Dragonshard Designer Diary #5

GameSpot has posted their fifth Dragonshard Designer Diary, this time with designer Charley Price discussing the game’s revamped building system. An excerpt:

Given the layered importance of buildings and their inherent vulnerability, we found that this rendered players especially susceptible to rushing tactics. As such, we have introduced city walls–fortified structures around each nexus grid that act as a first line of defense. City walls are broken into sections, which include gates, from which friendly units can enter and exit (and hide behind to heal and buff up during a siege); walls, which simply offer a sturdy boundary; and towers, which are found on the corners of the nexus and automatically fire at incoming opposition. While relatively weak at first, walls can be upgraded as resources permit (going from wood to cobble to stone), increasing their resilience to damage and increasing the damage that the towers deal out. Given how this would seem to reinforce a defensive, “turtling” style of play, it’s worth noting that you cannot place towers on individual grid slots, so the towers on your nexus walls are all the defenses you have.