Sapper Attacks! | Patreon Weekly #232

Hey Patrons, in this weekly I’m going to show off some of the implementation work I’ve done for gnoll sapper attacks!

There’s also a new Patreon Poll this week! In Poll #47, I’m gauging support on five possible options for side content in v2.3.0.

Rockfalls

Firstly, gnoll sappers have an attack lifted pretty much directly from DM-300: a triggered rockfall

After one turn of warning, rocks will collapse from the ceiling, stunning anything that doesn’t get out of the way. The terrain is a bit different than with DM-300 though, which means the effect of the rockfall can be quite different. Watch out for this rockfall interacting with traps, or seek shelter next to nearby barricades. Some tiles that are targeted will also get boulders after the rockfall ends, making terrain a bit less open than before.

Rock Throwing

Here’s a totally new attack. The sapper can pick a boulder and hurl it toward the player after a one turn delay! Of course, if you dodge, the rock will keep going until it hits something.

This damages, knocks back, and stuns whatever it hits. This is the most common sapper attack and will keep you on your toes while dealing with one. Of course, if you’re a little lucky the attack can also be turned against the sapper or a nearby guard. …I also swear that I thought up this attack before recently watching Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Strategy and Testing

While dodging both of these attacks is easy enough, things can get a bit hectic when the gnoll guard is added to the mix. Of course, taking the guard out can be as easy as baiting it into one of these attacks. While getting a rock to the face isn’t likely to kill the guard outright, it will stun it for a significant number of turns. This gives you time to close in on the sapper and take it out before the guard comes to.

I’m going to be spending some time testing this to make sure it plays well. The goal here is for the initial approach to be a bit tricky, but a single good decision should mean the sapper is pretty much done for. There are three sappers and this isn’t even the boss of the region, so taking them out shouldn’t be too difficult.

Developing these mechanics is also important because more powerful versions of them are going to be used for the region’s actual boss as well: the Gnoll Geomancer. I don’t plan to have that fight fully implemented by next week, but there should be some good progress to report.