Let’s take a quick break from the characters and cool art to talk more in-depth about what we’re doing to shake up the typical turn-based formula, starting with our turn order timeline!
Everything has an “initiative” stat that will determine where on the timeline it starts every battle, but there are otherwise no rigidly defined “speed” stats in The Dawn’s Circle. Instead, every individual skill has a Speed value tied to it, represented by a number between 1-100. A skill’s Speed decides where your next turn will be placed on the timeline after it’s used, allowing for a lot of variance and flexibility when planning your next move.
Rather than dryly listing all of the gameplay implications of this idea, let’s walk through a scenario that I think illustrates what’s cool about it:
On her turn, Zorja (the pink card) uses her Charge skill to prepare to cast a powerful spell on her next turn. Charge is a very fast skill, with a speed of 25, so her next turn will come again soon.
Now it’s the Hine’s (tan card) turn, it uses its super skill, a powerful quake attack that damages all party members! Things aren’t looking so good so these next turns need to count.
Thankfully the Hine’s quake is quite slow so its turn won’t come again for a while, giving the party time to plan their next move. Zorja’s Charge has given her enough mana to cast Freeze, one of her most powerful skills. It deals immense damage and makes all enemies it hits weak to fire damage, something Astreius (purple card) is well-equipped to exploit with his many powerful fire-damage skills.
There’s only one problem: Astreius is going before Zorja, and all of his skills leave his next turn after the second Hine that will attack after her. The fight is almost won, but after taking that quake, the party is also risking a KO, which could turn things ugly quick, so they can’t afford to leave valuable damage on the table by not exploiting the fire weakness from Freeze. However, combat in The Dawn’s Circle has an option perfect for this situation: Hold.
Holding not only raises your defenses until your next turn, but allows you to place that next turn anywhere on the timeline! Astreius inserts his next turn between Zorja and the Hine, allowing him to act immediately after Freeze is cast, dealing massive damage with no chance for retaliation and winning them the battle!
The timeline is an integral part of decision-making in combat, and playing around it intelligently will often be the difference between landslide victories and crushing defeats.
