Reconnaissance

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This pattern is a still a stub.

Patrolling a known area in the game world to detect changes. The goal in Reconnaissance is to get more information about changes happening, or having happened, in a specific place or area. This forces the players to collect information of the whereabouts of the enemy by moving units in the area. Often the game provides special units for this purpose with fast movement and possibility to notices enemy units as longer distances.

Examples

Example: Typical examples of the pattern can be found in strategy games where the units have information only about the other units near them. For instance, Sid Meier's Civilization require player to continue moving their units within already explored areas since the movement of enemy units are not detected unless they are near a unit or a city.

Example: In the board game Space Hulk, the player playing space marines can detect the presences and location of the enemy genestealers in the spaceship but not there exact number, which may make Reconnaissance missions necessary to find where enemy buildups are taking place.

Using the pattern

The possible reasons for Reconnaissance goals are many: locating Enemies that move and are not on Game State Overviews; finding Renewable Resources that would otherwise be Secret Resources due to bad or non-existent Game State Overviews, maintaining Area Control over areas that are too large to completely watch from one positions; or to do Attention Swapping between different areas of gameplay.

Designing Reconnaissance goals consists of defining the area that has to be searched, how heavy the Fog of War is, what if any game elements can be detected, and the means a player has to observe them. To make the goal have the Right Level of Difficulty, the game space that is to be search is usually not too large and many times a specific route is specified, i. e. making use of the Traverse pattern. What game elements can be detected can either be predetermined or be under the control of other players. The Right Level of Difficulty can be modulated by making use of Progress Indicators thatreveal the percentage of detected game elements or by having Game State Overviews such as maps providing Imperfect Information. The creation of Strategic Locations that provide good opportunities for observation can achieve similar results.

Players have to notice presences in the game area, similarly toGuard, but to notice any previous presence can make use of the Memorizing pattern. In the latter case, this can be supported by having many moveable game elements in the game space that may have been moved, by making uses of Traces, or by letting players set Deadly Traps or Alarms.

Similar to Guard, Reconnaissance is a goal that may never be completed if there are no enemy game elements to detect.

Game World Exploration differs from Reconnaissance in that the places, areas, and area boundaries are not known and the player has to get more information about them when there is Fog of War.

Can Be Instantiated By

Enemies, Fog of War

Can Be Modulated By

Alarms, Area Control, Traces

Consequences

Reconnaissance goals are special cases of Gain Information goals in that they rely on Uncertainty of Information regarding the locations or existences of Enemies. If there actually are people trying to avoid detection, i.e. Agents with Stealth goals, the Reconnaissance goals modulates the Stealth goals and they match up in pairs of Preventing Goals. These goals are also Continuous Goals as they should be performed as long as there is a reasonable risk that there are still Enemies within in a given gameplay area. While having Reconnaissance goals can make players have Anticipation of finding Enemies, actually finding them may still give them Surprises since the actual situation and time may be unexpected.

The Reconnaissance goals of Enemies that are performed through static Movement patterns can require players to perform Rhythm-Based Actions to avoid detection.

--- can inst Continuous Goals, Gain Information Anticipation

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with Stealth ----

Preventing Goals

Relations

Can Instantiate

Surprises

with Enemies

Rhythm-Based Actions

Can Modulate

Stealth

Can Be Instantiated By

Enemies, Fog of War

Can Be Modulated By

Alarms, Area Control, Traces

Possible Closure Effects

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Potentially Conflicting With

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History

An updated version of the pattern Reconnaissance that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design.

Acknowledgements

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