Last week we detailed a failed attempt to completely remove speed from Aethermon’s mechanics.
This endeavour resulted in a complicated system where each move neatly fit into one of six priority tiers:
6. NPC (Q)uick moves
5. Player (Q)uick moves
4. NPC Normal moves
3. Player Normal moves
2. NPC (S)low moves
1. Player (S)low moves
When laid out like this it becomes immediately apparent that we could assign each move a “speed” (as above) and simply ask players to resolve battle cards in order from the highest speed to the lowest speed.
Conveniently, NPC’s control all the even numbers whereas Players control all the odd numbers. This ensures there will never be any ties; abilities that previously adjusted moves to be fast or slow, now add or subtract 2 Speed – this maintains the parity (oddness or evenness) of the move.
In the case of PvP battles, players will alternate rounds with an “initiative token” granting +1 Speed, essentially giving that player control of the even speed integers. While there’s no immediate requirement for battles with more than 2 teams, this system preserves the design space for such battles with a +½ Speed token.
Speed has not been completely removed from the game – but we have created a system with the following features to maintain strategic depth without burdening players with an excessive cognitive load:
- Players only need to compare the numbers 1 through 6
- Speed is not a variable stat that must be tracked by players (Battle moves track speed)
- Zero possibility of ties
- 9 possible head-to-head speed scenarios
Keep keeping it simple AetherRen