Hi Fleetbreakers,
The core idea for Fleetbreakers is to blend RTS and roguelite gameplay. We want each run to feel like it offers something different. We have many systems to achieve that, but we are experimenting with a synergy system to push things over the top.
In Fleetbreakers, you collect different ships, ship enhancements, relics, and colony techs. For example, we have buffs built around armor: increasing armor, turning armor into damage, reflecting enemy attacks using armor, and even sacrificing unit pop for a crazy armor increase. Stacking and synergizing these armor buffs can result in a run that’s not only powerful but has a killer, unique feel.
We started rolling our rewards completely randomly. As you’d expect though, each buff we added made it harder to luck into these synergies naturally. With all the interesting relics and enhancements for the player to roll, the ratio of reward opportunities to possible rewards just wasn’t high enough.
We are building a synergy system to fix this problem. It looks at the player’s current choices within a run and produces rewards that blend with those choices. Every player choice about ship deployment, enhancements, buffs, relics, and colony techs are tagged so we can filter rewards for things that tickle those same tags.
Of course, we need limits. We don’t want players to manipulate the synergy system to make things predictable and boring. So we route a fraction of the reward through the synergy system and leave most rewards truly random. This is similar to how some pity reward systems work in some games.
While we’re still iterating, the results are very encouraging. The resulting loot system produces some rewards that synergize with the current path while still creating rewards that open up new paths. Things get really exciting when synergies start stacking across multiple paths, too.
Example of a Rewards Screen