SpellForce 3 får nyskapende basebygging

Du velger selv hvordan du skal ta kontroll over spillets verden.

I forrige uke sendte Nordic Games ut en e-post med informasjon om den kommende rollespill/strategihybriden SpellForce 3. Her gikk de blant annet i detalj om hvordan spillets verden er bygd opp (med mye mer informasjon enn det man finner på spillets Steam-side). Jeg har sitert e-posten nederst.

Dynamisk utvidelse

Noe av det mest interessante er hvordan spillkartet er delt inn i sektorer. Hver sektor inneholder fiender som må overvinnes, og når du har gjort det, kan du bygge dine egne utposter og ulike bygninger for å få tilgang på ressursene der. Men hver sektor kan kun ha en viss mengde arbeidere, og du må selv velge hva disse skal prioritere.

Ressursene kan så transporteres til andre sektorer ved hjelp av hest og kjerre. Det er med andre ord ingen global økonomi der du ved å ta over en gruve får «+3 stein» (eller noe slikt) – ressursene må utvinnes og flyttes mekanisk dit de trengs.

Vi loves som vanlig også sterke rollespillelementer, der du skaper en figur fra bunnen av, og i løpet av spillets gang kan slå deg sammen med opp til tre andre helter. Underveis kan du også løse ulike oppdrag, og så videre.

SpellForce 3 skal visstnok lanseres mot slutten av året. Her er alle detaljene:

Heroes and Quests
Similar to its successful predecessors, players create their hero from scratch and can then develop the hero’s skills during the campaign, complete quests, explore the game world and join forces with up to three characters to form a group of heroes.

Organic Growth
The map in SpellForce 3 is divided into different sectors. The player’s base won’t grow arbitrarily, but always organically. Concretely, this means that the player can only conquer sectors, which are connected to the base or other, already conquered, sectors. This is important, because there is no «Global Economy», but the distribution of resources will happen mechanically (resources are being transported via carts). The player can decide which raw materials he wants to collect, distribute and export in each sector and must therefore carefully plan where to build the sectors.

Sector Management
If, for example, the player defeats all the enemies in a particular sector and the bandit camp is captured, he can establish an outpost in this area. The player can then construct buildings in the sectors, exploit raw materials (wood, stone, food, etc.), transport goods and produce resources to then recruit new fighting units. Each outpost has a set number of workers who can be hired, so a core element of the game is to balance the sector economy and manage the sector to ensure the most efficient deployment of the available workers.

Hybrid Gameplay
We don’t want to ignore the RPG component and want players to have the best gaming experience possible with SpellForce 3, so the micro management is not as hectic and fast-paced as in many other RTS games. Players can therefore enjoy both gameplay genres (RTS and RPG) in equal measure.

SpellForce 3 Features

• RTS/RPG Mix: Unique gameplay combining RTS and Top-Down RPG genres
  • RTS: the RTS part focuses on macromanagement (overall strategy, building a base/economy, conquering of zones, managing large groups of units)
  • RPG: the RPG part
    puts emphasis on micromanaging the party of heroes (skills of ALL heroes of the party have assigned keyboard bindings) in battles
    
• Create & Customize: Assemble your party of heroes and choose between numerous combinations of different skill builds
• Strengthen and Command Your Army: Prepare your troops and fight the mother of all battles. Moreover, players can utilize a wide array of strategic choices (like e.g. terrain, troop formations, visibility, scouting etc.) that would make Sun Tzu proud
• Epic Storyline: Unravel a deep and sophisticated story, eventually leading up to the events that cause the world-changing convocation ritual
• Rich Universe & Lore: Explore the world Eo and discover intrigues, secrets and a lot of loot for your hero
• Extensive Single-Player Campaign: 30+ hours, even more when you manage to discover all the things Grimlore put in the world
• Multiplayer: Strong multiplayer component with various modes – Play cooperatively or in versus battles

Jeg elsket det første SpellForce-spillet, og oppfølgeren var også god (samtidig som utviklerne kanskje «polerte bort» litt av sjarmen fra originalen). Men det ble litt vel mange ekspansjoner og frittstående utvidelser, og jeg tror serien har hatt godt av en pause.