blazenclaw wrote:zolobolo wrote: snip
Another interesting route is taken by Endless Space 2, where only high-level decisions are made via "cards".
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If it's anything like the first Endless Space, it's basically a 4-5 sided rock-paper-scissors game played 3x per combat where winning can up to double your fleet's efficacy. Of course, if you outnumber your enemy by 3 times or so, it doesn't really matter other than slightly reducing losses taken which does kinda make sense.
Yes it would, but I am rather hoping that this would go hand-in-hand with the per-battle maneuvering MGMT screen and ship layout decisions so that it doesn't
Optimally, the player needs to have full agency. Needs to see where things went wrong and has to have a feeling of being able to fix it. This has to mean that numbers alone should not determine the outcome of a battle unless there are ridiculous proportions like: 1:10 (in total war games it is mostly possible to win a 1:2 ratio battle, and even 1:3; 1:4 depending on tech, empires involved and map situation).
Thus in ES2 I would expect to be able to win a 1:3 battle if:
1. Ships are designed for a specific maneuver (e.g.: getting quickly into full broadside from long range and keeping distance)
2. Player takes the optimal maneuver for the layouts per-battle
3. Enemy does not have an optimal counter tech and does not chose an optimal counter maneuver
4. In-game, the player is monitoring events, has, and chooses cards that eliminate the actions of the AI which try to counter the above
Thus I would only image the card system as the last decision part of the whole process, that gives the parties a chance to react to the others tactic. From that point onward, it is all hands off, and that is ok, as we already had several layers of decisions making:
1. Strategic tech and ship development decisions.
2. High level battlefield maneuver
3. 1-3 high level direct commands from the admiral during the battle
Accordingly, the command cards need to reflect this and have to be an extension of the chosen maneuver like: Sacrifice left wing to protect the middle section; Attempt to pierce through weakened enemy flank and attack their middle section from behind ...etc
If the cards turn out to be: +20% defense - The game has already failed, as it reduces the whole concept to nothing more then a bonus that might as well have already been applied in the ship designer