Shadow of the Eagles will be a game of considerable scope, one where your player character could rise from one volunteer among unnumbered thousands to become one of the great figures of the age – someone as well-known as one of Napoleon’s real-life Marshals, or perhaps even as well-known as the Emperor himself.
But how does the player character reach such heights? And how is their progress to such a goal tracked? This is where the three advancement stats come in: Glory, Reputation, and Rank.
Glory is probably the most important stat which the player will have to consider. It is also conveniently the easiest to explain: Glory represents the level of fame within general society which the player character has achieved. It can be gained through a variety of means, but mostly through taking risks on and off the battlefield. Find yourself at the forefront of a victory? Gain Glory. Distinguish yourself by standing firm in a retreat? Gain Glory. Fight a duel? Gain Glory. Win a drinking contest? Glory. Be seen in public with some big-shot? Glory.
As you’ve probably noticed, there’s a lot of ways to gain Glory – but there’s also a lot of ways to lose it. Get caught doing something underhanded, or unchivalrous, or even just maybe a little less brave than everyone else, and you might find yourself losing Glory instead of gaining it. You don’t want to do that. Glory is one of the main stats that determines your ability to earn promotion. You want to get that stat as high as your luck – and your sense of self-preservation – allows.
Reputation is a bit more complicated, mostly because instead of a global stat, it’s tied to a specific group – and represents how that particular group sees you. This group will usually be a political party, or a government office. Eventually, as General Bonaparte becomes First Consul Bonaparte, and the Emperor Napoleon I, he too will have a reputation stat which determines how he sees your player character – and how he much patronage or support he’s willing to give to that player character.
Throughout the course of the game, there will be two Reputations “active” at any given time. In Act 1, these two Reputations are the Jacobins (representing the Jacobin Club, and eventually, the Committee of Public Safety and the supporters of the Reign of Terror) and the Reactionaries (representing everything from moderates to outright royalists, united solely by their opposition to the Jacobins). This is, of course, a massive oversimplification of what the actual political environment was like during the first half of the War of the First Coalition, but it does represent the broad strokes of the situation as it stood throughout 1792, 1793, and 1794.
Reputation can be gained through a variety of means, doing favours for members of a Reputation Group, making decisions in favour of one group or another, or simply doing a good job as a soldier of the Republic (and later, Empire) in the view of someone who represents that group. Of course, losing Reputation can be just as easy. Generally speaking, if you make a decision which gives your player character Reputation with one group, they’ll also lose it with the other. There’ll also be instances where a bad decision or even a misspoken word will get the player character on the bad side of one group or another.
That being said, there might be times when you might not want your character to have too close of a relationship with one group or another. While having a high Reputation with a group which is currently in power helps prevent official persecution and can secure promotions to higher rank, being seen as too close to a group which suddenly falls from grace can be a dangerous prospect. That means that much of the early parts of the campaign (before Napoleon and the Coup of 18. Brumaire bring some much-needed stability to the government) can be a balancing act. For example, in Act 1, too low of a Reputation with the Jacobins might put your character under suspicion, but having too high of a Reputation when the Committee of Public Safety falls from power might likewise lead your character to being investigated, or even arrested as a “Terrorist” (this actually happened to Napoleon himself, albeit briefly).
However, at the end of the day, Gaining Glory and juggling Reputations serve one main purpose: that of earning promotion to higher rank. This is, obviously, kind of a big deal. Not only will a higher rank mean more pay, but it will also mean higher levels of responsibility. While this will mean that the challenges which a player character will face on the battlefield will become more and more daunting, it will also mean a potential for more rewards, both tangible and intangible – a Lieutenant or a Capitaine has far less capacity to line their own pockets than a Marshal of the Empire, as I’m sure Marshal Massena could tell you.
There are nine ranks (well, technically, ten – but Marshal of the Empire is an appointment, not a rank) to advance along through the course of Shadow of the Eagles, they are:
1: Voluntaire
2: Sous-Lieutenant
3: Lieutenant
4: Capitaine
5: Chef d’Escadron (Cavalry)/Chef de Bataillon (Infantry)
6: Major
7: Chef de Brigade (Colonel after 1803)
8: General de Brigade
9: General de Division
10: Maréchal de L’Empire (only after 1804)
These ten ranks are further subdivided into three categories: Line Ranks, Field Ranks, and General Officer Ranks.
Line Officers are junior officers who hold relatively minor commands within a larger formation – like a company within an infantry battalion or cavalry squadron). Their areas of responsibility are limited, their independence in the field is heavily constrained, and the battlefield events they get will reflect that.
Field Officers are more senior officers who have the experience (or the reputation) to be trusted with more independent commands (like an infantry battalion or cavalry squadron). While they’ll still be operating under orders in major field battles, they’re more likely to have more freedom of action on campaign.
General Officers command large, semi-independent Divisions or Corps in the field. They play major roles on the battlefield – to the extent that randomised events can no longer accurately represent their significance. As a result, General Officers will receive bespoke battlefield events for each historical battle they take part in.
Eligibility for promotion from one rank to another is usually determined by a combination of a player character’s Glory and their Reputation with the group currently representing the government body administering the army, be that the Jacobins, the Directory, or the Ministry of War. As the game continues and Napoleon Bonaparte secures supreme control over the French state, your player characters reputation with him will also become a factor, especially at higher ranks.
Appointment to the Marshalate is a special case. Not only can it only be achieved during certain points in the campaign (1804, 1809, 1812, and 1815), but it also requires a very good relationship with the Emperor, alongside the normal Glory and Reputation requirements. That being said, the Marshal’s baton will bring its own advantages, including special events which could place the player character in command of major formations in battles like Austerlitz, Borodino, or Waterloo – or even allow them independent command over all French and allied forces in a given battle, such as at Auerstedt or Ligny.
By providing meaningfully different experiences based on rank, progression will provide the player a way to meaningfully track the advancement of their character, and prevent them from feeling like they’re simply running the equivalent of a “difficulty treadmill”, where they succeed only to be confronted with the exact same gameplay, but with bigger numbers. In addition, this mechanic also allows me to provide branching paths while remaining more or less true to history. Even if the game will always take you to Austerlitz, the experience will be a lot different as a Lieutenant than as a General of Division. Even if you always retire after Waterloo, your character’s ending as a Marshal will be different to one as a Colonel (though not always better – ask Murat and Ney how their ‘retirements’ went).
These also won’t be the only marks of distinction or advancement. I’m also planning to integrate noble titles (when Napoleon gets around to creating a peerage), a system for the Legion of Honour, and a whole bunch of other stuff as well, but that will be something for another time – probably after I’ve actually hammered down the details.
Paul Wang 