Planned release: 10/03/2025

This week I worked on the fight options. When you shoot an enemy from a distance, a small info table appears showing the details of the encounter. At this point, you can still change your mind and back off if you don’t like your chances. For ranged attacks, the enemy will only retaliate if they have a gun and you are within its range. If not, you’ll be the only one attacking—so make sure to plan your positioning carefully before pulling the trigger.

Standing next to an enemy opens up close-combat options. You can strike with melee, use a ranged weapon, or even fire your gun. Enemies always retaliate with the same type of weapon you used. Guns and ranged weapons are interchangeable in this context: if they lack a gun, they’ll answer with their ranged weapon, and if they don’t have a ranged weapon, they’ll shoot back with their gun. On the screenshot you can also notice another important detail—your displayed weapon damage is lower than in the right-side info panel. That’s because the pre-fight calculation already factors in enemy resistances.

Winning a battle has a small chance of rewarding you with a mystery loot box. These boxes vary depending on the enemies you fight, so you won’t find a bazooka in a fight where the strongest weapon was a flintlock pistol. I haven’t yet decided whether enemies should be able to pick up loot boxes themselves, or if fallen player units should drop them. I’d like to avoid excessive loot farming, so I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Collecting a box is simple: just move a unit on it and click the Collect Loot button on the right. Boxes remain on the map until the end of the battle. However, if a unit dies on a hex that already holds a box and drops another, only the latest box will be available to collect.

All collected boxes are added to your inventory, where you’ll later be able to open them. The script for opening them isn’t ready yet, since my focus is still on fight-related systems.

Next week I’ll continue working on what happens after a fight begins. Have a great weekend!