Rosstin
2013-11-17, 01:53 PM
I'm the battle designer for a medieval fantasy visual novel (https://www.facebook.com/QueenAtArms). Right now I'm designing the first battle in the game and I want it to be as realistic as possible.
There are two nations, Orthera and Sylgard, on a frigid Britain-sized continent. A decade ago there was a war between Orthera and a smaller nation of military zealots, Montecrist, which defeated Orthera and took it over, assuming its name. Since then, Orthera and Sylgard have been at peace. Orthera regards Sylgard as one of its states, and Sylgard tolerates this rather than get into a fight. Although recently the Ortheran King has been conscripting many men from both Sylgard and his own nation, ostensibly for an attack on Panservoy, a nation across the sea.
Orthera and Sylgard have similar tech levels. They both have horses, longbows, swords, pikes, and other polearms. There's a little bit of magic in the setting, but it's very weak and very rare so it's rarely relevant.
Sylgard executes a sneak attack on the Ortheran capital, with their troops disguised as Ortheran troops (using decade-old uniforms that look "close enough" until you get up close.)
Here's a rough sketch of the battle map I'm working on. The Ortheran Castle is on the upper left. The Ortheran Capital is surrounded by a wall with a (currently) open gate. The tavern is on the left, next to a bell tower and some houses. The Ortheran War Camp is outside the gate in the bottom left. In the upper right is an old, ruined keep.
http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee493/rosstin2011february/b1map_600_zps69a06fe2.png
The Sylgardian Longbowmen (disguised with old Ortheran uniforms from 10 years ago) attack the Ortheran troops coming out of the tavern at 3am from the belltower. It starts to snow and they retreat towards the ruined keep. A small group of quick-thinking Ortheran scouts grab horses and chase after them, following them to the ruined keep. The Sylgardians have built a huge pyre at the top of the keep to taunt the Ortherans, and one of their wizards was trying to create terrifying illusions of demons and other bogies to scare the Ortherans. However, the snowstorm has obscured all vision and this plan isn't working at all.
The Ortherans from the tavern raise the alarm, rush to the warcamp and arm themselves. The Ortheran scouts come back and report that the enemy has retreated into the keep. The Ortheran pikemen advance towards the keep. As they get close to the keep, the Sylgardian longbowmen try to hail them with arrows, but the Ortherans were smart enough to bring a line of shieldbearers to block the arrows. The Sylgardian knights charge down on the Ortheran pikemen with their horses, but the pikemen are well-trained enough to repel the horses. The Ortheran's own longbowmen have arrived, and hail down arrows on the Sylgard knights, causing their horses to panic and forcing them to retreat. The Sylgardian longbowmen have mostly run out of arrows and have come down to fight the Ortheran pikemen line. Later the Sylgard knights are able to regroup and cut through part of the Orth pikemen's line.
At this point the Sylgardians have caused a lot of damage and confusion already and are considering retreating. The Ortherans are totally confused. They don't know who their enemy is and their morale is low. Some of their important people are dead, and their crazy Commander is fighting on the front lines instead of commanding them.
At this point, the MC has reached the Commander's location. She realizes that he's kind of crazy. The Commander wants the remaining Ortheran army to charge the ruined keep and just attack it blindly. I need to figure out what the MC's strategic options are, that the player will be able to make for the army, and what kind of outcome those options might have.
If the Ortherans charge the keep, they will be killed by the mounted Sylgardian knights. (game over)
If the Ortherans retreat to the safety of the castle town, they may lose some of their troops to the Sylgardian knights (if the Sylgardians are still gutsy enough to chase them... they have also suffered some losses and met their goal for the battle.) The Sylgardians may also be able to loot their warcamp. However any Sylgardians who follow them into the castle town will be killed, as the location is very well illuminated and there are more troops there.
Perhaps the Ortherans could also retreat to the warcamp? I'm not sure what fortifications the warcamp would have. We could also put the warcamp inside the gates if we want this to be more simple.
What other kinds of strategies would be interesting/foolish work/not?
Thanks for any/all help! I know this is a huge mouthful. I have a build of the game and the game script as well, if anyone is interested in playing it and seeing how it looks from that perspective.
There are two nations, Orthera and Sylgard, on a frigid Britain-sized continent. A decade ago there was a war between Orthera and a smaller nation of military zealots, Montecrist, which defeated Orthera and took it over, assuming its name. Since then, Orthera and Sylgard have been at peace. Orthera regards Sylgard as one of its states, and Sylgard tolerates this rather than get into a fight. Although recently the Ortheran King has been conscripting many men from both Sylgard and his own nation, ostensibly for an attack on Panservoy, a nation across the sea.
Orthera and Sylgard have similar tech levels. They both have horses, longbows, swords, pikes, and other polearms. There's a little bit of magic in the setting, but it's very weak and very rare so it's rarely relevant.
Sylgard executes a sneak attack on the Ortheran capital, with their troops disguised as Ortheran troops (using decade-old uniforms that look "close enough" until you get up close.)
Here's a rough sketch of the battle map I'm working on. The Ortheran Castle is on the upper left. The Ortheran Capital is surrounded by a wall with a (currently) open gate. The tavern is on the left, next to a bell tower and some houses. The Ortheran War Camp is outside the gate in the bottom left. In the upper right is an old, ruined keep.
http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee493/rosstin2011february/b1map_600_zps69a06fe2.png
The Sylgardian Longbowmen (disguised with old Ortheran uniforms from 10 years ago) attack the Ortheran troops coming out of the tavern at 3am from the belltower. It starts to snow and they retreat towards the ruined keep. A small group of quick-thinking Ortheran scouts grab horses and chase after them, following them to the ruined keep. The Sylgardians have built a huge pyre at the top of the keep to taunt the Ortherans, and one of their wizards was trying to create terrifying illusions of demons and other bogies to scare the Ortherans. However, the snowstorm has obscured all vision and this plan isn't working at all.
The Ortherans from the tavern raise the alarm, rush to the warcamp and arm themselves. The Ortheran scouts come back and report that the enemy has retreated into the keep. The Ortheran pikemen advance towards the keep. As they get close to the keep, the Sylgardian longbowmen try to hail them with arrows, but the Ortherans were smart enough to bring a line of shieldbearers to block the arrows. The Sylgardian knights charge down on the Ortheran pikemen with their horses, but the pikemen are well-trained enough to repel the horses. The Ortheran's own longbowmen have arrived, and hail down arrows on the Sylgard knights, causing their horses to panic and forcing them to retreat. The Sylgardian longbowmen have mostly run out of arrows and have come down to fight the Ortheran pikemen line. Later the Sylgard knights are able to regroup and cut through part of the Orth pikemen's line.
At this point the Sylgardians have caused a lot of damage and confusion already and are considering retreating. The Ortherans are totally confused. They don't know who their enemy is and their morale is low. Some of their important people are dead, and their crazy Commander is fighting on the front lines instead of commanding them.
At this point, the MC has reached the Commander's location. She realizes that he's kind of crazy. The Commander wants the remaining Ortheran army to charge the ruined keep and just attack it blindly. I need to figure out what the MC's strategic options are, that the player will be able to make for the army, and what kind of outcome those options might have.
If the Ortherans charge the keep, they will be killed by the mounted Sylgardian knights. (game over)
If the Ortherans retreat to the safety of the castle town, they may lose some of their troops to the Sylgardian knights (if the Sylgardians are still gutsy enough to chase them... they have also suffered some losses and met their goal for the battle.) The Sylgardians may also be able to loot their warcamp. However any Sylgardians who follow them into the castle town will be killed, as the location is very well illuminated and there are more troops there.
Perhaps the Ortherans could also retreat to the warcamp? I'm not sure what fortifications the warcamp would have. We could also put the warcamp inside the gates if we want this to be more simple.
What other kinds of strategies would be interesting/foolish work/not?
Thanks for any/all help! I know this is a huge mouthful. I have a build of the game and the game script as well, if anyone is interested in playing it and seeing how it looks from that perspective.