Turn-Based Tactics Mars Tactics - Fight for Martian freedom or suppress terrorists who hamper future of Mankind

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

From discord (sorry, no way to embed video):

Hey guys. The past week I've been improving the tactical AI. Updated it to work w all the new mechanics + added proper teamwork logic + made them use their weapons as intended (LMG will look to suppress, shottie will look to rush or flank, support will hang back, etc). They are now an impressive LEAN MEAN MACHINE.

For my internal playtesting my usual setup is 6 vs 9. So I'm outnumbered but almost always win while losing 1-2 guys max. But now I barely survive. AI is really good and you have to fight tooth and nail. And what's cool suppression is at the absolute heart of the battle. Forward units have to end almost every turn hunkered to deny the enemy a chance to suppress and farm initiative. And enemy does the same. So you look for tiny openings to gain an advantage and slowly turn the tide. And it all requires very tight teamwork. You really fight for every inch.

Here's an example of an LMG unit suppressing and then feeding initiative to a rusher who goes for the kill. I'll try to record more examples. <@&1250607643345813645>

 

[Hoodoo]

Release when?

 

[motherfucker]

Did they ever fix this:

The game tries to make a big deal out of suppression mechanic, however suppression doesn't stop any ongoing action. Meaning the enemy gets to waltz through my overwatch zones and rack up a full purple meter completely unimpeded and it isn't until I shoot them on my turn that the suppression penalties kick in.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1727760/view/4617965876699824458

Dev Log #06: Shooting and Ballistics
Hi everyone, this month let's take look at shooting and how chance-to-hit is calculated.

A big part of the tactical sandbox I'm trying to build is letting you shoot physically persistent bullets anywhere you want. Not just at enemies or predetermined targets, but literally at any position on the battlefield.

Besides just being fun, this freedom makes shooting more interesting. It's no longer about just hitting a target. Things like fire superiority and suppression become just as important. For example, in this game there's no special "Suppression" action or ability. You just point and shoot, and bullets flying close to someone will apply suppression to them.

This enemy is hiding behind good cover, but you can shoot at the air above or next to them to apply suppression.

And with physical projectiles you have to be mindful of the background. If a bullet misses its target or a rocket veers off course, it will keep flying until it hits something. As the great Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) said in the movie HEAT: "Get clean shots. Watch your background!"

The poor Martian civilian workers are always catching strays.

Chance-to-Hit
That said, this is still a turn-based strategy game. So chance-to-hit is calculated using dice. However, it's done in a way that reflects the physics of the tactical sandbox.

When aiming your gun, the game generates 100 trajectories from the barrel tip toward the target's center of mass, forming a cone. The diameter of the cone is based on various factors including the shooter's skill. So when the game shows you have a 49% chance-to-hit, that means 49 out of the 100 trajectories are intersecting the target's hitbox.

The cone as shown in debug mode. The idea is to combine dice with physics-based ballistics.

Next, when you pull the trigger, the game rolls a D100 die and picks one of the trajectories for the bullet to follow. For example, with a 49% shot, if you roll 49 or lower the game will choose a trajectory that hits the target, while rolling 50 or higher will result in a miss.

Finally, in the case of burst or auto-fire, for most guns the game also rolls "recoil dice" for every subsequent bullet in the shot. Each recoil die can produce a positive or negative value depending on the shooter's skill. This is added to the prior bullet's value and a trajectory is chosen based on the cumulative total. The idea is that the soldier is rolling dice to try and control the recoil.

The battle log shows the first 4 bullets missed, but the last 2 hit as the shooter fought the recoil to bring the spray back on target.

Realistic Weapons
What I love about this whole system (shoot anywhere + persistent bullets + dice + physics) is how guns naturally take on their real-life roles. For example, the LMG is excellent for suppression not because of some special flag or ability, but because of its high fire-rate and large magazine. And the system doesn't arbitrarily limit your tactical options. There's nothing stopping you from using other guns for suppression too -- it'll just take more shots to pin an enemy down.

Another example is the shotgun. It doesn't need recoil dice because it fires all bullets at once (buckshot). So each bullet rolls its own D100. This is a big deal because rolling many independent dice means statistically there's a higher chance that at least one bullet will hit. In other words, similar logic to real-life.

The shottie is great for taking down drones, which are small and hard to hit but take just one bullet to bring down.

Well that's it for this dev log. I look forward to your thoughts and questions in the comments!

Follow and Wishlist here for these dev logs to appear in your Steam News section (they do not appear on the store page). You can also follow me on Discord, Reddit, Twitter or Bluesky. Lastly, if you just want an email alert when I make a post on Steam you can sign up here. THANK YOU FOR YOU SUPPORT!!

-Yuji

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

From discord:

FYI size of battlefields has almost doubled to 70x70 (green outline) from 50x50 (blue outline). So square area is now 4,900 tiles vs 2,500. Here's the old outpost map for scale.

I found 70x70 to be the sweet spot -- big enough so each engagement has distinct parts (rushing to grab good positions -> the battle -> rushing to cut off retreat -> clean up/capturing), but not too big so it become a slog. My goal is for each battle to take about <30 mins. Sometimes the fighting will spill over into neighboring battlefields so the entire battle (across all battlefields) can actually go for longer. <@&1250607643345813645>

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1727760/view/4664130308803236690

Dev Update FY2024 Q3
Hey everyone! It's been a few months since the last dev update. Like every good little capitalist I try to keep my stakeholders appraised every quarter.

FY24 Q3 Executive Summary

• Continued intense work designing and implementing the strategy layer. GRRRR!
• Continued adding features to the tactical engine, including NPCs and larger maps.
• Continued adding cross-layer mechanics, including POWs. Capturing enemies in battle and forcing them to work in labor camps is such a JOY!
• Continued improving enemy tactical AI. They actually work as a team now. Be afraid.
• This month finally began internal testing of combined strategy layer + tactical layer: the full loop!
• On the marketing front, released a new trailer and posted new dev-logs (see below). And check out the new Steam capsule artwork prepared by my publisher Hooded Horse.

Near-Term Outlook

• Closed playtesting will begin soonTM.
• After playtest build is stable, I will release a permanent demo that includes the strategy layer.
• Then it's just powering toward the finish line. GRRRRRR!

Lastly, the Tokyo Game Show begins tomorrow and kicks off the biggest week of gaming here in Japan. Given all the buzz around town, I feel compelled to share something special with you guys. So here's a first look at a new ground vehicle.

The Mars Rapid Response Vehicle (MRRV). This is the civilian variant.

The corporation first brought these over to Mars for work use. They're designed so laborers can quickly hop in and out in their suits -- no pressurization needed -- to race to an accident or an emergency. After the conflict broke out MRRVs were adapted for warfare. I will share the non-civilian variant and more details about vehicle mechanics in a future dev log. This game is focused on infantry combat, but vehicles will play a role.

Well, that's it. Thank you for your patience! It felt good to finally begin testing the entire loop. A lot of work is remaining, but with enough GRRRR we'll get there. See you next quarter. -Yuji

Recent marketing stuff:

• PC Gaming Show Trailer (June 2024)
• Dev Log #04: Grenades
• Dev Log #05: Destruction
• Dev Log #06: Shooting and Ballistics
• Dev Log #07: World of Mars Tactics (coming soon!)

Disclosures: All forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. I might not actually be a capitalist. Go Padres. You should watch For All Mankind. And listen to DJ Phil's new EP Boarding Pass. Check out this insane fanart by ZOHEI. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective organizations with which they are associated. Haha you read all the fine print, this game is definitely for you.

 

[Hoodoo]

Hurry up

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

From discord:
https://discord.com/channels/937594193709248523/1066951308378120252/1290896262568345681

Finally added a height indicator to the crosshair. It casts a shadow which hopefully makes it easier to see where you are aiming in 3D space? Let me know what you think. Also the horizontal dotted lines indicate the leftmost and rightmost possible bullet trajectories. The overall goal is to make it easy and intuitive to do whatever the hell you want in this 3D sandbox.

Lastly you can see here the new grid-less aiming too. Before aim would snap to the grid. But now it's total freedom. Especially useful when laying down suppression at a specific area. <@&1250607643345813645>

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Hydro]

So it has ballistics of a sort?

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Alienman]

That's cool. Reminds me a little of X-com Apocalypse when you order a ton of supplies.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

That's cool. Reminds me a little of X-com Apocalypse when you order a ton of supplies.

I hope player uses the same supply system too.
If they get it to work, project has gotten way more ambitious from that 40mb demo I first encountered.

 

[Alienman]

That's cool. Reminds me a little of X-com Apocalypse when you order a ton of supplies.

I hope player uses the same supply system too.
If they get it to work, project has gotten way more ambitious from that 40mb demo I first encountered.

I hope so, too. Would be cool if the AI can attempt to starve you.

 

[Beowulf]

My most anticipated attempt at nu tactics. Even more so than sci-fi BB sequel.
I played the demo ages ago and the dev (devs?) seem to have a good grasp of what makes it fun and looks like only went in the right direction from there. Hopefully the strategic layer doesn't bring down the whole shebang.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

From discord (obviously I'm idiot and don't know how to embed a video from there):

Continuing with logistics stuff, the prior post showed that supply routes are important for industry. But they're also vital for military strategy.

Your soldiers need supplies every turn -- food, water and batteries for their portable oxygen moxies. Without supplies, they will lose morale and eventually abandon your cause. On their own, each soldier carries enough to last just 8 turns in the wild. You can attack enemy supply routes for a quick snack. But they're not a reliable source.

That's where the MLC comes in -- Mobile Logistics Convoy. This is a special unit you can unlock with research in the early-to-mid game. It takes a while to manufacture and moves slow as hell, but automatically maintains a supply route to your selected location. As long as the selected location is supplied, the MLC automatically shares those supplies with all nearby troops. Its logistical range is currently 15 zones, but you can daisy chain multiple MLCs to extend the reach.

In the video you can see how it works. First, one is connected to a nearby outpost. And then I spawned another to show you how daisy chaining works. As you move, the MLCs automatically maintain logistics back home. Hopefully it adds depth while minimizing micro.

(BTW in the actual game you wouldn't need MLCs when operating so close to your home outpost but I'm just showing off for the video. Also the enemy squad at the end was totally not scripted!)

Sorry for lack of updates last few weeks. Playtest is almost ready to go. I finished a lot of last-mile stuff including UI. Excited to start showing off more of the strategy layer. Really appreciate your patience! <@&1250607643345813645>

 

[Konjad]

Just found out about this game and it looks very promising.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[ropetight]

Played the demo some time ago, year or so, and it was raw AF, barely playable.
But it looks like Mars Tactics is maturing nicely.
Starting to get excited for the release.

 

[motherfucker]

Anybody got the playtest yet?

 

[agris]

the ballistics + dice system is nicely thought out. anyone know if specific body parts can be aimed for / incidentally hit?

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Gumsmith]

Anybody got the playtest yet?

I have it. It's buggy as fuck, unsurprisingly.

In the past Manhole talked about making squad loadouts quite abstract, using "war goo" but he has since implemented a more standard inventory system, featuring looted weapons, item stockpiles and customizable loadouts.

Squad loadout screen

The green bricks are high explosive charges; mining equipment is extremely common on Mars.

Things I did that I can't do in most other games:
Fought a desperate defense while holding out for reinforcements.
Had outflanked or outnumbered fighters surrender to avoid death.

Things the AI did that I thought was interesting:
Threw a flashbang into the smoke cloud I was using as cover.
Started withdrawing after its base assault went to hell, before morale shock turned it into a complete rout.

It's hard to talk about how the early game plays because it's unfinished and extremely buggy, it does seem fun though, still looking forward to the game.

 

[Gumsmith]

lightbane Reuploaded the picture to a proper image host.

I'm just waiting for bugfixes and tweaks now.