Hello Lords and ladies, it's time for another dev diary / progress report on Before Arthur's development! Although I personally fell short of where I wanted to be by now with the war system, I did manage to start / polish a number of smaller mechanics that will be integrated into this much larger game feature.
Raiding & Burning Villages:
Breaking down the overall war mechanic, raiding villages will be an integral part of any war. At the start of a war, each faction will vote on the best lord they would like to lead their faction's raiders. This NPC will then raise a number of men to take across the borders to cause general mayhem and distract from the factions main armies who will be trying to capture towns and forts. Unlike the main factions' armies, the raiders will be focused entirely on attacking caravans and burning down villages and farms.
Once a village raid has started, the plan is to have the army visually split into three groups each with their own tasks. The first group will begin attacking and killing villagers that will lower the village's population, the second group will begin sacking warehouses to steal goods and supplies from the defending faction, while the third group will take out torches and begin burning the settlement down.
We currently have completed how this NPC lord will be selected, the rising of their raiding party, village target selection and AI faction movement to the target village, but the actual visuals of raiding the village is currently being developed, of course the player won't see any of this unless they happen to be at the unlucky village being attacked, or is leading a raid themselves.
To start the raiding visuals I needed to create a fire progression system that will spread the firers starting from the point of contact with a thrown torch and ultimately destroy the building...
In the next few weeks I hope to have the AI troops hunting down and killing the villagers, stealing supplies and of course our new fire system all integrated together to create a realistic village raid!
Weapon Throwing:
While adding the torch throw mechanic I also added a weapon throw system (cause why not?) allowing the player and future NPC's to throw their weapons at a target in a last desperate attempt to kill a troublesome enemy. When the player is armed with a throwable weapon, holding left control will display the current throw range (affected by the player's skills), clicking the right mouse button (at the same time) will throw the weapon.
Both accuracy and range is affected by skills with strength being the primary factor for range, and overall character level affecting accuracy. Thrown weapons can also be picked up later, allowing the player to temporarily lighten their inventory. A dropped item's location will be persistently saved across game sessions and scene loading, meaning you can return safely for an item later (unless it has been stolen by an NPC, or ruined by weather).
Horses & Ridding:
Horses have been added to the game and stables can now be constructed with the right technology. A basic stable can hold up to 4 horses, with later versions increasing the holding limit. Horses can be assigned to your armies and will allow the player to have mounted units in battle. Horses will need to be purchased from a merchant or can also be bred later if you have more than two in stock. There are currently 6 breeds added each with their own strengths and weaknesses.
The player can ride these horses themselves and a bonding system keeps track of how attached a horse is to the player. Increased bonding allows the player to name the horse, unlocks special abilities such as jumping, or crossing of rivers; and also increases the time you can spend in mounted combat without being thrown, or spooking the horse.
Drowning:
The player can now drown if they fall into the river while riding, or the ocean from future ships. I also plan on adding in some nice looking water shaders (waves, reflections) in the next few updates to give more polish and feel.
Other stuff:
Expanded the crop planting system to allow harvesting once the crop has grown.
Included a crop growth visual allowing a quick way to tell growth without going to the farming UI.
Allow the player to learn poems by talking to traveling bards (used when courting ladies).
Expanded the diplomacy tab UI to allow players to offer treaties to other factions while on the go. Note: talking to your advisor in the throne room is still a better option as they have access to advanced offers to influence the factions chance of accepting the offer.
Allow the player to assign farmers to your farms, thus increasing yield and harvest.
Added woodcutters, market stale, stables and execution block to buildable buildings.
Polished some existing buildings.
bug fixes!
And there we go, horses, fires and drowning are now permanent features for the upcoming release.
Next up:
Finishing the raiding mechanic and allowing both the player and AI factions to use it.
Pathfinding! finally finishing the pathfinding system to be more robust and stop NPC's from walking through walls and buildings.
continue work on the AI faction build system allowing them to construct their settlements just like the player. (this is a huge feature and will likely need to be done in sections)
A weather system handling rain, storms and winter.
Expand the lord NPC dialog options, including allowing permission to court (date) their female family members.
And more!