Transformers: Battle Tactics

Overview

Transformers: Battle Tactics is a Free to Play mobile game published by DeNA games. It is a turned based tactics/strategy game that features teams of Transformers from the different incarnations of the franchise. Players can battle either the against A.I. teams or other players in real time. Players earn "League Points" as they defeat enemies which unlock new tiers of Transformers to add to teams and additionally defeating real players will add to PVP ranking.

Gameplay

Transformers: Battle Tactics has two main modes. Combat in which the player takes teams of four Transformers, either Autobot or Decepticon, and match make with either A.I. teams or other live players against their teams. The other mode is the team building mode where players recruit members and manage teams that they take into battle.

Team Building:

The team building and management aspect of the game has a few parts to it. First players need to recruit team members from the CHARACTERS tab on the main menu. Here players can use in game non-premium currency, which is collected in combat, to recruit members based on their current league ranking. In addition to these choices they also have access to EXCLUSIVE characters that require rare materials to recruit which can either be earned in combat or through use of premium currency. Lastly the COMBINERS tab which contains the gestalt Transformers that combine three or more standard Transformers into a merged unit.

Transformers have their humanoid and vehicle modes, which have differing weapon power on the characters DIE FACE. The DIE FACE is represented by the orange bar below the character, and abilities represented by the SPECIAL which appears as the green star on the bar, and a PASSIVE which is always active if they have one.

Here are some examples of unit abilities:

In addition to these abilities some units also have an additional ability of FIRST STRIKE which is usually attached to unit with aerial vehicle modes. This ability is represented by a blue star on the characters DIE FACE under the appropriate mode.

Teams are constructed out of a pool of recruited Transformers in teams of four with the exception of the COMBINER units, which will take two slots of a team. Another factor to consider is there are also a SET BONUS that confers additional benefits the team if the correct units are selected. The set bonuses stack on top of the unit's passive and special abilities and apply to all members in the team.

Here are some examples of set bonuses:

Players can have up to three different teams. however units can not be on more the one team at a time teams must be unique. Therefore players need to balance stronger characters across teams in order to be able to field multiple teams. This makes getting teams with a active SET BONUS a bit of a juggling act. Also units damaged in battle will have to repair, which makes both the team unable to enter combat, and the members of the team to unable to swap to other teams.

Lastly before a player can go enter battle with their team they must select team abilities which are earned based on league rankings. These abilities use action points which are available each round of combat. Abilities range from one to four action points and consist of both offensive and defensive skills. Each round of combat players earn three action points but points can be banked into skills between rounds in order to use of of the potent skills or to multiple skills in a turn.

Here are some examples of team abilities:

Battle:

Battle consists of taking one of three available teams into combat. Either into MAIN EVENTS, which consists of live player match making or BOT TEAMS which is against the computer. Both choices reward league points that apply to the overall player rank in addition to common resource drops, however there are some additional rewards based upon the selection.

MAIN EVENTS results in being potentially matched into a Player versus Player or PVP match which will affect the players PVP rank. Combat takes place in real time with each player taking their turns simultaneously. Additionally rarely Golden Cybercoins, the premium in-game currency, will drop.

BOT TEAMS results in being matched with preset A.I. teams in which the player can potentially earn uncommon or rare resources which are required to unlock higher tier characters, or exclusive characters. The player is given the choice of three teams to choose from with different tiers of strength and rewards. The potential reward drops are shown below the team name on the selection screen.

After match making the player is taken into the main combat screen. Each round the DIE FACE under each character is rolled. This determine the damage the character will do this round.

Then the player has the choice to spend up to three ABILITY POINTS per round on whatever team abilities they took into battle. Finally the player will FIGHT to submit their actions. Next the computer will "flip" a coin to determine FIRST STRIKE or which team will attack first. Action then proceeds with each unit attacking a random enemy unit doing the damage they rolled. Then the other team will COUNTERATTACK and after that resolve the combat loop begins once again for the next round.

Some units based upon their unit abilities will have either blue or green numbers in their DIE FACE. Blue bars denote the unit as the FIRST STRIKE skill mean the unit will always win the coin flip, unless another unit with the same skill also rolls there blue bar of a higher attack value. Green bars denote the unit has a special attack ability and rolling the green bar will active that ability.

Combat continues until all members on a team are defeated. Afterwards any drops earned in combat are rewarded along with what ever league points, which are applied to the players current rank, or PVP Rating points.