Fantasy Friday - Kingdom Wars

[Alex Walz]

FANTASY FRIDAY
Kingdom Wars
The SP Conquer-the-World Campaign

Take On The World

Kingdom Wars is an exclusively single-player Conquer-the-World style campaign mode with a mix of Skirmish and MMORTS gameplay elements to create a new, action-packed experience. This game mode takes the epic siege warfare, continuous army progression, army construction, and World Map from the massively multiplayer Online Kingdom mode and pairs it with an intelligent AI, while leaving out city construction, economic micromanagement, and story-driven quests to promote fast-paced action at every turn.

In Kingdom Wars, players start off with the ability to choose their kingdom name as well as their homecity, which can be any of the 12 main non-player strongholds of the game world. This town will automatically be under the player's control, making the quest for world domination one stronghold easier. In this mode, the player's economy is entirely automated, with the exception of the tasking of worker units to certain resources, and the constant trickle of resources players get from each of their strongholds can be used to train, heal, or upgrade units in a new, user-friendly menu within the actual World Map View, which serves as the default view for Kingdom Wars.

Another unique feature to Kingdom Wars is the improved diplomacy options. By sending a convoy to a neutral town, players can meet with that town’s lord or lady to forge powerful alliances, establish mutually beneficial trade routes, offer gifts of tribute to improve relations, or even declare war or abolish existing agreements! Allies and diplomacy should never be undervalued in Kingdom Wars. If a player feels overwhelmed by the number of enemy armies out to conquer their strongholds, they can seek a peace agreement – often at the expense of much tribute. Likewise, alliances are a cherished asset as the next time that enemy orc army is about to crush through your gate, an allied army just may be on the horizon to provide reinforcements!

From the beginning, players are presented with the choice of three epic quests: to unify their realm by conquering the three remaining major strongholds of their race, to take the other two realms by successfully sieging all eight of their towns, or to conquer the world by controlling all twelve strongholds. These tasks, however, are easier said than done. For not only will each of these massive strongholds put up a good fight, but they will be trying to take your strongholds just as you vie for control of theirs. For this reason, it is necessary for players to always either keep enough troops in each of their strongholds to fend off an attack or enough gold to pay off an invading army. Players are competing against the clock, meaning every second wasted brings an enemy army that much closer to one of your strongholds. Players must be able to act quickly and manage multiple towns, economies, and alliances without before the enemy has a chance to build up a large enough army.

Unlike in the Online Kingdom mode, players in this mode will gain control of any strongholds they conquer, as well as their automated economies. These towns will work just like the player’s original homecity and players will be able to train units of that stronghold's race - meaning that players do not have any set race and can wreak havoc on Mythador with Elven, Orc, and Human armies. Manage your workers by tasking resource gathering from the Town Selection menu on the World Map, while building up your towns time from time by spending your new resources to train new units and defenses, the latter of which can be built when a scout notifies you of an impending attack and the player is transported back to the RTS View. Spread out your troops to create several massive armies heading out in every direction or concentrate your troops and take things slow and build up relationships with other kingdoms – the choice is yours. If the player completes their chosen quest, they will reign supreme. If an enemy nation successfully sieges all of the player’s towns, the player will still be in the game for as long as they have an army to travel the World Map. If this happens, it is suggested that the player tries to recover by sieging one of the smaller towns or one of the miscellaneous AI homelands which dot the map.

The three great realms of Mythador await a unifying leader... Will you step up to the challenge?


More information on Kingdom Wars will be revealed shortly, including a new developer diary narrated gameplay video. So be sure to check back in a couple days and (re-)watch the Skirmish Dev Diary, both of which lead up to the upcoming showcase of Dawn of Fantasy's premier mode, the Online Kingdom!