Let's talk about Combat!

As probably many of you have been wondering and asking how will the combat look, well we can confirm now that we have a combat that works. - So let’s summarize.

Combat is an simulation that happens on World Map where players can make decisions during combat in order to impact the end result. Rounds last for certain amount of time/days and in that time you can cast additional spells on the battlefield actors.

Disclaimer: Note that this is just first showcase and we are still working on formations and battles itself
Each unit has it's 3D representation with all according animations that simulate the combat flow. We are very proud of this since it gives combat a real time action feeling. Each unit represents a certain number of troops, and the units shown on screen reflect their relative proportion compared to the rest of the army on the Avatar.

We will go over a few subjects regarding the combat.

1. General combat situations
   
2. Changing combat tactics
   
3. Avatar abilities
   
4. Imbuing avatars with spells
   
5. Combat involving multiple Avatars

When your avatar encounters an enemy units will start fighting eachother and their deaths will be reflected based on round results.

Battle duration depends on your Leadership attribute. The more leadership you have, the less time/days the battle will take, so attacking with big armies will require higher leadership unless you want to get stuck in the field fighting for some time, giving your enemy opportunity to flank you.

Army morale is another thing that is tied into leadership, it determines how much loses you need to take in order to flee from the battle. If your army morale is low, it might end up bad for you.

Maximum number of combat rounds can be 5, so if a battle goes beyond that amount, it will end up in a draw and you will have to fight another day.

Every avatar will receive combat tactics as they level up - Offensive, Defensive, Sorcery, Ambush and Retreat.

It takes one full round to switch from one tactics to another, which means that if you start with Defensive tactics, in order for you to switch to Offensive tactics you will need to queue it up, and at the beginning of your next round your Avatar will start with Offensive tactic.

Offensive Tactics gives you advantage on the kill count, but reduces your magic defenses

Defensive Tactics is good for holding out vs spells or preserving your army

Sorcery will enhance your avatar abilities and spells.

Ambush is a positional tactic that is available to every Avatar if he manages to strike from the shadows. In order for Avatar to start ambush tactics he will need to hide in the woods, as he is doing that his ambush radius will extend. If enemy avatar enters this ambush radius your avatar will be able to charge and attack him immediately.

Charge attack is always succesfull, but in order for it to also be an Ambush attack it needs to pass a check vs enemy Perception and your Terrain lore attribute. If successful your Avatar will receive significant bonuses for the entire battle.

Every Avatar has an ability that is equal to his starting magical plane, as Avatars gain in levels, those abilities grow stronger. Abilities are used automatically in combat based on Avatar attributes and level.

Before you engage into battle you can imbue and prepare your avatars with various spells, other then simple buff, you can decide to cast a hostile spell (like Fireball) on your Avatar.

Your Avatar, instead of taking damage from that spell will be able to store that spell and use it for the upcoming battles.

Stored Avatar spells will be available as additional options next to Combat Tactics, and player will decide at what time they want to use it, or simply save it for later. And as before, it takes one full round for Avatar stored spell to be cast while inside combat.

The cool thing about that is that avatar attributes enhance those Avatar spells, while it’s a bit trickier to prepare properly, it can give you the advantage you need over the overwhelming enemy forces.

If you just like the traditional spellcaster style you can just spam enemy avatars with Fireballs, Call of Tars Munas and all the cool spells that make their army go poof before they even reach you. It's a perfectly valid tactic if you decide that's your thing.

This is situation where 2 sides are engaging in a battle, and third side which is an ally to one of the sides joins that battle, the combat situation changes and the minority side will have to split it’s attention towards new army now.

We are still working on this part and once it’s ready we’ll talk about it in a lot more details.

https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/app/2805850/Atre_Dominance_Wars/