Ladies and gentlemen, this is a big one! Phase 2 of Bella Factionum is out, and it brings with it major changes...

1 - Multiplayer

Yup, Bella Factionum now has multiplayer!

Specifically:

1. You can play on Maps and Scenarios together (you must have the same Maps and Scenarios, however)
2. When playing on a Map, you can play as ANY Faction, its data being shared over the Network

There are a few caveats, however:

1. I haven't tested it with more than 3 Players connected
2. There is currently a limit of 8 Players (optimization will happen over the next few updates)
3. The calculations I do to check Map and Scenario equivalences have no guarantee of seeing different Maps/Scenarios as different - the chances of that, however, are so minimal (one in billions? Trillions? You'd have to be doing it deliberately, and only I know the code, mwuhahaha) that I was willing to take the risk

For setting up the Game Server, refer to this devlog.

2 - Coalition System

I wanted to stop destroying collaborate with my friends, so I added the Coalition System!

Now, it's not the last Faction standing, but the last Coalition standing - obviously, Factions in the same Coalition won't attack each other. They will, in fact, share Resources (1 per Resource Point by default, but that's an editable Game Rule). 

Furthermore, AI Players also take Coalitions into account, being as helpful as they can (e.g. healing Coalition Allies, giving them Resources using the Investment Ability, giving up Points if an Ally has more Squads than them there, etc.).

When setting up a Map Game, there are a few Quick ways to set Coalitions, such as "Humans vs AI". As for Scenarios, you can now set up Coalitions in Scenarios which are "pre-baked", allowing you to have interesting, well, scenarios. For instance, want to have the same Army split up into its Divisions? Make each Division a Faction, put them in the same Coalition and boom, you achieved that!

Also, in Multiplayer, if you hold down "B" and Left Click somewhere, you will create a "Beacon" that all your Coalition allies will see, allowing you to better communicate!

3 - Mechanical Changes

3.1 - Squads heal at Bases

Self-explanatory - if a Squad is in a Friendly base (could even be a Coalition member's Base!), it will heal up to its Max Health, by a proportion dictated in Game Rules (5% by default). Not sure why I didn't have this in by default, but there we are.

3.2 - Squad Cap

Previously, there was just a fixed amount of Squads, dictated in Game Rules, that a Faction could have. This meant that, on Large Maps, there were barely enough Squads to go around, whilst on tiny Maps, there were hordes of them and it was completely nonsensical.

Now, the no. Squads you can have depends on the number of points you control (3 per Point, by default, but this can be edited), with a base amount as well (5 by default, ditto). That way, on large maps, you can actually have large groups of Squads, and on small maps you're not swarming (and lagging) the Map.

3.3 - Resource Cap

Very similar principle here - previously there was a fixed amount of Resources you could have (200 or so), which meant you could create only a few squads. Now, depending on the number of Bases you have, that Resource Cap goes up (100 per Base by default, can be edited), with a base amount (100 by default, ditto).

Furthermore, the Resource Cap scales depending on your Faction's Strength or Weakness. This is to keep it balanced.

3.4 - Back Attack Multiplier

If a Squad is already in Combat, and a different Squad attacks it from behind, that Squad's damage against this one will be multiplied by an editable amount (2x by default). This will incentivize you to flank enemy Squads, surrounding them and destroying them more easily (which makes the "Fast Movement" Faction Strength quite a bit better).

3.5 - Duplicate Factions

That's right - you can now play with multiple instances of the same Faction (in a Map Game, at least - they aren't allowed in Scenarios... yet).

If you have a Duplicate Faction, its color will be randomly-changed so that it can be distinguished, and a number will be appended to its name. E.g. if we have 3 Duplicates of "The Ruby Raiders", we'll have "The Ruby Raiders", "The Ruby Raiders 2" and "The Ruby Raiders 3".

Why did I add this? Because I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to make non-duplicate Factions work in multiplayer.

3.6 - AI Pressure

To stop AIs (particularly ones with the Passive personality) just doing nothing, a new "Pressure" value has been added, which is 0 at the start of the game, and slowly goes up as it goes on. The higher it gets, the more the AI will want to take any Point, leading to more interesting gameplay and less passive AI.

4 - Other Improvements

We're coming to the end - now we're at the little improvements I've made across Bella Factionum.

• Greatly Optimize Game Performance with a large no. Squads - you can now run the game with about twice the number of Squads as before without it lagging
• Improve Squad Selection to be more like mainstream RTS games - left clicking on a Squad, unless SHIFT is held down, selects only that Squad, deselecting all others. If SHIFT is held down, then that Squad's being selected is toggled, as before.
• Pressing Escape, when using an Ability, cancels the Ability, instead of going to the Pause Menu
• Fixed when, if using an ability as the Game Ends, the Ability Crosshair replaces the Cursor even when the Game ends
• When you hover over the No. Points you control in the ingame UI, there's a tooltip with a breakdown of the number of each Point Type you control
• When you let the Map Editor Autoname Points, it will maintain the correct count, instead of resetting when the editor is reloaded
• AIs are now even less likely to take Support Points if they don't already have Resource Points
• You can now navigate through the Map Editor with the Instructions Window Open (previously it would freeze the camera until closed)
• The default Support Point Damage Multiplier is 2.5x, up from 2x