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 who opposes your expansion plans.
- The North Atlantic - stop any enemies from gaining control of the North Atlantic in order to disrupt any attempts to block you off from world trade and to disable support for enemies in Europe.
The Axis countries weren’t very good at cooperating with each other, so it is for this reason that the faction starts without any of the more cooperative features unlocked.
What about Japan
How does this then contrast with e.g. the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere?
Here the theme is more centered around creating the prerequisites for expansion in Asia, ensuring that the Japanese industry has enough resources, and on creating puppets to establish control over the region. It is a very Japan-centered faction (at least if you play the historical version)
The manifest is about securing vital resources. The goals revolve around ensuring this is possible - and securing the necessary puppet countries.
Coastal security for example is about securing the sea zones around Japan and along the Chinese Coast, down to the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. Secure the Oil Supply is a step on the way to fulfilling the manifest. Align China basically means creating Chinese puppets in China or conquering the country altogether. And so on.
Faction Goal: Coastal Security through naval dominance
The Allies
The Allies on the other hand have a slightly different set of goals:
They start with just a few, and then they can get a few more through focuses and/or events, but this is what it looks like relatively early on:
Allied Goals
- Arteries of trade Focusing on asserting dominance over critical sea zones around the world
- Guardians of peace - try to ensure world peace
- Atomic Race - ensure that no one else gets an atomic bomb before we do
- Imperial Glory - Keep key parts of the colonial Empires under control even in times of war.
The idea is also that the Allies should get more bonuses to cooperation, and start with a slightly more 'upgraded faction' faction, and then get options to further improve on this as they go.
Stalin vs Trotsky
We are looking at different themes for a Stalin-lead, Communist block versus one led by e.g. Trotsky. Where the Comintern under Stalin’s lead would be more focused on border security for the Soviet Union and its allies and securing key strategic locations, the Trotskyist one should be more about spreading the revolution - supporting communism in other countries and/or forcibly converting them.
The Chinese United Front
The theme for the Chinese United Front is resistance to occupation and unity. Thus the manifest is about Territorial Integrity - uniting and liberating China. The goals connect to this in various ways; like trying to control the coastline for as long as possible, organizing the resistance to occupation, but also things like building the industrial capacity to be able to stand up against the Japanese - or any other aggressor.
On Feedback & Dev Corners
This would be all for this time. Would love to hear your thoughts on what you think makes the historical factions different from each other. What other factions and goals would you like to see?
We hope you do like these glimpses into what we do. We at least appreciate the feedback we are getting, having gotten some really good feedback on factions, naval dominance, and coal/energy already.