I have a suggestion that I think could help make combat both: more exciting and more tactical.



Including random combat events that shape the way battles are fought. These would be rare events that would show up at the beginning of a battle (enabling the combatants to choose tactics/cards to reflect the circumstances).



These events might happen say, in 5-10% of all battles and would vary in severity.



I'll mention some possible examples and the purposes they might serve to the game. These can have various effects in a battle, perhaps causing someone to try and avoid a battle altogether, or to retreat shortly into one, etc.



Some examples of minor events:



Electromagnetic Interference: A distant solar flare is interfering with ship targeting. Weapons on all ships are at a -5% accuracy. (Effect: Greater chance of ships surviving the battle altogether.)



Asteroid field: A small meteor shower is passing through the area. All ships lose 2% of their maximum health per battle phase.

(Effect: Greater chance of ships being destroyed.)





More serious (and thus less common) events:



Gravitational Anomaly: A strange gravitational anomaly has reduced ship movement. Alters the battle phases. Long-distance phase lasts for 4 phases, medium distance phase lasts for 4 phases, and melee distance phase lasts for 1 phase. (Effect: Decreased kinetic weapon's effect).



Particle Cloud: A cloud of highly charged particles is passing through the area. Beam weapons ignite particles in the cloud, dealing minor damage to the firing ships and to their targets if hit. Missiles do additional damage when they hit a target. (Effect: More damage all around and greater chance of ships being destroyed. May change technological dynamic, making beam weapons less-useful and missiles more useful for that battle.)



Pirate Ambush: Pirates join into the battle, suddenly turning it into a three-way conflict as they attack both parties.



Naturally, these are just brief ideas for possible events and I understand that some will undoubtedly have problems with them and/or need in-depth thought. Nor is this an all-inclusive list; they are just some examples of how it might work.

First of all, your suggestion seems well thought out and cleanly organized. That being said, I don't like it. Let me tell you why:



1) You mentioned this would make combat more tactical. I don't see how.

2) It would add to the common impression that the ES AI cheats.

3) Random events are annoying enough. These 100% random combat events would make it even more annoying.



To give a suggestion: I think it would be better if one of these events had a chance of occurring only when there is a planet with the same-named anomaly in the system. I.e. A Helium Giant possesses an anomaly called "Strong Magnetic Field". Then, if the game chooses this planet for the fleets to battle around, there is a chance that "Electromagnetic interference" will occur. Or it could occur around a star with the anomaly "Solar Flares". etc. etc.



Also, It might be cool if the battle cards played by the two players create anomalies if played simultaneously. Just a thought.

While I like the basic concept, I´d have to say I agree with the above: Make these events more tied to the location you are fighting in. For example, an asteroid swarm large enough to be unavoidable doesn´t just appear out of nowhere. You should be able to see it coming, IMO. Still, fighting around a planet with the "Electromagnetic Activity" special could allow the possibility for a related event to occur, like a random EMP pulse that scrambles targeting systems. Or planets with "High Gravity" could have a slight effect on kinetic and missile accuracy, that could even be varied depending on the planets size.



Many of these events I think could be realized as sort of "terrain" effects for a battle. For example one could allow the defending fleet to choose around which planet to do battle, and then the battle takes place near that planet.



There could also be effects that are unrelated to nearby planets as well, perhaps a "Weapons Malfunction" event that somehow weakens one weapon type for one battle phase. These events would have a base random chance to occur, but they could also be affected by Battle Actions. For example, use of the "Overclock" action could result in the risk of the "Kinetic Weapons Malfunction" events increasing by 10% for each time used. You could even build "chains" of events that could occur: For example one could say that the "Short Circuit" event has a small chance of occurring (using the same-named sabotage Battle Action increases this to 100%) naturally, but if it does, perhaps it could have a chance to trigger another event, like "Supercharged Shields", an event that boosts the power of beam and kinetic defense. This would represent the circuit supposed to power targeting equipment shorting, but the sudden power spike supercharges some other systems. This in turn could have a chance of triggering an event that causes those systems to fail the next phase, and so on...



Just some thoughts of mine

Thank you for your comments. ^.^ It is a rough idea, intended to provoke discussion and further thought, so i'll reply.



I could be alright with the effects being persistent and tied to the location that you fight in. This would make combat in certain systems either more or less desirable depending on your fleet composition and circumstances. Or, it could be as you say and have certain systems just be 'prone' to these events.



The way I thought this would make combat 'more tactical', is that your selection of cards might change based on the circumstances. For one, if this came up and suddenly gave your enemy an advantage, you might flee the battle (wisely) instead of allowing him said advantage. Or, you might elect to choose different cards to counter the spacial anomalies.



I considered adding random 'ship' effects (such as malfunctions) to the post, but I felt that some people might be strongly opposed to that since it might only affect one side of the conflict, instead of affecting both.



Either way, the addition would obviously have to be optional for any game. Just as with random events, if you don't like them, you turn them off. I rather like random events in the game, though I feel that some are perhaps a bit excessive.

Stealth_Hawk wrote:
To give a suggestion: I think it would be better if one of these events had a chance of occurring only when there is a planet with the same-named anomaly in the system. I.e. A Helium Giant possesses an anomaly called "Strong Magnetic Field". Then, if the game chooses this planet for the fleets to battle around, there is a chance that "Electromagnetic interference" will occur. Or it could occur around a star with the anomaly "Solar Flares". etc. etc.

I really like this idea. It reminds me of Star Trek Armada where there were nebulas with different effects like shield regeneration or damage over time.