So far I have only done update devlogs. No long, deeper devlogs.  Also, Ive been posting on Twitter, showcasing the Sets of the game, but Twitter is limited on the amount of words I can use.

So I thought I could do a post here, showcasing the different Sets of the game and the design ideas behind them.

Okay, lets start with the General Idea behind the Sets

The Sets inspiration came from typical RTS games like the Age of Empires series, and also Advance Wars (not an RTS) had a similar mechanic with their different characters. Basically you pick one of these 8 Sets and this would affect the composition of your army, which pieces are stronger, what bonuses you get, and which Unique Piece you can Promote to. 

So, Why these countries ?

Well, I was going for a mixture of major players in the World War II and major players in the current global landscape. I do plan to add more Sets (Countries) in the future. To be honest, the weirdest thing is, Ive lived in 3 countries and visited another, for a total of 4. None of them are represented in the game so far.

All sets have 2 general perks, 1 Outnumber Bonus (which is active when you have taken 6 enemy pieces), 1 Morale Bonus (which is active when your king has 5 HP left) and a Unique Piece (that your pawns can promote to). The Outnumber Bonus is somewhat designed to be an additional perk, a tad stronger so it will give the player an advantage. The Morale Bonus initially was designed to activate when the opponent king had low HP, but later was redesigned to be active when the player's own King has low HP, to give a kind of helping hand. It comes in the form of a negative bonus for the opponent. 

US Set

The US Set is designed around Knights. I tried to give all of the Sets some kind of relation with the country they represent, but this task proved to be very difficult, so the relations ended up being a bit farfetched. So what is the first thing you think about when you hear the word US (or USA or United States). Well, a lot of things, lets face it, they have a very present culture. From tv shows, music, movies, and whatever you can think of. But none of that really translates to my chess game.

What about Westerns, westerns and cowboys are so intrinsically American. And we actually have horses on this game, the Knights (see, I told you they were farfetched!). That is how US ended up with 4 Knights, 2 of them replacing the Bishops. It was the best option, cause having Knights replacing Rooks would be too much of a disadvantage. Instead, Knights and Bishops are closer in value. So far is not much of an advantage (changing pieces of similar value), but the second perk of US is that it gets stronger Knights with +1 ATK. So now you have 4 Knights with +1 ATK. If you are the kind of Chess player that likes to play with Knights, then you are in luck.

The Outnumber Bonus gives the Knight a sidestep movement (can also take pieces this way). The side step is only horizontal, but it adds a lot of mobility to Knights. The Morale Bonus makes enemy Knights lose 1 HP, ensuring that your Knights are the strongest on the Board. 

Finally the Unique Piece: the Marshall. 

As with most of the Unique Pieces, they actually exist in some form in some historic variants of Chess. Pieces that don't exist in regular Chess, but in variants, are formally called Fairy Chess Pieces, and there is a whole list here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_chess_piece (Being that my game could be considered a variant of Chess, and has some unique pieces, maybe someday they'll be in that list)

In the Marshall's case, the name fits perfectly for the US theme, and the movement (a combination of bishop and knight) is actually shared among many historic fairy pieces. So why this movement? Well, the Knight is the theme, and the Bishop, cause the US Set doesn't have too much diagonal control (remember? No Bishops).

British Set

British Culture influence is vast and there are many things that scream UK. But none of them scream Chess as loud as the Queen (I mean, figuratively, I doubt that she actually screams chess). The Queen is undoubtedly a staple of British Culture for the 20th Century and the 21st so far. And that had to be reflected on the game. 

The Queen is a peculiar piece, everyone knows its the most powerful piece in Chess, and in this game, that is also true. So it only seems far that it has low HP to compensate. This is also to replicate that feeling in Chess, when you are overly protective of your Queen, cause any mistake will lead to your opponent taking it. 

So the British Set would have a stronger Queen (+1HP). This is not much, basically it only protects you from a Pawn, but anything else may be too overpowered. And having more ATK would make not much of a difference. The second perk is +1 move to Pawns at start. This may just be the worst perk in the game. Is supposed to be a bit of a helping hand on your Pawns getting to promotion, but its not that gamechanging. 

Still, this is compensated by the Outnumber Bonus, which means your Queen can now move as a Knight. That makes it very, very powerful. Basically British players (as in players who play with the British Set, no matter their nationality) have to take special care of their Queen, is their only strength, but what a strenth! 

The Morale Bonus takes 1 HP from enemy Bishops. Why Bishops? Well, I don't really have a reason. New players often loose their Queen to Bishops or Knights, as they don't measure the threat they pose as accurately as Rooks (that attack horizontally) or Pawns or Kings (who requires the queen to be adjacent). So in a way, I thought that maybe this would be a fitting Morale Bonus.

The Unique Piece is the Lord. This is a Queen, but with 1 ATK only, but, can skip in any direction. This makes it be a very mobile and annoying piece, that doesn't do much damage, but won't be easy to eliminate. All things considered, the British Set is weaker than the rest, but has a single strength that may very well compensate. Time will tell (especially after multiplayer is a thing), but so far, it has proven to be very popular among the players. Im guessing this has to do with the fact that everyone loves playing with their Queen.

Russian Set 

Did you know that the Rook in Russian is called Ladya?, which means Boat. You can check piece names in other languages here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_piece . For me, it was a very interesting fact (if you are russian, then is nothing unusual for you). But for me this had to be the center of their Set.  

As such, the Russian Rooks have +1HP and +1ATK. Making them the strongest Rooks of the game. They also get to skip their own pieces if and when they get the Outnumber Bonus. That is massive! Thats why you only get 2 rooks. And I made it so it only skip allied pieces, cause otherwise it would be game over right there.

The Morale Bonus also weakens the opposing Rooks by 2 HP, to ensure you are dominating on the Rooks sector. And finally the Unique Piece is a Rook, like your other Rooks, but this one can skip enemy pieces. The name? The Mortar. You like it, may be overpowered? So far it doesn't seem so, again the multiplayer will tell. Bear in mind, in the first iteration of the set, the Rooks could skip anything, with Outnumber Bonus, anything! I nerf them there and I'm not afraid to do it again.

Chinese Set 

This is a very unique piece, maybe the most unique and different in strategy. Basically you get 4 Rooks, Four! Rooks are very powerful in this game, so getting 4 is a lot. No perks to enhance them but still. Why so many Rooks to the Chinese precisely? Well, its meant to represent the Big Wall of China. Also, China is the most populated country on Earth, and that gets represented by having 2 extra pawns. So you get Rooks for Bishops and Pawns for Knights. This lines up perfectly cause you already have a massive advantage by getting 4 Rooks, but its compensated by losing Bishops and Knights. 

So you end up with a lot of Pawns, but at least, they have +1 HP. That will come very helpful. The biggest hinder of this Set is the mobility, Rooks are the most difficult pieces to get out of their initial formation to play, and now that they are sorrounded by Pawns, its even harder. But well, is like having a caged ferocious animal. Still the Outnumber Bonus will help a little with mobility. It gives the Pawns the chance to move back (they can take pieces this way). This could be very helpful is certain situations, and maybe give you more control in trying to get this pawns to promotion. 

The Morale Bonus takes 1 HP from the enemy King, out of 10, is really not much, may come handy sometimes. It can end the game right ther if the King only had 1 HP though. This takes inspiration from the Xiangqi (also known as Chinese Chess). In Xiangqi the King is substituted by a General, who is restricted to a certain zone of the board, and also has some specific Check rules when interacting with the opposing King. Wait, that is so cool! And we only came up with -1HP for the Bonus?! Well, what can I say, trying to keep things simple. 

The Unique Piece is the Guard. The name was inspired from a piece in Xiangqi, but the movement was much adjusted to this game. It moves 2 steps in any direction and can skip. It also has the stats of a Knight or a Bishop, regarding HP and ATK, so it kinda fills that void. One of the initial plans was to make the last 2 pawns automatically promote to Guards, but it may be too much of an advantage for the Chinese Set, Still the idea is lurking on the back of my head, so, who knows.

The Rest of the Sets

In another post. This one turned out to be a lot longer than what I originally intended. I even had all of the Flag Pictures in this one, and had to remove it later. So if you liked this devlog/post, then give it a like, or a comment or whatever, and I'll do the second part soon. If you don't like it, well... then... Let's be honest, I'll do the 2nd part anyway, I have a bit (just a bit) of OCD and I will have to write about all of the sets to be at ease. 

Hope you like it though! 

Completely Random Promo: We also have a Discord https://discord.gg/D2GXtrPHWF