Defensive Stance

[Kataphractos]

Details: In combat, a unit can skip its turn with the "End Turn" button. But there is no advantage to doing this. I propose replacing End Turn with "Defensive Stance" -- or "Hold Steady", or some similar phrase -- which grants the unit a 5-10% defense bonus for remaining in place.

Benefits: This would allow players an additional tactical choice besides "charge forward at maximum speed" and "retreat at maximum speed".

Downsides: Since the AI is apparently programmed to move as much as possible -- even when that movement puts a Wild Archer directly in front of an angry Cerberus -- I assume the AI would never use Defensive Stance. In effect, this would only be an advantage for human players, who already enjoy an advantage over the AI. (Then again, anything that makes Elvenar's combat system easier for human beings is an unmitigated good, as far as I'm concerned.)

 

[crackie]

But there is no advantage to doing this.

Yes, there absolutely is an advantage to skipping a turn (and also running away). For example, there is no reason to throw your light melee or heavy range at a Knight or Orc General when your Blossom Mage or Archers can kill them while staying out of reach the next turn. They do little damage to a Heavy Melee, but Heavy Melee will wreck the light melee and heavy range units when it’s their turn (unless they are hiding behind a barrier).

Edit: Another scenario I will skip their turn a lot is opening rounds with Archers vs Enchantress. Unlike the Abbot, the Enchantress is a short range unit. Sometimes it’s better to run my archers to the corner or skip a turn and make her come to me if an obstacle prevents her from reaching me. Otherwise, if my archer moves up, he is within range of all the other units after they shoot and will be cannon fodder after he is done killing the mage.

 

[Flashfyre]

Doesn't mean a thing to those of us who play on the mobile app. Our battles are all auto-played; we don't even have a map to look at.

 

[samidodamage]

I also use 'end turn' frequently in manual combat for the reasons @crackie stated plus some others like skipping the turn of the unit that will get a strike-back from the enemy when I know one of my other units (that will kill said enemy unit in one strike) will get a turn before the enemy does and the battle will be over. Why take on more damage than necessary? It's nice to have that option.
I get that this suggestion is only for browser version, since mobile has none of these features. Of all the things I'd like them to do to improve manual combat*, removing that feature is not one of them.

*Note: I don't actually expect them to do anything with manual combat at all. I expect the percentage of players who actually use it is very low, thus low on the priority list anyway.

 

[Huor]

I use skip a turn a LOT at the start of combat. I like to bring the enemy into my range and keep me out of theirs. Having said that, I do like "which grants the unit a 5-10% defense bonus for remaining in place."!

 

[Kataphractos]

Yes, there absolutely is an advantage to skipping a turn (and also running away). For example, there is no reason to throw your light melee or heavy range at a Knight or Orc General when your Blossom Mage or Archers can kill them while staying out of reach the next turn. They do little damage to a Heavy Melee, but Heavy Melee will wreck the light melee and heavy range units when it’s their turn (unless they are hiding behind a barrier).

I referenced the Cerberus/Wild Archer pair-up in Downsides, precisely because I know certain units counter other units. But as you said yourself, when your Cerberus is facing a Knight, the best choice is "running away" -- not skipping the turn. End Turn, in itself, offers no advantage to that Cerberus. Heck, if the Cerberus just ran back-and-forth 1 tile until it ran out of movement, it would have the same result. And if your Cerberus is somehow cornered, so it can't run away, it makes sense (both from the "number-crunching" and "combat simulation" perspectives) that it might try to defend itself somehow...perhaps not very effectively.

Right now, End Turn is just a sort of passive shrug: "There's nothing I can do in this situation". Defensive/Hold/Whatever would make it an active choice: "In this situation, I want to trade movement for defense".

 

[Kataphractos]

Doesn't mean a thing to those of us who play on the mobile app. Our battles are all auto-played; we don't even have a map to look at.

I get that this suggestion is only for browser version, since mobile has none of these features.

Obviously I'd prefer "ensuring a richer mobile experience" to take priority over "granting a 5% defense bonus in manual battles". I think we all would. But if that should ever happen, and we enter a brave new world where combat is equally important to both mobile- and browser-users...then maybe ideas like this one could be useful.

 

[Kataphractos]

Finally, I think I might have been unclear about something: Defense/Hold/Etc. would also cause the unit to skip its turn. The unit still remains where it is, zero movement. It just gets a tiny defense bonus until its next turn.