I think none will be surprised if I told them that combat mechanics in Empire of Sin is based on Dungeons and Dragons system with individual rolls for Initiative and then combat action resolutions. When applied to melee weapons that require character's to get close n personal, this system works rather well. It quickly puts players into base contact with the enemy, where both of them spent couple of turns rolling dice and taking hits until one of them is killed. Ranged weapons owners as rules do not attack enemies in melee out of fear of hitting friendlies. Relative rarity of ranged magic weapon, their low rate of fire, and several special requirements (like passing Wisdom saving throw) do not require players to worry about morale, fear, line of sight and collateral damage, such as civilians.
In aforementioned Jagged Alliance 2, individual soldiers had a morale stat, which decreased with damage taken, fallen comrades, unpaid salary and other things. It was also used for Leadership test when soldier would come under fire, and would determine the chance of character going Berserk or running away in horror. I'm assuming that Empire of Sin is using similar hidden mechanic, since every so often it triggers a Hair Trigger ability. It would be nice to see that on our gangsters, btw.
However, in JA2 and majority of XCOM's, initiative revolved around I-go-you-go system, where opponent's were in control of their entire force during their turn. This allows for much easier planning of your next action, since you can pick and choose who does what. The individual initiative system does not allow such luxury, instead it relies on heroic actions of individual character to carry the day. As it stands now, it has 3 problems:
Low challenge from AI opponent's: on one to one basis, AI gangsters do not pose a real threat to players gangster, who has body armour, grenades, medpack and high rate of fire automatic weapon. Even if ration is 2:1, as a rule better equipped gangster wins, even without using his abilities. This robs the game of sense of danger and unpredictability, which is seen in demand for auto-resolve of combat.
Low flexibility: Current Initiative system does not provide any benefits over “i-go-you-go” system, except giving a well equipped Boss a chance to use his special ability. In addictions, it does not have a mechanics to change position of the friendly or hostile troops on the timeline, thus giving them an advantage of first shot or repositioning into cover. (sniffing salts remedy that problem somewhat, I know). If both sides have an ability to change their position on the Initiative ladder, then each and every combat has unique flow, and will feel more important, since it allows for heroic last stands and escapes.
Unrealistic combat behaviour: AI character's have got an unbreakable will and most NPC are kamikaze who will run towards the machine-gun Overwatch even if they have 2 hit point left. That does not include Bosses, who do the opposite thing. They remain in their office, isolated from all of their guards until inevitable death comes to them. Very rarely they will rush into combat and use their superior abilities and unique weapons against player to tip the battle in their favor.
So, how to would fix this situation without breaking current game?
Limit the size of single combat Crew: currently in game, Leadership is responsible for lowering the payouts to your crew. First of all, allow for crew or squad formation. Then nominate the leader, it can be your Boss, and you can have several crews. However, crew size is determined by Leader's skill Leadership: for each 10 points in it, he can hire/lead 1 gangster. With maximum Leadership,capped at 100, none will be able to have more than 10 gangsters on the field. This way combat will b happen much quicker, feel much more personal. Secondly, smaller team mean more challenging combat, which is not currently the case in Empire of Sin.
Make Leadership and Persuasion great! Allow to gain bonuses for those skills on gangster perk tree: this allows you to train both combat leaders and negotiation specialist. With Persuasion, player should be able to talk his way to victory. For example, one of initial quests, requires player to either talk (threaten) or kill goons who threaten the Uncle Sal taxi. Now, this should be a standard mechanic for any confrontation outside the mobwar. It may be used on independent businesses or smaller mobsters to Persuade them to join your mob, or rather pay you a protections fee, instead of being killed. In addition, if you know that certain gangster is working for opponent's, you may send one of your gangsters, (better to send one with established positive relationship) to make them an offer to join your side.
Create Initiative modifying abilities! As mentioned before, current Initiative system focuses on individual's actions. Rare example of teamwork is Overwatch and Flush combo. However, I believe that each Squad Leader (not just Boss) needs at least 3 abilities:
Team Up: choose one of your gangsters and move him up on the timeline equal to your leadership value. Once per encounter.
Intimidation: choose one of the opponent's gangsters, if he fails his Leadership test, then he moves down in timeline number of steps equal to difference between your and his LD. If its more than 6 steps, gangster run away from combat. Once per encounter.
On my mark!: Use before the encounter to move your gangsters into the building thought the door or by using Demolitionist Breaching charge. Grants your team one turn of moving and shooting without reaction from opponents. Only during Boss battles or attacks on Safe Houses. Once per encounter.
Change the structure of Boss Battles:
Currently every Boss encounter plays the same way: player walks in, then gets stuck at the door in the firefight, enemy goons are rushing from the other side of the building, and then may be the boss will run into the line of Overwatch cones and dies.
How I'd change the core of Boss battles:
Each battle consists of 3 encounters with individual map every time. Safe Houses are build and modified with the defence from competitor or police incursion in mind. Remember, player is limited to 4-5 man crew, without ability to replace dead or wounded during the whole assault on the safe house. This is an uphill battle! Maps may be smaller with several entrances for reinforcements, that can be blown up or barricaded.
After each encounter player may reshuffle equipment and starting position of his teammates. During each encounter, enemy is Alert and has player outnumbered 2:1 at least. Normal team compositions may vary, at least one Gangster, one goon with rifle or shotgun and two Tommy gunners.
First encounter is a Breach into the building, this raises the alarm, then depending on opponent's resources this will determine total number of goons in reinforcements. Breach may occur in Storage area, Garage or Grand Entrance. Each map will have certain benefits to defenders, while attacker's must use explosives and tactics just to get inside.
Second encounter is Main Hall attack, where Boss might (or not) be located at the time. This is where the main battle occurs. If enemy Boss is hit below 50% (for example) then he would retreat to the Safe Room, where Boss keeps the money and may have an secret emergency exit to Garage or Street. If Boss run away, then you still win the battle, but not the war. If you attacking last safe house, then opponent is defeated regardless. To know the layout of the enemy Safe House, player may send a Mole with mission to gather information or Scout Location.
Before the Safe Room combat, opposing Boss, must get a short cutscene where he says what he thinks about the player's character according to the score of their relationship. Friend, Competitor, Enemy, ect. This should give a bit “screen time” to opponent and show effect of our actions. This must be followed by our Boss telling the opponent his opinion before executing him. Make sure each and every Boss says only unique lines for this encounter. Currently, after defeating the boss, game displays scene of execution and plays two voice overs at the same time: one for generic execution, other for an address to specific Boss. This is very confusing.
Boss battles and Safe Houses require an escape mechanic; if Boss is wounded during combat, and Morale is Low, then game should try to evacuate Boss from combat by moving its character's figure into the Safe, then into Garage below. This can be blocked by either catching up to the Boss, or by ambushing garage with another team outside the safe house.
Groups Morale meter: Once combat is initiated, both AI and player teams must form a Morale pool. Its purpose is to establish how brave combatants feel about losing their pixel lives over their pixel salary. It may consists of following:
We outnumber enemy +10
We lost a guy in the gunfight -5
We lost a guy to retreat -10
They executed one of ours: -10
We have a Big Boss with us: +20
We have a Leader: +10
Police is shooting us: -5
Leader/Boss is heavily wounded: -15
Leader is Downed: -20
They got explosives: -10
They fire Machine-gun/SMG: -5
We healed our guy to 80%: +10
In the end of each combat round, if Morale is negative, then each individual gangster test his Leadership, and if its failed, runs away from combat. (Set him as neutral, then double run towards closest exit from the map). This prevents battles from becoming a slaughter of entire street with guards, police and civilians in the mix. Civilians automatically run away from combat.
Thank you for reading another rambling of mine on the Empire of Sin. I truly like this game, and hope it will get deeper and more interesting as time goes buy.
