Earlier this month developer Whitemoon Games announced the release date of turn-based MMORPG Broken Ranks. With the game’s servers launching on January 25th, the team shared more insight into the gameplay process, focusing on the combat system.
The developers compare turn-based combat sequences to that of the Heroes of Might & Magic series that the team drew inspiration from. While the system is quite tactical, it will also test players’ reflexes: you have to react quickly, anticipate the opponent’s moves, and plan your actions ahead of time. Combat is divided into rounds. In each round, you have 10 seconds to choose abilities and assign action points – the opponents don’t wait for you to make up your mind!
Actions in combat cost Action Points. Normally, you have 12 of them and then assign them to attacks and defenses. The more Action Points you assign to action, the higher chance of success it will have. However, the number of assigned Action Points does not increase the overall damage you deal. Once the 10 seconds of preparation pass, your character performs the assigned actions and the round ends.
There are three defense zones to keep in mind: melee, ranged, mental. You can assign up to 5 action points to each zone, based on the opponent’s type. The more points you assign to each defense, the higher the chance to avoid your opponent’s attacks in that zone. Not assigning any points to one of the defenses means that the opponent will automatically hit you with every attack in that zone.
Check out the blog post or the videos below for a detailed explanation of the system, including the difference that classes make, targeting, PvP and more.