Deploying units and watching them fight is fun.
There is something very satisfying about just watching the mayhem that you somewhat planned, but I wanted to include the player in the fighting part of the game. So I added magic that player can use during a battle.
I used the same mechanics for items like traps, abatis and other helpful junk that will be placed on the battlefield during the deployment phase.
To access these the player will use a new inventory panel. Magic spells and other items will be valuable and scarce, so 10 inventory slots will probably be enough.
Easy and recognizable way to scale these types of mechanics is using “common, rare and legendary” descriptions.. No need to reinvent the wheel. Most people understand this type of scaling and their corresponding colors: gray, blue and gold
At this point there are 2 spells and 1 trap implemented.
FIREBALL
Simple mechanics. Very useful for destroying groups of enemies.
GUT GRANADE
My favourite so far. You cast it on one of your units and send it to the battle. The moment affected unit comes close to an enemy unit it detonates, killing all enemies in the explosion’s radius.
TRAP
Nothing fancy about it. Player places it on the ground in the predicted path of enemy troops. Kills all in range.
