So, we’ve talked about what battle events in Shadow of the Eagles are going to be like, but a campaign in Shadow of the Eagles is going to be a lot more than just battles. Indeed, most of the time, you’ll be looking at an entirely different set of options: the campaign screen.
The campaign screen represents the time which the player character is mobilised, in the field, and in uniform, but not actively engaged in combat. This could mean that they’re garrisoned in a friendly city awaiting the commencement of open hostilities, camped out in the field in between battles, or occupying a hostile area as the generals (and later, the Emperor) decide whether to push forward or make peace. Meanwhile, time passes, the course of history flows on – and so does the course of your player character’s life, based on your decisions.
There are several types of campaign actions. Each one takes a month to complete. It’s assumed that while these actions are taking place, the player character is still performing their regular duties as an officer, so they’re still getting whatever pay their rank and offices entitle them to. There are exceptions to this, of course.
One of those exceptions is if the player chooses to have their wounded player character heal from wounds. Now, while the Napoleonic armies did advance the science of field medicine significantly, they were still working with an early 19th century tech base, and recovery from wounds was risky and slow. In this case, resting for one month will lead to recovering one lost point of health. This means that even a minor wound taken in battle could have serious consequences, since it could mean a full month or two of recovery. Of course, the player could always choose not to bother, and just live with the injury – although this will lead to further problems down the line, including the possibility of death from a further wound.
Spirits can also take damage on and off the field of battle, but they are recovered somewhat differently. By choosing to forgo their character’s pay, a player can choose to take leave and spend their time carousing or otherwise entertaining themselves. This recovers a point of lost spirits – but it also could lead to a random event.
These random events are kind of like the battle events I mentioned in last month’s article. An event is drawn from a “deck” whose effects are then applied. These tend to be more minor events than battle events. Very rarely will they involve any conscious choice on the part of the player. More likely, they’ll have an implicit stat test which will determine the outcome. While this means there’s going to be a lot of randomness involved, the effects of most of these events are relatively minor – stuff like losing a handful of Francs or maybe gaining two or three points of reputation. There are a few more consequential ones in there, but they’re going to be relatively rare.
There’s also going to be a different random event deck for every act. This is sort of a necessary evil. It wouldn’t make sense to have events about the Committee of Public Safety while you’re neck-deep in Russia in 1812, or to drink with the Imperial Guard on the eve of Rivoli all the way back in 1797. This necessarily means that each of these ‘decks’ will be smaller than the one for battle events. However, due to the way that each set of events will be different, the player will be able to experience different events, misadventures, and predicaments with each part of the campaign.
If you don’t need to recover health or spirits though, the player also has another option: taking on extra duties. Unlike going on leave, this will allow the player character to draw pay. It will also, as a baseline, gradually increase the player’s base stats, although at a very slow rate. Last of all, it will lead to a chance to draw random events from another set. This could mean a skirmish on patrol, a light bit of plundering, or maybe even just catching a cold from being out all the time. I’m not sure if I’m going to be doing separate ‘decks’ per act with these events, I think it’s more likely I might separate these ‘decks’ by branch and rank instead. In either case, you can be pretty sure that you’ll get some interesting micro-adventures eventually, ones that will fit the time, place, and the position the player character is currently occupying.
The player also has other, less randomised ways to spend their month – if they have the right stats for it.
Firstly, if they have the money, they can seek out someone to train them in a skill. This will give them a significant bonus in all checks involving that skill from that point going forward – but not all trainers are available at any given time, and training is tremendously expensive, especially at the highest level. However, when a fighting check could mean the difference between life and death, or the person you need to charm turns out to be a Marshal of the Empire, you may find that training more than worth it.
Secondly, if they have enough glory and reputation, the player character can seek promotion. Originally, I made this another dice roll, where the player rolls against a set target with their glory and appropriate reputation score as bonuses. However, I quickly figured out that it wouldn’t be particularly fun for a player to spend month after month after month trying to get promoted and failing. So instead, I made it something which you’ll always succeed at, so long as you meet the requirements.
Last of all, there are ‘fixed’ events in the timeline – usually historical occurrences which the player will have the chance to either participate in or hear of.
An early example of this is the storming of the Tuileries Palace. At this point, the player character is effectively fresh out of the tutorial, stationed in Paris following the disastrous battle of Marquain. Here, the player has the option of having their character join the mob in their assault on the Swiss Guards, breaking in to do a little plundering for themselves, or in helping a few members of the doomed Louis XVI’s bodyguards escape their historically grisly fate. None of these decisions are going to massively shift the course of history, but it will leave the player character with a reputation – and maybe a small fortune in stolen royal decor as well.
Another example from slightly later in the first act comes when news of King Louis’ execution reaches the army camped in Flanders. Here, they can choose to express satisfaction, or worry regarding Citizen Capet’s revolutionary haircut – something which might end up being noticed by some surprising individuals.
Some of these decisions will be even more consequential. For example, following the disastrous battle of Neerwinden and the start of what we now call the Reign of Terror, the player has the option of staying in the Low Countries with the army there. As the primary front in the War of the First Coalition, this is where there is the most glory to be gained and the most fighting to be done – but it’s also where the eye of the Committee of Public Safety will be focused upon. Choosing to stay with the army means risking the scrutiny of some dangerous and very powerful figures – like Louis-Antoine de Saint-Just, the carrier of such fluffy nicknames as the ‘Archangel of the Terror’ and the ‘Angel of Death’.
But if this isn’t to the player’s liking, they can also choose to return to Paris and request reassignment – assuming they haven’t already been arrested for their previous suspect decisions. This will send the player to supposedly less important battles on secondary fronts – for example, to a siege in the South of France, where the player character will have the chance to make the early acquaintance of a certain Corsican artillery officer…
This is all preliminary of course. I’m still far from even really getting started on the first act. But with things wrapping up on my current project, it’s safe to say that none of you will have to wait too much longer before these notes stop being notes, and start being playtest builds which some of you will be able to experience firsthand…
Paul Wang 