Wiki / mechanics / war-and-conquest
Battles: the street fight
Status: Draft. Live in the sandbox campaign. Every number on this page is TEMP: they are first guesses that are still being tuned.
When two hostile forces stand in the same town, they fight a street fight: every man on both sides stands on one street and the clash plays out in real time, in seconds, usually to the last man standing. You don't control it. What you decide is who goes in and where they stand: your squad's men, their gear and their cells.
How you use it
- Set up before the fight. In the CREW panel, a man's column on the squad grid is where he starts: back, middle or front. His class and gear decide how he fights.
- Meet the enemy. A fight starts when your squad and a hostile force share a town: you attack a roaming crew, a roaming crew raids you, or an ambush springs.
- Watch. The fight opens on its own and the game clock waits while it plays. The street view is the only fight view: a fight between other outfits, or one already under way when you load a save, has nothing to play and opens nothing. Each side's crest, name, N / N STANDING and HP bar are on top, the town and the fight clock in the middle. Damage numbers float off each hit: crits are bigger and gold, heals green, miss for a dodged blow, +$ for a Robber's take.
- Speed it up or skip. 1×, 2× and 4× set the playback speed. SKIP jumps to the end.
- Result. The street fades out and a VICTORY or DEFEAT card follows.
How it works
The clash
| Rule | Live |
|---|---|
| Start | Each man starts in his band, counted from his own side's edge. A squad man starts in his cell's column. Anyone else: guns-only men at the back, healers and squad-bonus men in the middle, everyone else in front |
| Moving | Each man walks to the nearest enemy he can hit. A man with any blade closes to melee; a man holding only guns stops at his gun's range. Men spread out around a target instead of queueing behind each other |
| Target | The nearest enemy. He only switches when another enemy is clearly closer |
| Swinging | Every weapon in his hands swings on its own timer. The first swing comes one interval in |
| Area weapons | A weapon that hits several men lands the same blow on the enemies nearest its victim |
| Protection | Melee or ranged protection cuts each blow, up to a cap |
| Crits | A share of blows hit harder |
| Dodge | A share of single-target blows aimed at a dodging man miss. Area blows are never dodged |
| Sudden death | After a set time, everyone still standing bleeds a growing share of his HP every second, so no fight stalls forever |
| Ambush | The surprised side stands still for the first round. An ambush ends the moment its target falls |
| Order of a tick | Everyone moves from where everyone stood, then everyone swings, then the dead fall together. Nobody wins by being processed first |
Classes on the street
| Class | What it does in the fight |
|---|---|
| Ninja | Slips in behind the enemy's rearmost man shortly after the start |
| Doctor | Each round mends the most hurt friend in reach, out of the medkit he carries |
| Crook, Hoe | Lift the damage of their whole squad while they stand (only the biggest bonus counts) |
| Hoe | Enemies near her hit softer |
| Heavy | Friends next to him take less damage |
| Gangster | Hits harder the more HP he has lost |
| Robber | Attacks can lift cash, and every man he drops pays more. The cash moves from the losing outfit after the fight, never below zero |
A fight over days
| Rule | Live |
|---|---|
| Clashes per day | Up to 3 a day, until one side has nobody left who can fight |
| End | The fight ends when one side has no fighters. There is no timer and no mid-fight retreat |
| Squad men down | While his squad has a man standing, a downed squad man is wounded and keeps his cell. When the squad's last man falls, every downed man in it dies |
| Named men | A named man whose HP runs out is carried off to hospital. After the fight, named men on the losing side risk a wound, capture or death; the winners only risk a wound. A roaming crew robs: its wins kill and capture nobody |
| Losers | Beaten forces leave the map and walk home later. A force with nobody left is wiped out |
| Winners | Hold the town |
Numbers (all TEMP)
| Number | Value | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Round | 2 seconds | street_fight.round_s |
| Street | 22 cells wide; front band 7, middle 5, back 3 cells from the edge | arena_w, front_x, middle_x, back_x |
| Walk speed | 2 cells/s for a crew man, 2.1 for a named man (a squad class sets its own) | speed, person_speed |
| Reach | Blades 1.3 cells; pistol 5, shotgun 3.5, machine gun 6.5 | melee_range, gun_range |
| Area blow radius | 2.5 cells | cleave_radius |
| Crit | 10% of blows, ×1.6 | crit_chance, crit_mult |
| Damage spread | ±5% per blow | simple_combat.damage_variance |
| Protection cap | 85% | simple_combat.protection_cap |
| Ninja flank | 0.7 s in | flank_at |
| Doctor reach | 5 cells | heal_range |
| Sudden death | from 40 s: 3% of max HP a second, +50% more each second | sudden_death_s, sudden_death_pct |
| Safety cap | 120 s per clash | max_s |
| Clashes per day | 3 | simple_combat.rounds_per_day |
| Named man risk, losing side | 15% wound, 10% capture, 5% death, raised by a lopsided result | war_char_wound_loser, war_char_capture_loser, war_char_kill_loser |
| Named man risk, winning side | 2% wound | war_char_wound_winner |
| Hospital stay | 10 days | recovery_days_hospital |
See also
- War & conquest: why outfits fight
- Payroll & wages: what your men cost
- Character creator: your boss
- Mechanics
Locked vs leftover
| Locked (document this) | Leftover / do not claim |
|---|---|
| One real-time clash on one street, up to 3 a day | The old multi-day board of front, back and reserve rows, with daily damage from force power |
| Fights end only when a side has no fighters | Breaking at a loss share, or a battle-day timer |
| The player sets the start through the squad grid | A tactics mode, or orders during the fight |
| Sudden death ends every stalemate | |
| The COMBAT TRY setting: it's still in the settings, but switched to LIVE it turns the street fight off and its fights open no view at all, since the old battle board is gone |
Sources
src/combat/street_fight.gd, src/systems/battle.gd, src/ui/street_fight_view.gd, src/ui/main.gd (combat setting), src/systems/expeditions.gd, data/config.json (street_fight, simple_combat, war knobs)