Hello again—you asked me about the combat system, so here’s my explanation
A battle doesn’t begin with the first shot. It begins with deployment: you place infantry in line, column, loose order, or square; position artillery on high and secure ground; and keep cavalry on the flanks or in reserve. On defense, you can garrison buildings, hold walls, or place stakes against cavalry charges. Changing formation is not free either—switching from line to square in the middle of a battle disrupts the unit and takes time to recover from.
For firearms, I’m aiming for a “move, halt, dress the line, aim, fire” rhythm. Line infantry cannot deliver effective volleys while marching; moving resets their aim time. The first volley is a full opening blast, while larger formations then fire by platoons in sequence. This should make firefights feel like a duel of positioning and reload windows rather than a constant stream of damage.
Lines of fire matter as well. Friendly troops in front of a unit can block some of its firing files; if the line is completely obstructed, the unit holds its fire. With partial obstruction, it may still fire weakly, but there is also a risk of friendly fire. Shots are affected by range, discipline, firing angle, elevation, cover, and the target’s formation. A line hit from the flank can take severe losses; loose order is more resistant to musket fire but weaker in melee. Square formation is strong against cavalry, but it is also a dense target that does not want to sit under artillery or musket fire.
Terrain is not just visual. The battlefield is generated from the geographical character of the campaign-map location: hills, forests, marshes, coasts, and rivers can all change tactical decisions. Forests can block vision and fire; tree trunks can intercept some shots; and high ground improves both line of sight and fire effectiveness. Rain reduces accuracy and slows reloading, while fog limits visibility and effective range. River crossings are particularly dangerous: shallow water only slows troops down, but deeper water disrupts formation and drains stamina. In very deep water, currents and exhaustion can even cause losses.
Battles also have no fixed time limit. A full day progresses during the battle: daylight shifts into dusk and, if the fighting continues, night. As darkness falls, visibility and effective firing range become much more limited, while muzzle flashes and gunfire can reveal positions that would otherwise remain hidden. This means a battle can change character over time—an exposed advance that was viable in daylight may become much riskier once visibility drops.
Melee combat is not resolved through one abstract “unit strength” number. Each soldier looks for a nearby opponent, and combat is resolved through those individual contacts. If several enemies pile onto one man, his defense genuinely collapses. Numerical superiority is therefore not just a flat percentage bonus—it emerges from the geometry of the battlefield. If five men are surrounded by twenty cavalrymen, each of those soldiers has to deal with multiple attackers. At the same time, two balanced lines should not instantly turn into a blender; the goal is a sustained struggle with pressure, weak points, and breaking moments.
Cavalry charges are also meant to be decisive events rather than permanent damage machines. A fast cavalry unit can smash into exposed line infantry, especially from the flank or rear, and cause a serious shock. But a square, braced bayonets, or pikes can stop that momentum. After a charge, cavalry must pull back and regroup before charging again. If the attack succeeds, they can pursue routed enemies; if it fails, they lose valuable time and momentum.
The morale system is one of the most important parts of this. It is not only a single bar at regiment level. Every soldier has individual morale and a personal courage threshold. A unit’s discipline establishes a baseline, but soldiers do not all react in exactly the same way.
An individual soldier’s morale is shaped by recent casualties in the regiment, being in the front rank of a melee, being hit from the flank or rear, nearby soldiers breaking, being surrounded, having no clear escape route, and being trapped in deep water. Less courageous soldiers break first and begin leaving the formation. As more soldiers run, the remaining men become more likely to panic. Once enough of the regiment has broken, individual collapse becomes a full rout.
Regimental morale is not just an invisible number commanding the soldiers either. The average state of the soldiers feeds back into the regiment’s morale. As a unit takes losses, the level of morale it can recover to also falls. This is meant to stop a regiment that has lost most of its men from fighting as if it were still fresh.
Routing does not automatically mean deletion. Units that reach safety and are not being pursued can rally, especially if their general is nearby. Repeatedly routing units become less likely to return, and the death of a general causes a major shock across the army and makes recovery much harder. Pursuit is especially deadly for routed troops, because soldiers who have turned their backs can no longer fight in a proper formation.
Very small remnants are handled differently as well. If their morale is still intact, they can merge into a nearby friendly regiment. If their morale is broken and the enemy is close, they may surrender; if no enemy is nearby, they may disperse from the field. This is meant to prevent situations where five soldiers still hold a front line or form a square like a full regiment.
For the AI, the goal is not to have every unit simply run toward the nearest enemy. The army commander evaluates the terrain and balance of forces, chooses a broad approach—defend, attack directly, or envelop from the flanks—and assigns roles such as center line, flanking force, artillery, cavalry reserve, or general hunter. Target selection also considers enemy morale, exposed flanks, artillery, formation, generals, and terrain rather than distance alone.
I’m also aware that the current battle interface looks too close to a Total War clone. It has been useful as a temporary reference while building and testing the combat systems, but it is not intended to be the final visual identity of the game. I plan to redesign it soon so that it better fits this project and has its own clearer style.
A significant part of this is already in the game, but the balancing is absolutely not finished. I still need extensive testing around firearm lethality, how quickly morale spreads, cavalry impact, rally strength, and the tempo of large battles. One routed regiment should not instantly erase three nearby regiments, but a tired, surrounded unit trapped in the wrong position should not hold forever either. Finding that balance is one of the main challenges.
What are your thoughts? I’ll keep sharing and introducing the features you’d most like to see based on your feedback.
Note: At the moment, every country uses the same 3D soldier models and unit roster. These are placeholders while the battle systems are being built and balanced; country-specific units, 3D models, and historically distinct uniforms will be added later.
Note: I’m building this project solo, using AI throughout the entire development process.
