Game News Zodiac Legion is an upcoming turn-based tactical RPG where you command an arcane chivalric order

[Infinitron]

Tags: Studio Draconis; Zodiac Legion

Zodiac Legion is an upcoming tactical RPG where you command an arcane chivalric order tasked with defending the realm against an undead threat. Codexers who have spent some time in the Workshop forum will be familiar with the game, which esteemed user Galdred has been working on since 2014. The idea of Zodiac Legion is basically fantasy X-COM, with features such as base building and research, destructible terrain, and also necromancy. Although many years in development, the game was formally revealed to the world yesterday during the first day of the Guerilla Collective event. The rather wordy gameplay reveal trailer should give you an idea of its breadth and complexity:

Zodiac Legion is a turn-based tactical RPG featuring lethal combat, squad management and strategic elements. Lead your heroes through daring raids and forgotten ruins, defend your land in a time of conquest and betrayal, and master the secrets of volatile ancient magic to restore a realm beset by the armies of undying fiendish sorcerers.

Features

• Lead your knights in turn-based tactical battles.
  
• Explore ancient ruins and places of power, thwart the plans of enemy lieutenants, forge alliances, and restore the Zodiac Order.
  
• Smash your way through fully destructible dungeons.
  
• Expand and strengthen your stronghold, research new spells and craft powerful artifacts.
• Reshape the terrain to your advantage.
  
• Develop Your Warriors into Mighty Champions.

As the Grandmaster of the Zodiac Order, it will be your duty to restore this knightly brotherhood and rally its champions under the banners of the thirteen Zodiac signs. You will manage your domain, take important diplomatic decisions and train your warriors in the arcane arts. Enemy armies will invade your borders, forcing you to dispatch your knights on missions resolved through turn-based, tactical battles. Their superhuman powers will tip the scales in the face of overwhelming odds, but beware: many will not survive the ordeal. Yet exploring the secrets of necromancy may reveal that a Zodiac Knight's duty need not end in death.

The work on Zodiac Legion began because we shared the vision of a game that would combine the tactical combat and strategic campaign of X-COM, with the fantasy aspects and dungeon crawling typical of most roleplaying games.

We decided to use the theme of the Zodiac because of its association with classical mythology, and due to its ties with distinct character archetypes, which served as the foundation of our class system. There are hundreds of distinct features and qualities attributed to the signs by astrology, which lends itself to a robust and interconnected system that has an impact on all the aspects of Zodiac Legion's gameplay and storytelling.
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Zodiac Legion will be launching on Early Access a year from now, so it'll be a while yet before players get their hands on it. In the meantime, we encourage you to follow the game's Steam page and official website.

 

[Pink Eye]

Looks like a good time. I'll have it wishlisted!

 

[Galdred]

Thank you for the news post, Infinitron !

Zodiac Legion will be launching on Early Access a year from now, so it'll be a while yet before we get our hands on it. In the meantime, we encourage you to follow the game's Steam page and official website.

You can also ask me whatever question you have!

 

[Thac0]

Thank you for the news post, Infinitron !
You can also ask me whatever question you have!

Given that you are a honored Steam dumpster diver and your recommendation has been proven great in many a niche rpg thread I have no real worries that this will be a good game, and I have wishlisted it already.

One thing I wonder, Age of Wonders is another tactical rpg hybrid with both field combat and traversable dungeons. I much prefer field battles and sieges to dungeon delving in that game, because the slower nature of tactical combat combined with the naturally slow speed of dungeon delving makes them just a tad tedious.
Do you have something in mind to make your dungeons faster, or are they more of a rare and grand thing that is meant to be taken slower?

Also I see that you can fight nonhumans like devils in your game aswell, can you also recruit a few friendly nonhumans into the squad?

 

[Pink Eye]

>You can also ask me whatever question you have!
What are the chances of seeing an unarmed specialist - like a monk - in this game?!

 

[Tomas]

Looks interesting, have wishlisted it.

 

[Galdred]

Given that you are a honored Steam dumpster diver and your recommendation has been proven great in many a niche rpg thread I have no real worries that this will be a good game, and I have wishlisted it already.

One thing I wonder, Age of Wonders is another tactical rpg hybrid with both field combat and traversable dungeons. I much prefer field battles and sieges to dungeon delving in that game, because the slower nature of tactical combat combined with the naturally slow speed of dungeon delving makes them just a tad tedious.
Do you have something in mind to make your dungeons faster, or are they more of a rare and grand thing that is meant to be taken slower?

Thank you!
Our dungeons are longer than in AoW indeed, but we focus more on the tactical part, and less on the strategic one.
That said, we try to give incentive to move fast (through enemy reinforcements, or better rewards), and split your party.
Also, characters have a relatively large move range (the standard is 5-6 tiles), and don't lose attack power after moving (while moving costs attacks in AoW).
Our dungeons are also less linear than in the early AoW (I haven't played the 3rd much, though): they feature larger rooms, and relatively less corridors.

Also I see that you can fight nonhumans like devils in your game aswell, can you also recruit a few friendly nonhumans into the squad?

In the trailer, one of the sequence is freeing a skeleton that was once part of the Zodiac Legion to fight once more.
We plan to give the player a few options to recruit nonhumans (or to have your soldiers get drafted a second time after their death), but probably not the devils.

>You can also ask me whatever question you have!
What are the chances of seeing an unarmed specialist - like a monk - in this game?!

Unfortunately, they are very slim, because it wouldn't fit with the starting state (of the order having become "regular knights" after centuries without magic), and it would require a new animation for all existing character pieces (because we use a complex paperdolling system).
However, adding non-humans unarmed fighters that would not use paperdolling system, and could be recruitable would be much easier (but a bit different).

 

[Pink Eye]

That's okay. Thanks for answering my question. I am still excited for your game. It looks very nice, love the animation work.

 

[Thac0]

but probably not the devils.

Nice.
It is not the devils I am interested in, it is TREE PEOPLE. Elves, Treants, Dwarves, Fairies and the like, Rampart and Sylvan have always been my favourite HOMM towns.
But I don't think tree people will be in giving the aesthetical direction of your game, so I will make due with skellies.

 

[Galdred]

but probably not the devils.

Nice.
It is not the devils I am interested in, it is TREE PEOPLE. Elves, Treants, Dwarves, Fairies and the like, Rampart and Sylvan have always been my favourite HOMM towns.
But I don't think tree people will be in giving the aesthetical direction of your game, so I will make due with skellies.

Actually, we were considering which creatures to add next. Elves and dwarves would be difficult, because they would need to use our paperdolling system (well, we could just add pointy ears to a human head and make it an elf, but that could seem a bit cheap, and would definitely be unfeasible for a dwarf).
Treemen could make sense actually (if they don't use armor and weapons!).

 

[Thac0]

Treemen could make sense actually (if they don't use armor and weapons!).

Imo they would make a great addition to the roster. Some scrawny dryad type tree people, some larger treants, both would mesh well with your dark fantasy aesthetic I think, and could add some fun thematic mechanics like regeneration, entanglement and weakness against fire.
Add some celtic druids to back them up, a Green Knight because that is my favourite Arthurian tale, and it would be a great thematic roster for a neutral but territorial woodland faction.

 

[Galdred]

Treemen could make sense actually (if they don't use armor and weapons!).

Imo they would make a great addition to the roster. Some scrawny dryad type tree people, some larger treants, both would mesh well with your dark fantasy aesthetic I think, and could add some fun thematic mechanics like regeneration, entanglement and weakness against fire.
Add some celtic druids to back them up, a Green Knight because that is my favourite Arthurian tale, and it would be a great thematic roster for a neutral but territorial woodland faction.

Both treeants and druids/nature casters would make sense indeed. However, mounted knights would be much more difficult to add (the hexes are big enough for them, but they would require a lot of extra assets and code), so they will probably end up as expansion or stretch goal if we make a kickstarter.

 

[Thac0]

Both treeants and druids/nature casters would make sense indeed. However, mounted knights would be much more difficult to add (the hexes are big enough for them, but they would require a lot of extra assets and code), so they will probably end up as expansion or stretch goal if we make a kickstarter.

Oh I'd take the Moss Giant design for the Green Knight aswell. That or just a dismounted version, mounted was just the first decent pic I found.

But I don't want to wishlist post too much, I am happy if any forest creatures make it in. The trope of the enchanted woodlands which are too old to care for the world and deny passage to good and evil alike is a favourite of mine.

 

[lightbane]

Wow, it's finally happening! And it's compatible with W7 to boot!

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

The game looks very lethal and decisive. Intriguing. That's rather absent from cRPGs. Care to talk about the base mechanics?

 

[Galdred]

The game looks very lethal and decisive. Intriguing. That's rather absent from cRPGs. Care to talk about the base mechanics?

Sure, on the tactical layer, characters have one move, and one attack action.

Test work as follow:
The active character rolls a lot of dice. His score is the number of dice that were less than his stat. He passes the check if this number is higher than the target number. In an opposed roll, the target number is the enemy stat.

Zone of controls are pretty important. There is no Attack of opportunity, but trying to move out of a ZoC will trigger an evasion check, and if failed, the move is interrupted, and the character becomes pinned. He cannot move for the turn anymore, and gets a DEF and ATT debuff.
Allies who are not in someone else's ZoC provide support against an opponent in attack and defense, so formations are important.
If a character is between 2 opponents, or surrounded by 3 opponents with all of the tiles around him in ZoC, he is considered flanked, and melee attacks against him will get a large ATT and Damage bonus.

Damage is determined by the weapon Damage score + character strength - (opponent armor - weapon penetration score)
Damage score and penetration depend on the margin of success (capped at +2). Critical hits happen when the margin of success is over the weapon critical rating. Each weapon also has a critical damage (and sometimes penetration) value.
A critical hit inflicts MaxDamage + critical Damage

Low level characters will usually die in 2-3 hits unless they have heavy armor, and flanking+support bonus can make a large number of lowly opponents dangerous in the open.
We would like to balance the missions so that casualties are frequent, especially characters that have no supernatural abilities.

 

[HoboForEternity]

wishlisted. checking all the right boxes so far

 

[santino27]

Wishlisted. Best of luck!

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

The game looks very lethal and decisive. Intriguing. That's rather absent from cRPGs. Care to talk about the base mechanics?

Sure, on the tactical layer, characters have one move, and one attack action.

Test work as follow:
The active character rolls a lot of dice. His score is the number of dice that were less than his stat. He passes the check if this number is higher than the target number. In an opposed roll, the target number is the enemy stat.

This alone, demonstrates you understand. I have no idea why cRPGs have stayed away from mult-idice systems that can simulate both magnitude and reliability in a single mechanic. You now have a new customer.

Damage is determined by the weapon Damage score + character strength - (opponent armor - weapon penetration score)
Damage score and penetration depend on the margin of success (capped at +2). Critical hits happen when the margin of success is over the weapon critical rating. Each weapon also has a critical damage (and sometimes penetration) value.
A critical hit inflicts MaxDamage + critical Damage

Low level characters will usually die in 2-3 hits unless they have heavy armor, and flanking+support bonus can make a large number of lowly opponents dangerous in the open.
We would like to balance the missions so that casualties are frequent, especially characters that have no supernatural abilities.

I don't normally compliment, but I'm so very pleased to meet someone who understands good RPG mechanics. I have a homebrew system with a great deal in common with what you've described here. It took a couple of years to develop it after researching just about every mechanic and PnP RPG under the sun. Now you're bringing something to life that appears to be very similar. Hell yes!


Now all I need is for you to confess that you are a Mage Supremacist, and that your spells are "balanced" through risk/reward mechanics, like backlash or similar.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

sweet, wishlisted

 

[Galdred]

Now all I need is for you to confess that you are a Mage Supremacist, and that your spells are "balanced" through risk/reward mechanics, like backlash or similar.

In the game, our classes are the 13 Zodiac classes. Characters without magic abilities use a classless system (so a bit like in Battle Brothers), and mostly improve their stats (but there are a few non magic powers or perks, like the infamous Blood Bowl Guardn that allows a character to retain its Zone of Control even when in someone else's).

So what makes a character a magic class is being attuned to one of the Zodiac signs by claiming a zodiac node.
It serves several purposes for us:

It makes losing characters not as bad (you just fred a zodiac node for someone else!), and the magic powers mostly depend on the "level" of the corresponding node (I am still not sure of making them places on the map vs MacGuffin to bring to your fortress).
I let us not balance magic classes vs anyone else.

Now, magic enhanced zodiac classes all come in several flavours. Some like Taurus focus on raw body enhancement. Other like Aquarius are more suited to the role of mage.
A mage will be on par with an arcane knight, but would wipe the floor with anyone not empowered.

Also, to make handling recruits easier, they don't pick skills until level 3 or so, but follow player defined template (name exemples would be : archer, knight, halberdier, scout).
You can strart customizing them at level 4, both in appearance (character templates will come with uniforms and a few uniform color schemes).

Spoiler

 

[Darth Roxor]

paging Goral, the website's chief connoisseur of chinese cartoons

 

[jac8awol]

Zodiac Legion? Sorry bro, I'm a Libra, not compatible with this game.


Just kidding, looks intriguing. I like the great value Sarevok narrator too!

 

[Infinitron]

Just kidding, looks intriguing. I like the great value Sarevok narrator too!

He sounds like a Sean Connery impersonator.

 

[jac8awol]

Just kidding, looks intriguing. I like the great value Sarevok narrator too!

He sounds like a Sean Connery impersonator.

Mayyyyyybe a 007 getting raped by James Earl Boner