A better system for combat

[Askan Nightbringer]

Pondering the plight of many battles in PBW I have formulated a plan for fairer battles to take place without (I hope) moving too far away from the way its currently done.

My gripe - One player moves all his ships, then the other and so on. Some people are aware (and I am too now) that fighting on a warp point heavily advantages the player with the lower number (coz he always goes first).

My alternative - Player 1 moves 1 ship, Player 2 moves 1 ship, Player 1 then moves another ship and so on until all the ships are moved.
Obviously there are advantages to moving some ships first (ie the ones with all the guns) so to compensate for this there could be another list in the strategies page similiar to the target priorities.
ie. Ship movement priority.
Has Weapons,
Nearest, (to enemy)
Biggest,
Baddest,
Meanest,
Worst Paint Job

It could also mean a smaller fleet might be more capable of doing some damage.
So what you guys think? A better way or what?

Askan
Intergalactic Despot

[Aristoi]

Would it not be simplier to just randomize the player order in combat?

[Askan Nightbringer]

Randomising the player order will still mean that at a warp point battle one player always gets slaughtered.
The battles are all or nothing, I'de rather it a bit more balanced.

Askan

[Deathstalker]

IMO we need a system like Moo2. Individual 'ship initative', each ship has a base initative (sp?) decided on by ship size and speed (ie, smaller, more maneuverable goes 'first'), and then and experience bonus is added to this number, finally a random number is added to the mix, the ships then go by this number for combat initative...

Kinda like the old Dungeons and Dragons system of 'who goes first'...Everyone had a number decided by rolling a 10 sided dice and then adding in their 'Dexterity' bonus, whoever had the 'highest' number went first, with ties going at the 'same' time and damage being applied at the 'end of the round'....

Anyone else think this is a good idea? (Just thinking though, the 'defender' of a position <wormhole/planet owned by defender etc> should get a bonus to going first, just like a 'cloaked' ship should get a bonus to going first, other components could also add to the 'number game' like the 'neural net' or 'combat sensors'.....)

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"We are all...the sum of our scars"....(paraphrased) Matt. R. Stover-'Blade of Tyshalle'.

"Human existance is all imagination...Reality is no more than a simple agreement among its participants that this is where we shall meet, and these are the rules that we shall abide by."- Kevin McCarthy/David Silva "The Family:Special Effects"..

[geoschmo]

I like it. I have sent soemthing like it earlier in the week to Aaron as a suggestion. Hopefully it's something he can work into this patch.

Geoschmo

[Kadste]

Deathstalker,

The system that you are proposing, works well with many games including "fleet" type combat.

Definitely agree with you that ships defending warp points should get a first fire turn (maybe more than one turn, depending on the chatacteristics of a warp point). Also with cloaked ships, unless detected. Some of the other space 4E games have already incorporated this (including some games that were developed on the same scale as SEIV).

What about the idea of having fleet initiative as well or instead of individual ship initiative. This may be easier to implement and could give definitive advantages to ships in fleets. If MM ever adopts a method of having fleet admirals in the game, this could also tie nicely.

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In difficult ground, press-on;
In encircled ground, devise stratagems;
In death ground, fight.
Sun Tzu (circa 400 B.C.)