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January 9 2017
Legends of Kalidasia is set to be released on January 25th 2017 and is currently available for Pre-Order. Learn more about the game here.
Legends of Kalidasia is all about capturing the feel of space combat. Warships that float have the problem that water is always fighting against their movement. To reduce the effect of water, a naval warship hull is designed to move in a certain direction through the water. In addition, naval warships are less stable when forces are applied against the design of the hull. Space craft effectively have neither of these issues and thus are capable of facing in a completely different direction than they are traveling.
From a game design perspective, representing this different facing is not hard, it has been done all sorts of ways by a variety of games over the years. The real challenge, though, is integrating into the gameplay in a way that is easy to track and does not add complexity. Heroes of the Heragul has done that.
When a warship activates, it selects one of five maneuvers. During a maneuver, the warship must turn itself around its center so that its engines can effectively perform that maneuver. Exactly what direction the warship would be facing depends on the details of the maneuver. However, since most warship weapons are mounted on limited mobility turrets and that each turn in Kalidasia actually represents a rather long time, we don’t need to concern ourselves with the details of its exact facing. It is assumed that at some point during its maneuver, it can get its weapons on target and still be able to completely execute its maneuver.
How Heroes of the Heragul handles this is with the concept of a “Combat Arc”. In the above image, which is a port turn, the warship is adjusting direction of the travel to the left. To accomplish this maneuver, its engines would need to face the right side of the token and its front face the left side of the token. A warship’s combat arc does not always point towards the front of its token. The green shaded box represents which side of token is the warships’ combat arc during this maneuver. Therefore, in this example, the warship can engage targets to the left side of its token during a port turn.
This might seem a little complicated, but it is easy to pick up. Warships in Kalidasia have their weapons mounted in only two different arcs: combat arcs and turret arcs. Since the designers of the warships know how maneuverable their ships are, there is no need to rely on archaic naval concepts like broadsides or rear arcs. A combat arc is fully capable of fulfilling any of those roles on a starship.
Legends of Kalidasia is set to be released on January 25th 2017 and is currently available for Pre-Order. Videos explaining the combat arc can be found here.
January 6 2017
In this first post of a series which takes a look at the new mechanics in Legends of Kalidasia: Heroes of the Heragul, I will examine how this edition better reflects to reality of speed in space combat. Heroes of the Heragul is currently available for Pre-Order with an expected release on January 25th 2017.
In the second edition of Legends of Kalidasia, all warships have the same maximum speed value. Unlike naval warships, which constantly have to fight against water to move forward, space craft have effectively no resistance when moving through the orbit of a planet. Therefore, a large mass warship has no trouble moving at the same speed as a smaller craft. Where mass becomes important is when a warship would use its engines to either change its speed or direction.(As a side note, in physics, the combination of direction and speed is called velocity….and yes…I know should be using that term)
An equal amount of engine power will cause a smaller change of speed for a warship with a larger mass than a warship with a smaller mass and this is reflected in Legends of Kalidasia: Heroes of the Heragul. In the image above, the engine power of the warships is highlighted in red. The Surakari frigate, which is much less massive than the Heragul Battle Cruiser, has more effective engine power. OF course the Battle Cruiser mounts more powerful engines than the frigate, but in Kalidasia, doubling the engine mass does not double the engines power output.
Careful speed management is a critical tactic in the Second Edition of Legends Of Kalidasia. Poor speed management will result in a broken squadron and a broken squadron is easily picked apart by the enemy.
Pre Order Legends of Kalidasia: Heroes of the Heragul and prepare to battle for the Future of Kalidasia as never before.
January 3 2017
What is Heroes of the Heragul?
Heroes of the Heragul is the second edition of the space combat miniatures game Legends of Kalidasia.
What is new with the Second Edition of Legends of Kalidasia?
This edition combines an innovative system for capturing the unique feel of physics space combat with some of best parts from Rise of the Surakari.
Is Heroes of the Heragul compatible with Rise of the Surakari?
Some of the components from Rise of the Surakari will still work with Heroes of the Heragul, but the gameplay is different enough to require new components for game play. However, anyone who owns a printed copy of Rise of the Surakari will have their download code upgraded to Heroes of the Heragul for free.
When will Heroes of the Heragul be released?
Look for this game to be available in late January 2017. Pre-Order Heroes of the Heragul here.
January 2 2017
Build your squadron, join a campaign, and forge your own story in the Kalidasia Universe.
January 1 2017
The Albion system is under siege from the Surakari and it is up to a fleet captain from the Ky-Lon
family to hold the line.
