Plans and Inspirations
The grand vision for this project is a rich tactical fantasy RTS game that captures the unique challenges facing an on-the-ground field commander and the push and pull between beating the enemy and wrangling your own unruly troops.
Our biggest inspiration gameplay-wise is the Total War games' real time tactical battles. In those hybrid turn-based strategy and real-time tactical games, players control individual units of their army whenever a battle breaks out. These games include a robust system of soldiers, units, morale, and exhaustion, with intuitive click and drag controls, all of which we want to emulate.
But, there are a few things to change. For one, troops in Total War respond instantly to your commands and are remarkably reliable and self-sacrificing. That doesn't quite capture the chaos and complexity of commanding an army in a time without radios. We obviously can't match the scope of an AAA title, but where we lack in scale, we hope to make up in depth.
We will build a battle sim where couriers rather than telepathy will carry your commands and your troops will be autonomous and fear for their lives. At times they will act on their own initiative based on battlefield conditions and a richer morale system.
Units that are winning are going to get aggressive, and even outright cocky. While units that are losing will adjust and shift to a better position, or completely run away. You'll have to consider how a unit is doing and feeling to command them effectively. For example, you'll have a hard time convincing a unit of wounded peasants to even try and hold off a large column of heavy infantry.
With that battle sim in hand, we'll start layering on cool shit like monsters, spellcasting, and encampment building.
You'll be able to face armies of Goblins, who will present unique variants on common troop types and deploy special tactics. Other fell creatures independent of your primary enemy may lurk around the edges of the battlefield waiting for easy prey.
You'll be able to field powerful wizards. On command, they'll blast formations with fireballs, lay arcane traps, and summon illusory troops to scare or bait the enemy.
For the magic system we plan to take a lot of queues from the novels The Black Company. They're a classic grimdark series about mercenaries in a fantasy world. The mercs keep a couple spellcasters on staff for their military value. However most of that value is not in in destruction, but rather distraction, illusion, and deception.
These books also offer some of the inspiration for our plans for morale and unit AI. A big theme of the series is how big a role psychology and showmanship play in deciding battlefield contests. That, and the indirect and asymetric ways you can take down your enemy, even if they have powers on the order of gods.
Lastly, in the campaign mode we have, troops will need to eat and rest from time to time in camp. Management of the camp, baggage train, and access to supplies will be a major concern. But as much as you need to worry about food and water, the enemy does too. Savvy players will be able to attack enemy supply lines to weaken strong foes, and force slippery ones onto the field of battle.