Close Combat in AE

[abbysdad]

Hi There,

Some of the upcoming Skunkwerkz releases will focus more on close combat than ranged combat. The bounty gladiators campaign for instance. Or the fierce melee in Crimson Kingdom. The current rule set for all AE games does not offer a lot of options for close combat attacks.

The benefit of the current approach is that it's simple and quick. That means a lot in a skirmish game. But in a context where ranged combat is not the most common form of combat, more options, and perhaps some more powerful options may be warranted. Even if the options slow things down a little.

Take a look at the attached document. It represents some of the options under consideration for the gladiators campaign and the convict league.

Let us know what you think in the poll. And feel free to post other comments and ideas in this thread.

All the best,

The Darkson Designs Crew

[abbysdad]

Attached Document for Review.

Attachments:

[Cilionelle]

I like it. The only thing that I would suggest is that there be some extra options for fighters with higher CCs than others, be it some of the options listed or other close combat actions. For instance, someone with a CC of 6 is likely to have some better moves than someone with a CC of 3, not just be better at the same moves.

Additionally, does a CC weapon improve the focused attack/defense or is it just the base CC?

[abbysdad]

Apr 5, 2011 23:36:43 GMT -5 Cilionelle said:

I like it. The only thing that I would suggest is that there be some extra options for fighters with higher CCs than others, be it some of the options listed or other close combat actions. For instance, someone with a CC of 6 is likely to have some better moves than someone with a CC of 3, not just be better at the same moves.

Additionally, does a CC weapon improve the focused attack/defense or is it just the base CC?

I think if the options are kept out of the core system, it would be possible to include something like an additional bonus for high attributes in close combat (and other areas).

Weapons are considered bonuses and do not modify the attribute itself in these rules.

[horrid]

I like the rules draft and thought it suited more cc intensive genres. The most "man, that's lots of stuff" part seemed to be the action options which don't actually burden the mechanics with modifiers.

I'd like to see some examples of of weapon modifiers and how radically they are going to affect balance. If they were to compound with some of the special abilities from ww2 or bounty there could end up being some pretty high stacks. Melee master becomes a beast of a buff wrecking gang ups, attacks from behind and granting rerolls. In a more cc centric system it might benifit from breaking it down into two abilities.

The strip option seemed solid and limiting the action to story items seemed sensible for game balance. I do wonder if a disarm would work as denying a ranged fighter of their weapon rather than hurting them. In order to pick up the weapon again the Individual who lost it would have to win a combat turn electing not to wound. Rather than spending an action to grab a weapon then another to blow the former owner away at point blank range I see it as playing out more like wrestling for the gun.

Last stupid musing; you already have a mountain of genres on your plate but tell me you don't want to build a spaghetti western skirmish game or or a 20's to 40's pulp with masked avengers gangsters and g men in a nameless gritty city.

[Darkson]

We might.

You just never know what some of our fans send to us that gets into the approval process. Plus the crew have a very diverse set of tastes and backgrounds and we use them to make games we want to play and hope you guys will enjoy them as much as we do.

[abbysdad]

Apr 15, 2011 21:37:28 GMT -5 horrid said:

I like the rules draft and thought it suited more cc intensive genres. The most "man, that's lots of stuff" part seemed to be the action options which don't actually burden the mechanics with modifiers.

I'd like to see some examples of of weapon modifiers and how radically they are going to affect balance. If they were to compound with some of the special abilities from ww2 or bounty there could end up being some pretty high stacks. Melee master becomes a beast of a buff wrecking gang ups, attacks from behind and granting rerolls. In a more cc centric system it might benifit from breaking it down into two abilities.

The strip option seemed solid and limiting the action to story items seemed sensible for game balance. I do wonder if a disarm would work as denying a ranged fighter of their weapon rather than hurting them. In order to pick up the weapon again the Individual who lost it would have to win a combat turn electing not to wound. Rather than spending an action to grab a weapon then another to blow the former owner away at point blank range I see it as playing out more like wrestling for the gun.

Last stupid musing; you already have a mountain of genres on your plate but tell me you don't want to build a spaghetti western skirmish game or or a 20's to 40's pulp with masked avengers gangsters and g men in a nameless gritty city.

Those are really good comments! Thanks.

Yes, these options were floated out because there are a few things we are doing that a much more CC oriented, or cases where shooting is very limited.

As for what other things we're thinking about, oh...please, don't tempt me Don't throw me into that briar patch.

Quite a few things you'll see in the next year actually started in completely different game concepts, that we added into the system to get it right for all of the games.

As for a spaghetti western affair, I think you'll get a taste of that soon in Bounty. Where it goes from there is up to the fans and players.

Cheers,

Chris

[Cilionelle]

Apr 16, 2011 16:49:22 GMT -5 abbysdad said:

As for what other things we're thinking about, oh...please, don't tempt me Don't throw me into that briar patch.

Wasn't that what Brer Rabbit said when he wanted to be pushed into the briar patch?

...

*shove*

[Cilionelle]

One of the things I noticed, and that's come up in a couple of the games I've played with my Arges CC list, is that once a model is tied up, it's incredibly difficult to get away. Is it possible to add a 'Focused Withdrawal' into that document too?