Turtling (playstyle)

About this model

This diagram represents an interactive combat system focusing on defensive gameplay and counterattacks within a game. At its core, the system allows a player to choose between different defensive actions—Attack, Block, Perfect Block, and Counter—each with different probabilities of occurrence, determined by the "Choose" gate which distributes resources (representing the player's actions) based on dice roll outcomes. For instance, resources are allocated to "Attack", "Block", or "Perfect Block" according to predetermined percentages. Successful execution of a Perfect block triggers a counter mechanism, enabling the player to launch a counterattack. This counter mechanism is connected to an "Enemy HP" pool, which is designed to decrease as a result of successful counterattacks, simulating damage to an opponent's health points. Additional complexity is added through probabilistic adjustments to the counterattack's effectiveness, influenced by dice rolls, adding an element of variability and strategy to the player's defensive actions. Overall, the system simulates a tactical engagement where defensive plays, if timed and chosen wisely, can lead to effective offensive strikes against an opponent, highlighting a strategic balance between defense and counterattack within the game's combat mechanic.

“Turtling (playstyle)” is a public Machinations diagram by Cezar Cocias, shared in the Machinations Community.

You can open the original diagram in the Machinations app, press Play to watch how resources move through it, and change its values to see how the system responds. Machinations is a visual tool for designing, simulating and balancing game economies and other systems, where resources flow through sources, pools, drains, converters and gates. In a diagram, a source creates resources, a pool stores them, a drain removes them, a converter changes one resource into another and a gate decides where they go next.