PART 4 - COMPOSURE
In preparation for the upcoming release of the COMBAT DEMO, here's the fourth of five dev logs that focus on explaining how combat works in Happy Bastards.
Check out Part 1 for the basics, Part 2 for the battlefield, and Part 3 for the Command system and the role of your main character.
THE BASTARDS ARE ALIVE
In Happy Bastards, your mercenaries are not these perfectly docile soldiers who stoically accept their fate. No, quite the contrary. They will react to what’s happening to them and to their squad, and they will speak their mind about it.
For example, after a merc misses an attack, one of his teammates might scream at him for discouraging the team. It goes from simple quips, to combat modifiers, to panicking.
THE COMPOSURE BAR
Each character in the game has a Composure bar.
Composure ranges from 0 to 9. Resting will reset it at 5, which is the neutral state, while abilities and events affect it in one direction or the other during combat or adventuring.
Composure influences how characters react to a bad situation. At high values, a character is not going to do anything drastic, while at low values, they might freeze or panic for a turn. And when reaching 0, they just flee and are not available for the remainder of this combat.
Moreover, Composure influences all combat stats. The higher the value, the greater the effect. And vice versa for low values. So finding ways to increase your troops' Composure and reducing the enemies' adds up statistically and will gradually shift the balance of combat.
And since Composure affects reactions and applies to enemies as well, yes it’s a viable combat strategy to try to make the enemy team implode in panic.
QUIPS
During combat, characters will regularly speak their mind through speech bubbles.
It might be an observation on whatever is happening at the moment in the fight. It might be a taunt against the enemy they just hit. Or it might be a congratulation to a teammate who just performed a clutch dodge.
Some quips are neutral, but others act as positive or negative triggers, and have a chance to cause a reaction in the character they are directed at, which is called a Composure Break or Composure Boost. This might snowball a situation. Be careful not to lose control of your troops.
The same occurs during adventuring. A merc might share that he fears there are deadly traps ahead in the dungeon, which might make someone else feel nervous and lose Composure.
Similarly, when encountering a dilemma or a trap, a merc might ask not to be picked and will lose Composure if the player goes against his will.
It is one of our design pillars in Happy Bastards to make the characters feel like they have their own views and reactions. As a player, it's your job to babysit your squad through their not-always-heroic moments. Who said being the boss was going to be easy?
BATTLE WHIMS
Speaking about not being heroic, mercenaries in Happy Bastards sometimes feel the need to impose their whims on you during combat.
Maybe this merc is tired of being left out on the bench and wants in for some action. Maybe this one has a grudge against a particular enemy and wants to be the one to kill it. There's a whole variety.
If you indulge them, they will be ecstatic and get a substantial boost in Composure.
Battle Whims are Happy Bastards' version of combat objectives. In accordance with our design pillars, we make sure to center everything on the bastards.
That's it for today. The upcoming part 5 (the last installment in this series) will introduce the four character classes that you can play in the combat demo.
See you on the Discord!