Hi everyone! We're getting closer every day to releasing the first Major Update to Adeptus Titanicus: Dominus, so now is a good time to let you know about a significant change we're making to how damage works in Dominus.
As you may know already, over the past few months, we've been engaging in discussions with our players here in our Steam Discussions forum about all aspects of the game. One area that has frequently been flagged for discussion is how damage was handled.
To date, we have tried to keep Dominus as close to the original 4th Ed 6mm tabletop experience as we could. This meant that damage, like on the tabletop, was calculated at the end of your Titan's action, which allowed us to take time-on-target and other mechanics into account almost exactly as they were accounted on the tabletop.
We thought this was cool. Our players found it counter-intuitive and generally did not like it very much.
We've had the past few months to ponder this feedback. To weigh it up. To consider all angles.
We've come to a conclusion: you are right.
We decided to make a change and take the damage model further away from the tabletop's abstraction in favour of a more direct action approach that calculates damage as it happens, in real-time. As the bullets are flying, as it were.
Total Overhaul of the Damage Model
Today, we are announcing that the first Major Update will now also include a total overhaul of the damage model, both in shooting and in close combat.
Combat in the first Major Update will be more direct. Each individual shot, if it connects, will have an impact. Every bullet. Every laser. Every rocket.
To counter this and ensure shooting stayed true to the effectiveness apparent in the tabletop rules, we have introduced accuracy modifiers. Depending on what Order you have given and intervening terrain, some shots may now go astray. In this way, the tabletop game's inherent balance is retained.
Each shot now has a penetration test against armour. This is founded in the original tabletop rules, so again that inherent balance is retained. Shots that bounce of armour are indicated with an icon that briefly appears on screen. Penetrating hits will, of course, cause damage and a reduction in your damage bar.
One BIG change that we're making, however, that is NOT part of the tabletop game is the effectiveness of weapons against Void Shields. Currently, all weapons have to penetrate the shields in order to reduce them, which meant that AP-centric weapons like Vulcan Megabolters were almost always less appealing than AT-centric weapons like Turbo Laser Destructors. From release of the first Major Update, however, this will change. All weapons will reduce shields equally well—not necessarily by the same amount, but penetration tests will not longer be needed for shields. This will have HUGE implications for weapon selection, as you may now elect to take variants with cheaper, high rate-of-fire weapons purely for use as "shield strippers". We'll be keeping an eye on this aspect to see if it's working as intended and what, if any, points changes are needed, but our internal testing indicates this is a fun and exciting change to army list building and the overall game dynamic.
The new damage model also changes our approach to "friendly fire". If you have placed your Titans so they cannot shoot past each other, they will quite likely hit each other and cause damage.
As always, we are extremely grateful for your continued support for us and Adeptus Titanicus: Dominus through our Early Access journey. Your feedback, your Steam reviews and your enthusiasm for what Glenn and I are trying to achieve with Dominus constantly amazes us and is ALWAYS appreciated.
We hope you will continue to add your voices on our Steam Discussions forum, in Discord, on Facebook and on Twitter, sharing your thoughts and opinions with us, and your suggestions as to how we can further improve. As we hope today's announcement evidences, we are listening and willing to change direction when we decide you're right and we are wrong. ːsteamhappyː
— Mark & Glenn