More info for SpellForce 3! - 10 August 2015

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More info for SpellForce 3!

Information for SpellForce 3

General setting:
Will take place ~500 years before convocation => no islands, but continents => no portals.

Base building and economy:
More complex (even compared to SF1): There will be areas to conquer and control and you'll have to transport somehow raw materials and products from e.g. the mine (ore) to smelter (iron), onwards to blacksmith (weapons), then further to barracks where the things are given to units trained. Something like that (but not as complex as in e.g. the anno series).

Figthing/RTS:
- 3 playable races/factions: Humans, Elves, Orcs.
- Each race's army consists of 4 basic unit types (race specific but comparable): swordsmen, bowmen, spearmen, cavalry.
- additional race specific special units: e.g. human paladin, elven magician.
- And Titans of course.
- more emphasize on tactical battlefields and combined arms, need for tactical unit placement (e.g. you have to protect archers from being overthrown by cavalry; winning by sheer numbers shall no longer work)

RPG:
- Ava will be more customizable (If also different races to choose from is still unknown)
- Heroes/companions similar to SF2, they also level up and develop; have specific background to discover during campaign (like in Dragon Storm).
- You will meet known characters from previous games.
- Rumors have it that you may even have a young, future Circle's Magician as playable Hero/Companion!

Story and specific settings:
- story will start in Nortander.
- you will meet and "work" for different houses there in a Game-of-Thrones like story of intrigues and such
- Along with Player's character growing stronger the story evolves to more epic dimensions, e.g. exploring ruins from the Shapers and many more things not to be spoiled yet ...

Graphics, atmosphere, gameplay:
- more "adult", more "real" than SF1 and 2.
- deeper gameplay in every dimension
- 2 player co-op campaign!
- many multiplayer modes (like SF2 DotP)

Release:
- When it's done and bug free(!), probably end of next year.

Grimlore Games consists also of some guys from former Coreplay (done e.g. Jagged Alliance: Back in Action)
RTS battles will allow for up to 250 participants per side
Maps are divided into sectors similar to Company of Heroes or WH40k: Dawn of War.
Once enemies/mobs/creeps and their camps are defeated, the sector is part of your realm (borders of it are shown in map/game)
Now an outpost building of yours is built there (automatically or can be built, that's unclear to me) and you can recruit workers and other buildings as used to.
AI is managing your workers, you no longer direct them yourself, you just assign tasks.
similar to Age of Empires (and Warcraft 3 IIRC), you can ring alarm bell if sector is under attack; workers will be called to arms and defend the outpost then.
Campaign will be about 40 to 60 hours long
up to 20 buildings per faction
Resources: food, stone, wood for everybody, plus another one special resource per faction
Special unit to Orcs will be Shaman.
The caravans transporting resources and goods are visible on the map, so that they can be intercepted in order to weaken opponents economy
To prevent loss of carriages, you can built defensive towers along the route and assign troops to escorts.
(I'd say think of Sevenkeeps in Dragon Storm to visualize this )
This system of sectors shall work similar to board game (Settlers of) Catan to invite players to expand to many specialized sectors
Terrain will have tactical impact; e.g. arrows fired from a cliff down in a valley can inflict double or triple damage.
you can assign formations to your troops
Titans as used to: only one per player, very expensive.
Ava: choose from 8 different character classes
Gender, name and look customizable
You start with a single, class specific skill tree but may assign a secondary class later in game; Hybrids like e.g. "Paladin" (close combat and white magic) or black mage wielding bows are possible this way
You team up with NPC-companions who may leave you according to your decisions
they can be talked to and have their own personal quests
Though there won't be large morale dilemma like in Witcher 3 but you have to decide between different mission goals sometimes
Your actions influence future missions; e.g. if you upset an ally he might betray you and change sides next time.
This way your decision also influence the whole story but there will only be one same end sequence to the campaign
World map allows for non-linear expansion and to revisit known areas as used to.
World map, RTS and RPG will be even more interconnected; E.g.: you discover a shaper's ruin on the map while moving your army. Entering the dungeon of the ruins is RPG only, the army stays outside. You discover an artefact from the shapers, e.g. a might war hammer. Back on surface world you may give this item to a band of dwarves who are on a quest for this. They now join you which helps you with the quest you're currently on.
Another e.g.: You free additional workers from a maze which strengthens your future economy
RPG only parts will be with your party (like SF2), realtime fight with pause.
RPG is always connected with strategy map. E.g.: in a desert region you may farm food for your RTS-army only in rare oasis sectors. In a RPG dungeon you discover a water cavern which results in a new oasis on the surface strategic map.
Engine has been shifted from DX9 (last year's video) to DX11
In the dev's quest to make a more "adult" game, they soften the fantasy things for more "real", medieval setting, not only graphics wise but also in content. E.g. there won't be "chatter with dragons" like in SF2 and less stereotype "good vs evil" things but more shades of grey (in this respect, not what you think ); imagine something inspired by GoT again.
Multiplayer up to 6 players
They will create their own battle.net-like servers for multiplayer with anti-cheat and such.
The 2-player co-op campaign has already been considered while planning the campaign: While there won't be parallel 2-player setup (as in anno 1404: Venice), the 2nd player may control an allied faction that would otherwise be controlled by AI.
In battles the 2 co-op players decide, who's controlling whom in terms of NPC companions. Everybody still has his own Ava, of course.
There will be a new multiplayer mode: 4-player co-op dungeon system (diablo-like? not specified yet)
Grimlore already promised to enhance multiplayer after release with additional content.
In RPG Dungeons, there will also be puzzles to be solved, Traps to be disarmed and chests and such to be looted.