HEY EVERYONE,
Some time ago on the Ubisoft MMX forum, MagixJonsn asked whether there "will be static idiot enemies in the game?". Although we cannot reveal too much today about the intellectual status of monsters in MMX, we can say for sure they're not static. Want to know more about the fighting mechanics in MMX? Brace yourselves and read on!
FIGHTING IN MMX - THE BASICS
In MMX, combat is turn-based, which means your party and their opponents take turns fighting. While you make your move, they can only react (e.g. block an attack) and vice versa. The turn is split into several phases. The first one is the turn of the party, the second one is the monster's turn. The last phase is used by the environment for triggers, spawning, et cetera.
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MOVEMENT & COMBAT ENGAGEMENT
Monsters come in three sizes; small, medium and large. The size of a monster depends on its 3D mesh, that is, on how big it actually looks in the game. The aggro range of monsters varies, so some monsters will attack while your party is further away, while others will attack only if your party gets closer to them.
In MMX, there are two stages of combat: being aggroed and being engaged.
Aggro:
you and the AI start taking alternate turns
character actions that do not end the character’s turn do so while having aggro
resting is not possible anymore
Engaged:
Monsters
don’t move
are facing the direction of the party
don’t perform range attacks
The Party
can’t perform any party action
can’t launch range attacks
can’t interact with interactive objects
characters can not unequip items
In order to be engaged, the party and the monsters have to be on adjacent tiles:
MONSTER MOVEMENT & COMBAT DECISIONS
All monster movements and attacks are calculated one after the other. The monsters move simultaneously first, and then all monster attacks are animated one after another in the order the attacks have been calculated. During their turn, monsters can either move or attack. Not both!
MONSTER GROUPS
Monsters can form groups, and they will use that ability against your party. However, there are no special rules for group behaviour; each monster in a group decides for itself when and where to move. The ways monsters move is determined by a path finding algorithm. However, one tile can hold several monsters at once - up to three small ones, one small and one medium monster, up to two medium monsters or one big monster - as you can see here:
COMBAT
When it's your party's turn, each character can do one of the following:
execute a ranged attack
execute a melee attack
cast a spell
execute a warfare ability
prepare to defend attacks
However, ranged attacks can only be launched against monsters that are not adjacent to the tile the party stands on and has no blockers in the direct line between party and distance monster.
TARGETING
When the party is engaged in combat with a group of monsters, one of the monsters in front of the party is selected by default as target for melee attacks or spells. You are free to switch selection to any other monster in front of the party without restrictions and as often as you like. If the selected monster is not in front of the party anymore (for example because it got killed or the party has turned by 90°), another monster gets selected automatically to be the next target.
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ATTACK PROCEDURES
Hit Chance
Party characters and monsters have an attack value for melee and/or range attacks. Characters get their attack value from skills, monsters have a fix value. The attack value and the defender’s evade value determine the hit chance for a strike (strikes are part of attacks).
Armor Value
Each armor has a certain armor value that reduces the incoming melee and range damage by a certain extent.
Resistance Value
A character's resistance towards the different schools of magic determines how big the chance is that the respective character avoids a spell/magic effect of that school. Also, the incoming magic damage of that school is decreased by a certain extent.
Defend Action
If characters use the defend action, their turn ends and their evade value is increased until the start of the party’s next turn.
Strikes
Both melee and range attacks consist of strikes. A strike is the confrontation of an attacker and a defender. Some skills may add additional strikes with a certain weapon (this only applies when the attacker has two melee weapons equipped) to a certain target during the attack.
A default range attack consists of one strike with the character's range weapon, while a default melee attack consists of one strike with each equipped weapon. Strikes for the main-hand are always executed before strikes with the off-hand.
Both monsters and characters have a certain amount of block attempts at each enemy's turn.
EXPERIENCE AND LOOT
Every single enemy has information on the nature and quantity of the resources and or items it will drop once defeated. Each time you start a new game, the loot of every monster in the game will be randomly determined.
Whenever your party defeats a monster, this is what happens with regard to loot and experience:
the items will be automatically put into the party inventory
the resources (gold, gems) are added to the resource pools of the party
the experience points are evenly distributed amongst all characters; the slayer of the monster receives some extra XP
the loot and experience distribution gets printed to the combat log
if one or more items can't be added to the party inventory automatically (because all slots are full), an interactive loot object will be placed on the grid the party is currently standing on. It will remain there for the rest of the game unless someone empties it completely.
So that's it for today. Thanks for your attention! If you're feeling creative, you could check out our dungeon layout contest. Have fun!
Your MMX-Team
Would have bought the game if it hadn't been uplay enabled.
