How to Play

## Overview

First things first, Silver Tower is an existing board game. The mobile game is our take on that version. So, while the setting and characters remain similar, the gameplay has been changed quite a bit to reflect our platform. I guess, let's start with the basic game rules.

When you play a stage, you'll see your Champions, the enemies, any stage objects, and an objective. The objective will be something like "Kill all the enemies" or "Smash all the crystals", things like that. Once you've completed the objective, you win the stage! Simple!

## Basic Actions

Each of your Champions has two actions per turn. These can be any of the following:

**Move** - Champion can move a number of tiles equal to their movement stat.

**Attack** - Champion can attack.

**Skill** - Champion can use their skill.

You can mix an match these actions. So, a Champion can make two move actions in one turn, or a move and attack, or skill and attack, and so on. Skills usually have a cooldown associated with them, so a Champion probably won't be able to use it twice in one turn.

## Classes

Now, each character in the game belongs to one of three classes. Melee, Ranged or Magic. Let's break those down...

**Melee** - Sword and board, or sword and sword, or even board and board (for the ogres), these characters can only ever attack their opposition when they are one tile away (unless they have a spear). Which is tough, until you realise that every Melee character has the "Deathblow" skill. This gives the character a 40% chance to attack again after they have attacked. It can even be chained! This makes melee characters really dangerous up close.

**Ranged** - Bows and arrows, or sorcerous bolts, or even a simple throwing axe! Ranged characters can attack enemies from 3 tiles away, so don't go thinking you'll be able to stand back and pepper from afar. What does make Ranged characters special though is the "Reaction Shot" skill. This functions a bit like an overwatch mechanic, where the Ranged character can store their actions to use in the enemy turn when any enemies come into range. They will even interrupt the enemy's move. This is a great way to hold up those melee characters!!

**Magic** - Ohhh, the rarest of characters. These operate in quite a different way to Melee and Ranged. They come with a "Charge Up" skill, which is linked to their attack and works as follows:

1. Start with weak damage and 1 tile range.
2. Next turn, gain 1 tile range and more damage.
3. Next turn, gain 1 more tile range and even more damage.
4. ...well, it keeps going up, so you get the idea. Once the Magic character attacks, the Charge Up is reset back to 1.

Oh, and did I mention, they will attack all enemies within range with a single attack. This mechanic is a real tide turner, and knowing when to attack with your Magic champions is something of a skill unto itself!

## Combat

Alrighty then, next up let's talk attacking, as we have a few more variables to think about. First up, when you make an attack a roll is made against your character's accuracy. This decides if it hits or misses. It the blow lands, another roll is made to see what kind of hit it is. This will be one of the following:

1. **Hit** - hey, a regular hit. Well done. The amount of damage your character does is taken from the enemy's hit points. Good job.
2. **Defended Hit** - Hey, you still hit, it's just that the enemy managed to use their armour to absorb some of the damage. So, the amount of armour your enemy has is reduced from the amount of damage your character does. This number is then taken from the enemy's hit points.
3. **Critical Hit** - Ahhhh, bravo! You've done some real damage here, and the enemy can't use their armour at all. The multipliers for critical hits are taken from your item and applied to your damage. This total is taken from the enemy's hit points... and they'll probably fall over at this point.