Combat Testing and Apoc Castle Siege Mode

arsnn

With the new combat iteration coming soon™, but the Alpha 2 still far away, i think it´s worth revisiting the topic of the castle siege mode as a testing ground. I would hope there is some kind of spot testing pre-A2 for several system, the siege mode though would work well for testing combat changes.

So what are your expectations around this mode? What would you like to see ?
What was done well or didnt meet your expectations in the A1 siege mode?
Are there any other games that did well in some aspects?



I for myself would love to see a more crafted experience, where objectives, phases and their benefits become more transparent and it feel more like a tactical effort where everyone on your side follows a clear goal. (I know ... thats not very specific lol)
A1 for me rather felt like "let´s throw in some concepts on the map", but what mostly matterered for the players was to just run it down, again and again.

When it comes to phases and objectives i personally like how Chivalry 2 sets it up. Although i dont like their combat and the feeling of fast games of deathballs with no tactics involved, Chiv 2 does a good job at building up phases where objectives change and also connecting enviroments that change the way the game is played. It has good transition inbetween them , at the end you get to the the winning condition of conquering a castle.
From pushing battering rams to outer walls to destroy gates and pillaging gold of a city to advance to the next phase, to holding certain objectives for a certain time, it simply feels like a well defined experience.

I remember Steven also mentioned that they are looking into having some raids seperated from the main map, that have objectives that can change the state of the main map.
This could also work well with how Chivalry set up their phases. You could have several linear efforts , that converge together at the end into the main map.

Dygz

I'll have to look at some Chiv 2 Siege combat.

Goalid

arsnn wrote: »

With the new combat iteration coming soon™, but the Alpha 2 still far away, i think it´s worth revisiting the topic of the castle siege mode as a testing ground. I would hope there is some kind of spot testing pre-A2 for several system, the siege mode though would work well for testing combat changes.

So what are your expectations around this mode? What would you like to see ?
What was done well or didnt meet your expectations in the A1 siege mode?
Are there any other games that did well in some aspects?



I for myself would love to see a more crafted experience, where objectives, phases and their benefits become more transparent and it feel more like a tactical effort where everyone on your side follows a clear goal. (I know ... thats not very specific lol)
A1 for me rather felt like "let´s throw in some concepts on the map", but what mostly matterered for the players was to just run it down, again and again.

When it comes to phases and objectives i personally like how Chivalry 2 sets it up. Although i dont like their combat and the feeling of fast games of deathballs with no tactics involved, Chiv 2 does a good job at building up phases where objectives change and also connecting enviroments that change the way the game is played. It has good transition inbetween them , at the end you get to the the winning condition of conquering a castle.
From pushing battering rams to outer walls to destroy gates and pillaging gold of a city to advance to the next phase, to holding certain objectives for a certain time, it simply feels like a well defined experience.

I remember Steven also mentioned that they are looking into having some raids seperated from the main map, that have objectives that can change the state of the main map.
This could also work well with how Chivalry set up their phases. You could have several linear efforts , that converge together at the end into the main map.

Personally, I think that would feel so forced in terms of strategy. I want to be able to put the siege tower wherever I damn want to at any point of the siege.

arsnn

Goalid wrote: »

Personally, I think that would feel so forced in terms of strategy. I want to be able to put the siege tower wherever I damn want to at any point of the siege.

Thats a good point. How would implement siege weaponry as a strategic component?
Do you want to place the item out of your inventory right in front of the walls?
To reference alpha 1 siege weaponry was spawned at the base camp and rushed towards the walls. As soon as your team captured the spawnpoints that were closer to the castle wall, the weaponry was not contested for the entire travel time. The only strategy depth was to defended in front of the walls and respawn it when it got lost.

Also i dont think what i said goes against the player´s agency to spawn it whenever he wants, though he has to jump through extra loops in order to get it to the desired place instead of rushing it there, rinse and repeat.
The weaponry would become more of an objective in itself that you will have to defend through phases. You might have to hold a point in the forest where you build the weaponry, push it through a outpost that is contest with enemy spawns and build a temporary bridge to get it to the castle.