The ideal real-time strategy game in my mind is closer to a "infinite game" feeling, that is, through a variety of tactical and strategic combinations, try to defeat different types of enemies, whether successful or not, each game is a testing ground, always produce new ways to win, and then be verified or overturned by the system, which is the fun of such games.
But the actual situation is that many real-time strategy mobile games on the market always have routines to follow, and often require me to follow a certain method to increase the winning rate. So playing these games is like doing problems according to the established solution ideas, tactics and strategies are easy to become single, and the game experience is gradually two-dimensional.
Many developers are also aware of this problem, their solution is to continue to increase the various variables for the game ontology, from modifying the value, to changing the winning conditions, although it is effective in the short term, but invisibly increases the player's cognitive cost, slow to get started, high threshold, and becomes a common problem of many real-time mobile games.
"Return to the Empire", which stands out among many similar works, through the integration of changes in the system, allows players to have the freedom of three-dimensional tactical and strategic execution, combined with simple and intuitive operations, in addition to returning to the classic real-time strategy game experience, it also brings me a rare sense of freshness, even if it has not yet reached perfection, but it is undoubtedly moving towards the form of "infinite game" in my mind.
Rich and varied reality
Speaking of current mobile games, high-level art is commonplace, especially the high-definition modeling of large factory products, which has the degree of industrialization standards, and it is gradually unconscious to see more. In contrast, the beauty of "Return to Empire" is not flat, but three-dimensional, not only static beauty, but also full of dynamic realism.
Randomly entering a map of the game, I can see the vast and changeable terrain, various buildings dotted with dots, coupled with the dynamic weather system, the natural environment that alternates day and night, so that I can feel the real charm of breathing when I march, build, and even think in a daze.
This charm is also reflected in the standing paintings of the warriors and the dynamics of their interactions with me. "Wei Lan" is my favorite warrior at the moment, and I think that as long as I have worked on "Return to the Empire", I will most likely not be able to resist her charm. As an archer, she has the domineering skills of shooting 4 times in a row to deal bonus damage and then an additional attack, and even more domineering is her heroic setting and exquisite live voice.
Well, I admit that I have too much preference for Wei Lan. The truth is that each warrior has its own setting and different live-action voices, and even miscellaneous soldiers such as barbarians have different presentation states and voices, which make Return to Empire unique in terms of visual and physical "reality".
Three-dimensional strategic and tactical execution
The system of Return to the Empire follows its own set of rules: swordsman gunner, gunner ke knight, knight ke archer, archer ke swordsman. The rules themselves are not new, the change is that players can ignore the rules, or even do the opposite, and the game sometimes even hints to me: the rules are used to subvert!
For example, in the case of concentrating a large number of archers, it is completely possible to intimidate the knights, and if you feel that the casualties are too large, you can ambush the gunners, hit the opponent by surprise, or lure the enemy deeper. That is to say, the rules of Return to the Empire are only one of the conditions for victory, not even the most critical, depending on what your concept of victory is and how you put it into practice.
Yes, Return to Empire requires players to operate, whether it is a strategic long-distance march, that is, "pulling a line of troops", or a micro-operation when fighting with an opponent at close range, the player needs to think about how the skills of the warrior will be upgraded, combined, and judged on the battlefield whether to release these skills automatically or manually.
It is not difficult to see that on an operational level, "Return to Empire" not only returns to the design of traditional real-time strategy games on the macro level, but also has a micro MOBA flavor. Every war, every action, has a rich operating style, even if you defeat the same type of opponent, there is no routine optimal solution, only the most suitable solution according to your thinking level.
Echoing the operation are the distinctive urban development forces: Chinese-style urban specialty archers, as well as the special class Zhuge Lian crossbow; Frankish cities have bonuses for swordsmen, and special classes are axe throwers; Armored knights in Byzantine cities are masters of pushing maps; Roman-style urban phalanxes have a lot of blood. On this basis, each class can be upgraded and transformed like a warrior.
These are only the elements of single-player combat, when you join the "alliance" to participate in siege, team warfare and other large corps movements, the variable tactical strategy is more diverse, not the traditional real-time strategy mobile game can be compared.
Of course, the system ultimately has to serve strategy and tactics, and if it doesn't work with tactical strategy, it becomes a useless showmanship, and the richer the game, the less fun it may be. Specific to "Return to The Empire", the system gives me a more pragmatic impression at the strategic and tactical level, which is the basic logic of the latter's implementation.
To take my own example, "using the grass to fight an ambush" has become one of the tactics commonly used by opponents in "Return to The Empire". That is, using the game system of "the troops are invisible to the other party in the grass", the strange soldiers suddenly sprang out and hit the opponent's personal back on the horse. I have seen this tactic so much that when marching, I always hide from the grass. I adopted the opposite tactic, deliberately using small forces to attract the opposing surprise troops in the grass, covering the rapid advance of large troops, and seizing the resources of the other side.
The above tactics are realized thanks to the "multiple troops" setting in "Return to the Empire". I currently have three units, divided into 6 military generals, so that I can always keep the "back hand" in the battle, and always have my own surprise soldiers. But this tactic is sometimes used by opponents, who use the grass as a cover not to fight my troops, but to seize my resources, to inflict damage to me at the economic level without spending a single soldier, and to defeat me by encroaching on my resources.
My response was to use excellent generals to lead highly mobile troops to take the initiative to claim the enemy, not to win the war, but to reconnoiter the movements of the opposing troops and undermine their strategic purposes. The other side sometimes looks at the fallen warriors dangling in front of their eyes, thinking that this is the hand to the catch, often according to the temptation in front of me to chase me, then I will command the other two troops to sneak attack, so that the other side steals chicken and does not become a corrosion of rice. The only depressed one is my Wei Lan, who often serves as such bait, and is often hammered by the other side to "lose his face", but even the best martial generals are also for tactical service, Wei Lan, you can only suffer again...
In PVP, the tactics I have used above, such as "stealing chickens" and "surprise attacks", will be more vividly reflected, including advantages and disadvantages, and will be further amplified. For example, for the tactic of "suddenly jumping out of the grass and punching you violently", I not only need to "divide the troops into multiple roads", but also "snakeskin position", while adjusting the direction of the troops' travel and reducing the losses of ambushes, while operating another unit or more units to push forward desperately. Some players have strategic aims to weaken the opponent's effectiveness, and I always think about getting the economy first, and taking more resources as the top priority.
If this is just a solution to a certain tactic in PVP, then when you face the alliance's team battle, that is, multiplayer PVP, the strategic and tactical choices derived from Return to Empire will become more diverse. There are "invasion wars" specifically aimed at the economy of the other side's alliance, that is, concentrating the rapid forces of our alliance and constantly harassing the castle area of the other side's alliance, so that the other side has no time to develop the economy; there are also "siege and reinforcements" that disintegrate the military strength of the other side, that is, to surround an important fortress of the other side, and then to attack the enemy's reinforcements, especially the new special branches of the army, in advance of the layout for the disintegration of the enemy's military in the later stage; or simply, constantly piecemeal, in line with the principle of "picking up all the vegetables in the basket", continue to encroach on the other side's town. Big or small...
As the leader of the alliance, if the player does not carefully consider the many problems at these tactical levels, the resulting team battle losses will not be mentioned, and may also cause the morale of the members to be depressed, and there will be gaps until the alliance collapses, which is no different from reality.
So you will find that under the PVP gameplay of "Return to the Empire", single-player or multiplayer is actually a comprehensive test of the player's ability to read the battlefield, operate and adapt. The richness of the tactical combination will also be geometrically multiplied, and the fun is naturally more abundant than the PVE.
The tactical richness allows me to be more concerned about strategic issues. For example, when marching, zoom through the map at will, and keep an eye on allies, opponents, or the operation status of your castle at any time. Even in the course of war, we can adjust the direction of economic development at any time according to the course of the war, strive to minimize losses, or achieve the purpose of a virtuous circle of economy through war.
This is actually another highlight of "Return to the Empire", which can achieve multi-line operations at the strategic level, rather than just staring at the battle, and the economic or social elements are temporarily gone. This also confirms my impression of this game from the side, like a tactical and strategic laboratory, only what you did not expect, nothing that cannot be achieved. Can't beat people, indicating that kung fu is not yet home, you may wish to try more siege to help, point and surface combination, multi-point flowering, darkness Chen Cang, etc. Real tactics, the game does provide a wealth of experimental equipment, as long as you want, you will always find your own way to win.
Simple and intuitive operation
The rich and varied system, coupled with three-dimensional combat, if the operation is too cumbersome, may also deter many players. "Return to The Empire" gives a set of simple and in line with the player's habits of mobile phone operation. For example, two fingers zoom the map, directly drag the troops or military generals to choose the marching route, you can also click to switch between multiple units, plus the ui design of its own card, the generals, troops and other information at a glance. These basic designs not only conform to the operational logic of real-time strategy games, but also conform to the player's intuitive operation of such games, so they are smooth and easy to use, and the fault tolerance rate is high.
In terms of difficulty, "Return to Empire" is also implementing the concept of simplicity. The setting of automatic return to the city, automatic recovery of physical strength, and automatic replenishment of soldiers allows players to focus more on the strategy itself, which fits the player's role as a "leader". Daily missions, continuous login to send different high-level warriors, wild barbarian forces can always brush brush, novice resource protection and other systems, but also make the game experience more continuous. In my personal experience, the novice period hardly needs to consider the penalty of failure, thus providing a thoughtful system guarantee for trying different tactical combinations and strategic development directions.
If you still feel that you don't know how to start, it is recommended to learn from the novice tutorial attached to "Return to the Empire", the basic tactics and operation methods can be said to be comprehensive, and also use the form of the plot to skillfully convey the characteristics of various martial artists, the characteristics of the troops, and the characteristics of the forces to novice players. In the course of the game, there are also various challenges of different difficulty and corresponding rewards, which enhance the content that can be played repeatedly, even if it is not krypton gold, the fun is still full and juicy.
In general, the rich and changeable system, with a three-dimensional combat experience and simple and intuitive operation, the three together make "Return to the Empire" bring me a two-dimensional experience that is different from the flat and data-based traditional real-time strategy mobile game, presenting a more three-dimensional "real-time strategy game picture", as for how to draw this picture, it depends on the player's own play habits and cognition.
This three-dimensional three-dimensional picture is not only the embodiment of the strategic cooperation between Tianmei Studio and Xbox Game Studios, but also the deep understanding of the logic of real-time strategy mobile games. From this point of view, I think "Return to Empire" is a kind of return to the tradition and classic of this genre, but also an evolution and innovation.