Dev Diary #17 - Battle System Part 2

Dear nobles,

The launch of the free Noble’s Life Prologue is getting closer and closer - it will be available on December 16th!

We covered its contents in the previous Dev Diary and if you are interested be sure to check it out (Dev Diary #16 - Punishment) or simply take a look at Noble's Life Prologue's Steam page.

Now, moving on to the subject.

This is the second DD covering the battle system, so we’d like to continue the topics mentioned in Dev Diary #15 - Battle System - Part 1, this time also focusing on elements from the later parts of Noble's Life.

Planning

Let’s begin by presenting the updated version of the battle plan from the first part.

While keeping the original idea, we wanted to improve the readability of the screen and we hope we succeeded! Since the plan itself is simply a drawing on the ground, it may change as a result of various actions, e.g. new information.

In terms of the mechanic itself, we have described the topic previously, and further details would border on spoilers. Hence, we will only add that the choice of the unit that will lead the attack is important, and increasing the readability of this decision was one of the main reasons that pushed us to change the graphic design of the plan.

Recruitment

We covered the estate map quite a while ago (Dev Diary #4 - Peasants and villages) and much has changed since then. Anyone who had the opportunity to check out the game during e.g. playtests can easily notice the difference, but the idea remains the same.

It’s a tax-setting tool intended to obtain money and other resources. Moreover, it has a military use. Specifically, the player will be able to organise a recruitment once a year. During the enlistment, they will decide who will handle it, which villages will be included in it, and how many recruits each of them will have to give up..

Excessive recruitment has its consequences. Not only does it affect peasants’ happiness, but also the earnings from the villages. Ultimately there are fewer people to work, and the enlisted peasants end up in the baron’s care. In addition, only with a quantitatively moderate conscription can we count on a high-quality recruit, willing and strong.

High taxes and recruitment are a great way to check how combative the peasants are. Specifically, how will they cope with organising a peasant uprising against the rule of the player character.

War economy

This is all a normal situation, but if a larger enemy army is discovered and is preparing to attack the barony, everything changes. This is a test of sorts for most of the decisions the player has made so far.

The peasants are angry? Well, they may end up supporting the invaders. The townsfolk are quarreling and unhappy? Motivating them to defend the city walls will be difficult. The vault is empty? Oops, you can’t hire mercenaries. We’ve failed to cultivate the friendship with any of the local lords and have irritated our liege lord? No one is coming to help.

However, usually all those things won’t happen all at once (unless we try very hard), so in this unusual situation we need to make unusual decisions. Emergency recruitment of townspeople or peasants, an evacuation order, hiring mercenaries, sending troops to delay the enemy are just examples of the actions we will be able to take.

In addition, if we manage to build a solid relationship with someone, there is a good chance that we will receive help in our time of need. We don’t want to write too much here because we might end up spoiling the endings of various stories in the game, but we hope this is enough to outline the multitude of options and consequences that will accumulate at such a critical moment.

And to conclude this update, a screenshot of the battle!