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@galdred.bsky.social

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Developer/Handyman of Zodiac Legion, a tactical-RPG in which you lead an order of arcane knight, set in an era of returning magic. https://store.steampowered.com/app/812910/Zodiac_Legion/

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galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Nov 21

Zodiac Legion is a turn-based tactical RPG in which you are the commander of an order of arcane knights. Make the strategic decisions for the order, and lead its champions through unforgiving dungeon raids in an age of returning magic.

store.steampowered.com/app/812910/Z...

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galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

Link to the presentation :
docs.google.com/presentation...
and additional links:
docs.google.com/document/d/1...

knight_tactics.pptx

Knight Tactics From medieval manuscripts to the gameplay mechanics of

docs.google.com

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

Some links to wrap it up:
Our game page:
store.steampowered.com/app/812910/Z...
Norwich HEMA Society:
youtube.com/@norwich_hem...
Tod’s Workshop(arrow vs plate):
youtube.com/watch?v=DBxd...
Wiktenauer(fencing treatises):
wiktenauer.com
Daniel Jaquet's armour research:
www.djaquet.info

Zodiac Legion on Steam

Zodiac Legion is a turn-based tactical RPG where you take command of an arcane chivalric order. Expand your potential in a world of reawakening magic. Develop your stronghold, research astral powers, ...

store.steampowered.com

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

Thank you for hosting this week's #TurnBasedThursday, @ninedotsstudio.bsky.social !
This week's update of Zodiac Legion is a deep dive into the research and development process of our combat system, especially when it comes to doing armor justice:
bsky.app/profile/gald...

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

Let's turn my Tacticon presentation into a TLDW thread about medieval armored warfare on foot and overdesigning the gameplay mechanics of ZodiacLegion :
bsky.app/profile/tact...

Knight Tactics: From medieval manuscripts to the gameplay mechanics of Zodiac Legion

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galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

But we can fill the gaps with magic, or choose what we want to represent!

Filling the blanks…
Instead of trying to balance fun and history:
Trying to make history fun
Bringing the spirit to life
Medieval people tried weird things too!
Photo of Bellver Castle in Spain

…with magic!
How to use it?
Overcome plate limitations
Deal with those knights
Prepare the battlefield
Bring sources to life
Illustrations of the Provencal Tarrasque, and its use in the game

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

Now let's address the part about the limits of our sources:
We have very little documentation about formation combat in armor:
- Chroniclers who wrote about battles didn't see them
- Knights who were into writing typically wrote about chivarly rather than fighting.

Sources and their limits
The issues:
Knights were not into writing
Chroniclers were not soldiers
Fencing manuals may get too creative

The images showcase: a poleaxe with a detachable head and a chain, and a poleaxe with gunpowder inside the head, from Fiore's Flower of Battle. These are both unlikely design, despite being featured in the most influential fencing manual we have.

What we know
Documentation about duels and tournaments
Technical tests
« Reverse engineered » fencing manuals
Warfare evolution

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

As for the attrition/exhaustion factor, that's why we decided to represent our dungeons as a single protracted battle, instead of a series of micro engagements.

●spending time resting allows other enemies to ready themselves
●Enemies will also engage the player on their own

Designing dungeons as a protracted battle
Single encounter dungeon
Resting
Time constrain
Enemies will also engage the player on their own

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

As for weapon variety, I said one hander sucked against plate armor, BUT they allow you to carry a big shield, which makes protecting these vulnerable characters, like archers or mages much easier!

One handers and shields
One hander and shields:
Defense from archery
Higher survivability
secondary weapons

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

You don't always need to penetrate armor to kill the knight inside, or wound him.
As for our legendary knights:
Geoffroi de Charny: killed as the French formation was broken at Poitiers
Jacques de Lalaing: killed by a cannonball shot.
Bayard: killed by an arquebus.

Death of knights
Plate is very hard to penetrate but
Armor vs longbow, part 2
Our legendary knights
Geoffroi de Charny
Swarmed at Poitiers
Jacques de Lalaing
Cannon ball near Ghent
Bayard
Arquebus shot in Italy
Sometimes, you don’t need penetration
To kill the wearer.

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

Let's talk about Agincourt...
- Not everyone wore plate
- Most men-at-arms were defeated in melee
- A good part of them were captured (then executed)
- In a way, the strength of the longbow was forcing the enemy to attack :
"it takes but a single bush to break their ranks"

About Agincourt…
Many contributing factors on top of longbows vs plate:
Not everyone wore plate
Good terrain
Exhaustion
Formation
“And for that reason, a foot battle should never advance; it must always await its enemy infantry close by. For when they are marching, they are not all of equal strength and cannot keep their formation—it takes but a single bush to break their ranks.”[…]“An army that marches out against another is defeated unless God grants it His grace.”

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

That is why we made melee support central in the game, both in attack and defense.
It also stacks with a flanking bonus when you have opponents on all sides.

This inspired our support system:
Ally support bonus
Negated by enemy ZoC
Flanking

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

Combat of the thirty: Similar set-up, but with 30v30 in Brittany:
- 4 French and 2 English down after hours of fighting
- They decided to take a break
- Then after a French squire remounted and managed to break the English formation, the battle was almost instantly over.

Breaking the formation
Combat of the thirty, 1351:
30 Britton French men-at-arms vs
30 Britton English men-at-arms
Only 6 casualties after hours of fighting
Middle day break
The battle is decided when a French squire
Remounts and breaks the English formation

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

Montendre was an arranged 7v7 during the HYW.
- The English chose to double-team DuChatel.
- This freed Archambauldde Villar assist Karonis against the English leader, Robert de Scale, who got quickly killed by a blow to the head.
- That allowed to "roll" the remaining English.

Isolate, overwhelm,cascade
Montendre, 1402 (French vs English):
7 French vs 7 Angevin:
4 duels and two 2v1.
The English leader is killed instantly by a
poleaxe hit to the head

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

Let's now zoom out a little, and see how fights between groups would turn out. In groups, grappling becomes much harder, unless you end up being isolated.
Medieval battles could take hours, so exhaustion was a pretty severe issue! Morale collapse was also how most battles ended.

Men-at-arms in late medieval battles
« My kingdom for a horse »

Group combat
How do your techniques evolve in the press ?
Formation
Grappling
Attrition
Exhaustion
Morale

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

However, grappling is more complicated to animate, so we are still looking for a good way to represent/abstract it.

The grappling animation problem:
Tight coupling
Animation abstraction
Grappling damage abstraction

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

So we are working on adding new alternate thrusting attacks for our 2 handed weapons, to let them thrust into the gaps of armor.

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

Btw, the Half Sword game made a cool attempt at bringing these armored combat techniques to life in their demo :
t.co/pfnZ5cObyJ

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2397300/Half_Sword/

t.co

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

Here are some of the techniques showcased in the footage and their fencing treatise equivalent:

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

Let’s take a look at some combat footage, kindly provided with the permission of the Norwich HEMA Society.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DbR...

Gladiatoria - Knightly combat with poleaxe & longsword - Knight Fight in medieval armour short film

YouTube video by Norwich HEMA Society

www.youtube.com

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

Actually, grappling was very important, BUT it required some setup. Our knight, Jacques de Lalaing, managed to disarm an opponent and drive him away until the referee took pity of him and stopped the duel

On the importance of grappling
Fior di Battaglia
33v-c: When I saw that my sword was ineffective against you, I quickly applied this grappling technique. I belive, see and feel that your armor will be useless to you wsshen I put you in this strong lower bind, which is shown further in the next picture.
33v-d: I have you locked in the lower bind or "strong key", and from this position, you cannot escape regardless of how strong you are. I could hurt you or even kill you. I could stop to write a letter and you would not even be able to see what I was doing. You have lost your sword and helmet, you have been humiliated, and you'll soon be hurting.

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

But I need to remind everyone that blunt weapons were NOT a magic can opener! You had to basically hit the head (or hand) with a strong blow, jam the point in a joint, or find a way to grapple your opponent to the ground with it.

1. Grappling/disarming with a poleaxe
2. Poleaxe hit to the face against an open visor
3. Polexe thrust(double hit!) to the armpit/neck
4.Poleaxe hit to the top of the head

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

So, that is what we are doing in the game:
In a way, poleaxe is the offensive choice, while sword is more defensive, and halberd works better when supported.

Making weapons distinct:
Halberd: support
Poleaxe: shock damage, hook attacks
Longsword: easier recovery

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

As for weapon selection:
Just take a poleaxe(it was the most popular weapon for knights on foot)!
Sword (the long and pointy variant) is also a reasonable choice, but you don't want to use a one hander.
Also, French knights typically used shortened lances.

Weapon selection
Surprisingly little written about it
Two handed weapons dominated
Shields out of fashion
Poleaxe vs lance+sword
Other soldiers used mostly polearms

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

Part 2: Weapons and techniques

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

In ZodiacLegion, we use two layers per body part, each with its own encumbrance, coverage, and armor values. Any parts can be combined, and some — like the arms — have different chances of being hit depending on whether the attack is melee or ranged.

Armor Customization (in Zodiac Legion)
Layers: inner and outer layers outer shell is bypassed
One part = one damage location
UI/UX compromise
Encumbrance

galdred.bsky.social @galdred.bsky.social · Aug 28

Some games did cover armor in a detailled way already.
For instance, Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead does simulate both coverage, armor, and limb specific encumbrance.
store.steampowered.com/app/2330750/...

screenshot of the armor UI of Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead.