Party Composition

Today’s goal was to balance the summons and basic monsters (rats and skeletons) to the point where a diverse party composition is more effective than only using one or two of the unit types.

This is not true in all situations: there are some layouts where three archers is definitely superior to any other combination–but there should be situations like this choke point where a variety of unit strengths wins the day.

For a refresher on what the units in Soulcaster do:

  • Shaedu (green archer) does the most damage, but needs a clear line of sight to the target.
  • Aeox (blue knight) does the least damage, but has very high HP and takes reduced damage. Melee only.
  • Bloodfire (red bomber) can lob bombs over walls. They are weaker than Shaedu’s arrows against single foes, but because of a large blast radius, he can hit multiple enemies with each shot and decimate monsters when they group closely.

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  • Ranged units alone can deal good damage, but as soon as the enemies close the distance, they can’t survive at close range.
  • A stack of three tanky units (knights) does a great job of keeping the choke point closed, Spartan army style, but simply can’t deal enough damage to survive the entire wave of enemies.
  • Two of the ranged units combined with a single tank work well, but just barely–the line is broken just as the final monsters are taken out.

 

Destructibles to Control the Flow of Battle

One of the flaws in Soulcaster I & II was the lack of information the player got in terms of what the next phase of the battle would be. Enemies would simply spawn out of the woodwork, without warning, and you’d have to deal with them immediately. If you’ve got the skills, this isn’t the end of the world, but on your first run through the game, it’s likely you’ll get overwhelmed, have to burn a scroll and a potion, and run around kiting the enemies while trying to set up a formation. It makes it less about tractical positioning and more about fleeing for survival.

In an effort to move the needle a bit from “action” to “strategy”, I developed a system to hint at the evolution of the battle. It involves multi-stage breakable walls and floors, which change the layout of the room as the battle progresses.

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