently casting a spell will use all your action points, but if you attack 4 times and still have one action point left, you can cast a spell with the remaining point. If casting a spell is supposed to replace all physical attacks, then the strength of spells needs to be balanced to compare with 4 or 5 melee attacks in a row. (taking into account spell benefits such as ranged attack and area of effect). Perhaps the spell level should decide how many action points it requires.
11. As others have mentioned the unit movement needs an undo button, either that or make damn sure we know which unit we are commanding. The focus changes automatically, so when your attacks are done all of a sudden you're in command of a different unit, but still clicking on the last guy you were attacking. This doesn't pan out very well.
12. Units need special attacks. Say a guy with a big axe or sword can do a roundhouse attack, someone with a shield can bash one guy while attacking in another. Just some variety, stuff we can use tactically to spice it up a bit. How about a berserk attack that increases damage but reduces defense for the next round?
Terrain considerations:
1. Attack bonus for fighting downhill, attack penalty for fighting uphill.
2. More maps that include terrain features.
3. Trees provide cover from ranged attacks, huge penalty if using ranged weapons while in trees.
4. Line of fire for archers.
5. Fighting from within a river (or any water) adds a large penalty.
6. Give archers a wall to hide behind if the battle is taking place at a city. I know the whole city/wall thing has been circumvented for a simpler "gain +HP if city has walls", but I think maybe this needs to be reconsidered a little.
7. Range of archers increases when firing from higher terrain, decreases when firing from lower.
I know some improvements are already being worked on, I just want to make sure nothing gets left out. This is not a complete list, just some traditional stuff I could think of. Please add your own and let's make this game great!
**Updated Jan 05, 2011* *
- Button to automate tactical combat, allowing the AI to take control for a single unit or your entire army. Ability to stop automation at any point and manually control the battle again. Ability to restrict magic use, and perhaps select offensive/defensive/balanced AI tactics. Ability to set speed of automation to skip through the more boring parts of battles such as cleaning up archers.
- Ranged units can take cover behind certain obstacles (walls, rocks, broken carts) and fire out while retaining a cover bonus from incoming fire.
- A hit% chance visible when attempting to fire past friendly units (and other obstacles) in your archers line of fire.
- Units not turn to face you when attacked from the sides. Gain flanking damage.
- Allow Tactical Battle in Multiplayer (a must!)
- Group Attacks: A special attack where two or more units can work together to maximize damage. Placement and number of the units around the enemy, and types of units being used in the group will decide the options for group attack.
- Area of Effect spells that you may choose to damage your own units with, for the greater good.
- Possible 'Physical' type area of effect attacks for larger creatures such as Dragons and Trolls.
- Larger monsters taking up more than 1 square on the tactical map
- Ability to 'arrange' your units before battle, deciding placement for archers etc.
