Armoured Commander I (the original) is under capable new management with a number of bug fixes, improvements, and expansions planned and under way. You can see the latest changes over on its GitHub repository, and we plan on making compiled Windows binaries available for all stable versions.

The new life for original game got me thinking about ArmCom2, and I’ve decided to refactor the style of the sequel to move it further in a new direction. I had already moved away from the single tank focus of ArmCom1, as the player directly controlled a squadron of armoured vehicles and could issue orders to a number of allied units. In practice, this didn’t work so well, as other units in your “party” often fell behind, and with a group of tanks it made less sense to have a single “player” unit in the centre of the screen with the environment moving around it.

So I’m experimenting with a return to an earlier plan I had for ArmCom2, which is something closer to a tabletop strategy game, with a static map and the player taking on the role of commander of many units rather than existing within one of them. The underlying code is still largely the same: I’m using the same Field of View and other hex map functions, just the viewpoint of the player and the layout of the screen have been changed. So far it seems to be working quite well, and with some additional informational consoles along the right column I think there’s a good framework for a game here.

The Proof of Concept will thus be a single scenario with about 3-4 units per side, where the player has to capture and hold an objective within a time limit. Rather than a TU system, it will use a turn and phase system but will include the possibility of automatic interrupt actions (opportunity fire, etc.) that break up the traditional “I go, you go” pattern.