ID:265095
 
I've posted a few times asking for ideas on how to handle various interfaces in Incursion. I figure now's a good time to explain how things are going and what I decided on.

Those who read the thread may recall I said there was a problem where if a player played a reinforcement card during an attack (this is legal, but only gives half the number of units), there would be a question of which interface to show, the Defense or Deployment toolbars, or both. I finally decided on this: Legal card plays and any other such action can be done, but once chosen they're placed into a sequence queue; nothing happens until the next break in the action. Thus, if an attack is in progress, a deployment can't be done by anyone until the die rolls are finished.

As for handling of the choices for number of dice, I decided on this: An icon shows 1, 2, or 3 dice next to the Roll button. By clicking the dice, the number cycles through from 3 to 2 to 1, back to 3. Later, when the general dice are implemented, a similar icon will be used for that.

The way I'm going to handle attacks (which, I hope, may be finished by the beginning of next week) will be as follows:

  • The current player chooses two territories: an attacker and a defender. If (s)he had been attacking somewhere else but hadn't completed conquest and hadn't yet chosen to roll again, that attack will formally break off.
  • A Conquest toolbar appears (if it wasn't there already) with the dice icon and a Roll button. If the toolbar was there but the button and dice weren't, they will now appear.
  • The attacker clicks Roll. The attack is formally started, if this is the first roll between these two territories. (I.e., the first time you attack, the game announces it, but on the next roll it won't, until you break off the attack or take over the territory.) The territories are highlighted and an arrow is drawn between them indicating the attack; these visual cues go away when the attack breaks off or finishes.
  • The defender is now given a Defense toolbar. Depending on house rules, rolling proceeds one of two ways: 1) The defender chooses the number of dice and hits Roll, then both players roll simultaneously. OR, 2) The attacker rolls, then the defender may choose how many dice to roll. (House rules are a big deal in Incursion. In my home option #2 is the way we play Risk. Adds a little fun to the defender's choice, whether they roll 2 to try to beat at least one die in a 5-3 or just 1 because they think it's too risky. Another house rule which will make it to Incursion is that an attacker's triple 6 always wins.)
  • Once the roll is complete, losses are tallied. At this point other pending actions (like card plays) are done. The attacker may choose dice and roll again, or move on to set up a redeployment or attack something else. Unless, that is, the defender is defeated, in which case the attacker must choose how many units and resources to move in.

    Redeployment is handled as follows: The current player drags the mouse from one of his/her territories to another neighboring it. After selecting (I haven't quite decided on this interface yet) how many units and resources to move from one territory to the other, an arrow appears to indicate that a redeployment will be done at the end of the turn. The player may then click or drag other territories to do more redeployment or to attack someone. Once the player hits End Turn, a button available in both the Conquest and Redeployment toolbars, all redeployments are finalized (the troops and resources are moved). House rules may dictate only one redeployment is allowed, but by default the player may move around as many units and resources to neighboring territories as they wish.

    Lummox JR