Lining Up Piercing Shots
One shot through three enemies—once you've got them in a line.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- Design focus
- Spatial · Planning · Optimization
No.202Terraria01The core loop
Action → feedback → next choice- 01Read enemy positions
- 02Move to line them up
- 03Fire a piercing shot
- 04Count the pass-throughs
↻Feedback changes the situation — the next round starts from there.
Walk through one round
A simplified design example. Situations and numbers illustrate the mechanic, not exact rules from a reference game.
- T1
Turn 1 · The situation
Six bugs rush down a tunnel; your shot pierces 3 targets and takes 1.5 s to reload.
- T2
Turn 2 · The player chooses
You back up to the tunnel's center and wait for them to bunch into a line.
- T3
Turn 3 · The feedback
The first shot pierces 3, the second drops 2, and you melee the last one.
- T4
Turn 4 · The next decision
The next wave comes through an open cave, spread out, and piercing loses its edge.
How it plays
Piercing shots pass through several targets, losing damage or remaining pierce per hit. You reposition so enemies fall into a line, best in corridors or against charges. Piercers usually fire slowly or have little ammo.
What the player weighs
- Waiting for a perfect line pays most, but enemies keep closing
- Piercers excel on lines but struggle against spread-out foes
02Start small
Scope is an editorial estimate for the minimum prototype, not the reference game or a production schedule.
03One mechanic, different implementations
Terraria
Many arrows, bullets and magic bolts pierce multiple enemies, valuable against crowds and long segmented bosses.
Deep Rock Galactic
Certain mods like blowthrough rounds and tools like the Breach Cutter pass through multiple bugs, great in tunnels during swarms.
The difference worth noticing
Terraria leans on piercing versus segmented bosses and crowds; Deep Rock stresses using terrain to line up swarms in co-op.
Case notes are Yoroll editorial summaries; rules may change between versions.
04What could you combine?
Combine with forced movement: shove or pull enemies into a line, then fire one piercing shot for a setup-and-reap combo.
Prototype this combo in Yoroll→Follow the next idea
Action Point Budget
Each unit gets a few actions per turn; moving and shooting come from the same pocket.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- 01Check remaining actions
- 02Choose move or attack
- 03Spend and resolve
- 04Plan the next unit
Draw–Discard Combat Cycle
Draw a hand, play it, discard it; the deck's cycle is the fight's heartbeat.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- 01Draw a hand
- 02Spend energy to play
- 03Discard at turn end
- 04Reshuffle and repeat
Cover and Flanking
Cover keeps you safe until someone walks around it.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- 01Check where cover faces
- 02Move to a flanking angle
- 03Gain an accuracy bonus
- 04Guard against counter-flanks