Below is an updated map. There were issues in the previous version with Germany being too weak, so they have been removed from the game and replaced with the Turks. Also, the number of territories has been reduced in order to allow more rounds to be played while making sure that the game doesn’t take over 1 hour to play.
After 10 turns, each player will earn points and money and a new round will start. After 3 rounds, the player with the most points wins.
Yesterday, I playtested Clash of Empires with the updated map. Initially, we played a one turn game with 4 players. During the game, there was a problem due to the fact that players spent a large portion of time waiting for other players to take their turn.
In order to reduce downtime between turns, I decided to see what would happen if each turn was split into “micro turns”. With the new rules, each player made one troop movement during their turn. After 10 turns, each player would receive victory points and money and the game would end after 30 turns. Afterwards, I tested out the rules in a 3 player game and they worked well because the low amount of downtime between turns kept the other players more engaged. As a result of this playtest, I plan to continue playtesting with “micro turns” rules and work on balance issues.
The map has also been modified to improve Germany’s position to compensate for the disadvantage of being in the middle of the map. Also, several changes have been made to make sure that Russia does not have an unfair advantage.
England no longer starts with Belgium, Holland, or the North Sea. Instead, they control Norway and the Black Sea. This makes it easier for the British to attack Russia and makes it harder for the British to attack Germany.
Also, players will now have the ability to build forts. Forts have the same cost as armies, and give extra defense to a territory, but they cannot move. Germany starts off with three forts that make it harder for opponents to attack them.
I decided to work on a computer version of Clash of Empires in HTML5, which will allow people to play the game in a web browser without having to download a plugin.
I was originally developing the game in Java and Scala. I was at the point where I had a playable prototype, but I was running into difficulties because of extra work necessary have the application run as an applet or on an Android phone. I wanted to show it to other people for feedback, but many computers did not have Java applets enabled. By having the game in HTML5, it will be easier for people to play Clash of Empires because they will not have to worry about installing a plugin or making sure that it is active. Also, it might be necessary for me to develop on a computer that isn’t my laptop, and setting up an environment to develop HTML5 games is significantly easier than setting up an environment to develop in Java. For example, my laptop had an issue with its charger several months ago, and I did not have access to another computer where I had the ability to setup a Java and Scala development environment. However, I did have access to university computer labs where I could do JavaScript development.
I decided to attempt a 4 player game to test the new rules with me playing as all 4 players.
It seemed like attacking is a lot less rewarding because a defending player can allocate all their troop tokens against the player that attacked them. In a 4 player game, if two people fight, this means that the conflict will go on for several rounds before a clear winner emerges like in the test with two players. Even if a clear winner emerges, that player will be weak and vulnerable to attack from another player.
However, many games such as Diplomacy also have the issue where a 1 one 1 fight is not going to lead to a clear winner for at least a few rounds, which gives other players opportunities to intervene. Games like this encourage players to attack with an emphasis on making deals and alliances with other players. Something similar would work in Clash of Empires, but that means that the game would take significantly longer because of the negotiation that is going on.
Yesterday, I informally tested out the new combat rules with a 2 player game between Russia and France. Each player started with 11 territories, 4 generals, and 20 unit tokens.
The pieces to the top right and left of the board represent unit tokens.
I continued the game for a few more turns, during which Russia gained even more territory. Afterwards, I ended the game as there was no hope for Germany.
The new combat rules appeared to add a significant amount of strategy to the game without adding excessive complexity. The uncertainty of combat due to the mechanic of bidding troop strength and the importance of positioning generals made thinking about each move important. Simply attacking with all your troops was not enough to maximize the chances of an optimal outcome. However, turns took significantly longer than I expected, which could be a problem if I want to make this game for more than 2 people. Also, I realized that the new combat rules meant that a two player game did not become too quickly one-sided with one player almost guaranteed to win. It seemed like Germany was “dominating” the game at the end of the third round because they had more troops and territory. However, Russia emerged as the clear winner by the end of 5th round.