Dev Corner | Faction Dynamics Part 2

If you haven't seen the previous Dev Corner, make sure to check it out here.

Reinventing Faction Dynamics Part 2

Generals!

Welcome to another Developer Corner. Let’s start with a reminder, or clarification, so you have a better idea of what kind of feedback we’re looking for.

Dev Diaries give you a clear preview of what’s coming very soon.

Dev Corners are our way of involving the community earlier in our design and development process so we have a chance to listen and tweak. This obviously means there is less detail to share, because we don’t (want to) have it all nailed down yet. It’s also possible that things we discuss here aren’t all meant for the next DLC. Now that that’s all cleared up, settle in, read it all and give us your honest, and friendly, feedback.

Now on to Wrongwraith:

The first dev corner about all things factions got a bit too long as I tended to talk about more things than I had originally intended to. But it felt that I had to try to cover a lot of things in order to explain what I was talking about. To compensate for that, this one will be a bit more focused.

I wanted to talk about the different factions - what makes them different? Basically giving a little bit of an insight into the working day of a game designer.

What we have tried to do is to decide on a theme for a faction; and design a Manifest, and select a set of Faction Rules that relate to that theme. We want to have Goals that are more or less strategic in nature. You should be encouraged to act; and to act in a way that makes sense according to the theme wherever that is possible.

Just to say it one more time: This is very much an iterative process. The final result, whenever this feature actually makes it into the game, might be totally different.

To explain what I mean I will give a few examples and show you a few more screenshots (sorry, but they still very much have placeholder UI elements - and not at all pretty).

Designing the Axis

Let's start with the Axis…

Germany starts the game as the leader of the Axis; nothing new there.

Thinking about the Axis, and especially the two major powers there - Germany and Italy - it is all about conquest and expansion. Subsequently that quite naturally becomes the theme for this faction. How do we measure conquest then? In HOI terms it is probably the amount of controlled territory that is outside your core nation.

Some of the bonuses you get from high fulfillment of the Manifest then also relate back to the conquest of territory, like non-core manpower, and resistance to occupation.

The Axis faction window - and no, it won’t look like this when ready.

The Axis goals then, are as follows:

• Secure the Resource Supply - Faction members control resources enough to ensure they can be at war with the world for some time.

• A European Bastion - Get European Continental countries to either join your faction or capitulate / become part of you.

• Secure North Africa - Control key areas in, and on the way to, North Africa to ensure the safety of the core Axis territory of continental Europe

• An Armored Fist - Deploy enough armored units so that you are ready to take on anyone