Turn-Based Tactics Warbanners - turn-based tactics from the developers of Drums of War

[CryptRat]

The demo of Drums of war made me buy the game.
If the beginning of Warbanners is as engaging as the beginning of Drums of war, just make the demo with the beginning of the game (with the 3 or 4 first battles) again and it'll be fine, or so I guess.

 

[Vlad_Konung]

The demo of Drums of war made me buy the game.
If the beginning of Warbanners is as engaging as the beginning of Drums of war, just make the demo with the beginning of the game (with the 3 or 4 first battles) again and it'll be fine, or so I guess.

Thanks, One of these days I will lay out a demo.

Warbanners promo art:

 

[Trash]

Fantasy mercenary turn based strategy game? Wow. I never thought I would see another like it after Dogs of War and later Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat. Now we got the amazing Battle Brothers and this in development. Will keep an eye on it.

 

[rezaf]

I still think the contrast is a wee bit of an issue. How about allowing a hotkey to be pressed which then colors the underlying tiles in a base color (for example green for your units and red for enemies)?
Other than that, it looks nice so far.

 

[Vlad_Konung]

In April there will be a beta-version Warbanners with 3 missions. If you are a youtubers or a journalist - send me a PM and I will send you an extended beta version with 9 missions.

Based on the results of the demo version, I will think about how improve the visual part.

 

[Mustawd]

Pope Amole II
Ludo Lense sstacks fluent

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

I'll look more into this later, but just wanted to say that I really like the art style. I like how it's different than other modern games, and the small characters remind me of an older RPG but I can't put my finger on it. Also gives an initial Heroes of Might & Magic vibe with the visuals as well.

 

[CryptRat]

the small characters remind me of an older RPG but I can't put my finger on it.

Rage of mages, maybe?

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Fantasy General?

 

[Vlad_Konung]

eh... Fantasy General, Rage of mages, Dark omen... My favorite games. Especially Dark omen.

 

[Vlad_Konung]

Warbanners demo-version out now:

https://vlad-konung.itch.io/warbanners

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

I've so far played 2 missions from the demo.
-First level is pretty basic fight against orcs.
-2nd level is a night fight against undead. Nice tutorial about lightning level management.
-Liquid fire seems to work slightly differently from Drums of War.
-Morale seems to work differently from Drums of War. It's now more steady gain or loss depending on hits taken, succeeding in attacks etc. No more units running in terror from random attacks.
-Stamina is a new mechanic in this compared to Drums of War. It might turn this into "stun lock units" -the game.
-Unit/background contrast is a bit of an issue. Ghouls in between trees might escape players notice.

 

[Vlad_Konung]

I've so far played 2 missions from the demo.
-First level is pretty basic fight against orcs.
-2nd level is a night fight against undead. Nice tutorial about lightning level management.
-Liquid fire seems to work slightly differently from Drums of War.
-Morale seems to work differently from Drums of War. It's now more steady gain or loss depending on hits taken, succeeding in attacks etc. No more units running in terror from random attacks.
-Stamina is a new mechanic in this compared to Drums of War. It might turn this into "stun lock units" -the game.
-Unit/background contrast is a bit of an issue. Ghouls in between trees might escape players notice.

Thanks. All right.
"Unit / background contrast" - Over this we will still think. Maybe you're just not used to it.

 

[Serus]

I played this demo/beta thing. The combat "feels" weird, its too... fluid, formless... i dunno. Probably because units lack any kind of Zone of Control. It doesn;t have to be a hard one (no one can leave it ever) but lack of even a basic and relatively weak/inaccurate attack of opportunity is a strange design decision to me. Otherwise combat looks ok. I liked the use of fire as light source in 2nd battle.
Interface needs some work - at the very least i'd like to see the actual values of your units stats on the battlefield (with modifiers) not just the base stats.
In other news: with the structure of campaign (scripted battles, possibly some branching) as the game seems to aim for i predict serious balance problems - same as games where all your units gain experience and are taken through the whole campaign (think Panzer General series for exemple). You either lose too many units that started to gain exp early and the game becomes really hard later or you don't lose anything and you came ahead of difficulty curve and later game becomes trivial.

I liked it so far, and mentioned issues are not unsolvable.

 

[CryptRat]

In other news with the structure of campaign (scripted battles, possibly some branching) as the game seems to aim for i predict serious balance problems - same as games where all your units gain experience and are taken through the whole campaing (think Panzer General series for exemple). You either lose too many units that started to gain exp and the game becomes really hard later or you don't lose anything and you came ahead of difficulty curve and later game becomes trivial.

I think there's no such problem because there's no permadeath in default difficulty (and even in hard one) so you'll always be able to resurrect all your lost units as long as you've only lost 2 or 3 of them ; I think in Drums of war you even gain a little more gold when you lose more units (not enough to totally compensate the loss which would obviously be stupid) ; you'll often reload because one battle turns into a disaster but you'll eventually always keep all your units from one battle to the next.

 

[Vlad_Konung]

I played this demo/beta thing. The combat "feels" weird, its too... fluid, formless... i dunno. Probably because units lack any kind of Zone of Control. It doesn;t have to be a hard one (no one can leave it ever) but lack of even a basic and relatively weak/inaccurate attack of opportunity is a strange design decision to me. Otherwise combat looks ok. I liked fire as light source.
Interface needs some work - at the very least i'd like to see the actual values of your units stats on the battlefield (with modifiers) not just the base stats.
In other news: with the structure of campaign (scripted battles, possibly some branching) as the game seems to aim for i predict serious balance problems - same as games where all your units gain experience and are taken through the whole campaign (think Panzer General series for exemple). You either lose too many units that started to gain exp early and the game becomes really hard later or you don't lose anything and you came ahead of difficulty curve and later game becomes trivial.

I liked it so far, and mentioned issues are not unsolvable.

Hm... Maybe only show the value of characteristics with modifiers? Do not show the basic value?

Zone of Control is at all! This is an important part of mechanics. Attack of opportunity lacking - this is my decision.

Balance, I think, we will find. At all levels of difficulty, except the nightmare, it is possible to raise the units. Small losses are permissible.

 

[Vlad_Konung]

In other news with the structure of campaign (scripted battles, possibly some branching) as the game seems to aim for i predict serious balance problems - same as games where all your units gain experience and are taken through the whole campaing (think Panzer General series for exemple). You either lose too many units that started to gain exp and the game becomes really hard later or you don't lose anything and you came ahead of difficulty curve and later game becomes trivial.

I think there's no such problem because there's no permadeath in default difficulty (and even in hard one) so you'll always be able to resurrect all your lost units as long as you've only lost 2 or 3 of them ; I think in Drums of war you even gain a little more gold when you lose more units (not enough to totally compensate the loss which would obviously be stupid) ; you'll often reload because one battle turns into a disaster but you'll eventually always keep all your units from one battle to the next.

Yes, in Drums of war you gain a little more gold when you lose more units In Warbanners this is not. But if the players will demand, I will add.

 

[Vlad_Konung]

Probably, in battle I will show only the values of characteristics with regard to modifiers (fatigue, blessing, being in water, etc.).
Nominal values will be displayed in the pop-up window when you hover the cursor.

 

[Lagi]

My help is mess up. CHeck cursor position and "contorl in battle" highlight.
My res: 1366x768 can some body else confirm the issue?

Spoiler

Game mechanics are very well crafted. I enjoy it a lot.
- melee combat is very well embrace. showing back to enemy make unit easier to hit. spare AP go to stamina/ evasion. only 1 attack per turn. More terrain modificators (covers or hinderments) would be welcome though.
- range combat lack any penalties from cover. Cherry picking targets from with long range is cheap.
- many conditions (stun, morale+-, stamina +-, bleeding, bless, light/darkness)
- environment interaction seems worse, than in Drums of War, but maybe it improve with next missions.
- attack reduce enemy ActionPoints, that's way its very often viable to not target always lowest HP unit.
- potions - allow you to give single use special skill to any unit. This create interesting possibilities. Potions are incomparably better balance than n DrumofWar
- nice unit skills. Every unit is interesting. Even Peasant can create "earth structures". Unfortunately mostly enemies has the cool offensive melee skiills - push, stun, multi hex hit variants (known from Drums of war)
- amount of HP is big enough to make space for buff/debuff play (low HP, and quick kill is thing I didnt like in Darkest Dungeon f.ex)
- AI tries to escape from danger, and use skill/potions reasonably - I dont thing lock in melee to be a good mechanic to implement here.

 

[Vlad_Konung]

My help is mess up. CHeck cursor position and "contorl in battle" highlight.
Game mechanics are very well crafted. I enjoy it a lot.
- melee combat is very well embrace. showing back to enemy make unit easier to hit. spare AP go to stamina/ evasion. only 1 attack per turn. More terrain modificators (covers or hinderments) would be welcome though.
- range combat lack any penalties from cover. Cherry picking targets from with long range is cheap.
- many conditions (stun, morale+-, stamina +-, bleeding, bless, light/darkness)
- environment interaction seems worse, than in Drums of War, but maybe it improve with next missions.
- attack reduce enemy ActionPoints, that's way its very often viable to not target always lowest HP unit.
- potions - allow you to give single use special skill to any unit. This create interesting possibilities. Potions are incomparably better balance than n DrumofWar
- nice unit skills. Every unit is interesting. Even Peasant can create "earth structures". Unfortunately mostly enemies has the cool offensive melee skiills - push, stun, multi hex hit variants (known from Drums of war)
- amount of HP is big enough to make space for buff/debuff play (low HP, and quick kill is thing I didnt like in Darkest Dungeon f.ex)
- AI tries to escape from danger, and use skill/potions reasonably - I dont thing lock in melee to be a good mechanic to implement here.

Thank you! Yes, I remember the problem. And I'll think of something.

Which screen is better?

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Lagi]

I'm against littering game with expendable UI elements (like circle under units above). Maybe its seems helpful, but the more it you put into the game the more "Japanese TV show" or "free MMO" esthetic you receive.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Houses and bigger trees obscure hexes above.
Caused me to almost ignore one ghoul in the 2nd level.

 

[Vlad_Konung]

Perhaps, I will make circles under the units optional. Most are for circles, but a tangible amount against.

 

[Lagi]

Houses and bigger trees obscure hexes above.
Caused me to almost ignore one ghoul in the 2nd level.

Agree, i encounter this issue myself. Isn't better solution to make high obstacles, half transparent if any unit come under it?

I play without the grid, cause of esthetic and its not a problem at all, because move range create the grid. Unit half frame is even more exhibit, all the need information are clear (unit facing). Circles under unit, will not add anything into the game other than cluttering it.

Besides most post here are about visuals. The hell? I expect something like grognards rage, about how much this game is for filthy casuals. Or how poor is the quality of writing that nobody read.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]