Category: Tactics

Posted: 05/16/07 A more direct control for turn based vehicles, where one decides throttle and deceleration rather than destination.

This is an extension of Mechanic #007 - Interrupt Action used to be applied to vehicular control. Certain types of units, like a person or a very mobile tank, have the ability to fine tune their movements. However, some types of vehicles are at the mercy of their physics.

For instance, this bike is approaching a ramp at X mph. In a normal strategy game, you would simply select a destination and it would go there, but you wouldn't be able to fine tune the jump. Instead, each turn, the bike moves a single specific path, to completion with no branching. However, this path can be affected my manipulating vehicle controls at the various interrupt points.

The motorcycle can, at the very least, affect his velocity by either accelerating, decelerating, or not changing the velocity (as seen above). Since the bike is two tiles wide, it can have speeds that are multiples of half a tile. Each node could also be a place where acceleration or deceleration can occur through an interrupt action.

The new velocity at the end of this turn will be the starting velocity for the next turn. So, you can only accelerate or decelerate safely only so much per turn. So, despite your best efforts, you may not be able to bring the vehicle to a stop before it flies off a cliff. However, there might be special maneuvers, like an emergency stop, that can be performed at some cost or risk.

Special maneuvers can be enacted situationally, depending on the node and circumstance. For instance, if you decide to pull a flip, you would do it at the node right at the top of the ramp (where the first ghost is located), and it would be available only if the vehicle was approaching at the proper speed.

Another possibility is that at the apex of the jump, the unit decides to jump off the bike. Here, one path breaks off into two paths as the unit splits into two units that go separate directions. Perhaps even that action could be interrupted, such that the black unit then uses a grappling hook to swing to safety while the vehicle crashes and burns.

This type of thing is by no means limited to motorcycles. It could also be applied to any mode of transportation which cannot stop on a dime, like perhaps a zip-line or a hang glider. Things with better control, like giant mechs, jet packs, bat wings, Segways, or whatever, would be suited fine by a more deliberate point and click movement system.

With the added complexity to the interrupt system, perhaps a more appropriate visualization system is required. Perhaps an animated preview of the action or something. Though I think if the nodes were simply colored coded more appropriately and the ghosts were not shown like they are for illustration, it would be more obvious what is going on.

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