Incline MENACE - sci-fi turn-based tactical RPG from Battle Brothers devs - coming to Early Access in Q3 2025

[itsme]

The commanders are going to be fixed. That means if you dont want your commander to be a female, nigger or chink your choice could be rather limited.

 

[Alienman]

Dark Recon

 

[Reinhardt]

Dark Recon

black sleeves

 

[Hydro]

Knowing the current day level of writing I’d rather they keep characters procedurally generated. The best we would get is 90s sci-fi ripoff.

Still 2025 GOTY

 

[Lhynn]

"I think I heard a woman, OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!" I deplore woke shit too, but my god, calm the fuck down you bunch of Herbs

Your pattern recognition seems to be failing, either that or you have the mind virus and are merely infiltrating this forum.

Yes, women warrior are a retarded idea that will end up with half your company pregnant and/or dead before the first half of the year is up, it is fucking bonkers that this shit is acceptable on any level, morally its repugnant, logically it makes no sense, historically its inaccurate at best, a fucking joke at worst.

That you are so willing to accept this shit is very telling of who you are.

 

[Ibn Sina]

New devblog about Squad leaders

Dev Diary #5: Squad Leaders and Stats
Meet the Squad Leaders of MENACE — they shape battles with unique perks, detailed stats, and distinct roles.
After getting into the details of how squad weapons and special weapons work, we are looking at the second important part: the soldiers wielding those weapons! We will also see what other types of equipment can be brought to the battlefield.

Squad Leaders
There are two fundamentally different character types in MENACE: Squad Leaders and Pilots. In today's diary, we look at the former and keep the latter for a future diary.

What are squad leaders in MENACE?​

Any unit you deploy in MENACE features a squad leader acting as its identification figure and its commander on the battlefield. Squad Leaders (short SLs) are handwritten characters with their own backstory and unique perk tree.

Furthermore, they have a set of specific stats reflecting their squad's capabilities. However, being unique doesn't automatically protect the SLs from harm. They can still be killed on the battlefield, so you have to take that into consideration when going for bold moves and suicide missions.

Squad Badges

When a squad loses all elements, the squad leader is “bleeding out.” Other SLs have a short time to head over there and stabilize them. This will make sure they are not dead, but they will still be out of action for a while and recover from their injuries.

Why Written Characters?​

From the very start of the project, we had a lot of discussions about whether characters or, in this case, squad leaders should be handwritten or procedurally generated (like in Battle Brothers).

Through procedural generation you can create an infinite amount of different characters, but the possibilities of meaningful dialogue or even character development are very limited or almost nonexistent. There is no persistence in relations or behaviour between the procedural individuals.

On top of that, after a while, the different components of the generation become apparent and recognizable to the player.

For MENACE, the interaction between characters and their reactions to the world is a very important tool for world-building and immersion, as are their opinions on certain topics.

In this regard MENACE takes a lot of influence from games like Jagged Alliance or the old Wing Commander. Characters are written personalities that can still permanently die.

Being able to give the squad leaders actual voices adds a lot of personality and attitude, which is especially important in the setting of MENACE, where a bunch of very different personalities with wildly different backgrounds have to get along.

Of course, the amount of written characters is limited, so if too many die, that means game over.

Squad Leader Stats​

Each squad leader has a variety of different skills and characteristics.

1. Action Points: Each character has a finite amount of Action Points, or AP, per turn. Any action, like moving a tile or using a skill, costs a certain amount of AP.
2. Hitpoints per Element: The amount of damage a unit can take until one of its elements is removed as a casualty. A squad with 10HP and five elements can take a total of 50 damage until it is completely out of action.
3. Armor Value: Depends on the armor the squad has equipped. The higher the value, the more penetration an attack needs to deal damage. Armors also have durability that is reduced every time the armor successfully stops a bullet.
4. Discipline: Reduces incoming suppression and increases suppression recovery. Moral tests are also done against the discipline of a unit. These have to be succeeded when losing elements, friendly units getting killed, or allies fleeing from the battle. The higher the discipline, the less likely a squad is to become wavering or retreat from the battlefield.
5. Accuracy: This determines the chances to hit for all attacks. Accuracy can be reduced by being suppressed by enemy fire and other effects. It can also be improved by deploying.
6. Detection: How well the squad can detect hidden/concealed enemy units. This value is subtracted from the enemy’s concealment value.
7. View Range: The distance in tiles the squad can see and reveal enemy units that have no concealment. Certain large objects can completely block lines of sight and allow for unrevealed approaches.
8. Concealment: How well the squad can stay hidden while in the field of view of enemy units. This is also increased by the environment like forests, buildings, or tall grass. A unit with some concealment that is deployed behind cover can ambush enemies very effectively.
9. Unique Starting Perk: Every squad leader starts with one unique perk already unlocked. These are very different between SLs and are designed in a way to make them feel unique and emphasize each individual's character.
10. Perk Tree: Each squad leader has their own perk tree that can be unlocked through “promotions.” Not all perks are unique to this character, but the selection and order of unlocks will be different for each.

Engage, Explore, and Stay Informed​

That's it for now. Let us know what you think about the Squad Leaders.

You can find us on Discord, BlueSky, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Reddit for discussions, updates, and feedback. You can also subscribe to our monthly MENACE newsletter on our website — just scroll to the bottom of the page to sign up.

In next week's Dev Diary we'll talk about "Supplies and Equipment

Oh look. An angry sassy Shaniqua as a squad leader. how brave

 

[Tyranicon]

At least they added Chuck Norris.

 

[Abu Antar]

At least they added Chuck Norris.

Chuck Norris added himself.

 

[Berengar]

What fucking hair color does this guy have lol

 

[Infinitron]

What fucking hair color does this guy have lol

Blonde with a red beard, apparently fairly common among Nordics.

 

[Beowulf]

What fucking hair color does this guy have lol

Blonde with a red beard, apparently fairly common among Nordics.

The same thing can be said about the black chick.

 

[The people of Duckburg]

What fucking hair color does this guy have lol

Blonde with a red beard, apparently fairly common among Nordics.

The same thing can be said about the black chick.

That she's fairly common among Nordics? Or that she's blonde with a red beard?

Facial hair does tend to be darker than regular hair for blondes. It's the case for me as well. Though, the bright blonde hair and fiery orange beard at the same time seems exaggerated.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

"I think I heard a woman, OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!" I deplore woke shit too, but my god, calm the fuck down you bunch of Herbs

Your pattern recognition seems to be failing, either that or you have the mind virus and are merely infiltrating this forum.

Yes, women warrior are a retarded idea that will end up with half your company pregnant and/or dead before the first half of the year is up, it is fucking bonkers that this shit is acceptable on any level, morally its repugnant, logically it makes no sense, historically its inaccurate at best, a fucking joke at worst.

That you are so willing to accept this shit is very telling of who you are.

not going to get into an argument about 'whats realistic' or not, it does not matter. You are so hyper focused on it to the point of being a bit suspect. I don't want women in my WW2 games, or historical simulations, but I don't really care in Starship Troopers, and I don't care here so long as its woven in naturally and done well. I don't see any reason so far to not give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they will give me a reason, and I would be 'disappoint'-- but you are way too worked up.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

What fucking hair color does this guy have lol

Blonde with a red beard, apparently fairly common among Nordics.

my hair does that combination, although I don't usually let my beard grow out very much, because food gets all caught up in it and other reasons, but it is reddish and my hair blondish

 

[Takamori]

Hope the squad leader shit don't fuck up with the flow of the random nature of each run, because every time I booted a run in BB it was new characters I was with and their stories were built accordingly to what was happening in game.
So they need a fuckton of options as Squad leaders so we don't end up being stuck with the same guys over and over. If the pool is limited this will ruin the replayability regardless who those characters are.
Also kinda concerned the fact they wanna make them voiced, where this VA Budget is coming from and how much toll is taking from other game aspects?

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

I don't want women in my WW2 games

Quite a lot of women worked as nurses, radio officers or in other noncombat roles in WW2.