Push, Dodge and Swap Mechanics

[TntAttack]

Note: Underline and Italics are placed where I felt like I went too off-topic and into "fantasy" territory, which might affect the original idea. Ignore it if you disagree.


Push Mechanic

Certain units will have the ability to "push" an enemy unit back one tile.

Dodge Mechanic

Certain units (fast and agile) will have the ability to dodge an enemy attack by moving 1 tile away in any direction.

Swap Mechanic

All moveable units will be able to swap their positions with another unit provided they have enough movement.

Concept from a game design perspective (I'm not a game designer, just my personal thoughts)

War inaccurately is a complex series of aggressive actions that manifest as violence. Combat is supposed to feel impactful, punch after punch, gasping for breathing room as you wait patiently for an opening. I don't see this in the game. As it stands, the game is perfectly fine, its simplicity is both its strength and its weakness.

The push mechanic will allow players to encounter more dynamic battles specifically on a more unit-to-unit level (the level the game is structured around, infantry squads taking towns). Instead of walking troops up like chess, and fighting like Conkers (see below) the ability to push a certain unit off their terrain or building is instrumental in developing combat to feel impactful and responsive (that is, you hit something, you should both see and feel its effects).

Next is the dodge mechanic. Currently consists of [probability of direct attack=enemy unit speed * 10% ]. The mechanic isn't bad, but there is room for improvement. Firstly, the range of a unit's attack is incredibly important. Therefore, as the unit fires further, its chances of missing should increase. But that idea is too tedious and much too complex.

Hence I propose [attack damage=(baseDamage+bonus)*(attackRange*5%)] for attackers. For defenders, they should have [probability of dodging=defender's unit speed * 10%] where dodging is the unit moving 1 tile away. As for the miss mechanic, I propose [probability of miss attack=30%] only at max unit attack range that is >1.

Lastly, we have the swap mechanic. As the unit-to-tile ratio on open terrain is 1-1 (except with transports), and the max number of possible attacks on an enemy unit without pulling-out/deleting-it/attacking-unit-dying/range-attack is 4. This restriction prevents players from truly amassing a powerful attack, with the lack of forcefulness behind an offensive, the player experience is limited.

A swap mechanic will allow units to swap with another unit. This concept is less focused on combat and more of a solution to the "I want to move this unit here but that unit is in the way. The unit that is in the way is currently blocked, and I want to move him back to where the first unit is, which is in the way."


Conkers is a traditional children's game in Great Britain and Ireland played using the seeds of horse chestnut trees—the name 'conker' is also applied to the seed and to the tree itself. The game is played by two players, each with a conker threaded onto a piece of string: they take turns striking each other's conker until one break.

[Puppeteer12]

Cool idea but there's a reason why these features are not in other variant yet, the engine is pretty limited. Stratego is currently making a unity version of aos, so it is likely possible but it would probably be a while for aoww to get a unity version.