Lords of the Realm on mobile

[divix]

Hello players,

I am about to start implementing a similar to LotR game mechanics a mobile game, which will be also a turn based old-school strategy game, with some additional twists.

I am gathering inputs from fans across the globe and want to know for what you have loved original LotR, so I can focus more on those aspects. The current (the order from most important) list I have is:

- land economics (fields, foods, people)
- old school graphics
- calm musics
- armies
- castles
- AI with various characteristics
- diplomatics
- more maps to choose from
- reports

Things which have been pointed as obsolete:
- multiplayer
- real time combat
- castle designer
- rebellions

Any input would be much appreciated.
I will be posting updates on the game development on this post so post a response to be notified if you want :)

PS. The game name haven't been chosen yet, but I like 'King of Lands', any other suggestions?

Cheers!
Adam

[Hagen]

I think making a Lords mobile is a great idea. I had the same thought a while back so I'm happy to see this. Actually I thought the name would be Lords Mobile. Too boring?
I like that Land Economics is at the top of the list. Next for me would be battle tactics. I never played Lords 2 but i believe they incorporated more of that in 2. Adding diplomacy could be really cool too. The music? lol I turn it off anyway - usually too repetitive. I don't know if there's a feasible way to get a lot more variety in music....

[RandomDude]

2 years late to the thread but I often think about remaking this game so I'm sure other people will do in the future too.

[ECONOMY]

In LoTR 2, the economy was dummed down with sliders. I definitely prefer the economy management of LoTR 1 compared to LoTR 2. I do own LoTR 3 but it's so far from either of the 2 previous games I couldn't get into it.

In LoTR 1, you have to manage your fields and decide how you want to use them between sheep, grain, and cattle - all of them have their pros/cons but it seems like sheep is the meta way to go, at least in my playthroughs. Cattle can be good for keeping peasants in a labour job consistently, and grain means you can end up with excess food and I would even suggest selling the excess if the price is good, otherwise the rats will get it!

This is a lot more fun to me than the sliders of LoTR 2. Yes there is still grain and cattle but you seem to be able to just grow infinite grain in LoTR 2 and feed an infinite number of people.

How would I do the economy? I'd take some cues from LoTR 1, but I'd also try to make the economy more in-depth, with different resources offering different things. Certain biomes would have more chances of having certain resources, and you could sell these resources, or just hoard it to deny others, as well as using the resource to improve your own kingdom.

[RESOURCES]
The kinds of resources I'm talking about would be ridable beasts (not just limited to horses, you could have lizards and the like), metals to make weapons and armour, precious metals and the like (improve happiness or some other stat?). There might be other resources that could be used to make weapons/armour like resin as well. A few different kinds of stone would mean stronger walls could be built if you had access to that resource.

[COMBAT]

In LoTR we have regiments of units who all move and fight as one. In LoTR 2 it's more like an RTS. Neither system is particularly challenging or comes with depth.

When I've delved into a remake in the past I was trying to create a mix of the both of those systems, with individual units moving as part of a regiment.

[REGIMENTS AND UNITS]

Each of these individual units would have a name, place of birth, age, number of kills etc so you could track them throughout battles. They might also gain experience points which eventually makes them better fighters (although not to Rome Total War standards).

You would also be able to arm a regiment however you like, so if you have a plethora of Plate Armour but you forgot to make weapons and so only have wooden daggers in your inventory, guess what they'll be taking into battle.

You would also be able to loot from the battlefield if you won, which can be a good way to improve a regiments gear over time.

An Army would have to carry food and anything else it needed with it (like all the loot you took from your latest victory) which could slow you down (depending on your carry capacity etc).

The army could decide to use its own food stores or to raid nearby settlements for theirs, although feeding a huge army via this method might be tough to pull off (would need to be balanced).

If a regiment has been fighting together for a long time their cohesion should improve and that should lead to at least a boost in morale, or a chance to fight for longer when things seem to be going badly. That's another thing that LoTR 2 lacks - morale.

Whenever you create a new regiment, it should be pretty disorganised for the most part and several months (turns?) of training should be needed to get them to a decent fighting level. There are pros and cons to this but I like the idea in general.

[MISC]

- The ability to affect the world map.
You should be able to build a Great Wall, if you have the money, time, labour force and resources to pull it off. This would mean making incursions into your territory harder (but not impossible) and you would see the wall on the world map. Certain economic actions or events could also affect the world map, positively or negatively eg floods / drought / sowing fields with salt / building mines / new villages popping up (because your population grew).

- None-playable cultures spread throughout different biomes that you can have relations with. Will you be a saviour or a tormenter to them, or will you just leave them alone for the most part? They could provide you with different unit types / unit skills / resources / tax money or they could be hired as mercenaries, or they might just be very warlike and one day they'll attack you rather than your enemies.

I guess parts of this are leaning towards more of a 4X playstyle, and I don't really consider LoTR as a 4X game, although some may do.

I've always envisioned your starting settlements as the ones who will almost always be the power house settlements as they are the central part of the kingdom and where your King/Queen lives, although if changing capitals were allowed, I'd expect the new capital to grow as the old one declined.