INTRODUCTION:

I'm truly glad I bought Elemental and look forward to playing it for months (years) to come.  In fact, I love it so much, that I put darn near 6 hours into this post for the community and The Almighty Frogboy to consider.

Despite my love of this game, the tactical combat results aren't just random at the moment, they are erratic to the point of frustration.  They are so unpredictable in many instances that entire battles can be lost by two bad die rolls back to back.

Imagine if you could lose all your armies on a single territory in Risk with just a single poor roll.  Doesn't that make you want to cry inside?

WHY I CRY INSIDE (FOR REALZ):

I have two archers.  The first has an attack of 18 and the second has an attack of 24.  My target has a defense of 18 and 11HP.  How many shots will it take to kill my target?  The answer: after being shot at roughly 8 times or so I have reduced his 11HP to 7HP and he has now reached my archers.  I get 4 more shots off before he finishes both groups off.

Apparently my archers are the worst shot in all the land.  In fact, I would be surprised you could find a worse archer in any land.  They would have had better luck if they grabbed an arrow in one hand, ran up, and tried to stab that bastard with it like a dagger.

I understand there is a reason for all this, mathematically speaking.  It's likely his 18 armor was anti-arrow armor (not sure how I'm supposed to know this, but that's not the point).  The point is that my attack was equal to or greater than his defense, but it might as well have been 0 for all the good it did me.

Rock-paper-scissors is not a fun game when, after I throw Rock and you throw Paper, we have to stare at each other for another 5 minutes before either one of us can leave.

Thusly: internal crying.

Of course, this isn't just a problem with resistances, I find it's a fairly regular occurence that when epic forces collide I will frequently see attack deal 10 damage.  I have a 150 attack and I do 10 damage?  On a regular basis?  Against enemies with lower defenses?

It all just feels wrong.  But "feel" is a big part of games, if not everything.  If something feels wrong in a game, it is wrong.

IDENTIFYING THE OBJECTIVE(S):

Before making any design changes, one must always evaluate the desired effect of said change.  If you don't know what you are trying to do, you will invariably do it wrong.

• Objective 1
  • Reduce the number of misses, but modify damage outcomes a bit so they are not so variable or so severe.  This should make tactical combat more genuinely rewarding.
• Objective 2
  • Maintain sufficient randomness to keep combat interesting and to keep players on their toes.
• Objective 3
  • Make a change to the system that doesn't require any rebalancing of ATK, DEF, or HP values.  This is gonna be a tough one...

SOLUTION TIME:

Part I of the Solution: Chance to Hit

• Normal Defender %Chance to Hit
  • ((2ATK)/(2ATK+DEF)*100)+(Attacker's Morale - 50)
• Resistant Defender %Chance to Hit
  • ((ATK)/(ATK+DEF)*100)+(Attacker's Morale - 50)

Part II of the Solution: Damage on Successful Hit

• Normal Defender
  • (Random(ATK*0.5 to ATK))*(Attacker's Morale/100)
• Resistant Defender
  • (Random(ATK*0.25 to ATK*0.50))*(Attacker's Morale/100)

Part III: That's it.

I admit it isn't quite as elegant or as simple as what was previously present, but I think this would get the results players will want to see.  I think players will feel justified when they win or lose through these damage outcomes.

There will still be randomness, but you won't have mass chaos.

A FEW EXAMPLES:

Let's start with an even fight.

• ATTACKER: 24 ATK, 50 Morale
• DEFENDER: 24 DEF, 50 Morale
• Attacker's Chance to Hit: 66%
• Damage on Hit: 6-12

Now let's say the attacker has a morale advantage.

• ATTACKER: 24 ATK, 60 Morale
• DEFENDER: 24 DEF, 40 Morale
• Attacker's Chance to Hit: 76%
• Damage on Hit: 7.2-14.4

Let's say the defender in the above scenario (who happens to be the same unit as the attacker) counter-attacks, they would have a morale disadvantage which would have the following results.

• ATTACKER: 24 ATK, 40 Morale
• DEFENDER: 24 DEF, 60 Morale
• Attacker's Chance to Hit: 56%
• Damage on Hit: 4.8-9.6

Now let's say we are even on morale again, but the attacker has a big attack advantage.

• ATTACKER: 40 ATK, 50 Morale
• DEFENDER: 10 DEF, 50 Morale
• Attacker's Chance to Hit: 88%
• Damage on Hit: 10-20

But what about against a resistant defender?

• ATTACKER: 40 ATK, 50 Morale
• DEFENDER: 10 DEF, 50 Morale
• Attacker's Chance to Hit: 80%
• Damage on Hit: 5-10

Let's look at a resistant defender with equal defense.

• ATTACKER: 40 ATK, 50 Morale
• DEFENDER: 40 DEF, 50 Morale
• Attacker's Chance to Hit: 50%
• Damage on Hit: 5-10

THE MOST IMPORTANT EXAMPLE:

Let us now say, for sake of argument, that there is some knucklehead with 18 DEF that I am shooting with 2 sets of archers.  My first set of archers has an ATK of 18 and my second has an ATK of 24.  Finally, this great big jerk is resistant to arrows.  Let's see what happens under the new system!

• ATTACKER: 24 ATK, 50 Morale
• DEFENDER: 18 DEF, 50 Morale
• Attacker's Chance to Hit: 57%
• Damage on Hit: 3-6

And my slightly weaker archer.

• ATTACKER: 18 ATK, 50 Morale
• DEFENDER: 18 DEF, 50 Morale
• Attacker's Chance to Hit: 50%
• Damage on Hit: 2.25-4.5

This means that with 4 shots a piece, my both my archers will hit roughly twice.  This will deal an average of roughly 13.75 damage.  But, if I miss even one more shot than average, suddenly I will be in trouble.  If I miss two more shots than average, I will be in real danger.

It's a much less likely that he will make it to me and much less likely that I could lose this fight, but not unfairly so, it could still happen.  My archers, with greater firepower and range, can put up a fight.  That's what counts.  It just feels right that archers shooting at a single target charging them from a field away would more likely cut him down than get cut down.

I no longer have internal tears.

OH, GREAT FROGBOY (whom I greatly respect and admire):

I understand that such a change can not be taken lightly nor rushed out the door... but by golly it would take less than an hour to implement and start testing internally.  Unless I'm crazy, which is possible. 

If you have questions or want to explore this scenario further, I am happy to do so publicly (via this thread) or through e-mail, PMs, or whatever means you like.

OH, EVERYONE ELSE (whom I acknowledge begrudgingly):

No, I'm kidding.  I love you, too, everyone else.  Feel free to provide comments, questions, or other feedback through this thread or through PMs.  In fact, please do.  If you actually took the time to read all this, you have earned your right to say something back!

BONUS QUESTION:

Can anyone guess what I do for a living? (note: this question has now been answered in the replies below).