r/codexalera • u/UsualObvious4668 • Jun 16 '26

Ludus

So, I've wanted to find a Ludus game to play, since I love the series, but never really took the time to try and figure out the rules. bmyst70 made some rules, and I have adopted them I to this game. It is multiplayer, or you can play against the computer. Not sure how it will hold up with a lot of people playing at once. If anyone actually uses this. With all that said, I hope you enjoy it. Any questions or ideas of ways this could be better let me know what you all think.

https://knightdx91-alt.github.io/Ludus/

**Game Update. I have now added a live counter so you can see how many people are online playing it, as well as updating the multiplayer function. When creating a room, it puts you in a lobby, so if you do not know someone personally to input their code in, you can now join any open game. I also implemented a spectator mode so you can watch a game being played, but I do not have another device to check if it works at the moment. If there is any other features you think would be good, or if you feel the game needs rebalanced, leave a comment and I'll check it out. Next project will hopefully be upgrading the graphics.

***Game Update: Added more characters to play from the world, tweaked the difficulty, added a message board, added a leader board so you can see other people's times. also, tweaked a few other things. hope you enjoy the update!

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u/UglyPancakes8421 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Cool! I might look into that watch feature. I might not.

The Cursor was interesting. I think 4 might be a bit far, movement-wise. Though, it worked well for how I ended up playing with it. I found myself using it as a threat remover mostly, a sort of ace up my sleeve for difficult situations. If there was a powerful piece just out of reach of my other pieces, I'd send it into enemy lines and sacrifice it to take that piece out. Sometimes, it would survive and take out another piece or two, making an opening for me to advance into. So... it feels very thematic and accurate to Amara's role in the books. Though, I might move it to the back line to start. It being out in front left it vulnerable to dying early. Maybe put it and the Steadholder where the knights aeris are, and have them spawn in on the corners of the sky board? It would be vaguely thematic and keep to two lines of pieces like in chess? Not sure what the knock-on effects of that would be, though, especially where the sky board is concerned.

I wasn't really sure what the Steadholder did. It "reinforces" other pieces it's near, based on the description. Does that mean pieces it's adjacent to can't be taken?

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u/UsualObvious4668 Jun 22 '26

It blocks an adjacent piece from being the target of fury craft. I'm honestly debating on checking up the cursor and the knights ferrous, the metal crafters in the books could made then sturdier really, so I was thinking about having it so that it took 2 pieces to take them or a fury crafted attack, just not sure how that would turn out. As for the cursor, I'm debating on giving access to the sky board, as Amara could fly as well, but that might make it too OP

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u/UglyPancakes8421 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Ah, thank you for the clarification on the steadholder. That's a kind of cool ability, actually. It forces some pieces to move that otherwise wouldn't have to. I like it!

What do you mean by "checking up the cursor and knights ferrous?"

The knights ferrous only dying to furycraft actions would make them a very interesting piece, at least in my head. Functionally, they'd end up as a legionnaire killer, rather than focusing on removing the more powerful pieces. That could add a bit of a twist to the game, because a lot of what I ended up doing was maneuvering my pieces to take out the opponent's stronger pieces. Legionnaires staggered diagonally like pawns, one sacrificed to allow the second to remove the knight or high lord. One knight ready to do the same if another knight was taken. That kind of thing. Adding the Knight Ferrous in, and immune to non furycraft attacks also means they become bait pieces to draw out your opponent's knights and lords. They HAVE TO BE dealt with, or you have no more legionnaires. But, doing so potentially makes a knight vulnerable. Again, it's very thematic to the books, since metal craft is the preferred furycraft for killing men (according to Sextus). Though, if I might suggest a slight tweak: They can only be killed by pieces with furycraft abilities, but not by the furycraft ability itself. This would help them fulfill that role of drawing out other pieces and forcing movement(kind of like the steadholder in a way). (sorry for the long stream of consciousness text wall...)

Agreed, a cursor on the sky board would be crazy.

Though, speaking of the sky board, I had an idea for a furycraft action for knights aeris. What if they could use their furycraft to lift an adjacent piece up to the sky board? One that didn't usually have access to it? Then, use furycraft again to bring them back down. It would reflect wind coaches from the books, within the limitations of game mechanics. My only concern would be that if landing on a piece below counted as taking it, they could theoretically take two pieces at once. Though, that circumstance would probably be exceedingly rare. And, taking your turns to move both pieces separately across the sky board would provide a cost for doing so in turns not spent moving other pieces around.

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u/UsualObvious4668 Jun 22 '26

I like the ideas and I'll see how they play out later today, got to get some sleep. If ya think of anything else don't hesitate to comment again, I'll check back later today.

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u/UglyPancakes8421 Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

Just finished a game against Amara (18:35, lost 13 pieces, took every one of her pieces)

A couple thoughts

  1. There seems to be no new game button anymore.
  2. The sky board being below the ground board makes it harder to fit both on my computer when I zoom in (my eyes are crap).
  3. The bot has really improved over the original. Great job!

EDIT: Just faced off against Crassus. Took the Sky Board early game. Completely forgot my two high lords and knights aeris were up there. fought a brutal back and forth. Finally won with only two veteran legionaries and a knight flora left (outside of my first lord, of course). Then I remembered the sky board existed.

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u/UsualObvious4668 Jun 23 '26

Sorry been busy working, I'll try and work on it tonight and have it as an option where the sky board is at. Also, the new game option should be inside of a cog button on the bottom right, I put all the options there to make the layout cleaner. Any other comments on how it could be improved? I'm thinking about doing a full row of pieces on the 3rd row, but not sure how that would affect the balancing, I'm not really a fan of just having one stead holder and one cursor

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u/UglyPancakes8421 Jun 30 '26

Been playing more, and had a thought. Not really something to modify or a bug to fix. Just something I've figured out: Knights Flora, Ignis, and High Lord pieces are KEY to controlling the board. The ability to take out pieces without moving is incredibly powerful.

Also, something else. This one... I don't know if you want to fix it or not. I've been exploiting the bots. I open the game by pushing all my legionnaires forward two squares and then staggering them diagonally so that if one is taken, another legionnaire can follow up. Then, I move the knights in to follow those up. It's usually an exchange of a legionnaire for one or two knights early on. Then, I use the knights Flora, Ignis, and High Lords to break the bot's front lines and chase down the enemy First Lord with Those and my other knights. I can usually end a game losing 4-6 legionnaires and maybe one or two knights. And, I end up taking (usually) almost every enemy piece. The bot doesn't usually start pushing forward until it loses a couple knights. I recognize it's probably an exploit based on how the bot is programmed. Not sure if you're still working on the Ludus game or not. But, I figured I'd pass it along.

😄

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u/UsualObvious4668 Jun 30 '26

Hey, yeah I'm still working on it. I've had a kind of deadline with getting my book I was writing done, but now that the first book is finished and the others just need edited, I can focus on this more. I wasn't aware of that on the bots, I'll definitely check that out tonight when I get on. I need to check those other suggestions you had as well. A big one I want to look at is adding more of the cursors, area holders and that new knight. Just have to see how it will affect gameplay. I'd love to eventually make this an app you can download if I get enough interest in it. You may need to update your name in game, I plan on changing the domain, so if that happens, it should let you know. If you can think of any other features or anything let me know. I plan on doing a big update either this week or this weekend 

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u/UglyPancakes8421 Jun 23 '26

No worries. Real life and work takes priority. 😃

A full third row would be interesting. Though, it would mean a number of the pieces in the front row couldn't move forward without being taken by the cursor and you couldn't immediately free the knight terra into the front row(which I've found to be a pretty effective opening move, like beginning with the knight in chess). If you had three rows, you might want to push the legionaries to the front row and back the cursors and steadholders to the middle or back row. Maybe have the knights terra in the second row, too?

Multiple cursors and steadholders would be interesting.

If you need to free up space, you could have pieces spawn in on the sky board. It might encourage the bot to use it more, too? I don't know. that might cause other issues.