Real-Time Combat (Apocalypse)

Overview

One of the new features in Apocalypse is Real-Time Combat (RT) as an alternative to the Turn-Based (TB) system used in the previous games. During RT both sides units will move and fire at the same time. Units and squads can carry out independently their orders and game progresses as time advances (and you can set the pace or even pause the action).

RT combat can also be more intense, realistic (seeing as each side is not taking turns), brutal, and at the same time easier. If you're more familiar or more comfortable with it, it can be a viable option. And another use of RT combat can be to speed up ground battles in order to advance through the game campaign.

Real Time Challenges

RT combat has a number of benefits and challenges.

1. Firstly, everything happens in real time, though you can pause and play at different speeds. This can give you more (or less) time to react to threats.
2. It also means your agents react essentially as fast as your ability to give them orders.
3. This makes brainsuckers and poppers a lot less dangerous - you get free shots at them as they come at you, no matter your agent's current actions. In contrast, it will make friendly fire casualties more prone to happen.
4. RT adds one more significant benefit to the mix - dual-wield. In TB, wielding two weapons decreases accuracy and you can't fire both at once. Real time is not restricted in this fashion and agents can fire both weapons at the same time.
5. RT can also make it a lot harder to accomplish certain goals such as capturing live aliens, as combat is far more frantic and it can be harder to account for gunfire when you are trying to capture certain aliens.

Real Time Combat

There are a number of features that set it different from TB combat:

• The game pauses at important moments (such as reporting that a unit is under fire, a new enemy has been spotted, and so on) so you can't easily get overwhelmed. The events that cause the game to pause can be selected from the options menu during any RT combat at any time.
• Grenades also work differently than in TB, mainly because of the priming function; a specific time can be given from 0.25 to 7.5 seconds ( in 0.25 second increments ), giving both far more accurate and a lot more trickier control over the moment of detonation. This can actually be used by crafty commanders to detonate grenades literally in front of their face. Impact mode is also available in RT combat.
  • To use a grenade in impact detonation mode, simply right-click on it when it is in your agent's hand; the throw icons near the hand panels will light up and the grenade will disappear to indicate the device is armed. The cursor will change to the throw icon, so left click on the intended target and unpause if necessary. The grenade will explode as soon as it touches the floor.

See Also

• Battlescape Overview
• Turn-Based Combat
• Real-Time vs Turn-Based