In modern combat based on firearms, discipline and morale are just as important as in medieval clashes. Today, we give some insights into how we model discipline and morale and how to make the most use of them in MENACE:
Real Life Inspiration
There are usually two different endings possible in any armed conflict. Firstly, one side is physically incapacitated and can not continue to fight. Secondly, combatants can lose the will to fight and hunker down, stop fighting back, and eventually flee the battlefield.
Both are equally important in real life, so we want to ensure that the latter is just as meaningful in MENACE as the former.
We, as developers, took a look at real battles and casualty rates. In most conflicts, casualty rates tend to be anywhere between 1% and 30%. Having every mission end with all units mowed down is typical in computer games but pretty far from reality. For us, it is important to model combat in MENACE in a way that is still rewarding and decisive to play but also to make sure that not every mission is a massacre.
In last week's Dev Diary, we talked about mission types and how you don't have to dispatch all opposition to win missions.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/2432860/announcements/detail/500567043120038946
This ties in with this week's topic, which is all about sending the enemy fleeing so you win the battle without fighting down to the last element.
Discipline
All of the following hinges on the “Discipline” character stat that each unit in MENACE has. Discipline is a stat that incorporates a variety of factors which are all important for combat units:
Firstly, it measures how professional and well-trained a fighting force is. A highly trained force will hold its position longer and is less easily impressed by suffering losses or having ordinance and other attacks impact close by. This force will keep fighting back more efficiently no matter how dire or threatening the situation is.
Secondly, Discipline incorporates a unit's motivation. This is not necessarily training, as even untrained militias might have a very high motivation to fight given the right reasons and circumstances. Ultimately, a high motivation will also make a unit harder to suppress or rout, so the outcome can be similar to good training.
Finally, it also includes what we call “audacity,” a term often used in military circles when evaluating the effectiveness of small combat groups. It incorporates the squad leaders' will to take risks, seize opportunities, and be able to make decisions quickly. Audacity often separates the mediocre from the great squad leaders.
From all the above, we come to the conglomerate Discipline stat. In the game, it is between 1 and 100, with most marine squad leaders starting around 60-70, so they already have a decent discipline stat.
Discipline and Suppression
At this point, you should head over to Dev Diary 7, where we discussed suppression.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/2432860/announcements/detail/535466136352851020
The total suppression a unit suffers from attacks, hits, losses, or nearby impacts is directly reduced through Discipline. Currently, only X% of the incoming suppression is applied, whereas X is 100 - discipline.
So a squad with a discipline of 60 will only suffer 40% suppression while a squad with 80 Discipline suffers 20%.
If a unit's Discipline is reduced by any game effects, the suppression reduction is, of course, adjusted accordingly, and vice versa. Using a combat stim that increases discipline right before engaging the enemy will make a unit much more resilient to enemy suppression, which might give it the edge in the upcoming fight.
Morale
In MENACE, morale is used to estimate a unit's will to fight. If morale gets low enough, a unit will be hesitant to act, might retreat from the enemy, or even disband altogether!
There are three distinct morale states a unit can be in:
- Unaffected: The unit is fully functional and can act normally.
- Wavering: The unit is hesitant to act and loses trust in its leadership, highly reducing its combat effectiveness. Its accuracy and action point total was reduced by 20% and is “staggered.” Staggered means it will always act last in combat.
- Fleeing: The unit is in full retreat as it sees its current position as untenable and attempts to save itself from destruction. The unit can not be controlled anymore and will move as far away from any enemy as possible. If a unit suffered too many losses and is fleeing, it might disband, instantly removing it from the battlefield and counting it as eliminated.
Note: UI is a placeholder and will change.
Now, let's look at the mechanics and numbers behind the system.
Each unit's dynamic maximum morale value is calculated as its maximum discipline. This maximum morale value is a snapshot at the beginning of combat, so changes to discipline during combat do not change the morale total.
- If the morale is reduced below 33% of its dynamic max value the unit becomes wavering.
- If the morale is reduced to 0 or below, the unit will flee.
- If the morale is reduced to 0 AND the unit is under 33% total health, it might disband (non-player units only; player units will never disband).
What Affects Morale?
Various factors and events reduce or increase morale during combat. Let’s look at them individually:
Most importantly, the max morale changes dynamically with the squad's hit point total. For example, a squad at 50% of its initial hitpoint total will have its max morale reduced to 50%.
Remember that the wavering status requires a unit to be under 33% of its dynamic maximum morale value. For example, a unit with 100 max morale that lost 40% of its hit points sits at a dynamic max morale value of 60. It will be wavering when morale drops below 20 (rounded) meaning it can only lose 40 morale pointsbefore that happens. While at full strength, it would have to be below 33 to waver, that is a total of 67 morale points it can lose for the same condition.
Morale recovers at 33% of the dynamic max morale per turn. This will lead to most units rallying after one turn of retreating.
Additionally, morale can be influenced positively or negatively by various morale events.
Currently, there are the following events in the game.
Note: This may change during development.
- Taking Damage. Getting hit and losing health reduces morale.
- Element Lost. Losing an element in its squad reduces a unit's morale.
- Ally Routing. A nearby friendly unit fleeing will reduce the morale of other units. This scales with distance.
- Ally Destroyed. A friendly unit getting destroyed reduces morale. This scales with distance.
- Morale Attack. This general event reduces morale and is usually connected to an attack. This might be an especially gruesome or even more sinister weapon, like a flamethrower.
- Objective Failed. Failing one of multiple mission objectives reduces morale.
- Element Destroyed. Destroying an element in an enemy unit raises morale.
- Vehicle Defect Inflicted. Inflicting a defect on an enemy vehicle raises morale.
- Enemy Destroyed. Destroying a whole enemy unit or vehicle raises morale.
- Objective Completed. Completing one of the multiple mission objectives increases morale.
Using Morale in MENACE
With all of the above, it becomes evident that keeping your morale up and the enemy's morale down is crucial in MENACE. Enemies with lower discipline are prone to suffer from mass routs once multiple units are destroyed quickly. To make sure the enemy suffers the most, it makes sense to use a “shock and awe” approach.
The more units get destroyed or routed quickly, the heavier the morale will suffer. As morale regenerates quickly, many units do not waver or flee when being slowly ground down over many turns but turn tail when they see their buddies get obliterated all around them instantly.
It could also make sense to whittle enemy units over time to reduce their max morale and then hit the weakened forces with everything you have to seal the deal.
Some enemies, on the other hand, might not be affected by morale at all and will not waver or flee. They will require a whole different tactic to be defeated.
Engage, Explore, and Stay Informed
That's it for now! We'll see you next Friday.
You can find us on Discord, BlueSky, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit for discussions, updates, and feedback. You can also subscribe to our monthly MENACE newsletter on our website — just scroll to the bottom of the page to sign up.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2432860/MENACE/
And here are the recent prior Dev Diaries in case you've missed them:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/2432860/announcements/detail/500567043120038946
https://steamcommunity.com/games/2432860/announcements/detail/515203109058773566
https://steamcommunity.com/games/2432860/announcements/detail/534342772300185779