Jonric: What are your main goals for the combat system? What are the main features, how important is it overall, and to what extent does the gameplay include more than straightforward fighting?

Lee Singleton: Combat is definitely an important part of Conflict: Vietnam - possibly the most important aspect given player expectations.

Our goal with Conflict: Vietnam's combat system is to have something that a new player can pick up and play almost immediately, but with a depth that can be thoroughly explored as the player grows in experience. I'm sure new players will pretty much only change characters, switch weapons and blast away for the first couple missions. Then, as they get more comfortable and want to explore the game more, they'll start to issue movement orders, then command troops to guard each other, and eventually start switching characters on the fly, placing complex flanking orders and using the inventory quick switch buttons. I hope by the end of the game, players end up thinking, 'I should go back and play the earlier missions again to see how much better I can do now.'

As for alternatives to direct combat, the new skill advancement system in Conflict: Vietnam lets players decide how their characters improve and how they'd like their game to be played. After each mission, players are awarded points for how well they performed, and these can be split up amongst nine skill categories: Pistol, Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Machine Gun, Grenade, Shotgun, Medic, Rocket Launcher, and Booby Traps. A few skills - such as Medic and Booby Traps - you should definitely have at least one expert in. Beyond this, though, the choices you make in skill advancement should be made according to the style of play you desire. If you wanted to play in a more charge ahead, guns blazing style, then increase Assault Rifle and Grenade skills. If you feel like being more of a stealth squad, then work on Sniper Rifle and Pistol skills. Of course, a well balanced troop with different specialties is what we envisioned with this system, but it's always up to the player.