"The first and most imperative necessity in war is money, for money means everything else - men, guns, ammunition." - Ida Tarbell
Substitute ‘resources’ for ‘money’ in that sentence, and that's what you need to manage everything in a turn-based strategy game. So knowing what the resources are, what they're used for, how to acquire them and spend them wisely will make up a BIG portion of Midnight Suns. For this article, I'll be talking about what we know about the combat resources, so let's dive in, shall we?
So far, we have the cards themselves, the number of cards you can play, and heroism points. You're limited to three card plays, so choosing attacks or buffs is going to take some careful planning, especially as many of the cards gain you Heroism points that you can then spend on future cards or using the environment (more on that in a moment).
So, with only three card plays, that seems a bit limiting. BUT, then you see that some cards have an ability called 'Quick', which will refund a card play if you knockout an opponent, which gives you a lot more flexibility. Then, too, some card plays require not only that, but Heroism as well and those seem like the 'finishing move' cards; cards that will have the most powerful effects. But in order to get heroism, you need to play other cards, and there’s still that 3-card play limit to keep in mind... already you can see that there's a myriad of ways you can strategize every turn, and plan for the next.
Take out as many enemies as possible? Stock up Heroism? Buff everyone? With only three choices, it'll make for some not just interesting but downright tough decisions. Then, too, what cards you draw will dictate a lot of your actions as well. If you don't have any attacks, taking out enemies just ain't gonna be on the table, right?
Next, the cards themselves. We know of three types, Skills, Attacks and Heroics. Each can have abilities and be upgraded and that's a whole other article, but for now I'll just say this: Knowing how to build your deck is going to be KEY. Balancing Skills vs. Attacks, the number of Heroism cards, doing it so you're not 'drawing dead', figuring out the ways to increase your card plays... There's going to be a metric TON of options here, not to mention you'll need to build a deck according to which heroes you bring along! I'm very excited to see what people come up with and what abilities can be used in combination, what heroes work best together... It's not going to be infinite combinations, but you'll be able to see infinity from there!
Finally, Heroism, which is likely going to be the trickiest one to manage. You gain it by playing cards, use it by playing a card AND you can use heroism to affect the environment. Stocking up on it may be one of the most valuable resources in the game, so stocking your deck with cards that gain you the most heroism may be the way to go. And even with all of those options, I haven’t even touched on the fact that it appears there are items you can equip as well! Healing, shields, weapons, consumables and persistent items... we just don't know yet what form they'll all take, but it adds yet another layer to think about. All in all, resource management will likely be something that will offer the most opportunity for theorizing and different strategies for the game.
All in all, this looks like the richest part of the game as far as possibilities go and I cannot wait to dig into it!
- Rock
Comments