Salutations you monster bashers!
Tick-tock tick-tock goes the clock, we’re just a little more than a month away now! And not a moment too soon, for we are starting to run out of topics to tease in these Dev Updates - the game, we want to give you the game! But you and I must bide our time, if only for a tiny bit longer. Without any more delay, let us jump into battle… and talk about the Ready Action!
Don’t you look at me like that and eat your pancakes read your article, Kaiju. You know that’s all I can give you for now.
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Community Stream #14 - Friday February 13th
Your monthly developer Yapatron-3000 is back for February, with plenty of fun anecdotes now that we’re heavily diving into debug and polish territory in anticipation of the Early Access release on March 12th. Have a question, or just want to share a fun moment with us? Make sure you drop by on Friday!
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Wait, what are we readying for?
Before we start diving deeper into the subject, some of you might be wondering: What even is Ready Action? Why is it so important?
To put it simply, Ready Action allows you to prepare an action in advance, and execute it when the right time comes. If you played other more firearms-heavy tactical turn-based games, you might be more familiar with the term “Overwatch” - a very useful feature when trying to lure the enemy in open grounds before shooting them.
Ready Action is most useful in a couple of situations, such as when an opponent is hiding behind cover and hitting them would be too difficult during your turn, or waiting for a foe to come to you instead of you running to them - but that’s just the start. Once you start taking into consideration initiative and turn order, and the vast arsenal of actions that each of your adventurers has access to… Plans can start getting very elaborate.
An arsenal of actions? Are we not just hitting the bad guy?
An excellent observation! If we were still in Solasta I, you would be right - the only possibility would be to ready a Melee Weapon Attack, a Ranged Weapon Attack or a cantrip. However, in Solasta II this is no longer the case - we aim to have most actions compatible with Ready Action over time.
At the start of Early Access, Ready Action will also work with single target spells on top of the previously mentioned weapon attacks. Can’t reach your wounded buddy? Prepare a Cure Wounds and have them run to you on their turn. Worried that the Berserker next room might run in and cleave you in half? Prepare a Hideous Laughter and drop him as he rushes past the door (just pray that he fails his saving throw). That pesky crossbowman keeps popping in and out of cover to spray you down with bolts? Let’s see how they like a little Guiding Bolt to the face next time they try to do that.
How does it work?
Normally on Tabletop you would be able to specify exactly when to trigger a Ready Action during combat. Keep in mind, unlike most games with the Overwatch feature, Ready Action can only be used during combat - no pre-fight Ready shenanigans! As soon as a hostile action is taken we roll for initiative!
Now, we would have loved nothing more than to make it exactly like on Tabletop and give you all the possibilities you could imagine on how to trigger Ready Action… but this would be a liiiittle overwhelming - if we did, we’d have to code a puzzle game inside your tactical CRPG, and as much as I love Baba is You we are not aiming to create the next Action is Readied.
Let’s take an example. On Tabletop you could say “I will prepare Scorching Bolt and fire all 3 projectiles towards any Kobold who puts their filthy claw on that lever”. There are many conditions there, so let’s break them down. First, it will only trigger if someone touches the lever - someone could be barreling down the room towards you with a howling lust for your head, and you still wouldn’t be casting that Scorching Bolt. Second, if it’s not a Kobold, no Scorching Bolt either. It could be your (non-Kobold) archnemesis pulling the lever while staring you in the eye, no dice. Third, depending on how mischievous your DM wants to be at that moment, they could argue that a Kobold using any type of tool to pull the lever instead of using their claw… But now you’d know they’re just in for the love of the game. Let him know that he’s a doodoo-head and that you won’t be bringing snacks next time.
Anyway, see how far that would take us? All of this to say, Ready Action will be very straightforward at the launch of Solasta II Early Access - it triggers whenever a valid target enters the range of your Ready Action. If you ready a ranged damage spell, it triggers whenever an enemy moves within that range. If you ready a melee healing spell, it triggers whenever a wounded ally moves by you. So on and so forth.
As stated above, for now only single target spells and weapon attacks will be available to Ready Action - but in the future, we plan to have AoE spells and multi-target spells (like Magic Missile) be usable too with this feature. Our Tech Director even tells me that he would love to add different conditional toggles if we ever have the time, such as not triggering Ready Action if you currently have disadvantage, or if the enemy is beyond a certain range… But no promises here - it’s no secret that there’s a lot we want to do, but only so much time to do it!
Alright, that’s it for now! Come back in two weeks for a deep dive into.. The Character Creator! It wouldn’t be Solasta if you had to stick to premades after all. And don't forget to drop by to say hello to us on Friday!
Article by Tactical Myzzrym
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