Movement and Combat

Goals
  • I wanted to avoid players sitting in one section of the map taking turns shooting at each other. 
  • I encouraged players to move around more by:
    • Making ship orientation matter and creating weak points that players can exploit by moving and positioning their ships.
    • Creating two health bars the player must deplete before an enemy is destroyed; some ships deal better laser damage while others deal better ballistic damage.
    • Created scenarios to encourage players to dynamically adjust their strategies and ship placement for each scenario.
  • I wanted the movement and combat to be immersive by feeling realistic
    • Space ships can move forward faster than they can reverse due to their large rear engines. This is why is cost 3 AP to reverse instead of 2. 
    • Every ship is unique and has different strengths and weaknesses, which is dictated by their physical structure, stats, and design.  
      • The defense craft is a massive and heavy ship because of the armor on its sides, which makes it move slow. Although it takes a lot to move and fire its massive side-mounted cannons, this ship is hard to take down. 
      • The attack craft's weaponry is optimized to shoot without much energy cost; the system is mounted to the front of the attack craft forcing it to only shoot towards the front of the ship. To save on weight, armor and weaponry systems have been removed from the rear of the ship. 
      • The support craft is lightweight and maneuverable. On top of that, it also contains a ship hanger for drones made to repair allied ships. Due to its large energy stores, the support craft has a powerful laser cannon able to swivel around the ship to attack from all sides. 
  • I drew Inspiration from Civilization V in terms of map design and movement. The hex grid offers more choices than a square grid for players when deciding where to move and shoot. I also took inspiration from Fractured Space, a 3D space combat game where ship orientation matters and the form and function of the ship dictated how effective weapons are when shooting from a certain side of the ship. 
Movement
  • During their turn, the player can select any of their ships to interact with.
  • Each craft has Action Points (AP), which they spend on movement, attacks, and abilities.
    • Moving forward cost 2 AP
    • Turning the ship cost 1 AP
    • Moving backwards cost 3 AP
  • Once a ship’s AP reaches zero, the player can no longer use that ship and its interaction is disabled.
  • Once a player has moved all their ships during their turn, they end their turn. The player's opponent then starts their turn. 
Combat and Weapons
  • Combat revolves around a turn-based system where the player can interact with one ship at a time until they no longer can interact with any of their ships. This ends their turn.
  • Weapons
    • Lasers (6) shoot in a straight line, deal damage to shields, and do 90% less damage to hull. Lasers are standard on every craft. 
    • Ballistic cannons (7) shoot in a straight line, deal damage to hull, and do 90% less damage to shields. Ballistic cannons are standard on every craft.
    • Missiles have long range, can shoot within a 7 tile radius, and do 10% less damage to shields.
    • Plasma Damage is effective against both shields and hulls, and its damage is split between the two. For example, 10 plasma damage deals 5 damage to hull and 5 damage to shields. 
  • A ship blows up when their hull reaches zero, even if that ship may have shields.
  • Position matters!
    • All ships have a weak point at the back of the ship (the ship’s engines). Weapons deal more damage when hitting this spot.
    • Each ship has different shield / hull effectiveness depending on which side receives damage (5).
    • Each ship has different weapon effectiveness depending on which side of the ship fires (5). Some ships, like the Attack Craft, have sides where they cannot shot from at all.