In the new strategy MMO Conqueror’s Blade, you will spend a lot of time on the strategic map, where you can raid other players in the open world at any time. However, that is less severe than it sounds and is a core part of the game’s concept.
What is Conqueror’s Blade? Conqueror’s Blade is a new strategy action MMO from My.com. The game allows you to manage troops and cities on a large strategic map. When it comes to battle, the game switches to action mode, where you command troops from your general’s perspective in real-time, deploy siege weapons, and engage directly in the melee.
The whole thing is reminiscent of a fun mix between a Total-War strategy game and the action game For Honor, but it is actually something quite different.
New Information about the Strategy Mode
At Gamescom 2018, we got to test the action mode of Conqueror’s Blade. In a presentation and Q&A session, the developers introduced the strategy part and shared general information about the game.
How does the open world map work? The center of Conqueror’s Blade is the open world map. There you can see your possessions such as cities, castles, and resource-gathering areas. When you set out from your capital with your troops, you visibly travel across the map searching for trouble.
You can face PvE enemies, such as bandits, or attack other players and their possessions. The trick is: You are visible on the map to everyone, and anyone can attack you at any time, even if you are currently in a fight. A malicious opponent could ambush you from behind.
That’s why griefing is allowed: “That’s just griefing! How do you want to prevent that?” I then asked community manager Miguel Budesca. He simply replied nonchalantly:
“Not at all, that’s part of it! We want to create a brutal, medieval world where everyone can attack anyone in the open world. If you venture into neutral areas, you’re free game and have to fight your way through.”
Is Conqueror’s Blade just a griefing fest where new players are only farmed by veterans and their big armies? It’s not that unfair after all. According to Miguel, the Chinese developers of Conqueror’s Blade themselves are very creative with griefing and also pay attention to ensuring that fights among players are still well balanced.
Among other things, there are the following features that still make the game fair:
- You can only attack other players when they enter neutral areas. Your “home zone” around your capital is not attackable. However, if you want particularly good resources and new areas, you will eventually have to leave the safe zone.
- Guilds, called “houses,” and even larger alliances of houses can help you if a particularly nasty opponent constantly marauds in your areas. Conqueror’s Blade relies heavily on this social aspect.
- Troops you lose in the open world remain lost. You must heal and re-equip them painstakingly and at great expense in your cities and castles. A griefer who plunders far from his territory can be decisively defeated in a crucial battle, providing you some respite until he has made up for his losses.
- If you only want quick action, you can also start an instant battle from your capital at any time. You don’t need to leave the city, and you won’t lose troops in the event of a defeat. However, you’ll also receive significantly less reward.
EVE Online as a Model
This is how the developers want to challenge large political alliances: During the presentation, it was repeatedly mentioned how important it is to team up with other players. These guilds are called “houses” in Conqueror’s Blade and are virtually mandatory at a certain progression level.
Because if you conquer additional territories, you must also defend them. You may be only attackable at certain times, but if you have several castles, you can only defend one of them in siege battles.
If you want to ensure that your areas are always guarded, you need allied players to support you.
All of this goes even further, as multiple houses can merge into an alliance and control and defend even larger areas. The developers have clearly taken the epic MMORPG EVE Online as a model, where massive alliances dominate the political landscape and their wars and political intrigues reshape the galaxy.
Character Creation, Units, and Cultures
This is how character creation works: In Conqueror’s Blade, you are a medieval general. In character creation, you can set many details: gender, hair, body type, skin color, and culture. This indicates what the city area of your hero looks like.
Currently, there are Central Europe, the Middle East, and Asia as culture packages, with Vikings coming next. You can equip your hero with various weapons and equipment. Additionally, there are cosmetic skins you can use for alternative looks.
That’s why anyone can have any unit: However, your culture has no impact on the units you can recruit. Thus, you can also unlock the winged Polish Hussars as a samurai warrior or lead a troop of samurai spear throwers into battle as a sturdy knight.
This is how classes work in Conqueror’s Blade: At the start, you choose a class that essentially represents a mastery with one of the many weapon types in the game. There are, among other things, spears, sword/shield combinations, muskets, or heavy two-handed swords.
There are a total of 10 such weapon types, and you can learn and use up to six of them. You also have a wide range of skills, but you can only take three plus one ultimate ability into battle at any time.
That’s why all units are unique: The skill system also applies to your units. You can individually enhance them and train them in various aspects. This ensures that even two players commanding seemingly the same troops have different strengths and weaknesses.
So you may have trained your swordsmen more as tanks, while the opponent has equipped his troops with balanced values. Your strategy will likely be more defense-oriented, while your opponent can act more freely tactically but has no clear strength anywhere.
A Game for MMO Fans
Who should play Conqueror’s Blade? At the end of the presentation, we asked Miguel which type of player the game was intended for. So far, such MMO strategy games, like the recently failed Total War: Arena, have not managed to succeed.
“MMO players are our main target audience. The game is primarily about building your own little empire within the guild/alliance. A part of the game world that everyone can see carries your name. That’s something very special.
If you are an MMO fan and enjoy action games, you are in the right place. Conversely, the same applies. Only if you have no interest in either, as you might only like shooters, then Conqueror’s Blade is probably not for you.”
What to expect from the Closed Beta: If you want to try out Conqueror’s Blade for yourself, you will have the opportunity in the Closed Beta. This starts on February 7, 2019.
