I wanted to float this in its own thread rather than the brainstorming thread because it's a fairly sweeping change that would have a big impact on how the game in general plays.
What is it?
Master of Magic features an "I go, U go" combat system where one side moves every unit at once, then the other. This would get rid of that and instead add a new Initiative stat that determines when in the battle each unit acts. So if I've got one unit with 4 Initiative and one unit with 2, and you've got one unit with 3 Initiative, my Ini 4 unit would move/act, followed by your unit, followed by my Ini 2 unit. If units on the same side have equal initiative, which one goes first is determined at random. If units on opposing sides have equal initiative, the defender goes first. If a unit waits, they go to the end of the queue. If multiple units wait, their actions are resolved in reverse (i.e. highest Ini unit would be the last of the units who waited to go).
Why bother?
The short answer is that it would make combat faster-paced and more dynamic while adding an interesting new variable into the mix. You might want to include a high-initiative unit in your stack even if it's weak, just so you can hopefully be the first one to get off a spell in a battle. If you're up against a wall of Magicians, you might want to temporarily leave behind units with low initiative as they're more likely to get turned into pincushions before they can act. It would also open up new avenues for balancing: Steam Cannons, for example, could be given an attack that's a fair bit stronger than what they have now, since as siege weapons they'd probably have terrible Initiative and as a result a more powerful shot would be balanced out by often going last i.e. being less likely to survive until their turn.
Why a new stat?
Why not just use a unit's movement speed, like in early Heroes of Might and Magic games? There are two reasons, one mechanical, one conceptual. The mechanical reason is that movement speed is already a tremendously powerful stat, and having it make an even bigger difference would be too much. The conceptual reason is that "Initiative" more represents a unit's situational awareness, reaction time, etc - things that may not necessarily correlate with a quicker movement speed. For example, mounted units move much faster than infantry, but it's the horse doing all the hard work there. There's no reason for them to have an Initiative that's higher than infantry by much, if at all. Meanwhile, it would make sense that certain relatively slow units might have a high initiative due to heightened senses or supernatural ability (Chaos Spawn and Hydra come to mind).
What is it?
Master of Magic features an "I go, U go" combat system where one side moves every unit at once, then the other. This would get rid of that and instead add a new Initiative stat that determines when in the battle each unit acts. So if I've got one unit with 4 Initiative and one unit with 2, and you've got one unit with 3 Initiative, my Ini 4 unit would move/act, followed by your unit, followed by my Ini 2 unit. If units on the same side have equal initiative, which one goes first is determined at random. If units on opposing sides have equal initiative, the defender goes first. If a unit waits, they go to the end of the queue. If multiple units wait, their actions are resolved in reverse (i.e. highest Ini unit would be the last of the units who waited to go).
Why bother?
The short answer is that it would make combat faster-paced and more dynamic while adding an interesting new variable into the mix. You might want to include a high-initiative unit in your stack even if it's weak, just so you can hopefully be the first one to get off a spell in a battle. If you're up against a wall of Magicians, you might want to temporarily leave behind units with low initiative as they're more likely to get turned into pincushions before they can act. It would also open up new avenues for balancing: Steam Cannons, for example, could be given an attack that's a fair bit stronger than what they have now, since as siege weapons they'd probably have terrible Initiative and as a result a more powerful shot would be balanced out by often going last i.e. being less likely to survive until their turn.
Why a new stat?
Why not just use a unit's movement speed, like in early Heroes of Might and Magic games? There are two reasons, one mechanical, one conceptual. The mechanical reason is that movement speed is already a tremendously powerful stat, and having it make an even bigger difference would be too much. The conceptual reason is that "Initiative" more represents a unit's situational awareness, reaction time, etc - things that may not necessarily correlate with a quicker movement speed. For example, mounted units move much faster than infantry, but it's the horse doing all the hard work there. There's no reason for them to have an Initiative that's higher than infantry by much, if at all. Meanwhile, it would make sense that certain relatively slow units might have a high initiative due to heightened senses or supernatural ability (Chaos Spawn and Hydra come to mind).
