Rainbow Grid Battle System

The Rainbow Grid Battle System is the battle system used in Innocence Seekers: Akari of the Light. It is a type of turn-based battle system where the SPD of each unit determines the turn order and the frequency in which the unit can act. In each battle, the player characters and enemies are placed on separate small grids, where the properties of each panel of the two grids can influence the effects of any actions taken by any unit.

Overview

Battles using this system place the player characters and the enemies on separate 6×2 grids. Without going into detail on the effects of the panels themselves, the placement of units determine the effects of normal attacks and techniques. If a unit is in the "front row" (i.e. the row closer to the enemy) or in the enemy grid (instead of the unit's home grid), the unit will always take full damage from any physical attack and will always deal full damage with any physical attack. If a unit is in the "back row" and directly behind another unit, the unit will only receive 50 per cent damage from melée attacks, but can only deal 50 per cent damage using melée attacks and will suffer a 30 per cent accuracy penalty with such attacks. If a unit in the back row is diagonal to a unit in the front row the damage taken and dealt using such attacks is only reduced to 75 per cent, but there is no accuracy penalty. A unit in the back row but nowhere near a front-row unit will deal and take full damage. Units in the enemy grid will suffer evasion penalties depending on their orientation relative to the attacker (with the exception of Michiru) and will always receive full damage regardless of the placement of their attackers.

The main feature of this battle system is the panel effects. Each panel is associated with a colour and an element. The colour and element influence the effectiveness of spells cast. Units with identical magic colours to the panels they stand on will get a 25 per cent boost to their spells' raw power (i.e. before RES is factored in), but if the colours are opposites, a 25 per cent penalty will be given. This also applies to the target panel's colour and target unit's magic colour relative to the magic colour of the caster. Panel elements boost spells of their element by 20 per cent and reduce the power of their opposing element by 20 per cent. The colour and element of each panel can be changed by casting spells on the panels themselves (as opposed to targeting an enemy).

In the battle system, units can either be small (1×1) or large (2×2). Large units receive the combined effects of all four panels on which they stand (however, colour effects are reduced to 6.25 per cent, and element effects to five per cent), and cannot move to the enemy grid. Large units also block movement of other units along a row, forcing such units to temporarily move to the enemy grid in order to reach the other flank. Regardless of the type of the unit, units can move up to two panels each turn (three if the Wait command is used).