Change is coming...

Good question, it wasn't very clear in my initial post (more like, I didn't mention it), but only the first troop profiles will be available at first, you'll need to unlock them by leveling up your guild rank. For each faction, you'll have +/- 6 profles at first and 12 to unlock through the guild ranks 2-20.

Be very careful that this may be tricky, e.g., if one profile is much stronger/useful than another one and it is unlocked only at lvl 12+, many new players may quit because they'll loose too many games (and so couldn't lvl up!) against older players who have already unlocked it, bringing back the difficulty to maintain a new player base.

I have a few questions about the new introduced heroes: How many different heroes per faction will we be able to select/buy at the starting release? Will their aspect be different respect to base units or only their stats/abilities? Like the base units, could we choose between different stats for each hero or they will be available with only one type of stats/abilities set?

I'll only mention this one more time but having the VIP win condition in every scenario is a bad idea. As said it changes the flavor of the game away from an army game and it hampers strategic play and it means you'll be wasting a lot of time designing scenarios that just wont get used and unit profiles that just won't get looked at.

Mk1 Warmachine is your prime example here. In this system if your Hero dies its immediate game over. Come competitive play no matter what PP tried the players would just build assassination armies and ignore the scenarios. You've said it yourselves people will look for the most efficient builds.

You say it's unlikely to happen but it's already happening. We're all building list that will perform optimally for the scenario we have to play vs the faction we have to play.

So when they released the companion game Hordes they pretty much made the Hero's unkillable thus eliminating the problem for half the factions. What surprised the player base and but not PP was that people found the games much more interesting when they actually had to play to scenario.

Then came MK2 and suddenly the Warmachine hero's all got a huge buff and the scenarios were now desgined in a way that kept them safe. Assassination armies could still win but the chances were far slimmer. The problem though is the Hero's became monsters and many troops of the line became moba creeps compared to them.

I've more examples from other systems.

I suggest that if you are commited to this route do some competitive internal testing. Not "this is how we would like people to play" but. MIN Max armies for fast wins.

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People talked about progerssion beyond just the game. Id suggest you take it beyond just leveling you guild but have challenge maps, other unlockables, persistent injuries of both the negative and positive aspects.

Any spoilers about who these heroes are going to be?

It will come, be patient

So just to get things clear for me. Are Heroes going to be characters belonging to story of each of the races or no named archetypes such as mage hero?

@ MhBlis: reading from Dr. Ido messages it seems they want to create a "game mode combining 2 or more ways to win", so, if I understood correctly, killing the hero will get you 1/2 victory points but won't immediately end the game, you'll have to get other ones from either dominating different zones of the map (from KotH mode) or killing all the other minions or something like that.
We should wait to play a demo to better understand how effectively it works.

[Dr.Ido]

having the VIP win condition in every scenario is a bad idea.

We agree that there are some risks with this type of winning condition, and that's why we're spending a lot of time designing our game mode.

Are Heroes going to be characters belonging to story of each of the races or no named archetypes such as mage hero?

They'll be unique, named characters with background story.

if one profile is much stronger/useful than another one and it is unlocked only at lvl 12+, many new players may quit because they'll loose too many games

This is something that we need to balance of course. Unlocking new profiles should be interesting enough for players to want to level up BUT at the same time, they need to have easily access to many playable and useful profiles. We'll track the data and adjust accordingly if needed.

How many different heroes per faction will we be able to select/buy at the starting release? Will their aspect be different respect to base units or only their stats/abilities? Like the base units, could we choose between different stats for each hero or they will be available with only one type of stats/abilities set?

At the release you'll be able to buy 3 Heroes per faction. One of them will share its aspect with base unit, the other 2 won't. Each Hero will have a unique set of stats/abilities.

IMO thee problem with assasination armies can be dealt by changing auto-win for additional points for eliminating enemy hero first... So if you manage to kill enemy commander you get some additional points OR discipline penalty for example. While making real heroes it would be nice to bring discipline from faction to hero (with total +2 so army that lost its hero will have quite big drawback)... so Lions will no longer have 3+k6 but hero stat (4-6)+k6 while RAM heroec can have 1-3 (depending on hero) or something like that.

OMG! No idea how I missed this thread but it does sound great. Here hoping for the best.

@ MhBlis: reading from Dr. Ido messages it seems they want to create a "game mode combining 2 or more ways to win", so, if I understood correctly, killing the hero will get you 1/2 victory points but won't immediately end the game, you'll have to get other ones from either dominating different zones of the map (from KotH mode) or killing all the other minions or something like that.
We should wait to play a demo to better understand how effectively it works.

This is just one of the many ways to actually go through with it. Though Ido had repeatedly said in response that it was a combination of the three current modes.

Id take your idea further and actually combine it with Dragon Warriors. Have the win conditions:
- Score X number of points
- Eliminate enemy army

Now you can score points through controlling the zone/s and you get a bonus for killing the VIP.

And on the flip side when you lose your VIP you take some sort of penalty, ie lower you starting roll, -1 to every unit in the army, no more faction special.

Now the Hero really is VIP but it's not game breaking.You can further increase his import by making it that when the Hero controls the zone you get bonus points. A strategic choice. You can expose your VIP to danger for bonus points or you can keep them safe.

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Also from previous experience it would really be worth publishing the unit profiles that we start with in their entirety before release for the community to discuss. Don't need to show us the unlockable ones since they can be balanced from the feed back but the ones that everyone starts with really would help.

Players are likely to see working and undesired profiles without even having to play them. Further it would give you plenty of feedback for balance before the patch even goes live while you focus on mechanics making for less work for you. Lastly it would allow you to build starter sets for new players that would be functional and competitive.

Something like

Lion Scout.
The intention for this unit is to be a fast unit that is hard to hit. It will deal very little damage by itself but is great for flanking with your hitters.

Stat Block
XXXXX

Profile 1
Ability X
Ability Y
Ability Z

Profile 2
Ability X
Ability Y
Ability Z

Profile 3
Ability X
Ability Y
Ability Z

Now we have your intention of what the units function should be and can then tune it to match in all three profiles.

I'm left wondering though... Where is the progression going to be?

Good question, it wasn't very clear in my initial post (more like, I didn't mention it), but only the first troop profiles will be available at first, you'll need to unlock them by leveling up your guild rank. For each faction, you'll have +/- 6 profles at first and 12 to unlock through the guild ranks 2-20.

And then of course, you'll need to win Ducats to acquire the Heroes of course.

so in one month wi will have 3 factions 18 units each ?

and really think about adding discipline/command stat to heroes that can modify basic k6 roll at the start of each turn as long hero lives.

My only concern is connected with heroes.... While idea looks good and same as in Confrontation - im afraid of
"We expect to release approximately one Hero per month"
- becouse Confrontation didn't have many heroes in 50% of factions... and i really don't want to see new 'out of nowwhere' heroes like in facebook card game - killed by ridiculous manga style and easter egg heroes... I can live with some new faces but only if they will be keep in right convention.

+ 1 here

overall it looks like the first version of confrontation...which in a sense is good

but please no heroes out of nowhere....


toops and heroes should still gain experience for ex ..troops with enough exp could become heroes


or at least there should be a skilltree to customize individual troops



and why the hell "mid nor" the re a bad joke (drunes would have been much better in the first place)...why not my beloved griffins or alchemists; "mid nor"were not among the first factions released in the boardgame they should not be here either