Greetings, everyone! With Schism revealed in our last devlog we have covered all the factions that will be present in the game’s Early Access release, we would like to continue our devlogs with a deep dive into what makes each of these factions unique.
One of the main gameplay mechanics that will affect each faction, which is something entirely new to the series, are the Faction Laws.
If you'd like to watch our video about them, follow the link below:
When it comes to factions, we thought about how to add more variety into gameplay with each session and bring something fresh and innovative to the game — by introducing the laws we believe it will do just that. We want each match to feel unique and to have multiple paths of progression, without having to go through the same build path and having to pick only the best strategies.
Faction Laws expand upon the regular gameplay loop by bringing in a feature which may be recognised by some of you as similar to technology trees in other games. We implemented it to be in line with the classic Heroes formula to give us an entirely new layer of balance. This way we can adjust the factions by granting them certain unique upgrades that can improve designated unit tiers as well as your economy. This will introduce a lot of variety across all build paths instead of having to focus on rushing the highest tier units only.
Enacting Laws
As the series’ main focus is to grow in strength and conquer your enemies through traveling the map and fighting various creatures using your heroes, it felt only natural to expand it and further extend the benefits of combat.
That being said, as you fight guards with your heroes, they will earn not only experience, but faction Law points as well. These points will accumulate and once you’ve gathered enough of them, you will earn a Seal — just like a skill level-up works. When this happens, you can choose to either spend it to enact a law, or save it for later, as some laws require multiple Seals in order to enact them. The benefits that can be obtained through various laws, can empower your heroes, armies and economy, or provide various unique features. For example if you play as Temple, you can enact a law that allows you to build structures in your towns twice a day, while Grove can make their units’ abilities require fewer Focus Charges.
In order to keep the law progression in check, Faction Laws are separated into tiers. Each Tier requires spending a sufficient amount of Seals to become available and offers more powerful bonuses compared to the previous Tier.
By default Law points are earned at the same rate as experience. There are subskills and laws that can further increase the amount of points you earn. Additionally, capturing external dwellings on the map will also reward you with Law points, allowing your secondary heroes to provide you with a steady supply of Seals in regular bursts. Your town halls generate a set amount of Law points every turn as well based on their upgrade level.
The aim of these faction laws and law points is to enhance each faction’s gameplay by allowing you to tap into various strengths a faction can have access to without making it overpowered from the very beginning. Factions Laws will require you to fight a lot of guards and explore the map quite a bit before they’re available to you. You’re also given the freedom of choice as there are multiple laws to choose from within each tier that you’ve already gained access to.
Let us look into some of the most defining laws for each faction:
For example, players leading Temple forces can make them immune to negative effects as long as they fight in Grasslands while another law allows your Temple Heroes to learn any spell of any tier.
The Druids of Murmurwoods can expand their Focus Charge limit even further or make all of their units’ abilities require fewer Focus Charges. Another law makes it impossible for enemy heroes to flee or surrender in battle.
Others, such as Necropolis, may make their armies ignore morale penalties for mixing units from different factions or you can choose to make Necropolis heroes always fight on native terrain.
In the case of Dungeon - they become masters of trade and diplomacy by greatly improving their towns’ growth and getting perfect market rates. If you want a more offensive path you can also pick a law that increases the levels of your Dungeon heroes’ spells by 1.
Hive, has their laws tailored for aggressive expansion and can hire upgraded units from dwellings or gain huge bonuses in areas they do not control. They also have a unique law that allows your Hive heroes to see a lot more information about enemy heroes or cities!
Lastly, Schism’s laws focus largely on taking tools away from their enemies by draining their mana or to provide more utility in battles by summoning additional creatures in combat with spells or friendly creature abilities.
Faction Laws Shaping Gameplay
By introducing Faction Laws we want to give you, the player, even more ways to express your gameplay style as the laws allow you to approach each match differently — one time you may wish to end the game quickly, while another you may be trying to go for the higher tier units: the laws will let you do that to a certain extent. They also allow us to dig deeper into the faction immersion by granting them completely unique bonuses throughout the Faction Law tiers.
To sum it up, here’s what you can expect from this feature:
- A new strategic layer to your gameplay that was never present before in the series
- Empowerments to each unit tier based on your decisions
- Multiple build paths for your faction thanks to unique perks or bonuses to your heroes, military or economy
- Your starting faction will always retain its strength throughout the game, even though you might capture multiple other cities.
- An additional variety of options that let you focus on either Might or Magic, depending on your faction of choice
Olden Era aims to bring both returning and new features that aim to make it the best Heroes game it can be. We have more topics and features coming up in the future devlogs, so if you want to learn more, stay tuned for further news!
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