The combat system itself was built around what I once described as a top down battlefield game combining the Infinity Engine with a tactical RPG (Age of Wonders 1 was my example at the time) with "location damage" from MechCommander... but, well, it's Kenshi. Everything I was envisioning can be done by the system used by Kenshi. With modifications, of course. Saved me about four or five paragraphs of explanation right there.

Unlike, Kenshi, the game does not use "health" of any metric as a system. In that, it's more like Dwarf Fortress. Every attack simply inflicts numerous status ailments (bruising, breaking, bleeding, burns, frostbite, hyperthermia, hypothermia, and dozens of others) that do things like reduce the use of a body part, or cause "organ stress" and shock trauma. As trauma mounts, the fighter slowly becomes weaker (either overall or specific stat reductions- injuries to the brain will significantly reduce Perception and Intelligence, as examples) until no longer able to fight. Precise stats and abilities determine how much trauma it requires.

This means, much like in Real Life (before guns), most opponents will be removed from the battle by small injuries and exhaustion (usually by overheating) rather than the sweet release of death. This is especially true because of armor, which prevents injuries from doing enough damage to one location to get beneath the surface and damage something vital. Because instant death does exist, if an injury destroys a vital organ.

Then there are the numerous magical and psychological means to end a battle the easy way. Mind altering magic and impressive displays of power (determined mostly by how scary the move is vs the stats of the opponent- a creature vulnerable to an element will similarly more psychologically vulnerable to said element, because the AI isn't as stupid as most game AI) might end a battle by causing the foe to flee or surrender. It'll generally be a fairly complicated behind-the-scenes Morale system.

The AI will be smart (cowardly) in other ways as well, such as the entire enemy team targeting a single foe at a time, using cover to their advantage, preferring to stay near allies, and just generally not letting themselves be kited to death. Also- once they see an element being used, they'll default to countering it with attacks based upon the opposite element (if they can- they can't use abilities they don't possess).

In addition, some creatures, such as the undead and constructs, are immune to the normal "easy win" options like organ loss or terror, making them resilient and terrifying foes (as they should be). Fortunately, the undead AI is intentionally stupid, and (unless controlled by something intelligent) will usually just blunder toward the nearest living thing and kill it without any consideration of danger or tactics.

REGIONAL MAP MODE: The exploration map will use two map modes. The first will be the "fog of war" map- which will have a stylized mapmaking design like one would expect from medieval or renaissance era maps- yellow parchment, some damage or stains. The second map is the region near the player, which will show more detail, color, and serve as the zone of awareness.

It will still be stylized, but I'd like the style to be clearer and the art somewhat exaggerated for atmospheric purposes. Not unlike the Heroes of Might and Magic games did, but a little more gothic.

On the map will be awareness of the surrounding- monsters the characters can detect will be displayed, and there will be "AI effect fields"- certain monsters will seek to approach the characters if they're detected, while others will flee. This is the game's replacement for random battles.

Different characters, abilities, and movement options will be used to determine how the game plays out. Stealthier options will reduce detectability range, sensory powers can turn the little icon dots into something more detailed that can let the player make a good guess as to what the encounter might be. Stealthy monsters can get closer without detection, while large ones can be detected from further away.

Movement will also be controlled by the terrain... flying creatures move faster through forested terrain, many creatures can't (or won't) cross water regions, sharks don't (usually) come out on land to attack. But that's no guarantee. The system will proceduraly generate many monsters (known as Chimera) at random, and "shark with wings" is certainly a possible outcome, so have fun with that.

The creatures will also move around based on the behaviors of each other- predator monsters which detect prey monsters will try to chase down prey, different packs of predators avoid one another, locations with water attract animals as it does in our world, ambush predators like to live there. The PCs might stumble across battles in progress (so, Kenshi) and all sorts of other fun.

LOCAL MAP MODE: This is where character monster modes

Once the player's party encounters the monsters, the map does a zoom-in effect where it generates terrain based upon nearby battle-tiles and places the characters and opponents to fight. Not unlike oldschool JRPGs- something of a more elaborate version of Chrono Trigger's combat transition.

There will also be crafted maps, especially of city and dungeon environs which includes exploring and talking to various NPCs and interacting with the world in all the ways that pretty much every game with even the slightest hint of RPG elements have. But with more freedom than most, since characters (PC and otherwise) have numerous options to circumvent terrain (flight, teleportation, swimming, climbing, etc.), while also dealing with magical alterations to terrain like forcefields and space warps.

Use of terrain will be a big part of the combat system, whether it involves hiding behind (or in) trees, attacking from the rooftops, or slithering around in a network of underwater tunnels. And with any luck, there will be elements of stealth and decoy gameplay, letting one circumvent many encounters rather than engage them directly. In some cases, the only solution will be to circumvent or flee from threats rather than fight them directly.

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS: Or, how positioning winds up mattering.

The game will factor in height when considering damage and range via archery. Cover will matter, and the AI will seek cover and turtle rather than rush the players, more often than not. They will also try to avoid environmental hazards where possible, and won't run through fire unless they're either immune to flame, or are even more afraid of something coming for them.

Stealth and sensory abilities (as mentioned above) will have a significant role to play, and Detection will matter, using a fog-of-war system that will render undetectable creatures invisible on the map until they're close enough to be detected. This will work in reverse as well- the AI will ignore entities the NPC in question cannot detect.

It will also factor in numerous weather phenomena like darkness, fog, storms, heat and cold, and so forth.

And high level spells will have particularly terrifying effects, as one would expect.

Which brings us to:

ELEMENTAL ASPECT FIELD (EAF): How magic do.

If you've been reading character sheets, you've noticed the mention of "Local Aspect"- this is a value that is calculated whenever a battle map is generated, and is usually based upon the natural circumstances of the environment. Water EAF, for example, will be easier to find near a lake or ocean than in the middle of the desert, while fire aspect would be more common in the desert (or anywhere currently on fire).

Depending on the current EAF numbers, some spells can become difficult or even impossible to cast, while other spells become cheaper to cast and more powerful. Some spells can only be cast if the EAF is favorable. And at a certain point of EAF, the environment might cause status effects based upon that Aspect's element. An area of high Miasma can poison an entire army to death, while an area of high Nature can heal wounds that might otherwise be fatal.

All elemental aspects have their own series of potential status effects, both positive and negative. An area with high Passion EAF, for example, is basically the same as getting drunk (such as reduced inhibitions and overconfidence), but without the reduced coordination, sleepiness, vomiting, or memory loss.

In addition to all eighteen Aspects having their own EAF numbers, there are also EAF for Void (which is terrible for all magic not wielded by Isylans and can result in Lovecrafting horrors crawling in from the Outside and making this even worse) and Taint (the force that creates the Undead- which might actually be worse than the Lovecraftian horrors). Taint in particular has some horrifyingly bad status afflictions, like infesting the soul with taint, thus turning living things into the undead simply by being nearby.

Some spells, sarite, and abilities can also alter the EAF- usually to become more similar to the Aspect of the spell/sarite in question.

Using the EAF to your advantage will be essential in certain boss fights.

Individuals with magical bloodlines also have a Personal Elemental Field, which is like the EAF, but effects only that specific individual's response to spells. PAFs are intrinsic to the character and tend to determine resistances, vulnerabilities, and array of spellcasting options. PAFs can alter the overall EAF, if there are a large number of beings with the same PAF, or it's a particularly powerful being's PAF. Once again, Taint is particularly bad, since the presence of any undead creature alters the environment over time and will eventually spawn more undead creatures. A literal magic soul-plague.

THE PLAN- All Midara games should be of the general RPG genre(s), though there are a couple that are planned to be based on strategy games like Age of Wonders and Heroes of Might and Magic (the early inspiration is not hard to spot), so every one should be expected to use this combat system. Though obviously, the strategy-game version will not use the other aspects of the game. As such, I see no reason for any of the games to use a different engine, since any engine that can do what I listed above will be able to handle any RPG appropriate for the setting.