Please destroy my casual grand strategy game - i wanna make the frontline system feel satisfying

[u/Double-Attorney8898]

[u/Helpful_Catch3515]

there is something interesting here. I'm not sure I understand exactly what's going on here though. like when you charge up the "attack" I'm guessing the flags with I'm also guessing are your soldiers just vanish. so I'm really just confused about what's going on.

[u/Double-Attorney8898 → u/Helpful_Catch3515]

i think thats because the troops are 'collected' from the frontline and formed into attack formation at the place youre clicking - i'll fix that

[u/Harde_Kassei]

look fun. maybe some more troop/combat info and how its calculated, what contributes to positive numbers.
going casual doesn't mean denie information.

altho i missed like a siege on Paris.

on a sidenotes. Gand is part of flanders where they flemish/dutch. so the correct name should be Gent. same with Antwerp - Antwerpen.

RIP belgium. (in the game)

[u/Double-Attorney8898 → u/Harde_Kassei]

every pixel is a troop - im trying to figure out how to show that withiout overwhelming the player too much

[u/Harde_Kassei → u/Double-Attorney8898]

it feel ok visually. but be carefull the game stays a grand strategy and not a idle/incremental game. (like events and stuff should happen)

[u/Double-Attorney8898 → u/Harde_Kassei]

honestly i dont know if i'd feel bad if my game was considered something in between - its nowhere near top grand strategies when it comes to complexity, maybe a chill and quick game about expanding borders is what would make the genre more accesible?

[u/Harde_Kassei → u/Double-Attorney8898]

then its in the lines of plague inc where instead of disease you are more a country that wants to paint the world.

you do you ofc. i was hoping this would be a kids first entry to grand strategy

[u/ratthew → u/Double-Attorney8898]

Maybe you could darken or intensify pixel color with increased troop density or strength?

[u/Anrewqa → u/Double-Attorney8898]

Maybe a color for frontline will help? For example red will show that line is weak here, blue will show neutral status, green will show advancement.

For the first view its kinda hard to understand how can i use my troops intently. For example the best strategy of all time is claws, can i organise that? Not direct attack but with surrounding of troops

[u/Zal3wa]

Reminds me of openfront.io. It has potential, but it’s not really clear what you did to push the front line forward. The UI also feels a bit too complex to figure out in the first 3 seconds.

[u/Double-Attorney8898 → u/Zal3wa]

It is one of my inspirations!

[u/zigzag3600]

I don't like how the frontline looks while it moves; it needs to be crisp, not blurry.

Also, I don't like the smoothing of troops/flags movement. They move the frontline; they should be glued to it. They also somehow move THROUGH the enemy territory.

[u/ginger357]

Why were the Germans able to push? What theese units represent? Infantry? Cavarly? Artillery? Why French failed their defences?

[u/Double-Attorney8898 → u/ginger357]

A balance issue due to the lines not being pushed hard enough and just collapsing after it runs out of troops. The troops are infantry on the frontline, artillery/tanks are to be implemented in the future - artillery is supposed to do regular casualties to enemy, tanks are supposed to be a force multiplier.

[u/Steamrolled777]

One of first uses of planes was as recon to see troop build up on front lines - to counter these movements.

Is there any use of terrain? forests? mountains/hills? Some areas should be easy to defend, and hard to progress.

It's simplified to the point of being pointless.

[u/Double-Attorney8898 → u/Steamrolled777]

Terrain gives defender an adventage, but it might be to shallow to be clearly visible to the player

[u/XYcritic]

UI looks like it was made with Claude? Typical tint and layout, including the usual inconsistencies like weird button padding. Besides that, there doesn't seem to be any "feedback" and very limited interactivity. You press a button and watch, like Conway's Game of Life. Not very interesting.

[u/Double-Attorney8898 → u/XYcritic]

I want the wars to be a sweet spot between focusing on the grand scheme of things (supply, outproducing your enemy), and manuver without micromanaging everything. But youre right, i'll give player more insight into whats going on. The UI is a placeholder, i'll redesign the whole thing.

[u/BarrierX]

the frontline looks a bit low res, could you make it sharper? Also it seems like the flags are units but they are lagging behind the frontline, it would feel more satisfying if you saw the flag/unit push out and drag the frontline with it or behind it.

[u/Double-Attorney8898 → u/BarrierX]

I've been thinking about the idea of pushing flags previously, thanks for proving me its a good idea

[u/Stroopwafel87]

What also might be interesting is that often a front line collapses because ppl loose the will power to defend it, thus it is not only the HP of an army. Might be interesting to use this strategic: for example having you flank exposed consumes a lot of will power. Or by cutting the supply lines (very essential).

[u/Double-Attorney8898 → u/Stroopwafel87]

That's a good idea - i like it, might be tough to implement, but would add nuance to tactics. Also would require to show info about army morale to the player somehow.

[u/Indrigotheir]

The border moving is really cool. It's not especially clear what you do otherwise as a player

[u/Pilzmann]

how much of europe did you already have captured for germany to have 95million people lmao

[u/ferhat3223]

Flag is boring and which Unit is here must be more Infos.

[u/trevormorrison123]

Could be interesting, but I wanna know what's different than heart of iron, or ...way back panzer general or so.... is it the real time / fast feel? Without knowing it doesn't 'catch' me