Hi, I really like the personal combat (whichever part of the overall project that comes from), but I have some suggestions to make it a bit more immersive.
The personal combat part of HIP comes from the New Duel Engine, which is an outside mod integrated into Project Balance. Because of that status, nobody on the HIP team actually controls it, so normally we wouldn't be changing or adding anything to it. But you've got good timing, because I recently started on writing a new version of the Duel Engine specifically for HIP...
I noticed that if the player chooses to flee from combat, there is a chance to gain the coward trait. I like that, but I don't remember seeing the percentage listed (kind of like how education choices give you a percentage chance to get each trait in each decision that's available.) So if that's not already throughout the personal combat, that would be nice.
The percentage chance to gain Craven should be displayed in both the New Duel Engine and the new HIP Duel Engine. I'll make a note to check whether it displays or not when I do my next round of testing.
That would also fit in with some sort of tactic choice. Maybe something along the lines of retreat, hunker down (defend), parry (counter-attack), attack, and charge ("wild attack"). Or some combo of those. So if someone charged wildly against a parry, the character who chooses parry would have a pretty high chance to win (kill, wound, knock down for capture) while a character who chose say retreat would have a high chance to lose (die, get maimed, get captured). And then each of those decisions would affect the percentages, so for example a wild attack / charge would be higher in chance to kill / maim rather than capture, while a normal attack would have a better chance of knocking the person down to capture them but not kill or maim them.
I agree that any version of the Duel Engine would benefit from offering the player more choice in strategy, but I'm not sure I'd support the kind of "Rock, Paper, Scissors" system you're suggesting. The problem with such an approach is that without meaningful information on which to base your choices it boils down to pure randomness. The system as it stands already has an element of randomness in it, and I'm not comfortable adding more. That said, if I do manage to figure out a way to implement tactics (or something akin) in a way which amounts to a meaningful choice, I'll certainly do so.
I'd also like to see the chance to gain coward lower, but then augmented by troop morale effects. For example, if you win the personal combat, you should have a small chance to gain brave, also have a chance to increase your personal combat ability (especially if you're up against someone with higher skill level), and a chance to increase the battling army's morale. It could be a standard amount like 5-10%, or better yet could be tied to the opponent's skill or prestige. So, if I were a skill level 1 combat going up against a 4 level combat that was also famous due to high prestige (e.g., Ivar the Boneless), I'd have a pretty decent chance at gaining brave for even taking the fight, increasing combat if I simply survive or somehow win (maybe I luck out and pick the right tactic) even with lower skill, and have a chance to increase the troops morale for surviving or winning. Of course there would be the opposite: if you don't take the fight you could still become coward, if you don't take on fights or don't even go out in the army as a flank leader you'll eventually lose some skill (should take several opportunities to lose skill), and if you get knocked down (or worse captured or worse killed) there should be a morale hit to the troops in that battle.
Both morale effects and combat trait advancement (essentially improving a character's combat skill) are already in both versions of the Duel Engine. And the chance to pick up Craven for refusing a fight is actually scaled based on your opponent's skill level. As for the other stuff: I'm already planning on reducing the chance to pick up Craven in the new version; likewise, I'm also considering adding the possibility of gaining Brave (or at least losing Craven) by choosing to fight.
Finally, I'd like to see the chance to accept a fight and go at each other, but then every 1-3 "goes" you'd get a chance to retreat and give up. Doing so would be a much less chance of getting coward and morale hit. This way you could try your hand at a bit of combat in case you want to improve your skill, but if things are going poorly or you change your mind you can try to get back out. Of course, retreating against an opponent who charges wildly will leave a higher chance to get hit or captured than against an opponent who chooses to defend or parry.
As the system currently works, giving a chance to run away doesn't make much sense. If the odds of a negative outcome when attempting to run are lower than usual, everyone will always run. If the odds of a negative outcome are the same or higher, there would be no point in ever taking the option. So under the current system the only way I might consider adding something like this would be in the form of giving the character who is winning the chance to disengage if they don't want to risk fighting another round.
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