Same tile Attack Missions: Ambush, Assassinate, Arrest

V37 development has introduced new Same Tile Attack Missions: Ambush, Assassinate and Arrest.

Although Arrest has its own thread and quite a few intricacies in it (and more to come) I figured I'd explain how all three of these work in general here.

First off, all three, as stated, allow for attacks against units on the same tile as the unit initiating the mission.

Arrest

Arrest can only target 'Wanted' criminals and allows you to select the target unit you will attack. It can only be enacted by a Law Enforcement unit on the same tile as a Wanted criminal that can also be seen. More information HERE!


Ambush

Ambush allows the unit to attack whatever enemy units happen to be on the same tile.

In many cases, this means that they weren't able to see you when they moved onto your unit's plot.

This cannot be done inside a city but can be done at any other time you share a tile with an enemy unit you can see and normally attack.

This attack operates just like a normal 'move to space' attack against a stack. (Soon with an exception and I'll address that in a moment.)

When you hover over the ambush button you'll get the odds of the attack with the same format as you would be looking at if you were attacking from another tile. When you select the mission, you'll also be shown the odds on the confirmation button (scroll down to select the 'No' button if you change your mind about attacking.)

Currently, it is advisable to only select one unit at a time to ambush with. This is because UNLIKE the normal move-to attack feature, when a group is selected and goes to Ambush, only the first unit that CAN attack will BUT the odds will show as if it is attacking with the BEST unit in the selected group. I MAY be able to resolve this but there are some potential problems in the approaches I've taken so far to do so and the original move-to attack method was written a little differently in how it initiates and continues the sequence and could not be thus easily mirrored in its approach due to it being interwoven with an actual move to a tile. Again... it'll probably get sorted out soon but FOR NOW, you have been warned to use only one selected unit at a time. Probably not going to be a lot of cases where you have a very large stack that can ambush at once anyhow.


Assassinate

At the moment, only actual Assassin units will be able to perform this action. However, soon all criminal units on an upgrade path after Assassin will retain this ability.

It's possible that a unit can lose the ability or perhaps even earn the ability to perform assassinations through promotions, and recent discussion has suggested even hunters may benefit from being given access to this action. For units, the tag bAssassin and for promotions the tag iAssassinChange control this.

The way it works is almost identical to Ambush and in-fact it uses the same function pathways in the code to achieve it. However, it has some key differences:
1) It can be used inside a city.
2) It can only be used to attack unit types or unit combat classes that would normally become a priority target for this unit when attacking a stack.

At the moment, this means Assassins can only 'Assassinate' Recon units. This needs to be expanded but HOW MUCH we expand it will be critical in retaining game balance here.

For example, if we make it so Assassins target Commanders as a priority, then Commanders will become very difficult to keep alive both in the field and in a city. But if we also make Law Enforcement a Target for the Assassin, Assassins won't be much good in most cities where LE units are usually stronger than any comparable criminal unit. The best defender among the potential 'targets' will be the first to take the assassination attack.

So I'm thinking of adding Health Care, Hunters, and perhaps even Administrators, Workers, Entertainers, and other Criminals and Strike Teams to that list. Any thoughts on this?

I'm also thinking of making it so that if you enact an Assassination attempt, you need to immediately do a check against Investigation since it can be fairly risky to try to 'get away with murder' so to speak. Feedback on this proposal is appreciated.

Assassinate probably shouldn't be used with multiple units selected either btw. This one perhaps should be kept from even being possible to use in that manner because it would add an additional complexity to the problems I'm facing trying to make it possible for Ambush. but I don't want to make an opportunity to assassinate go unnoticed because the unit is part of a group either.


Note on what's to come:
Soon, some units will have Stealth Strikes and Stealth Combat Modifiers that offer first strikes and combat modifiers to battles where either you are attacking from the same tile with any of these three actions OR if you are attacking normally AND cannot be seen. Units normally associated with these kinds of actions, Criminals, Strike Teams, Pirates, Ruffians, and even Law Enforcement (arrests) will be infused with these abilities.

And when Stealth Strikes are in use, it assumes that close range has been achieved by this degree of surprise so all NORMAL First Strikes will be negated in such a battle, both for the attacker and defender. This is my next project so it should be done very soon.

Perhaps, Stealth Strikes and Stealth Combat Modifiers should apply for the defender if they have them and are attacked this way to reflect their ability to react to such an attack (but only if the CAN see the attacker)... What do y'all think?




Anyhow, very simple really, but these should add a whole new dimension to the strategy in game play, and it's certainly supportive of and would augment Hide and Seek mechanisms! But even for the core, this should add a little something.

Just a small thing, but I think murder (the crime) should give a big boost to Assassinate. It is easier to 'get away with murder' if it happens everywhere in the city (I suppose an active crime means that this crime is rampant).

tmv said:

Just a small thing, but I think murder (the crime) should give a big boost to Assassinate. It is easier to 'get away with murder' if it happens everywhere in the city (I suppose an active crime means that crime is rampant).

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I think the point you're making might be best manifested by having many crimes give iInsidiousness value to the city... it's easier to blend your crimes in when lots of people are doing it. I don't want to have to get TOO specific on the programming to specify iInsidiousness by type of crime. But the point would still be reflected in this approach, if not a little 'off-centered' in the model.

That could actually be the potential counteraction to making other LE units add some iInvestigation to the total investigation check value. If the criminal(s) can elevate the crime level enough it can help to blend in their own activities.

So... good observation. One that applies all the more to enforcing an investigation check whenever an Assassination attempt is made (which btw would not bother a Hunter using this mission against a local animal if that's setup - he's not a criminal by definition of having an innate Insidiousness so no Investigation check would bother them.)

Yes, I suppose that is better. Just two questions regarding that:

• Is it better to have crimes provide insidiousness or the property crime? And if it is crimes, will every crime add insidiousness or just felonies? I don't think LE would be distracted from investigating the really dangerous kind of crime that other leaders may instigate because of a graffiti.
• Will there be a way to find out the current values of investigation and insidiousness?

Edit: I suppose one of the most useful targets for assassinations would be dogs if that was possible. Although that might really shift the balance too much in favor of the criminals.

tmv said:

Is it better to have crimes provide insidiousness or the property crime? And if it is crimes, will every crime add insidiousness or just felonies? I don't think LE would be distracted from investigating the really dangerous kind of crime that other leaders may instigate because of a graffiti.

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I believe many crimes do add further crime levels. I don't plan to change those values.

And I'm sure we can make the punishment fit the crime so to speak where adding Insidiousness values. Of course some would be more distracting to investigation efforts than others.

Will there be a way to find out the current values of investigation and insidiousness?

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Yes. Both on the building and unit descriptions themselves AND the totals show under the city defense help hover (hover over the rook symbol in the upper right of the city screen.)

Edit: I suppose one of the most useful targets for assassinations would be dogs if that was possible. Although that might really shift the balance too much in favor of the criminals.

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Canines can be quite effective against criminals and can certainly be trained to be better in that specific regard, but not so much it would be overwhelming so it could be a good target to add, yes.