It's not long now until the release of the Soldier Update (0.10)!
In this Dev Diary, we want to show you how morale and a completely new NPC troop logic will affect the course of a battle.
Troop morale
In battles, the troop morale of enemy and allied troops is now displayed. It is calculated from the average morale of the active soldiers in the troop.
Troop morale directly affects the firepower of each individual soldier and also individual commands, such as the outcome of close combat or ‘fire back’ when suppressed. The morale of each individual troop also influences the course of the battle, i.e. which side will retreat first.
Troop morale is also divided into three levels: Resolute, Stable and Demoralised. These individual levels have a direct influence on how a troop behaves in battle.
Stress, Fervor, Commands and Balancing
With the introduction of troop morale, the stress of soldiers now plays a greater role. Stress increases more slowly and usually decreases more quickly, but it has an even greater effect on morale.
However, if a troop is suppressed, flanked or within melee range, none of the soldiers can reduce their stress. This means that you have to actively change position to boost morale or, for example, to prevent the soldiers from panicking.
This should introduce a new tactical component: retreat and targeted weakening of enemy morale now play a greater role. Failures such as grenades that barely miss their target become more forgivable, as they still weaken enemy morale.
Furthermore, the individual levels of the Fervor attribute have been removed. However, fervor now greatly reduces stress per turn. Soldiers can also gain fervor more quickly if, for example, they hit an enemy soldier, rescue an allied soldier or even successfully cut through barbed wire (depending on their personality).
Revision of troop logic
As part of these new features, we have completely redesigned the calculation of actions and commands for NPC troops.
Decisions are based on countless factors: cover, danger, injuries, equipment, proximity to the enemy, lines of sight, and much more. The old troop logic added up all these factors in order to ultimately perform the hopefully most reasonable™ action. This was usually very functional, but increasingly confusing and, in some situations, unrealistic and incomprehensible.
An example: A troop is in the best position for a close combat attack with movement to another position. However, it could also suppress at its current position, treat an injured soldier and search for equipment at the same time. The current position may even offer better cover. Although close combat was weighted very highly, this troop could decide to hold its position because all these values added up to a higher total.
Intermediate layer for logic
An intermediate layer for the behaviour of troops on the battlefield has now been introduced. The higher layer (basic logic) consists of linking the main command (offensive, defensive and retreat) with the morale levels (resolute, stable and demoralised), resulting in a total of 9 different basic logics.
This basic logic only determines a behaviour pattern at first. A few examples:
Advance: ‘We want to move safely to the target position.’
Suppress: ‘To support allied troops, we want to effectively suppress enemy positions.’
Rally: ‘We want to regenerate our morale and gather scattered soldiers.’
Evacuate: ‘We want to rescue the wounded and take them to the hospital.’
Loot: ‘We want to search for ammunition, bandages or grenades.’
Destroy: ‘We want to eliminate enemy troops.’
and more ...
Basic logic (e.g. Offensive & Determined) -> Behaviour pattern (e.g. Advance) ->
Troop action (e.g. Move to position x) & Soldier commands (e.g. Move & Covering fire)
To pick up on the example from earlier: The behaviour patterns of the troop are evaluated individually and they decide on Destroy in this situation. This behaviour leads to the troop engaging in close combat. In the next round, they may then decide on Evacuate in order to bring the wounded soldier to their current position or to return to their previous position.
The basic logic has different ratings: a resolute troop on the offensive will give higher weight to Destroy or Advance, while a demoralised troop will have the highest multiplier on Rally.
This new system is not only intended to force more realistic and comprehensible decisions, it is also much easier to debug.
War weariness of NPC soldiers
Last but not least, NPC soldiers are now also simulated over the course of the war. Among other things, their war weariness or exhaustion at the beginning of a battle is influenced.
Troops have different values: some start out more determined and stronger, while others appear weakened and less motivated. As the war progresses, all troops are sent into battle with increasingly lower morale.
Conclusion
With these changes, we want to bring more transparency and depth to the battles. The new troop logic will not be perfect at release, but it will be much easier to understand and adapt, allowing us to expand it over the course of Early Access. It also opens up new tactical possibilities: enemy troops do not have to be physically defeated, but can be deliberately demoralised. The focus is not on eliminating enemies, but on forcing the opponent to surrender!