By Evie Moriarty, Lead Game Designer
Photo by Fatima Martín Pérez

Last time, we began to look into the new AI system in the new edition of Wasteland Warfare, and saw how different models have different behaviors. This time, we’ll examine the two things that drive what enemy activates and when, and what player model they’ll target: Threat and Priority.

Threat is a measure of how riled up and provoked an enemy is. As Threat tokens accrue on an enemy, they’ll be more likely to activate and be able to do more when they are. Threat tokens are placed when player-controlled models do things that hit threat triggers, like getting too close to an enemy or attacking them.

Priority is its counterpart, and indicates just how much attention a particular player-controlled model is drawing at any given time. If they have a lot of Priority, then they’re more likely to be the target of enemy actions. Many triggers grant Priority tokens to a model, mostly when they are visibly out of cover or being aggressive.

When it comes to activating an enemy model, the model with the most Threat is the one that activates next. If there’s more than one with the same amount, then the player gets to choose which one will go. The activated enemy model takes actions equal to the amount of Threat they have, spending a token to perform each action. That means that the longer you let Threat build up on a particular model, the more they’ll be able to do when they finally go. Managing enemy Threat is a huge part of the game experience, and you’ll need to use every trick you have to keep the enemies you want from activating.

When an enemy activates, they’ll choose a target to go after. Which one? Well, the one with the highest Priority, determined largely by the number of Priority tokens, though there are modifiers, such as not being able to see the model or being in combat with it already. The more exposed one of your models is, the higher the chance an enemy will go for them, though you can use this to your advantage. For example, you could have a model deliberately make a lot of noise to draw enemies away while others sneak around to objectives. You could even lead enemies into traps with stealth and ambushes. We’ll talk more about stealth in a future diary, but it’s a totally valid way to play the game in the new edition.

Worth noting is that you can never have more than four Threat or four Priority on a model, with Threat being specifically for enemy models and Priority for player-controlled models. This helps limit the number of tokens on the table at any one time, while also making it easier to see at a glance which of your models are in the most danger, and which enemies are the most immediate threat!

Next week, we’ll take a look at building a warband, the crew of misfits and miscreants you’ll be travelling the Wasteland with. See you then!