Battle Tactics [Turn Based Grid Combat]

[TEC_Ghost]

It's about time to bring this project to the public, almost time to beta test!

[Map Name] Battle Tactics (Original huh?)
[Max Players] 4
[Genre] Turn Based Strategy
[Status] Pre-Beta
[Main Features]

• Completely Custom Grid Movement/Attack system
• Everything is handled via the Custom System to provide utmost control
• Custom Item system to allow for Slot/UnitType/Stat restrictions
• Tons of content at launch providing for re-playability.

[Planned Features]

• A.I. for Co-Op story mode and 1 Player battles.

[Game modes] Currently 2
-Classic
You start with 1 hero unit and have to aquire goldmines, purchasing units and items on the field.
-Arena
You start with 800 gold which to form your team and purchase items, no goldmines or shops on the fields.

It's been in progress for along time, the first map was coded in GUI (shudder) but wasn't what I wanted the map to be, so I learned vJass and rebuilt it from the ground up, now the only thing actually controlled by normal WC3 engine is the Graphics.

The plan for this map is to provide alot of quality content that is well balanced, while avoiding "over content" bombing of people. The game is easy to pickup but takes awhile to master.

Currently there are a handful of units with their own special abilities and strategy, about 20 items and 3 arenas. All of which are currently being expanded upon, Core system functions are almost complete, finalizing some Round based spells. Content is the last big hurdle, when I'm happy with the state of the map I'll upload here and take any suggestions.


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[edit] BETA DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE.
Get it here. BattleTactics1.5BETAlocked.w3x

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ChangeLog v1.5
-New RPG Mode! The first area/boss for the upcoming storyline! Type -mode RPG at the start to try it!
-New A.I. Aggro system! The AI will pick their targets based on how much aggro your unit has use the new command -swap or use the swap ability in rpg mode!
-New -roll command for loot drops in RPG mode.
-Tile selection improved!
-Various bug fixes / balance issues.
//Balance//
-Warrior now gains mana by attacking enemys and not by regen.
-Staff now grants +15 mana per round to the holder.
-Rogues BackStab increased to 2x agi up from 1.2x.

ChangeLog v1.4
-Added new arena "Ruins"
-Fixed various bugs.
-Fixed some performance issues.
-Added Basic A.I. (No abilitys yet) just make the desired player slot intro computer on game creation.
-Started work on Co-Op RPG mode.

ChangeLog v1.3
===BugFixes
-Fixed Purple Not Being Able to Place Bug.
-Fixed Range Bug.
-Fixed Selection Bug.
-Fixed Move Bug.
-Fixed Ready Bug.
-Fixed Height/Range Bug.
-Fixed up camera code.
-Fixed some Attack Pathing Issues.
-Fixed a Unit Buying Bug
-Fixed a -ready command Bug.
-Fixed Buying Unit When not your turn Bug.
===========
===Additions
-Recoded Arena Pathing and Goldmine/Tavern/Marketplace placing methods.
-Recoded Movement/Attack/Casting algorithms in preparation for A.I.
-Added a new arena for competitive play
-No longer have to reselect a unit when it switches to your turn, it automatically sets your currently selected unit the one in control.
-Changed the Selection Effect.
-Recoded Crit/Evasion (Now EVERYONE has a base 5% chance to do 1.5x Crit and 5% chance to evade all damage)
-Archers Skill is now renamed "Enhanced Crit" and give 30% crit chance for 2.0x damage.
-Added the ability to set turn time. Command is -timer xxx Default has been upped to 80 seconds.
-Added Arena descriptions.
-Clerics can now heal themselves.
==========
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ChangeLog v1.1
-Fixed a rare bug.
-Added Tooltips to spells.
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-4 Arenas to battle in.
-15 items.
-7 different units each with their own spells and abilities.
-2 game modes.
-2-4 player gameplay.

Want a long strategic match? I suggest playing CLASSIC mode.
If you want a fast paced death match play the ARENA mode.

This beta is to Stress Tess the system and sort through any bugs you can find, I've tested this many many times and fixed all the bugs I could, but you can't get all the bugs yourself, so let me know what you like about it, dislike about it or any bugs you find :D
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ScreenShots.

Hidden information:

[Seneroth]

Some friends and me tested the game and we found it pretty nice.

But the control was kinda stubborn at some times.
I for myself had much trouble attacking with 3 units and using spells in the time window.
Maybe add a option to increase the time or take it out.

Then someone suggested use circles of powers you can click on to target something instead of the coloured fields. Ofcourse the fields look better then the circles but i think the circles make it easier to control

Another suggestion from myself is, put an arrow above the unit(this arrow you see when you go shopping). That makes a better visual effect.

A sound when a round end would also be good, and sometimes the Player x turn message bugged and we didnt know it was our turn.

An awful bug happend as i wanted to buy a unit in an enemys turn, i bought it and i could move it freely around. And it was useless since it couldnt attack or anything else. Please disable buying in enemies turns.

Some classes was kinda strong, like the mage who can use a meteor and a attack in the same turn. Same goes for the assasin pretty heavy damage.

The cleric should also be able to heal himself. He isnt much usefull as first hero to choose. Escapiley if its a small map and people start to hunt you.

Thats all for now, i wish you good luck with your map and hope you have sucess with this map. And i hope i will see a much more enjoyable version of this soon!

[TEC_Ghost]

But the control was kinda stubborn at some times.
I for myself had much trouble attacking with 3 units and using spells in the time window.
Maybe add a option to increase the time or take it out.

Then someone suggested use circles of powers you can click on to target something instead of the coloured fields. Ofcourse the fields look better then the circles but i think the circles make it easier to control

The problem is with the size of the Model used, and I cant seem to make it any bigger myself, damned invisible models. I'll give it a go again though. Next version will have custom timer setup at the start.

Another suggestion from myself is, put an arrow above the unit(this arrow you see when you go shopping). That makes a better visual effect.

A new more noticeable effect has been added.

A sound when a round end would also be good, and sometimes the Player x turn message bugged and we didnt know it was our turn.

Good idea, I'll add that :)

An awful bug happend as i wanted to buy a unit in an enemys turn, i bought it and i could move it freely around. And it was useless since it couldnt attack or anything else. Please disable buying in enemies turns.

Fixed.

Some classes was kinda strong, like the mage who can use a meteor and a attack in the same turn. Same goes for the assasin pretty heavy damage.

Balance, isn't perfect yet. But measures have been added to these seemingly imba chars, the Mage can attack and cast but his damage is extremly low. The Assasin can deal out lots of damage but is really fragile, a couple of snipers and she's dead.

The cleric should also be able to heal himself. He isnt much usefull as first hero to choose. Escapiley if its a small map and people start to hunt you.

I'm still deciding how I want HealSpells to work, I might make an exception for the cleric.

Thats all for now, i wish you good luck with your map and hope you have sucess with this map. And i hope i will see a much more enjoyable version of this soon!

Thanks :D Progress is moving at a steady pace, I can only test so much myself, so any bugs you guys find helps the final product out tremendously!

[Seneroth]

1. Good.

2. Good

3. Good

4. Good

5. Well my main concern here is, we played the Classic mode where you got only one here. And instead of building up a base we was going for harrasing and such. So we didnt build up many units. Maximum was 1 or 2.

6. Think about it.

7. I hope so XD

Some questions now...

Which one is the biggest map? You should describle the maps, so we see how many players it supports how many goldmines and Taverns it has and so on, that would be helpful.

Also iam not sure, but maybe you can add different movement speed types.
I dont know if any unit can move at the same speed so iam just wondering.

Do units learn new spells when they level up?
Maybe you could add 3 skills and theres only one learnable, and each level they get a new ability.

Why you dont do more damage from the side?
I have played Final Fantasy Tactics A2 recently, and there you could attack from the side and you did extra damage. You should add this.
And please make attacks from just as a side attack.
ZxZ
xYx
ZxZ

Also we found it kinda weird that a melee unit could attack a unit thats a cliff higher, but eh i think thats just how the graphic is.

Maybe you could also add a basic Critical strike and evade chance not much just 1% or so.

Well for now thats it.

[TEC_Ghost]

New Version!!

5. Well my main concern here is, we played the Classic mode where you got only one here. And instead of building up a base we was going for harrasing and such. So we didnt build up many units. Maximum was 1 or 2.

I'm working on some ideas to change the mode up a bit.

6. Think about it.

Cleric can heal himself now :)

Some questions now...

Which one is the biggest map? You should describle the maps, so we see how many players it supports how many goldmines and Taverns it has and so on, that would be helpful.

Arenas now have descriptions.

Also iam not sure, but maybe you can add different movement speed types.
I dont know if any unit can move at the same speed so iam just wondering.

Each unit has it's own movespeed if that's what you're asking?

Do units learn new spells when they level up?
Maybe you could add 3 skills and theres only one learnable, and each level they get a new ability.

Planned feature for later :)

Why you dont do more damage from the side?
I have played Final Fantasy Tactics A2 recently, and there you could attack from the side and you did extra damage. You should add this.
And please make attacks from just as a side attack.
ZxZ
xYx
ZxZ

I might add that in, currently it's a 60degree angle behind them for extra damage.

Also we found it kinda weird that a melee unit could attack a unit thats a cliff higher, but eh i think thats just how the graphic is.

Melee units can only attack 1 level higher then them. It'd put them at a big disadvantage if they couldn't.

Maybe you could also add a basic Critical strike and evade chance not much just 1% or so.

All units now have a base 5% Crit chance for 1.5x damage and a 5% chance to evade all damage.

[Seneroth]

Ahh thanks for the answers.
Iam going to test out the map later with some friends hope it will have a nice improvement.

So we tested again this time it was just a 1 on 1
Still we found bugs...

1. You cant have x items of the same type but if you buy them you dont get a refund.
2. Bought units cant buy in taverns.
3. Buying units in Classic mode is better then stocking up on items.
4. My teammate who played the mage still lost even though he hit me 1 more time since my archers crits was to strong. He sayd that isnt fair because he also stocked up on items.
5. There was some bug that occured when i had 2 units, i couldnt move the selected one, i could only move it when i switched to the other unit and back.

I think thats it.
Gameplay became alot better now.

[TEC_Ghost]

1. You cant have x items of the same type but if you buy them you dont get a refund.

Ya, That's how it's setup, the class restrictions are clearly marked and Item slot restrictions are marked in the map info, if it ends up being to much of a problem I'll put measures in to prevent that.

2. Bought units cant buy in taverns.

Yes they can. It doesn't have a select unit spell like the market place, I'll add one in.

3. Buying units in Classic mode is better then stocking up on items.

Ya, this issue is being addressed, I'm gonna lower item prices or increase their effect.

4. My teammate who played the mage still lost even though he hit me 1 more time since my archers crits was to strong. He sayd that isnt fair because he also stocked up on items.

Mage versus archer isn't the best idea, each class has it's strengths and weaknesses.

5. There was some bug that occured when i had 2 units, i couldnt move the selected one, i could only move it when i switched to the other unit and back.

Theres some weird bug in WC3 that sometimes doesn't allow the unit to use the abilities, I'm not sure why but it's being looked into :)

I really appreciate the Input though, Its hard trying to catch all these bugs and balance fixes with just myself.
I'm working on the AI right now, so basic AI will be in the next release!
Its hard trying to catch all these bugs with just myself especially with

[Seneroth]

Well thats everything i found by now, hope you will fix these things and then add some new stuff into the map.
Iam playing FFTA2 right now and you get some nice ideas playing this game^^

[masda70]

Well I see that you are using trackables. From what I've seen, allow me to suggest you something that may help you with fixing some issues you may have with selections. I have my own experience on grid based movement on Warcraft.
-You could make unit selection via trackables, so you don't only use trackables for movement, etc. That makes for bigger selection sizes (no model issues!). To prevent units from being selected over the trackables, give them the Locust ability ('Aloc') then remove it (by hiding the unit first and then making it reappear):

JASS:

call UnitAddAbility(u,'Aloc')
call ShowUnit(u,false)
call UnitRemoveAbility(u,'Aloc')
call ShowUnit(u,true)

-Is tracking mouse hovering over trackables ideal? Doesn't the delay in network games cause problems?
-You might want to be able to use right-clicks as well (so you can do two types of clicks when a unit is selected). Because of trackables, what you need to do is create square-shaped destructibles that are 'Targeted As' Trees and cover the whole map.

Good luck!

[TEC_Ghost]

*Bump* New version!

Added in RPG mode for stress test! Check it out :D

[Pyrogasm]

Did you ever figure out that thing with the images not showing up properly for Mac users? Because if you haven't I'll test with you to see if we can work it out.

[TEC_Ghost]

Nope haven't been able to figure it out yet =/

[zsteven44]

hey i played this today with a few random people online, and i have to say its really great. I like how the gameplay works however i have a few suggestions and errors i noticed.
Bugs:
1. The Clerics revive was sorta bugged in classic mode, it only t argets diagonally (probably intentionally) but even then i nor anyone else could revive a unit that died. However when playing rpg mode, we realized that unlike classic mode, heroes that died dropped a corpse.
2. Cant say for sure, but there were complaints of paladin's group heal not working, i didnt play as a paladin so i cant say for sure.
3. I dont know how the tomes of experience work exactly, but they were pretty random. Im guessing +5 exp each round, although im not sure if two tomes stack.

Suggestions:
1. Music playing in the background, especially during RPG mode. As of now its too quiet, except for that next turn sound.
2. Maybe more exciting attack animations. I know its TBC with its tactical side and all, but even in games like FFTA and tactics arena, good animations for anything can make the rounds more exciting.

Questions:
1. I could not get to lvl 3 with any of the heroes i played, so im just wondering, do they gain new abilities as they lvl up? If not, it would probably be a good idea to add that in eventually.
2. Do you plan on adding more heroes and items? I really enjoyed the items, along with the awesome multiboard and stat system, the random bonuses were cool too.

[Andriejj]

Played the map, and I must say that movement system has a lot of potential. Now onto criticism ;)

Why that imported WoW paladin model? Is it really needed? Normal wc3 paladin would fit much better.

Why are those champions tinted yellow? O_o Makes them look kind of ugly.

-arena mode didn't work, when Fulla wrote it. Is it case sensitive, or was it a bug?

Arena selection. Why not make it like ET? Having a "shop" for that would be more comfortable. Nothing tells you you're supposed to use arrow keys, to browse through arenas.

I'll write more later, no time now. But I wish you good luck on this map's developement. Make it comfortable, a bit more flashy, difference the gameplay (limitation is too big, doesn't allow too many tactics). It might become a nice Soulchess alternative :)

[TEC_Ghost]

Why that imported WoW paladin model? Is it really needed? Normal wc3 paladin would fit much better.

Meh, It was cool, nothing is set in stone yet. I'll probably change it.

Why are those champions tinted yellow? O_o Makes them look kind of ugly.

Same thing, just putting in stuff and seeing how it works out.

-arena mode didn't work, when Fulla wrote it. Is it case sensitive, or was it a bug?

It's -mode arena (Says on the beginning text)

Arena selection. Why not make it like ET? Having a "shop" for that would be more comfortable. Nothing tells you you're supposed to use arrow keys, to browse through arenas.

That's doable, but it does say to use the arrow keys and esc button right when the area selection comes up :)

I'll write more later, no time now. But I wish you good luck on this map's developement. Make it comfortable, a bit more flashy, difference the gameplay (limitation is too big, doesn't allow too many tactics). It might become a nice Soulchess alternative :)

Hehe thanks for the feedback, always looking for ways to improve and make it more fun for everyone! New version should be out soon!

Also try out the Story Mode, it's a co-op RPG style mode that's pretty fun so far (work in progress)