Space Combat
Last set of changes brings three more features to space combat. Action descriptions are shown when hovering mouse pointer over them and once a round happens, log of events of that round is shown during planning the next one and damage/gain is shown on integrity bars. This is enough to have a feedback loop happening for combat and possibility for not only the character to get better through skill increase but also players to get better by learning optimal action choice for battle situations.
Actually, since skills do not increase it is only the latter at the moment.
The Log
In the log you can read who took the action, what it was and against whom it was targeted if it was action with a target. Next, skill check details follow. Some actions take effect on the ship itself, usually requiring no check. In that case it will be “— vs —” in the table. Otherwise you can see what skills were being tested. Guns typically fall into accuracy against manoeuvre though this is not a rule without exceptions. Locking someone with a targeting scanner is an opposed tactics check.
Next column indicates the check result, if any. It may be passed, failed or automatically passed or failed. At the moment attempting to fire at someone while using running from combat stance will mean any actions targeted at other ships automatically fail, no matter what the check is. Likewise your run action finalising will automatically succeed if no one has tried to stop you from fleeing the battlefield. Usually you would have to pass a tactics check against highest tactics of pilots who acted against you this round.
Integrity Display
Ships have three layers of defense: shield, armour and hull. For majority of attacks, damage goes through them one after another. From one round to next the difference in integrity is shown using coloured bars proportional in length to integrity points remaining. Green colour indicates gain through repairs, shield recharge or boosts. Red indicates loss, typically by damage sustained. This should be helpful to see at a glance how well the ships are doing in current battle. One may hover over the bars to display precise numeric value of each layer.
Combat Playtesting
Combat routines have some rough edges and at least one design fault we need to think about and fix before we invite some more testers to play with the system, share feedback or thoughts. The list is open and likely to be acted upon during vacation months. If you are interested in helping contact Kyoku over Discord.
Finally, we have been reminded that our use of Alpha phase is in fact incorrect. Alpha for games generally means a playable state where maybe not all features are ready but surely the core of gameplay is available. That is definitely not the case for VERZ Online. We are still in process of adding basic subsystems necessary for full game loop which means the project is actually in prototype stage.
