Hello everyone!
I wanted to give you a status update on our upcoming new patch to our demo. The original plan was to do it in multiple smaller patches, but feature creep had other ideas! Some big changes are coming that just simply couldn't be implemented in smaller increments. We still need some time to deliver the patch itself, but I didn't want to leave you all in the dark so read on if you are interested in the upcoming major changes!
Reworked resistance members
Every resistance unit will have a background trait that describes what they did previously. This affects their starting statistics, possible additional traits they could have, and their hiring cost. In addition, the possible backgrounds change depending on which region the unit is from.
The eager-eyed could notice that the portraits have been completely reworked as well. Now with a quick glance at the portrait, you will know which region the unit is from. Updated the name generators as well with more names so that they can generate more unique names.
New core combat mechanic, pushing and cornered
I always had the back of my mind that flanking in itself to increase your hitchance is not enough as that is relatively hard to do consistently. Plus it always felt a bit unrealistic that standing right next to a wall is the best defensive position as in that case, the unit is physically impossible to be flanked. Then came the idea of the cornered mechanic.
Now, units will count as cornered when they can't move backward from the attack direction and suffer a 20 defense penalty. In addition, every melee attack that hits will push the target back 1 tile while the attacker takes their place if possible. These changes make positioning a lot more interesting even in situations where flanking is unfeasable.
Advanced skills rework
Weapon attributes have been removed. Instead, every weapon will have their own advanced skill that comes with it. This gave me the possibility to differentiate weapons more besides damage, especially the one and two-handed variants of the same weapon. For example, that wide slash attack on the previous gif will be only available to units using two-handed swords!
The other 3 skill attributes (Aggression, Teamwork, and Trickery) have been heavily reworked into 6 classes (Ranger, Assassin, Protector, Strategist, Barbarian, Warrior). This means that every region now has a unique class. In addition, because the weapon does not take up one of the 2 available skill school(the new name for attributes) slots of a character, it opens up the builds space.
New eastern region
We have finished the eastern region combat map as well, so this last region opens up! The region itself is research-focused and will provide the resistance access to the strategist skill school!
Closing thoughts
And that's it for today's devlog! One important point is that because of the extent of the changes on the skills system, the new patch will not be compatible with previous saves. In addition, the patch will include a lot of other smaller balance and bug fixes as well, plus something else that I do not want to spoil just yet!
As always, if you have any questions feel free to drop by our discord here.