A useful way to think about combat, I believe, is to imagine it as a bidding war of certain assets.
Players can bid their assets to increase their chances to win the game, or to weaken/eliminate opponent's assets (in some games, eliminating opponent's assets IS the goal).
It would be trivial to make optimal bids if they would be done instantly, so combat games usually make the act of bidding a challenge in itself (you have to get units into positions, some positions make the bid stronger, some make it weaker). So, one of the component of bidding war is a system of committing the bids (and ranges & cover appear to be part of it).
The second component is what players bid on. If the combat system only has one place to bid on (like focusing the enemy caster), it's rarely interesting. If the system naturally leads to emergence of multiple bidding fronts, it usually provides much more decision space for the players.
Another matter is re-bidding. In many systems, once the bids are committed and the units engage their targets, the combat becomes very static, removing most of the decisions. So systems that allow to re-use bids again in some way (like disengaging to take better position or strike at a more vulnerable target), in my opinion, produce combats that can stay engaging while they unfold.
A useful way to think about combat, I believe, is to imagine it as a bidding war of certain assets.
Players can bid their assets to increase their chances to win the game, or to weaken/eliminate opponent's assets (in some games, eliminating opponent's assets IS the goal).
It would be trivial to make optimal bids if they would be done instantly, so combat games usually make the act of bidding a challenge in itself (you have to get units into positions, some positions make the bid stronger, some make it weaker). So, one of the component of bidding war is a system of committing the bids (and ranges & cover appear to be part of it).
The second component is what players bid on. If the combat system only has one place to bid on (like focusing the enemy caster), it's rarely interesting. If the system naturally leads to emergence of multiple bidding fronts, it usually provides much more decision space for the players.
Another matter is re-bidding. In many systems, once the bids are committed and the units engage their targets, the combat becomes very static, removing most of the decisions. So systems that allow to re-use bids again in some way (like disengaging to take better position or strike at a more vulnerable target), in my opinion, produce combats that can stay engaging while they unfold.
Thank you for this comment! As always, SCM readers like you put a lot of thought into these! This one has me really rethinking combat. Love it!