Kingmakers, the game that asks 'What if you brought an M1 Abrams main battle tank to a knife fight,' is set to enter early access on October 8, and with that date slowly grinding nearer developer Redemption Road has released its debut dev blog—which I'm sorry to say is not about M1 Abrams main battle tanks, but rather the game's medieval units and machinery, and how you'll handle them on the battlefield.
Kingmakers will launch into early access with six unit types, each with distinct strengths and weaknesses: Swordsmen, Spearmen, Cavalry, Archers, Berserkers, and Men-at-arms. Most of those units will also be upgradeable through two or three tiers, and can be further enhanced by a "full skill tree" powered by collectible holy relics. Medieval machinery including trebuchets, ballistae, and archer towers will also be on tap.
Redemption Road said the Total War series was a "big inspiration" for some of the systems in Kingmakers, but that its units are "fully individual and AI-driven," and so behave more like those of Mount and Blade. And yes, while tanks crushing 16th century architecture into rubble has been the focal point of trailers, the game will turn largely on your ability to manage and control your forces—strategy.
"In Kingmakers, you can seamlessly switch between top-down strategy and third-person combat at any time," Redemption Road said. "In top-down, you’ll have full RTS-style control like in Total War or StarCraft in bird's-eye view and a deep range camera zooming. We’re also exploring the idea of third-person commanding, where you’d run with an 'honor guard' that follows your lead, but it won’t be in for early access."
One thing I find especially interesting in this update is the note that even though you're a time-travelling mercenary with access to the finest in modern military hardware, you're not going to carve through everything you see like a hot knife through butter. Bullets may make short work of the peasant rabble, but enemy officers with unique abilities and different grades of armor will be much more difficult to deal with.
"Not all of your bullets will have an easy time taking down all enemy types, because every caliber comes with realistic penetration values, so where you aim matters too," the developers wrote. "Light calibers, for example, will struggle against even basic armor, while the mid-to-heavy calibers can pierce hardened or titanium alloy. Shotguns also have different gauges with varying impact. But the elite officers will be wearing the best tier armor, so aim smart and prepare for a challenge."
I'm not sure that no-selling an extended blast of gunfire, even in plate armor, is entirely "realistic," but I'm also not a historian so I make no judgments.
The devblog also looks at Kingmakers' morale system, the ability to take prisoners (who you can ransom, torture, or execute as you see fit), and the presence of civilians on the battlefield. Tanks are nowhere to be seen, alas, and while there's a mention of "modern emplacements, such as gatling turrets" that are apparently deployed through "tactical grenades," we don't get to see them in action this time around.
As someone who hasn't been paying especially close attention to Kingmaker's development, the focus on strategy in the first-ever devblog is a little unexpected: We've known from the start that Kingmakers will feature strategy elements, but it's previously presented itself as more of a slapstick, action-focused game, so leading with the strategic perspective is an interesting choice.
Of course, there's more coming: "We have so much more to share," Redemption Road wrote, "so if you found this interesting, let us know what topic you want us to cover next in the [Steam] comments." I vote for the tanks.
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