Massive Assault
http://www.massiveassault.com/forum/

WHY NO RANDOM ELEMENT?
http://www.massiveassault.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1677
Page 1 of 1

Author:  X Trickster X [ Fri Sep 17, 2004 6:58 am ]
Post subject:  WHY NO RANDOM ELEMENT?

:-?
Note: This is an observation, not a complaint.

I have just purchased MA boxed version and have started playing through the initial training scenarios. And looking forward to some online playing against humans.
One thing puzzles me though:

Why no random element?
You can see how many hp enemy units have left, you know how many hp damage you're going to inflict, how far you can move before firing and that a hit - in range - will always cause a set amount of damage. This makes the game like chess.
For someone with a MENSA kind of mentallity (and this isn't me), they can predict all moves just about to the end game and see how to win (or that they can't win).
I suppose a counter argument is that a random element is introduced by not knowing what the other guy is gonna do next.

What do other people think? Would having something like a "percent chance to hit based on range" etc be a good or a bad thing?

Currently the game is a VERY calculated one (as I say above this is not a complaint). There's no "I'll put a unit in there, it's a bit risky but hopefully he'll miss when he fires at me". That kind of thing.

I've only played a few games. When I've had more battles I may think that the absence of a random element in the combat-resolution mechanics is a very good thing. Who knows?

Anyway - hello everyone. Looking forward to meeting some of you on the battlefiled soon :wink:

Author:  mwigor [ Fri Sep 17, 2004 7:05 am ]
Post subject: 

You're right it is a lot like chess in many ways.

There is a random/unknown element in the form of secret allies however.

This means that unlike chess - every game is different.

Author:  Three Seven [ Fri Sep 17, 2004 8:07 am ]
Post subject: 

A random chance to hit would have been great in Starcraft. "Hey, maybe my opponent's goon rush <i>won't</i> hit me." Why don't we turn chess into a random game too. Every time you want to capture a piece, you have to roll dice to see if you capture it or not. What a great idea!

</sarcastic bastard>

Author:  Mrakobes [ Fri Sep 17, 2004 8:13 am ]
Post subject: 

well
for player's convenience MA introduced a way to "undo" turns which is very useful and saves you alot of replays
however there is no point in having random elemen cuz you can always undo bad result
also i think that MA imitates not the small unit tactics but a global strategy...and what kind of random is in it? everything is being calculated even in modern warfare...in future wars that calculation even increase

Page 1 of 1 All times are UTC - 5 hours
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
http://www.phpbb.com/