Basic Actions

Whenever a unit takes an action, all of the relevant statistics, traits, and bonuses it has will be added together to determine how effective that action is.

The power of an action is a one number result of these calculations.

All units can perform all actions at a base power of 1.

If your unit is inactive for four turns, it will be undeployed to clear up space on the map.

EMERGENT's gameplay revolves around five basic actions.

Attack
To do violence against an enemy.

The power of this action will be done to the target as damage. It may be reduced by the target's defense.

If you help destroy an enemy of Tier 1 or higher, you will receive one Asset on the next Enemy Turn.

Example: A XERO Frontliners unit attacks an enemy. It has an Attack stat of 3, and nothing else relevant. The enemy has a Defense of 1. 3 - 1 = 2. The enemy takes 2 damage, which is subtracted directly from its health.

Respond
To respond to emergencies.

This is used to resolve Crises and take advantage of Opportunities.

The power of the action will reduce the value of the Crisis/Opportunity by an equal amount. When they reach zero, they are resolved.

Example: A XERO Trooper responds to a huge Crisis with a value of 50. She has a Respond stat of 4, and nothing else. The power of the action is 4, and 4 is subtracted from the Crisis value, reducing it to 46.

Analyze
To investigate mysteries.

This is used to investigate Enigmas and learn things about enemies.

The power of the action will reduce the value of an enigma, or move you toward learning a new thing about an enemy.

Every unit keeps track of how much it has been analyzed. For every 10 power dedicated to analyzing a unit, you learn a new thing about it.

You can see how close you are to learning a new thing by looking at the Analyze Progress in the unit description.

Example: A XERO Recon unit analyzes a mysterious alien enemy. He has an Analyze stat of 4, and nothing else. The power of the action is 4. The unit was already at 7/10 Analyze Progress, so he learns one new thing about the enemy--that its Attack stat is 7. He decides to use his Move to get as far away as he can.

Defend
To prevent violence against yourself and others. Defend other EMERGENT Units.

A Unit's Defend stat will automatically be subtracted from any incoming attack.

Example: A XERO Frontliner with 6 health is attacked by an enemy. The power of the enemy's attack is 6. Luckily, the Frontliner's defense is 3, so they only take 3 damage, reducing their health to 3. That hurt, but they're still alive.

The Defend action allows the Unit to protect a number of adjacent Units equal to the power of the roll.

Example: A XERO Trooper is trying to help with a Crisis when she is attacked by an enemy for 2 damage. Luckily, a XERO Frontliner is adjacent to them and chose to take the Defend action, with the XERO Trooper as one of their targets. The Frontliners take the attack, and take no damage, since their 3 Defense reduces the attack's damage to 0.

Support
To support others while performing any of the above actions.

You can use Support in two ways--to support other units, or to support the region in general.

Supporting the Region
You can ALWAYS support the Region, no matter where you are or what's around you. If you have nothing else to do with your action, support the Region.

Supporting the region will reduce one of the Region Threats. You can select which Threat you want to focus on.

Your unit's Support stat will add to the power of the action.

The power of your Support action will be directly subtracted from the relevant threat.

Example: A XERO Trooper is too far away from any enemies or events to deal with them, so she decides to support the region. The Region's Danger is very high, so she decides to use her Support of 3 to reduce the region's Danger by 3.

Supporting Units
The power of the action determines how many allied units you can support.

By default, supporting a unit gives it +1 to defense and +1 to its actions this turn.

You cannot support a single unit more than once. However, other people can support the same units you have, and the effects will stack.

If you choose not to support all of the units that you can, your remaining support power will be subtracted from the highest Region Threat.

Example: A XERO Recon has a Support stat of 3, and decides to take the Support action to help out his XERO friends--a Trooper and a Frontliner. He selects them, and has 1 Support left over, which gets used to reduce the Region's highest threat, Danger, by 1. His friend the Trooper takes an action to resolve a nearby Crisis, and gets a +1 on it because she's being supported. The Frontliner has already taken their action, but gets attacked during the enemy turn. Fortunately they don't get hurt, because the support action gave them a +1 to Defense, which was enough to prevent the damage.