Combat Focus

[Tracer Bullet]

I'd recommend you focus on the combat element of this game -heavily-.

I've played a few hours and while I see the potential for a great game here (especially the art) , combat in it's current iteration is horrific.

The following is a list of recommendations and criticisms:
1) Unit abilities - generic and detract from gameplay vs add to it. If you have any chance of winning encounters with minimal casualties you need abilities, so the game is slowed tremendously by clicking next turn until you get them back.

2) Air Elementals - Needed it's own section. This unit is ridiculous, without a form of 'overwatch' or a stat change, a flying unit can come in from off screen and outright kill the only unit that can attack it in one go. Requiring 2 volleys before casualties are taken at all is extra silly. For example, fly in, kill archer, take hit, kill other archer, loiter and heal in the middle of melee army, attack and kill anyone at their leisure.

3) Healing - Makes no sense for a unit to just sit for one turn and just 'recover'. It's also pointless once a unit takes any 'deaths' because an under strength unit just dies outright to essentially everything. Better to disband and reclaim (all???) your money from an under strength unit than risk it in combat.

I believe you need to determine if you want to go with a slow and steady 'front line' style combat gameplay, or if you want to rely on unit abilities. I'd either introduce healers who can replenish casualties, and/ or allow the army (an engineer unit?) to deploy static tents/encampments where replenishment can happen.

4) Line of Sight - Way to short, especially over flat terrain. I'd let all units have at minimum the current scouts view range, but make it so trees and mountains block line of sight.
Boost scouts view range, and let them see through perhaps 2 tiles worth of forests etc.

As it stands, if you move and discover an enemy without a scout, it will attack and entirely cripple your unit. Even with a scout, cavalry can move farther than vision radius so even then you are going to take horrendous casualties.

5) Movement - This is OK for the most part. I'd standardize all Cav and Infantry movement to the same value so they can at least maintain formation (so cav will be 6 and all infantry 4) and use abilities for the lighter units to increase their movement speed.

6) Unit types - Good variety, may need another class or two more to round out armies and fix gameplay /combat shortcomings (healer, engineer, dedicated spearmen etc).

7) Combat - This will be a big one... General issues first.
a) Units die way to quickly. Losing a unit in one turn to units that were not visible is terrible. Like really bad.
b) Hero Unit - Main character is just better in every way and can heal to full. Makes the army an accessory instead of the other way around.
c) Units seem to 'samey' in combat. Abilities are similar, health and damage are similar etc.
d) Heavy Cav get shield wall but Heavy Infantry don't?
e) Skirmishers can attack without getting hit back in combat, but they die immediately and are melee units. << very odd
f) Catapults shoot one tile further than archers and do the same if not less damage.
g) Defense is entirely pointless as every enemy utilizes the 'ignore' defense ability prior to suicide charging into your line.
h) Attacking is the only viable strategy as 'holding the line' results in way to many casualties.
i) Archers defensive fire should be on an enemy moving into the square adjacent to an ally vs attacking that ally.
j) Consider zone of control / opportunity attacks, its to easy to push through undead lines with cavalry.

8) (super nitpick) The cape of the Main Character in the Main menu is very very odd along the right leg. It looks like the cape is caught around his leg vs standing 'defiant'.


I should probably leave it at that for now.

[Atahualpa]

Hi Tracer Bullet,
thanks a lot for your valuable feedback! Really appreicate those comments.

Let me give you a quick feedback to a few points:
- we know that we have to work on the balancing. This is something which came up after releasing version 0.8. With all the new stuff like POI's, level 3 units, sepcial abilities etc. we need to adjust the values. This is something we are working on currently
- new units -> yes they will follow later. The Schedule is to launch version 0.9 about summer this year (may is not realistic at the moment). This major update will include the 2nd avatar with a complete new bunch of about 30 units.
- three main points we are currently working on -> line of sight, healing and balancing overall

If you have more feedback don't hasitate to contact us!

Thank you!
Kind Regards,
Atahualpa

[The Rabid Otter]

Originally posted by Atahualpa:

Hi Tracer Bullet,
thanks a lot for your valuable feedback! Really appreicate those comments.

Let me give you a quick feedback to a few points:
- we know that we have to work on the balancing. This is something which came up after releasing version 0.8. With all the new stuff like POI's, level 3 units, sepcial abilities etc. we need to adjust the values. This is something we are working on currently
- new units -> yes they will follow later. The Schedule is to launch version 0.9 about summer this year (may is not realistic at the moment). This major update will include the 2nd avatar with a complete new bunch of about 30 units.
- three main points we are currently working on -> line of sight, healing and balancing overall

If you have more feedback don't hasitate to contact us!

Thank you!
Kind Regards,
Atahualpa

Any chance of multi-stage movement for cavalry? I've seen this in some Panzer General style games for recon units. If you wanted to balance this, perhaps only the light cavalry would have this ability.

[Atahualpa]

Originally posted by The Rabid Otter:

Originally posted by Atahualpa:

Hi Tracer Bullet,
thanks a lot for your valuable feedback! Really appreicate those comments.


Any chance of multi-stage movement for cavalry? I've seen this in some Panzer General style games for recon units. If you wanted to balance this, perhaps only the light cavalry would have this ability.

Hi Rabid Otter,
yes it will be possible to group a team with up to 3 units and to move ans fight with this group. This feature will be available in the final version 1.0
Cheers,
Atahualpa

[The Rabid Otter]

Hi Atahualpa,

Are you describing a stacking mechanic similar to some tabletop hex-based wargames or Civilisation 3 and 4? That would be nice!

I was asking if the cavalry (Reitern? Pferdtruppen? Ich kenne nicht das genaue deutsches Wort dafuer) could have (what some games such as Panzer General call) "phased movement" for recon units (Aufklaerungseinheiten?).