Yeah, these are good ideas. I suppose that I could add temporary choices on the beginning and have the player fill in what they did manually. It definitely seems important to have some carry over between games.
It will also be easier for people when bullrun is officially released and we get to to see all the choices in action.
It does make me excited to see just how far āoff scriptā weāll be able to go. McClellan had chances for success during the campaign even if he probably wonāt be taking advice from some captain to achieve it. Will we be able to seriously change any battles or are we still just fighting for personal reputation?
My personal perspective is that our first real chance for history changing would be Chancellorsville. General Hooker would know us well enough by then that a high reputation MC could make Lee pay for taking such a big risk. Assuming we managed to survive Burnsides Fredericksburg as part of Hookers Center Grand Division that is. Or maybe an impressive showing running a Corp at Antietam could have us replacing him instead of Meade just in time for Gettysburg.
Sorry if Iām pressuring you. I know Iām looking way to far down the line here. This game just has me nerding out harder than most.
No worries! I love seeing the interest in the game.
Iāll try to give a general idea of what Iām thinking/planning now. All of it, including the Peninsula Campaign, is somewhat dependent on my financial situation. But, letās look at best case scenario lol.
So, Iām already running into conflict between player agency and historical accuracy. I try to lean player agency whenever the two come into conflict. For that reason, Iām considering multiple outcomes for the siege of Yorktown. Of course, the real outcome was very long delayed and anti-climactic, so Iām thinking of making it dependent on some player choices. Maybe an early success will let McClellan know the enemy is weaker than he thinks and trigger an assault on the fortifications. Maybe I will have the rebels stay one extra day and get shelled to pieces instead of bailing one day before it all kicked off.
As for the whole Peninsula Campaign, I donāt think I will let the player turn the campaign into a total victory. I donāt expect them to take Richmond. I am most interested in the Seven Days Battles, which were a series of defensive battles that were mostly tactical victories for the Union. Sure, McClellan bungled the operational command, but thatās above the playerās pay grade. For each of these battles, I intend to build in a variety of paths and outcomes. For example, defend the town or fall back to behind the creek, when to deploy reserves and to what part of the line? That sort of thing. But, I think I will have a series of battles that resemble the real Seven Days Battles.
Hereās a little look ahead, Iām writing the Battle of Dam no. 1 right now. I am writing two alternative main strategies, both of which have pros and cons, so there is no one right path. Then, I will have a sort of check toward the end which tallies up how many good choices you made and have that decide the degree of success. And of course, your casualties will carry forward to the next fight. I originally wanted to allow the player to choose which regiment is deployed here, but it became way too much work to be worth it, since I am inventing multiple new characters for this part of the battle, and there will be ripples down the line.
Yeah, something like this seems right. You couldnāt win First Bull Run, but if we get as far as Chancellorsville, I think the player will be a Corps Commander. I have to let them change the outcome if they are that important in the army.
Definitely a division commander by Fredericksburg, if not Corps Commander.
My general premise is to keep expanding the player agency as the war goes on, and as their rank goes up. Iāve found that true player agency is really difficult and time consuming to plan and to create, but I try to balance it as well as I can. I think the Peninsula Campaign is already significantly better than First Bull Run, because I am getting better with practice. If I finish it, it will make Bull Run look like the tutorialā¦ Probably shouldnāt hype it that much lol but I am aiming much higher this time.
Your obedient servāt,
Dan Rasmussen
Yeah but if the enemy force is 3 times my army size due to unit scaling Iāll send you back to Fredericksburg right away (come away), right away.
Generally speaking, when youāre writing a series, theyāll let you set up an import/export system on the server.
Note that this system imports all of the global variables from the previous game under their existing names, which means you might have some problems if youāre using a new variable with the same name this time around for something else.
I thought it would be something like that. What I mean is until both games are released, I donāt see how I could do an import. The only way I can think of is a manual input where the player selects what they did in the first game.
Thatās basically what I do, but mostly as a backup feature for people whoāve lost their saves or want to start mid-series for some reason.
Of course, by now, thereās so many variables to keep track of that I actually canāt do that for Wars of Infinity onwards - leaving only import and premade characters.
Happy new year
Really love war story with realistic setting like this. My suggestion is our character background can have more impact in the game like how soldiers we command and our fellow commander see and react to us and how civilian see us, my second suggestion is hope this will be longer than last one because previous entry is really great but short. Stay healthy and i hope this will be big as infinity series in term of fanbase because i really love this game and hope more people will enjoy this
I am fresh from completing the first game and really enjoyed it. I am looking forward to the next game. .
The characters were well written and the maps did a great job of conveying the tactics and the action scenes.
I was wondering though, will there be any unit strength mechanics or choices that impact how competent our soldiers are? Like Cataphrakās infinity series? Or will it be limited to talking to the commanders?
Thank you for the kind words! Since the first game is one day, the troops are a defined quantity. In the sequel I have been trying to implement a dynamic system of experience, organization, and stamina. So different units should have different ability, ideally in a dynamic way.
Just a curioisty if you donāt mind.
Will ever be explained why Joseph Hooker always apppoint the Mc for commanding first Brigade? I mean I get that in some playtroguh at Bull Run the Mc perform well/very well, but in others he doesnāt.
Interesting and make sense, it also imply Congressman Mc has less connection than Hooker. Anyway thank you for the answer.
PS. I miss Willcox
From a writing perspective, I wanted the player to command a brigade because I think it will work better for the story, and allow them to have more impact on the story.
Canonically, I think he is appointing someone he hopes that he can control. To be fair, pretty much everybody screwed up at First Bull Run, so when the player gets the worst battle outcome itās not because they are just awful, itās because they didnāt shine any more than anyone else, and the whole army kind of blew it. The way I envision the character of Hooker is a sort of combination of smarmy political climber and an aggressive soldier. So, he wants friends in his orbit that he can control, but he also wants to win battles and generally do well. As for why he thinks the main character might be a good pick, I think heās just picking someone without much information because heās busy.
I donāt think itās in the demo, but Iāve been working on a part where you get letters from home and can reply to them. There is one from Willcox. Maybe I will do some work on it nowā¦
Sounds great! . I take it the stats will differ depending on our subordinates as well as player action?
Yeah, both have impact in what Iāve written so far. The complexity of what I designed has been pretty daunting in all honesty.
Im looking forward to seeing what ya put forth for us and i have faith in your ability to get it to work even if its currently daunting.
On another note i was wondering if you would be putting the new demo on cogdemos or some other place?
Thank you for your confidence! I am planning to put my demos up on cogdemos. Right now I am just heading out the door to go to work but Iāll try to do it soon.
I wish I could make a (minor suggestion).
At beggining of the game, Lum ask to Whitigton if he because of his connection, know about George B. McClellanlā s plan, and the major spill the bean. My suggestion would be that Lum would adress the Mc, when we pick the Politician Background, and then the Senator Mc either give the answer, refuse, or simply ask Whitigton to give him the answer, to test how much well connected is the major.
Of course as I already stated, thatās just a minor detail, and I apology if somoene already suggested it.