Kingdom Under Fire II (Part Three)

Gameplay
As previously mentioned, this game (KUF2) is generally all about its Hack-N-Slash and RTS. And so the better question to ask is, how does it all fit together in the grand scheme of things for Kingdom Under Fire II's gameplay?

Hint: Think about what you've already know. Mission Zones, Field Zones and Leadership Points.

Basically, at the start of each day, you will be given a daily quota of 1000 leadership points ("Ordinary Leadership").

As and when you participate in mission zones, whether you win or lose, you will gradually start to consume your leadership points.

Depending on the "scale" of the mission, some may take as little as 20+ points to as much as 100 over. But generally speaking, I've found that doing about upwards of 10 "regular" missions would tend to deplete your daily quota of 1000 (with each regular mission taking about 30 to 40 minutes of your time or more).

Anyway, if you do manage to not spend away all of your quota, 20% of whatever that's left over would be put away into a reserve pool ("Accumulated Leadership").

Leadership points are deducted in such a way that you will spend your daily quota first before touching upon your reserves.

As such, as long as you don't play hardcore, the chances of you depleting all of your daily quota AND your reserve pool is pretty slim.

But in the case that you do, then your pretty much stuck with just idling yourself away in the field zones (with its very little EXP and gold per kill gains) for the rest of the day.

However, perhaps as some consolation, if you do find yourself having looted some of these stuff called "Element of Vitality" (from the monsters out in the field zones), you can also choose to mix it up with some "Star Powder" (obtained from monster drops and disassembling of stuff like "Magic Stones", "Armors" and "Weapons") and make a "Leadership Recovery Potion" to replenish some leadership points to further your fun in the mission zones.

Sadly though, I believe that you are only allowed to consume one such potion a day (so its still not possible to sustain your gameplay through them).

Hack-N-Slash Mode And RTS Mode

As part of the allure of the game is its Hack-N-Slash and RTS gameplay capabilities (and the ability to switch in between them), it is only right that you learn how to play the game in both of the modes.

Taken from the in-game loading screen, the above shows you all the vital controls that you will need to know of. But out of them all, the most important ones to remember are (in my opinion) "Tab", "~", "F1 - F4", "Z, X, C", "V" and "Alt".

• The "Tab" key allows you to switch between the two modes, Hack-N-Slash and RTS.
  
• "~" and "F1 - F3" allows you to select your Hero and troops individually, while "F4" makes you select them all at once. (Mostly useful when your in RTS Mode.)
  
• "Z, X, C" commands your troops to enter "Offensive", "Defensive" and "Hero Support" modes. (Mostly useful when your in Hack-N-Slash Mode.)
  
  In Offensive Mode, your troops will engage and attack all enemies aggressively while on the other hand, in Defensive Mode, they will only attack when under attack. In Hero Support Mode, your troops will engage whatever enemy troops that your hero is currently attacking and (as far as I know) all supportive skills that they have will also be based around you as their target.
  
• The "V" key toggles your friend or foe identification. It basically just puts a huge red dot on all enemy targets in your view. Turn it on to allow you to spot where the enemy masses are or turn it off for more realism. Its your choice.
  
• Lastly, the "Alt" key allows you to interact with elements found on your HUD (like your chat window for instance) while your in Hack-N-Slash Mode. Pressing the key will bring out your mouse cursor so that you can select stuff on your HUD. Else, any movement of your mouse will only turn your character about (change where its facing).
  

Mission zones are just about the only place where you'll get access to the RTS Mode. In all the other zones (city and field), since there are no troops for you to control, you will solely be moving about in the Hack-N-Slash Mode.

Hack-N-Slash Mode VS RTS Mode
Relatively speaking, I've found that both of the modes tend to be "flawed" in some sense.

Though they each have their own pros and cons.

For instance, although I've found that it is much easier to issue different movement orders to your troops individually when in RTS mode, it is however, too simplified in such a way that you have only your "move" and "attack" commands.

Right click on empty space to move there and on enemy troop flags to attack them.

Furthermore, depending on which unit (hero or troop) that your currently selecting at the moment, your hotkeys to skills also changes...so much so that it becomes hard to cast the active skills that you want (especially at critical moments).

And to make things worse, the Hero (your best offensive asset) is left motionless in "blocking stance" without contributing much to the battle at hand.

But the pros is that whilst in RTS mode, you can have a good grasp of the battlefield and its easy for you to direct your troops and even rush past an enemy defense line to attack their supportive assets (like healers and long range units).

Conversely, in Hack-N-Slash Mode, I've found that its pretty hard (if not impossible) to direct your troops to attack different enemy troops or to position them in different locations.

Additionally, they will also be easily "trapped" or "stranded" by the slightest of enemy forces. Even a single enemy in their way will stop them from following your hero past a blockade.

However, the best advantage to using this mode is that its much much easier to focus yourself and bring down a specific target with all of your "firepower" (since your best asset, the hero, is under your full total control).

Whilst controlling my hero, I can take down the basilisk boss from almost full hp to zero in just a mere 30 seconds (when I had a hell of a time doing so in RTS mode).

As such, the best way to go about playing this game is still to combine both modes (use Hack-N-Slash during most of the time fighting and only go into RTS to rescue stranded troops or when using AOE skills).

Previous: KUF2 (Part Two)

Next: KUF2 (Part Four)

Posted in: Kingdom Under Fire II