So Combat is kind of boring. Any chance we can get a turn based RPG combat system?

[nikosthefan]

@Hieronymous

The problem I have with combat in Stonehearth is that there’s not much tactical depth to it; it’s just blob vs blob and then a bit of a spammy clickfest getting your archers to prioritize.

I really like the idea of formations (my forts tend to go up to around 50 hearthlings, about half of which ends up being military and the other half dedicated crafters).

The main thing I’d like to see is more meaningful choices in how you outfit your squad. Like, ok, if I give everyone in a squad pikes, is that tactically different from giving everyone hammers, or is it just different numbers?

Just as an example – if pikes had a longer attack “reach”, and hammers (or maces) had “knockback”, you could make a lot of tactical choices about how you set up your squad (i.e., “my whole fort is on a set of cliff bridges, let’s go all-hammers”) (“the goblins are attacking with pikes, hammers won’t help as much, we’ll need archers and swords”), etc. That wouldn’t necessarily mean more micro management – it’d be all equipment decisions you made before the actual fight – but it would lend combat a little more depth that it doesn’t have right now.

@theFipmip

To achieve this there should be redundancy between the two styles of play. One might want to sit back and watch a fight play out, where as another might want to have their minions do exactly what they’re told when they’re told.

These two things can be combined, by ripping off the balance tactics from the building system. There too, there is this rift between different playstyles, so redundancy is needed. And to accommodate for it, you either can design building templates yourself, or you can use will-do prefab building templates which are already in the game.

Something similar could happen with combat as well: You get the ability to design formations templates yourself in the game, or, for those who just want to send out a party and watch things work out, you can just plomp down a will-do prefab formation template. Then you add the tactical stuff like pikes have more reach, to make formations useful.