Matrix Games Forums

Hi
1) I would like to know details about how the battle engine works, what are the factors involved? like terrain, moral, fighting experience, etc
2) It seems there is an strategic part in the game, how does it work?
3) Would be there an scenario editor to allow us to paint our own armies?
Regards

ORIGINAL: Iñaki Harrizabalagatar
1) I would like to know details about how the battle engine works, what are the factors involved? like terrain, moral, fighting experience, etc
2) It seems there is an strategic part in the game, how does it work?
3) Would be there an scenario editor to allow us to paint our own armies?

Here are some answeres:

1. In our battle engine, both opponents simulatanously place orders for each unit in their army. These orders represent what the unit will be doing for the next '15 minutes of game time' (not real world time). After both players have issued orders, a play button is pressed and the game engine processes the battlefield events for all units simultanously (sort of like a combo turn based/real time game). However, unlike most turn based games where you are stuck with your strategy for the entire turn, we have implemented a reaction system that will pause the game and let a unit receive a 'reaction' order in certain battlefield situations (such as winning an engagement, detecting a charge coming at you while moving etc.). These only happen once in a while and are based on the commander leading the unit and specific situation. From a tactical level, our 'rules' are loosly based on DBA fast play varients. So we have morale (army and unit morale with 'cascading effects'), training, armour, initiative, weapon effects (many weapons vs weapon combos), unit facing effects (for flanking and movement etc.). Also, our leaders have a lot of special attributes that impact gameplay, Alexander is a tactical genius and heroic leader while darius III is both incompetent and cowardly. We also have height and other terrain effects such as fog of war.

2. There is a lot of strategy in the game due to the simultanous orders/movement concept (you have to outguess your opponents move). Flanking, scouting etc are all important. Also, there is a campaign component in the grand campaign where the player will get new troops, train troops, replace leaders, and buy strategy cards. strategy cards are one time use special events that impact gameplay (such as instantly recovering morale). Also, players will get to place their troops on the battlefield prior to each battle with some 'historical' limitations.

3. Unfortuantely, we will not have this capability. We really like the idea of letting players 'paint' their armies and actually discussed this in dept in our own early game design sessions. But, this feature did not make the final list. If there is a big demand, we can circle back and look at this again.

Regards,

Koios Team

Thanks for the questions. I will do my best to answer them -- please follow up to get more details on specifics that you want.

ORIGINAL: Iñaki Harrizabalagatar
1) I would like to know details about how the battle engine works, what are the factors involved? like terrain, moral, fighting experience, etc

The battle engine is loosely based on a number of miniature war game rules. We wanted to get the depth of some of the rules, but we also wanted the game to be very easy to just sit down and start playing. So, here are some details at a very high level:

There are 9 commands that you can issue to any unit at the beginning of a turn:

1) Move (Move to a new location with a maxium face changing of 45 degrees),
2) Change Face (Turn around up to 180 degrees),
3) Defend (Stay where you are, but get a defensive bonus),
4) Charge (Move/Attack with a strong offensive bonus),
5) Attack (Move/Attack with normal attack bonus),
6) Missile (Shoot projectile weapon -- available for ranged units only),
7) Counter-Charge (Defensive command but with a strong offensive bonus on the first round of attack),
8) Retreat (Move backwards and change facing 180 degrees; an ordered retreat),
9) Reserve (Hold unit's command back until the end of the turn's subphase -- each turn is made up of 3 sub-phases, so the reserve phase allows you to place the order at that third sub-phase.)

Also, during a turn, there are a few more commands that can be issued for you (as a result of some action):

1) Stand (when a unit is engaged during combat or when a move is blocked)
2) Rout (when your morale falls to a low point, the unit basically does an unordered retreat -- and heads towards the safest spot on the board until morale recovers.)

The actual battle rules themselves take the following factors into account: unit training, unit morale, unit weapon type, unit facing (i.e., rear vs. flank vs. frontal attack), attack order type (charge vs. attack), terrain effects (e.g., uphill or river), and unit type (rock/paper/scissors such as mounted against pike gets a negative bonus.)

Hopefully that is enough of a response to whet your appetite...
Deride

ORIGINAL: Deride

1) Move (Move to a new location with a maxium face changing of 45 degrees),

Does this mean that the map uses squares instead of hexes?

ORIGINAL: Iñaki Harrizabalagatar

ORIGINAL: Deride

1) Move (Move to a new location with a maxium face changing of 45 degrees),

Does this mean that the map uses squares instead of hexes?

We don't actually display map spaces -- i.e., squares or hexes. But, it is based on a 45 degree rotation system (i.e., North, North East, East, South East, etc.) So you get a total of 8 potential facings.

Facings are very important in the game since they determine where you can move to, and you can only attack directly in front of your unit.

Deride

How is then managed unit´s movement rates?

ORIGINAL: Iñaki Harrizabalagatar
How is then managed unit´s movement rates?

Each turn is broken into 3 sub-phases. During each phase, your unit will perform one of the 11 possible sub-phase commands.

For example, if you give a unit a command to attack away to the North East and it is currently facing East, it will first turn North East (Change Face during Command Phase), Move North East (Move during Reaction Phase) and Attack (Melee during Reserve Phase.) This, of course, assuming nothing go in its way, the enemy stayed where he was, etc.

You could also move during all three phases (only mounted units can move during *all* phases, the rest will defend on the third sub-phase.)

You can think of the movement as a grid of squares...

Deride