User:Jacky 50A/Sandbox 2

"When worlds war, only one may reign."

- Tagline

Worlds at War is a real-time strategy game developed and published by 50A Studios, released on the 4th of August 2025 for Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo Switch. The game revolves around the battles of forces from multiple science fiction media, who clash to attain dominance over a single planet of abundant resources for their own interests.

Plot
Far into the depths of space lies a verdant world of diverse climates, organisms, and resources. From rich mineral veins to endless fertile soil, the planet is heaven to its inhabitants, who prospered in a paradise of ecological wonders. Alas, the nameless globe's peace would not last, as circumstances drove the armies of distant realms to the planet for legions of reasons and interests. Though peace could be maintained, such agreements were tenuous, and inevitably, conflict fell over these visitors, plunging the planet into a war of worlds, where only one may dominate the planet.

Gameplay
The following details concerning the gameplay mostly pertains to campaign and player vs. artificial intelligence modes.

Overview
Much like typical real-time strategy games, Worlds at War has the player choose their playable faction, gather resources, construct buildings, and amass armies to achieve the specific objectives set within the player's game session. In the case of this game, the multiple resources that are present aren't always usable by every faction in the game due to their differing needs. For example, human-centric factions may always require food and mineral supplies for their efforts, but certain non-human factions may only require minerals to sustain themselves. With these resources, players may construct buildings, which they could use to harvest other resources, research certain technologies, recruit soldiers and war machines alike, as well as defend the player's own holdings.

Basic Resources
In-game, there are several fundamental resources that are available for each faction to make use of as the foundation of their operations. These resources are typically exploitable by every faction, but those who are unable to make use of every resource tends to present challenges of their own. The resources are as follows:


 * Energy : From oil veins to rivers that can be dammed for power, players require sources of energy to keep their buildings operational. Certain units may also require energy to sustain them, making it crucial for players to keep a steady stream of energy. Energy-producing buildings can be immediately built by players, but they tend to require minerals to run to provide the player power, which slowly depletes the longer the player does not feed it minerals. The more energy a player gathers, the longer a player may sustain their infrastructure, especially higher-level buildings, as they require more energy to operate.
 * Mass : The nutritional foundation of every living being, mass is attained by farming, fishing, hunting, and harvesting certain sites on the map. Civilized factions generally construct buildings that assists them in gathering mass, such as farms, fisheries, and processing factories. Players who hunt edible creatures and forage fruits and the like must drop them off on certain buildings to truly reap the benefits, usually by utilizing worker units. The more mass a player amasses, the more units the players can maintain.
 * Mineral : Ores, rocks, and other precious rocks that boost the player's construction capabilities and allow for the manufacture of powerful war machines and defensive measures. Minerals can be attained by mining particular sites with worker units or building mining structures on top of them. Like mass, minerals extracted from the sites must be delivered to resource-gathering buildings by workers units to really make use of them. The more minerals a player has, the more buildings and upgrades the player can improve and attain.
 * Water : A resource vital to the lives of carbon-based beings, particularly humans. Water serves a similar purpose to mass, where water allows for the sustainment of the player's armies, especially if they play as human factions. Non-humans may not require water to sustain themselves, instead utilizing water to power their dams, should their gameplay allow it. Waters need to be purified before they are usable, and like mass, they need to be delivered to resource-gathering sites for safekeeping and utilization.

As noted above, these basic resources tend to require the players' attention, as they need to be delivered to resource-gathering buildings before they are capable of usage. Farm produce has to be transported to granaries, whilst minerals can be transported to either resource depots or straight to refineries to provide energy. Energy does not need these kinds of deliveries, but they may require the previous resources to continue operating, which makes the loss of resource-producing buildings and spots deeply damaging to the faction.

On the map, the game identifies the ideal places where the players may build resource-producing buildings by informing them of the number of resources each site may yield to the players, such as fertile fields ideal for farming, as well as water sources appropriate for damming. However, these sites themselves may be destroyed by enemies to deny the players access to these resources. For example, the adversary's bombers may destroy annihilate not only the mining structure the player built to extract minerals, but also the site itself, which closes off the player's access to the minerals. Biological weapons used by certain factions may also turn fertile fields into barren wastelands, whilst weather events may alter the environment to the point that new resource sites appear while old ones disappear or even receive boosted resource production capability.

All of these basic resources decay over time during their usage. As long as the players' units are present on the map, mass, energy, and water are passively depleted to keep the units afloat, unless the units in question have special traits that allow them to sustain themselves. Players need to keep their flow of resources steady, protecting their supply lines from enemy attacks to prevent them from handicapping the players in the effort to attain supremacy. Due to this, it is crucial for players to take great care in constructing and maintaining their resource buildings.

Other Resources
Whilst the basic resources are absolutely needed for the continuation of the players' operations, there are other resources that players can use to support themselves without having to focus on attaining them. These miscellaneous resources can only be used by certain factions, but they are not as important as the basic resources. Basic resources allow players to maintain armies, buildings, and attain more resources, but other resources grant players support to better make use of their assets in certain times of need.


 * Allegiance : A resource utilized by factions capable of diplomacy, allegiance increases as more and more beneficial agreements are done between two or more factions. Should a faction refrain from being hostile to the other groups, the faction's amount of allegiance points will slowly increase over time. Actions and decisions considered hostile or unfavorable towards other factions will reduce the player's amount of allegiance points, which by themselves are used by the game system to factor in whether or not the factions will be aggressive towards the player or not. Allegiance points are also used to grant factions the ability to build embassies, thereby giving factions a steady flow of allegiance points, the ability to recruit certain low to mid-tier units from diplomatically related factions, as well as purchasing certain technologies from the other faction's tech tree. These allied units do not require any of the basic resources to recruit, but they will still consume such resources for upkeep costs and will automatically become hostile should the player's relations turn hostile with the formerly allied faction. Factions can build more than a single embassy, representing the multiple factions they are in diplomacy with. However, the player's allegiance points are differentiated between allied factions, meaning that although a faction may accumulate a thousand allegiance with one faction, they cannot use such points to recruit units from another allied faction, which uses a separate set of allegiance points.
 * Requisition : A resource also available only to star-faring or dimension-hopping factions, requisition allows factions to summon units of their own selection into the battlefield without expending the basic resources required to build or recruit them through buildings, albeit at a limited amount of time. Factions may be able to field powerful late-game units to turn the tide of battle, but their units can't stay in the battlefield forever, as their presence is limited by a set time limit. Additionally, requisitioned units still suffer from unit maintenance upkeep, which means that they are going to considerably strain the parent faction's resources the longer they are in use.

Diplomacy
As mentioned previously in the allegiance section, players are able to engage in diplomacy with other factions, as long as their interests are not at conflict with one another. Each in-game faction will have preference towards certain factions who possess characteristics they would consider favorable, which means that both players and artificial intelligence will find it more preferable to engage in a positive relationship with factions sharing similar values and interests. To enter diplomacy with another faction, the player has to first meet at least one of the other faction's units. After the initial encounter, players are then notified of the eligibility of diplomacy with the other faction. If the factions can conduct in diplomacy with one another, players can access a diplomacy panel, which allows them to make agreements with the other factions in real time. Factions, including those of the player's, do not use allegiance points to make agreements with one another, but the likelihood of the factions succeeding in making diplomatic endeavors depends on the amount of allegiance points they have concerning the other factions.

The list of agreements featured are as follows:


 * Military Access: While faction units are allowed to traverse wherever they want, including on the territories of neutral factions, such actions will garner suspicion from the other faction, who considers the action to be trespassing. A military access deal allows the engaging factions to move freely between territories belonging to them, negating the allegiance point malus received and increasing the amount of allegiance points received during peace between the factions.
 * Military Alliance: The agreement that cements the factions' alliance, military alliance grants each faction the ability to create embassies to recruit each other's units and purchase a number of technologies from the allied faction's tech tree. Military alliances donate a generous amount of allegiance points and expands the diplomatic overtures the allies can have with one another. For example, factions in a military alliance can ask one another to attack certain enemy sites or defend structures deemed beneficial to all of the allied factions. If a faction's ally has entered a war with another entity, the faction will be offered a choice in the diplomacy panel whether or not they'd join the war or not. Choosing the latter reduces the faction's income of allegiance points, but slowly accumulates allegiance points towards the ally's warring faction.
 * Coalition: Factions that have formed military alliances with a total of 25% of all the major factions in-game will be able to form coalitions, which automatically grants all factions involved every other diplomatic option. Factions within a coalition no longer build separate embassies for every faction they are allied with, but instead build a coalition embassy that allows factions within the group access to the recruitment of higher-end foreign units and research even more foreign technologies for each faction involved. Every faction within a coalition now possesses a singular type of allegiance points known as the coalition allegiance points, which replaces their previous' allegiance points that concern the related factions. For example, if Faction A, B, and C formed Coalition Z, then then Faction A will no longer have Faction B and C allegiance points, which are replaced by Coalition Z allegiance points. Coalition factions will gain a great increase in passive allegiance points income, as well as a reduction in the amount of allegiance points required for any inter-faction interaction within the coalition.
 * Non-Aggression Pact: A simple deal where the engaging factions agree not to commit any acts of hostilities towards one another. Should a faction break this agreement, war is immediately declared between the factions and the breaker's allegiance points towards the other faction will be greatly reduced. Conversely, holding true to the non-aggression pact gradually increases each factions' preference for one another, granting a small but steady flow of allegiance points.
 * Trade: Should factions possess resources that are important to one another but do not wish to engage in war to gain access towards such precious commodities, they may agree to a trade deal, where factions send each other precious resources through trade routes. Players and artificial intelligence factions may chart their own trade routes on their own HUD maps, which grant them paths to send resources to one another. To chart the trade routes, the factions themselves must use their units to uncover the fogs of war, enabling them to clearly mark eligible trade routes. Afterwards, factions must muster their transport units to move the resources gathered for trade either manually without a trade route or automatically with a trade route. These transport units, which are designated as trade caravan units, must drop off their load upon designated warehouse structures to accomplish the trade, granting the trade caravan's allegiance points. Of course, to truly benefit from the trade, factions must accomplish these caravan runs as to not risk a reduction in allegiance points, as well, should the trade appear to be less fair than it should have been. Finally, factions may assign units to automatically patrol along the trade routes, guarding precious caravans from marauding hostiles without the players having to constantly pay attention to them.

Combat
Players are able to field up to 1,000 units in a single game, where each unit contains a certain number of entities, from just a single war machine to a squad of twenty soldiers. In recruiting the units, players may set the number of entities present within a unit, which means that players aren't restricted to always recruiting a group of twenty soldiers but can recruit thirty soldiers for the same type of squad at an increased cost. This also applies to war machines, monsters, and other powerful implements of war, which players can recruit at greater unit sizes. Of course, recruiting soldiers and war machine will consume the player's resources, which means that changing the number of entities within a unit during recruitment to large amounts may not be ideal. To ensure fairness, there are limits to how many entities players can have within a single squad or group.

There are many types of units within the game, considering the multitude of playable factions, but they tend to conform to the following types:


 * Ground units
 * Infantry: The foot soldiers of every faction and the backbone of armies, infantry in this context refers to the grunts and regular infantry of an army. These soldiers are responsible for many different tasks, such as contesting objectives, destroying vehicles, defeating the enemy's own forces, and many others. Infantry units tend to be the most versatile fighting force a player can have, which is displayed in-game by the players' ability to retrofit and change the loadout of infantry soldiers with a variety of weapons and equipment.
 * Fast Attack: Swift-moving units whose main purpose is to scout out unknown areas and harass enemy forces with lightning-fast skirmishes. Units in this category tend to be unhindered by unstable terrain and have long lines of sight, allowing them to spot units from farther away. Unfortunately, they also tend to have mediocre combat performance and doesn't have many entities within their unit. However, their speed more than makes up for their deficiencies.
 * Heavy Attack: Monsters, war machines, constructs, and other terrible things whose main objective is to annihilate the enemy's assets at an even greater effectiveness than the infantry. Heavy attack units tend to possess massive amounts of health points and attack, their armaments being capable of dishing out massive amounts of damage in a short amount of time. As their name implies, however, they are slow, and they're not suited for non-destructive tasks.
 * Support: Any unit that provides a supporting role to any force they belong to, support units range from humble builder units to wonderful machines or organisms capable of enhancing their allies in a multitude of ways. The combat ability of support units depends on their factions, but they tend to be less effective in combat than even infantry units. Support units are crucial to be protected, especially those that support the player's infrastructure.


 * Aerial units
 * Attack Craft: Aerial aircraft and creatures whose purpose is to assault units below them with ruthless effectiveness. Attack craft specializes in supporting ground forces in pressing their attack, but they are also decent in air-to-air combat, making them versatile in many different combat situations.
 * Bomber: Air units whose duty is to annihilate low elevation targets with even greater effectiveness than attack craft. Bombers aren't adept in air-to-air combat, however, and will fall easily to anti-air implements, which means that players have to guard them with other units. Should they accomplish their duty, however, the results will be devastating.
 * Fighter: Dedicated air-to-air combatants that serve the best when used against other aerial units. They're decent in supporting ground forces with their armaments and scouting out unknown areas, but they're fragile and go down just as easily as bombers should they be exposed with prolonged amounts of damage.
 * Troop Transport: Aerial units whose duty is to transport a faction's soldiers from one place to another. Certain types of troop transports may also be upgraded to be able to transport heavier war assets, such as tanks, monsters, and others. Troop transports tend to lack armaments, however, making them the most vulnerable type of aerial unit.
 * Naval units
 * Amphibious: Certain units that are capable of operating effectively both on land and in watery environments. Amphibious units do not always have the same amount of effectiveness as their land and naval counterparts, but they're decent enough to fulfill the roles they're assigned to do, based on their shape, manufacture, or training.
 * Warship: From gunboats to destroyers, the classification of warship encompasses water-bound vessels that are capable of supporting ground forces with their armaments or destroying other ships. Warships are the most combat-capable naval unit in-game and can deny enemy forces access to the waters' precious resources.
 * Submarine: Submersible vessels that can hide themselves from enemy detection, unless the adversaries themselves possess submersibles of their own. Despite their apparent lethality, submarines are vulnerable when assailed by aerial units who are aware of their position. Submarines are also incapable of effectively supporting ground forces, unless they possess water-to-surface armaments.
 * Troop Transport: Similar to their ground and aerial counterparts, naval troop transports deliver their lethal cargo of warriors and weapons to enemy shores. Unlike aerial troop transports, naval troop transports tend to be able to transport war machines and larger entities from the get-go alongside a considerable amount of ground troopers.

Players are able to upgrade their troops with the right number of resources and the appropriate buildings, which open the gateway for technological research that enhance the units' performance. Every building that allows for unit recruitment increases the amount of units players can field, but -- as mentioned before -- to a number not exceeding a thousand units.

Several factions also possess hero units, which are special characters that are not necessarily pre-named and provide bonuses to nearby units while also delivering great damage to enemy units, depending on the heroes' capabilities. Hero units fulfill different roles in-game, and they can also be embedded in other units, who then become bodyguards to the hero while also getting bonuses from the hero's presence in the unit. While heroes consume population points to maintain, embedding heroes into other units of the appropriate type do not change the amount of population points players have. Heroes can also be upgraded via experience, which they can accumulate until Level 20. Heroes, though capable of respawning, are not immortal, and cannot be re-recruited after they are killed for a certain number of times, which depend on the heroes in question.

Game Modes

 * Conquest: Players take the role of the playable factions in their efforts to conquer the world of Worlds at War. Akin to the first Dawn of War game and StarCraft II, players are given the option to take their own routes in achieving victory over the other factions, such as being allowed to attack whichever region the player desires. Players may engage in diplomacy within the 'overworld' in a similar vein to the diplomacy section mentioned previously, as well as perform decisions that will affect the battles ahead outside of them, such as sending scouts to investigate allegedly empty areas, as well as sending builders to build structures in said empty areas to accumulate certain resources, and even recruit units from appropriate structures that can be readily sent to the next battlefield. The player's 'overworld' decisions will influence the outcome of the next battles fought in the relevant areas, encouraging strategy. Every faction is placed at different points of the map and has different victory conditions, but it is up to the player how they will accomplish these objectives.
 * Battles: Customizable fights against AI factions that players can do for many different purposes. Players can customize settings such as the number of units allowed on the battlefield, the recruitment time of units, the number of resources every faction receives, and even the weather events that can occur throughout the battles. Battles can be fought by up to eight factions, and there are a number of different sub-game modes that can be played through this mode.
 * Devastation: Players must destroy every faction present within the map with every asset they have. Players are unable to perform diplomacy in this mode, and they have to destroy every trace of the enemy factions off the map with every resource they have to gain victory. Players with the most factions destroyed will win this mode. This mode is the closest one to conquest mode that players can play.
 * Squad Demolition: Players are given single headquarters that allows for the recruitment of infantry units, which they then must use to destroy the opposing players' headquarters. The headquarters can also be used to build defensive structures to prevent enemy infantry units from easily destroying the central building. Factions that lack infantry units are allowed to recruit some of their larger units, provided they're ground units. The players' headquarters will gradually generate the resources required to recruit their factions' units, but players can gain hasten the headquarters' resource generation by killing combatants, reducing the resource generation time to up to 30%.
 * Tactical Domination: Relying only on the resource of requisition, factions must deploy their units in the areas allocated to them on the map before sending them to capture and hold key points marked on the map to achieve the set number of points required to achieve victory. In this game mode, players don't get to create buildings, but use their requisition points to spawn units and access abilities that will affect the battlefield.
 * Titan Demolition: Similar to squad demolition, players are given single headquarters that allow them to recruit the mechanized and giant monster units available to their factions. As a rule of thumb, anything considered a war machine or are comparable to large vehicles in size and mostly operate on ground can be recruited in this mode. With these units, players must destroy the enemies' headquarters, which are now capable of producing even greater defensive measures.
 * Faction Creator: A mode where players can create their own factions using the game's resources, which can be used to create custom units and even buildings, in addition to the factions' own traits and uniqueness. Players can even create factions that are mixed and matched from other pre-existing factions, as well as upload the custom factions to the game's network for other players' use.
 * Map Editor: A mode where players are granted the ability to create their own map using the game's vast assets. Players can set resource nodes present on the map, the weather events that happen, as well as gameplay conditions, in addition to many other creative settings. Once done, players may save their maps to be used in other game modes aside from conquest. Players can also upload these maps into the game's network, allowing other players to use the map for their own purposes, as well.
 * Multiplayer: A mode where players can challenge other players in various challenges. The modes featured here are for all intents and purposes the same as the ones featured in the battles mode. Players may record and replay the battles fought against other players and download them for future publication purposes.