So ground combat.
The first thing to know is that, like in Deadrock, everything operates on chance (except the spaceship battles, because honestly, that'd be annoying if you had to worry about your ship's skills as well as your own. No, ships will be "fire laser?" and then the laser fires. No rolling).
But this time we're not going to question the accuracy of your shots, as you're all playing as elite space guys. Instead the chance comes down to the area that you damage. You're destined to make the hit every time, except the balance is that this adventure is turn based and thus, you wait until the other party has done it's damage before continuing.
Area damage is done like this:
You have four main parts: head, body, arms and legs.
You roll a d20 to determine where you hit, and the numbers are like this:
|------------- 1 - 10 -------------| |----- 11 - 15 -----| |--- 16 - 18 ---| |- 19, 20 -|
Body Arms Legs Head
This means, the most likely place you'll hit is the body (at 1 through 10) as this is the only area than when hit and goes into the orange (20% HP or lower) doesn't effect your movement or damage.
If you roll anything that falls in 11 through 15, you'll hit the arms. Arms when they reach orange will become inactive (you roll a dice to determine left or right) and at red (1% HP) they have to be amputated. Legs (16 through 18) are the same.
Last is your head if you roll a 19 or a natural 20 (a critical hit, which does double the normal damage). When this is in the orange you begin to lose consciousnesses and pass out, and in the red it's instant death. Thus, why a natural 20 is basically a head-shot for characters with low HP.
These stats apply to you as well as your opponents. Note: when I say a dice is rolled, you don't actually have to do that yourself, I'll do it for you and be fair.
Remember, each body part can have it's own armor applied to it, and armor that covers all equally (for a fraction of a price if buying all four pieces separately) exists and will be available. Also, each piece is upgradable.
Now, when you fire a weapon, you should first note that ground combat will also use a grid system. And thus your weapons have a range.
Most basic projectile weapons won't be under 10 (which is probably more than enough to hit them) but for sake of consistency within the game system, ground combat uses it too.
Now what this means is that you can use the ground against your opponent. It's a way to emphasize formations and to think critically with your teammates. You can design combat formations beforehand and call them (or have them automatically used if you prefer) and modify them in battle. It only takes one turn to change formation, so if you have four players on the field, you tell your first player to reorder the formation, and then the three remaining still have free turns to attack.
For instance, look at this:
Both Nathans are out of range of the one left, even though the bottom-most Nathan seems closer.
In ground combat, being on the same plane as someone means 4 ticks are 4 ticks. But if you're on the plane above or the plane below, they have to count the tick they're on as one. For every plane you're above or below them, they have to count one tick per plane they have to move plus the one they're on.
If something is directly below them in their vertical plane, then that goes back to the way it was with horizontal planes.
And in order to initiate hand-to-hand combat, you have to be on a square directly next to them.
Now, this is probably the most complicated element in my adventure, I won't lie. So if you think it's a bit much, I won't burden it with you. If at any point anything in my adventure seems too complicated, just say so, I'll handle that portion myself, always balancing it in your favor.
My main purpose with my adventures is to tell a neat and interesting interactive story. I don't mind "holding your hand" (and I use that term loosly) through elements you think are too complicated in order for you better enjoy the story and the experience, because that's what it's all about. Not the combat. The only reason I include things like this are for if more advanced players want to have a little bit of critical thinking to their battles, because I know I enjoy it myself. But at the same time, I don't plan on alienating people or making it any less fun.
Poll