Noblemen: 1896 (Foursaken Media) - strategy + 3rd person cover based shooter

Not yet. Sign-ups are open until at least tomorrow - but we might extend it another few days bc of a lot more applications so far than we thought.

 

It is manual shoot. We do have an auto shoot option, similar to dead trigger though. We also have a "loose auto aim" option, which is something similar to World of Tanks, if you're familiar (in that, it will generally track enemy squads, but its up to you to fine tune your aim as necessary to get the best shots). In other words, it simplifies controls without really handicapping skill much, if at all.

There are a couple of hurdles for simplified control schemes in a game like this though, unfortunately (in terms of shooting mechanics at least - we have some simplified moving features, like an "auto cover" button which is just a single tap to run to cover that you're looking at), like tap to shoot. For one, the game has a lot of precision aiming (specific bits of armors are represented 1:1 - so a helmet for ex doesnt offer generic +armor stat, it actually offers protection to a units head) - this means you will be required to either shoot out the legs of some of the more heavily armored guys, get a lucky shot , use armor piercing ammo, or let armor piercing units do the dirty work. Likewise, Landship "Tanks" have separate armor for their wheels, Steam Carriages have an armored frontal shield and doors, etc

Another hurdle is that the bullets have traverse time and bullet drop - NYZ2 had fake shooting mechanics, where bullets instantly appeared where you were aiming. With real projectiles, it becomes a lot more difficult to predict where you're shooting at with a single tap.

But in general, combat is more about positioning yourself, and then shooting, not necessarily both at the same time. A big caveat is that when you're aiming in Noblemen, you cannot move. Although you can freely pop in and out of cover, combat often has similar mechanics to Epoch, where you're just worried about popping in and out of cover, and aiming. Note that enemies will flank you, etc, so you have to constantly be on your toes

 

Absolutely - your hero by default is as mortal as any other units (2-3 shots and he's dead); but he has a "saving grace" passive that allows him to not die once he reaches 1 hp for a time (this recharges over time) - basically gives you a short window to find cover and survive if you happen to get sniped by a cannon or something that would ordinarily blow you to bits - which we found to be quite annoying without some kind of minor 1-shot protection Armor (which you equip on a per game basis and has limited uses before breaking) offers huge bonuses though. With a high level armor card you could become a walking tank... for a few battles at least Armor costs resources though, so its a strategic decision whether you can equip them or not, and when.

They are 2 separate vehicles. The steam carriage is a faster vehicle with a single front mounted gatling gun, but it has a good portion of its hull just as ordinary wood - so you can shoot through it will small arms fire from the side. The Landship is a fully armored tank, impervious to small arms fire (you can shoot through the slits though, or have a VERY small chance of piercing the wheels or rear engine plating).

We'll have to think about how we want to handle video footage of the beta - the game will still have a lot missing in it like finalized special effects, etc. But it should be a pretty good state so we'll have more details about that once we launch the 1st round of beta builds.

 

You could, yes There are protect and follow commands.

 

Units have general roles mostly: basic, elite, armored, anti-infantry, anti-armor, melee, and cavalry. So snipers for ex are considered anti-infantry - they have long range, can suppress squads behind cover, and cause additional morale damage with each hit. Stuff like ninjas are not in But we do have some fictional units in there

Trenches wouldn't be impossible, but there are not any in the game. We actually mulled it over and wasn't quite what we were going for. Yes, there are headshots.

 

We got a ton of applications so it'll take a while to organize everything. We also need to make one last revision round to the tutorial, and I'm hoping we'll send out the first build to the first round of testers next week!

Basically, during a battle each side starts with 3 levels of morale - as you damage the other army, their morale starts to drop. Each lower level of morale, the army gets more adverse side effects. At level 1 morale, you can no longer give orders to your units, for ex. If an army gets to 0 morale, there is a mass retreat, opening up an opportunity for a quick finish. Once the battle is over, the team with the highest morale wins the battle. The difference in morale determines additional casualties (your armies are persistent per campaign level - so even if you lose a battle, it doesn't necessarily mean your army is dead).

Additionally, some weapons deal extra morale damage, like sniper rifles and cannons. There are also "sub levels" of morale for each squad. If they take heavy damage within a window of time, they will be forced into a retreat - all retreating units take a lot of extra damage so when you force a retreat, its a good time to push forward and mow down some squads. There is also suppression - with machine gun type weapons or if you focus fire 2 squads on someone, they will have a growing chance to be pinned behind cover; this is a key mechanic to avoiding some of the stronger melee units.

Finally, there are a bunch of morale offense and defense modifiers that can stack up on the strategic overworld and apply to the battle itself. Fighting in a forest, city or on your HQ, "digging in" on a tile for a few turns, and other stuff can all give different morale bonuses. A key part of the strategic element will be matching up the proper armies, managing morale modifiers, and managing army supply. Of course, the cool part is that you CAN still pull out a win against overwhelming odds bc you are actually playing the battles

There are "Iron Suites" already in the game, which are heavy armor suits. Its more of a practical suit than a steampunky suit though.

Multiplayer is something we hope to explore as a possible update.