Battle Tactics (part 5)

Planning a strategy is crucial for success in Solar Echoes. Unlike other RPG's, walking straight into a battle without taking advantage of tactical opportunities can get you and your team killed fast. Solar Echoes is designed for you to care about your team member's injuries, and your own, because with each injury after the first, you start to suffer penalties. These penalties not only affect you, but the effectiveness of your entire team as a whole. An injured teammate can give your opponents a distinct advantage. This goes the other way, too, of course—injuring an enemy can bring down the overall effectiveness of their team as well. In a recent game of Solar Echoes, a group of smugglers were trying to escape the players' characters at a Starport. One of the characters managed to shoot one of the smugglers just before he boarded his starship. The players' team had to board a UG starship to chase after them, but they were more successful in the starship battle because the smuggler that they had wounded earlier was the smuggler team's pilot! The smuggler pilot's wound penalties affected his piloting checks, giving the players' team the advantage. Protecting your team members is one of the most vital strategies in Solar Echoes—think of your team as one big character, with each player performing different functions for the entire unit to function effectively.