Today I want to give a brief overview over how combat and weapons will work in the game. Every action in the game, whether it is attacking someone or healing someone or repairing items and so on uses dice.
These dice have different colors based on their quality (we will probably end up with green, red, black) and each dice is can roll zero, one or more successes and even explode (if you have the right skill for it) - the better the quality, the more likely the result will be higher. All successes in one roll are added up and can be modified by skills or items or terrain/cover. The result is then deducted from the target's appropriate stats (in case of attack their HP). In combat, the target's armor value reduces the amount of damage that the target takes.
The base principle is, that enemies never roll and players always roll. This reduces the amount of rolling in combat (if you face 4 enemies you don't have to roll for each attack on you by them) and makes enemies a bit easier to account for and build your tactics around their behavior.
However when YOU are attacked, you roll your armor value, so there is variable damage involved still.
Every character can carry a number of weapons and armor and gear and those have a variety of stats and functions that are explained below (and yes, we know the picture does NOT show a Dragunov, this is just a placeholder):
Quality, denotes the general power and also when in the game a weapon can be found or bought and for how much it sells.
Range tells you how far a weapon can attack inside a sector (more on that in another post). Melee weapons for example have a range of 0, so you share a space with your target in order to attack.
Degradation is used to activate special weapon abilities. Whenever you choose to activate it, put one damage token on the card up to the maximum of repair slots it has. You repair items when resting.
Base and Special Attack
These tell you the number and type of dice you roll and how much Fatigue you have to spend to attack. The more fatigue the better the attack usually is. Sometimes attacks may feature modifiers to your roll or added special abilities like stun, push, repeated fire, multiple targets and so on.
Upgrades determine how many additional things like scopes, stabilizers, under-barrel grenade launchers or other useful things you can attach to your weapon.
As you can see weapons are pretty much in the center of a lot of the decision making and activity of a character and the game features a wide range of weapons with different abilities and attack modes, from dual-wielded pistols and SMGs to shotguns, knifes, sniper rifles and all kinds of iron.
The right choice of weapon for the right enemy and character makes a huge difference and you will be able to find weapons in enemy loot as well as on the black market.
Getting a good variety of weapons for your mercs is vital to be able to combat different types of enemies, but weapons also have to fit the merc. Are you good at repairs? Then maybe a weapon that has to be degraded to be really effective is your best choice. maybe you prefer a longer ranged weapon and a handy knife, in case the enemy closes in?
In any case, you will find the classic JA2 weapons in the game as well as a few new ones to look forward to and equip your merc with.
More on characters and skills in a future update.
