Welcome back Commanders!
In our last post, we talked a lot about the world of The Dragoness: Command of the Flame, how quests work, and the basics of map exploration and resource management.
Today, we'll be taking a detailed look at the combat system and teaching you how to effectively utilise its associated mechanics!
Choosing Your Opponent
As the Commander of the Dragoness' army, you are charged with ridding the Peninsula of her enemies and fighting the battles she cannot. During your travels, you will face many powerful foes that will stand between you and your goal. During a quest, these encounters are signposted on the map by a monster unit, who will typically be blocking a crucial path forwards or guarding a precious resource cache.
Right-clicking a monster unit on the map will reveal the composition of its associated army. Use this tool to help you decide whether your current units are strong enough to defeat them or and if you should instead retreat and build up a bigger force.
Once you feel sufficiently powerful enough to take on an enemy army, simply move onto the monster unit’s space to initiate an attack.
To Battle!
Now that you've engaged an enemy army in combat you'll be brought to a 12x12 battle grid with your commander and units arrayed on the left, and the combined enemy forces on the right. The starting positions of your units are determined by how they are organised in the army management window which you can customise when roaming the map, with the first unit deployed in the top left.
Almost all battle grids contain terrain which will block certain spaces and limit movement. Types of terrain include rubble or raised woodland depending on the environment you're fighting in.
Your Move
With the stage set, it is now time for battle to commence! Below the battle grid you will see the turn order track which shows the order in which units will act. This order is determined by the individual initiative stat of each unit, the higher the initiative, the sooner they can make their move! A unit can perform one of the following actions on its turn:
Common actions
Move - All units have a set number of spaces they can move on the grid. Large monsters will be slow and ponderous while flying creatures can quickly manoeuvre out of difficult situations.
Regenerate Mana – If a unit has access to spells or special abilities, it can spend its action to regain a % of depleted spell points.
Defend – Units can protect themselves against a potential attack by defending, which will give them a % resistance to melee, ranged, or magical attacks until their next turn.
Wait – The unit will patiently wait until the end of the round before they act, useful if you want your enemy to make the first move!
Attack - Use either a melee or ranged attack against an opponent in range.
Special actions
Spell/Special Action - Some units have access to unique special actions, which they can perform by spending mana. Example actions include the Oaken Ent's Slow spell which will dramatically reduce an enemy unit’s movement, and the Harpy's Exhaust ability which diminishes enemy melee and ranged attack power.
Remember, you can only select ONE action per unit each turn so strategize accordingly!
Statistics Breakdown
Every unit that you’ll come across in The Dragoness: Command of the Flame has its mix of stats and spells/abilities.
A unit’s stats are passive values that can be altered via buffs and debuffs. Stats are broken down as follows:
Shield - Represents how much damage a unit can take before it starts losing health. Shields replenish after each combat encounter.
Health – Represents how much damage a unit can take before it is destroyed. Unlike shield, health does not regenerate after a combat encounter.
Melee - Determines how much damage is done when attacking an enemy on an adjacent square on the battle grid.
Ranged – Determines how much damage is done when attacking an enemy from range. Not all monsters have a ranged attack value, but those that do have different effective ranges. Attacking from too far away will result in a lower damage output, so you’ll need to make sure that they are positioned to ensure maximum damage!
Dodge - Determines how likely it is that a unit will avoid an incoming attack. A successful dodge will result in no damage being taken.
Magic Resistance - Determines how likely it is that a unit will avoid an incoming spell. A successful resist will nullify the spell entirely!
Arrows - Units are limited by the number of times they perform ranged attacks during a battle, as defined by their arrow count.
Spells – Magical abilities unique to the unit which can be used in a variety of ways to support allies and hinder enemies.
Final Blow
A battle will resolve once all units on one side have been defeated, at which point you will be presented with a summary that tallies up all the casualties.
Here you will see the enemy casualties as well as your own, indicating exactly how much damage each unit has sustained, and if any were slain. This summary will be extremely helpful when deciding your next move when you return to the map view. You may need to find a source of healing, or even new units to recruit!
Development Updates: Battle polish, additional audio FX, and UI changes
We’ve also been adding some additional polish to the battle system. There is now a visual effect to show which tiles and which units certain attacks will affect, particularly useful for being able to visualise targets for large units.
When units are hit, damage indicators are now dynamic to make combat feel more visceral.
We received feedback from our beta testers about audio during map exploration, so we have now added unique chimes for each of the different resources when they are collected e.g. granite has an earthy grumble and iron has a metallic clink.
When acquiring new unit types back at the capital the player can now see a shortened list of stats and spells in the UI before they spend resources, so they know the benefits of each unit in advance.
That's all for now but be sure to keep an eye out for our next post where we’ll discuss the role and abilities of the Commander.
See you soon!
- Crazy Goat Games & PQube
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