I’ve been thinking a lot about something Kingdom does really well:

Commanders are not strong alone.

The people around them matter.

The loyal ones.
The reckless ones.
The quiet ones who notice what others miss.
The rivals who push them.
The officers who can hold a line when everything starts falling apart.

That feeling is a big part of what I’m trying to capture in Rise of the General, a Warring States war RPG I’m building that is heavily inspired by Kingdom, but not a Kingdom adaptation.

The core fantasy is rising from a nameless soldier toward becoming a general.

But that rise shouldn’t just be about the player getting stronger.

It should also be about the people who rise with you.

The idea

I don’t want recruitment to feel like buying units from a shop.

I want it to feel like war creates people worth noticing.

Maybe after a battle, a wounded spearman stands out because he held the line longer than anyone expected.

Maybe a scout notices enemy movement before the officers do.

Maybe someone who seemed ordinary suddenly shows they can lead.

Maybe a rival is talented, but trusting them too much becomes dangerous later.

That is the kind of recruitment system I’m working toward.

Not just:

“Add soldier to roster.”

but:

Is this person worth trusting?”

Roster vs Trusted Units

The player may eventually command many soldiers, but only a few become truly important.

The Roster is everyone under your command.

Basic soldiers.
Fresh recruits.
Survivors.
Replacement troops.
People assigned to you by higher command.

But Trusted Units are different.

Trusted Units are the people you personally rely on.

They can become squad leaders, officers, rivals, loyal followers, or future commanders.

They can appear in story moments.

They can gain loyalty.

They can disappoint you.

They can save you.

They can become people you actually care about losing.

That is the part I’m most excited about.

Recruitment and identity

Each recruit has a few things that define them:

• Class — what they naturally do well
• Repute — their potential and reputation
• Stats — their raw ability
• Traits — what makes them memorable
• Personality — how they act under pressure
• Loyalty — how much they actually trust you
• Role — where you decide to place them

So two frontline soldiers might both be useful, but they shouldn’t feel the same.

One might be loyal and steady.

Another might be aggressive and ambitious.

One might become the backbone of your army.

Another might become a problem if you give them too much power too early.

Army placement

Recruiting someone is only the beginning.

The real decision is where to place them.

Do you put your most aggressive fighter in the center to break the enemy line?

Do you trust a calm defender to hold the rear?

Do you assign a scout to watch the flank?

Do you promote a quiet but capable soldier over someone louder and more respected?

Do you keep a wounded loyal soldier close or pull them from the front to protect them?

That’s the kind of decision I want the system to create.

Not just “highest stat goes here.”

More like:

“Who do I trust with this responsibility?”

Subordinates should be able to change battles

This is important to me.

A good subordinate should not feel like a passive bonus.

A strong scout might save you from an ambush.

A loyal defender might hold the line long enough for reinforcements.

A reckless vanguard might break through the enemy center.

Or push too far and get surrounded.

A strategist might warn you of a trap.

Or you could choose to ignore them and pay the consequences.

The people around the player should matter.

Because that is one of the things I love about Kingdom.

A commander’s rise is never just their own.

Recruitment / Unit Card Concept

https://preview.redd.it/ozvvhs6gtl4h1.png?width=500&format=png&auto=webp&s=5a34702692631542488f62703ab2befb3c58f21a

Army Placement Concept

https://preview.redd.it/wxa65u7dtl4h1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=f0b869a3195838cfa0d84855033f9fdf3ed00da1

I’m still building and refining this system, but I wanted to ask other Kingdom fans:

What kind of recruitment or army placement system would feel right to you?

Would you want more focus on:

• finding hidden talent
• building loyalty
• rival officers
• battlefield roles
• betrayal and ambition
• squad leaders growing into commanders
• rare genius-type recruits
• emotional losses when trusted people die

Curious what people here would want most from a system like this.

Also, just to be clear: this is not meant to be a Kingdom adaptation. I’m trying to build my own game that captures some of the feeling Kingdom gave me.

I've been working on a battlefield command system for Rise of the General, and I wanted to share how I'm thinking about it.

One thing Kingdom does really well is this feeling that:

You don't actually see everything
And you still have to make decisions anyway

That's what I'm trying to capture.

Battlefield layout

The battlefield is split into:

• Left
• Center
• Right

Each section has its own general and troops.

You're not controlling every unit directly.

Instead, you're:

• receiving reports
• reading the situation
• making decisions
• and deciding when to step in

Each front can be:

• holding
• under pressure
• breaking
• or about to break through

And that information isn't always perfect.

Battlefield Command Concept

https://preview.redd.it/u22o2pzz99yg1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=d858cb3f91a1a3e63466b7c038e59228e663f0d4

You don't always see the battlefield clearly

What you see depends on:

• your core stats (Insight, Command, Warfare)
• your substats (scouting, awareness, etc.)
• terrain
• where your HQ is positioned

If your HQ is on higher ground:

• You get better visibility
• faster and clearer reports
• more accurate information

If you're in a bad position:

• Reports can be delayed
• Information can be incomplete
• enemy movement might be hidden

At that point, you're relying on:

• scouts
• messengers
• your sub-commanders

So a lot of it becomes:

How much do you trust your information?

Command isn't about controlling everything.

Each command phase is basically:

1. reports come in
2. You look at the battlefield
3. You make decisions
4. things play out

But you can't fix everything.

You have to choose what matters most.

• Reinforce the left?
• push the center?
• Trust the right side?
• Commit reserves?
• Step in yourself?

You're always giving something up when you choose something else.

Sub-commanders matter

They're not just placeholders.

They use the same stat system as the player:

• Martial
• Warfare
• Command
• Presence
• Insight
• Vigor

So when you leave a front alone, you're not ignoring it.

You're trusting someone else to handle it.

Sub-commanders can win or lose battles.

This is something I care deeply about.

Sub-commanders aren't just stat holders.

They can actually decide the outcome of a battle without you being there.

• If you trust a strong commander to hold a front:
  • They might stabilize the line under pressure
  • break through the enemy's lines
• If you trust the wrong person:
  • They might hesitate
  • overextend,
  • misread the situation
  • collapse entirely

And the important part is:

You won't always see it happening in real time

You might get a report like:
"left side holding… then suddenly breaking."

or

Right flank pushed further than expected."

So part of the gameplay becomes:

• not just making the right decision
• but trusting the right people to carry it out

That's the feeling I'm trying to recreate:

• You're not winning battles alone
• You're relying on people who may or may not live up to it

Rank changes what you're responsible for

This is something I really wanted to get right.

Ranking up isn't just about stats going up.

It changes what your role actually is in battle.

Early ranks (5–100)

You're leading small groups and trying to survive.

• 5-man, 10-man → small squad leadership
• 50-man, 100-man → holding a line

At this stage:
You're still receiving orders

And your focus is:

• keeping your unit alive
• reacting to situations
• proving yourself

Elite unit ranks (300–500)

This is where things start to shift.

Instead of just holding positions, you're given specific battlefield tasks.

Things like:

• flanking
• ambushes
• breaking through lines
• targeting key enemies

It becomes less about holding ground.
and more about executing missions

Mid ranks (1,000–4,000)

Now you're responsible for a single front.

You're no longer just part of the battle.
You're responsible for a section of it

You start getting reports like:

• left side holding but under pressure
• The center has a chance to break through
• enemy movement on the flank

And now you're the one making decisions for that front.

High rank (5,000+)

This is full battlefield command.

You're managing:

• left
• center
• right
• reserves

You're deciding:

• where pressure goes
• where reinforcements go
• When to commit
• When to trust your generals

At this point, the question changes from:

"How do I survive this fight?"

to:

How do I win this battle?"

Rank / Command Progression Concept

https://preview.redd.it/19d8hnyaa9yg1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=58ef84c79ed12fcbe797f128175056cd50314ec9

What I'm aiming for

I don't want this to feel like a puzzle where you see everything

I want it to feel like:

• You're on a battlefield.
• You don't see everything.
• You're getting pieces of information
• And you still have to make the call

I'm still refining this, so I'm curious what people think

How much information should a commander realistically have in a battle like this?
And how much should come down to trust and judgment?

If anyone wants to follow the project or see more:

Steam Page:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2480350/Rise_Of_The_General/

Game Subreddit:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/RiseOfTheGeneral/

Life has been rough for me since the beginning of the year, and development slowed down more than I wanted.

But I kept pushing.

And honestly, that ended up helping the project.

I had a working demo before…

And I scrapped it.

Completely.

Because the more I played it, the more I realized it felt too limited and too small for what I was trying to make.

And it didn’t feel worthy of something so heavily inspired by Kingdom.

So I tore the foundation down and rebuilt it from scratch.

Because I’m basically trying to make the Kingdom game I always wished existed.

I’ve reread Kingdom more times than I can count, and like a lot of people here, I’ve always wished there were a game that captured things the series does so well:

• Rising through the ranks
• Commanding armies
• Officer rivalries
• Large-scale warfare
• Coalition-level campaigns

That’s honestly what pushed me to start building this.

A lot of this rebuild has been driven by asking:

What would a game built for Kingdom fans actually need to feel right?

For me, that means:

• The rise from foot soldier to Great General
• Meaningful officer progression
• Formation warfare and battlefield tactics
• Rival generals and reputation
• Kingdom-scale campaigns where strategy matters

I’m not trying to make a Kingdom adaptation

I’m trying to capture the feeling Kingdom gave me.

What the game is

The game is called Rise of the General.

It’s a historical strategy RPG set during the Warring States period around King Zheng’s rise, heavily inspired by Kingdom and influenced by officer-focused strategy games like Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 Remake.

• You don’t start as a famous general.
• You start as a nobody.
• A foot soldier.
• Taking orders.
• Trying to survive.

You earn fame through war and choices, rise through the ranks, command officers and armies, and eventually fight kingdom-scale wars.

The long-term vision is to combine:

• Living world simulation
• Officer progression
• Tactical warfare
• Story choices
• Massive campaigns between states

Basically…

start as Shin.

Work toward becoming a Great General.

(Yeah… that fantasy.)

One of the biggest things I rebuilt was the skill system.

Originally, the game only had five broad skills.

It worked, but it felt shallow.

Builds didn’t feel unique enough.

Old Skill System

https://preview.redd.it/4os14vexo6xg1.png?width=1757&format=png&auto=webp&s=571f40e388baba7f78ffb8521c4ae7d53819b1fb

So I rebuilt it into a layered core + substat system where every general can develop differently.

Martial.
Warfare.
Command.
Presence.
Insight.
Vigor.

With deeper substats beneath them all.

New Core + Substat System

https://preview.redd.it/bftd38fzo6xg1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=845a5205d47f6e4cd8902aab2e9e669fd7841e05

That alone changed the game massively.

Then I rebuilt combat.

This was the biggest change.

Originally, combat felt too much like 1v1 fighting with units appearing around it.

It didn’t feel like war.

Old Combat UI

https://preview.redd.it/99r0b6kfp6xg1.png?width=1909&format=png&auto=webp&s=d35938202c78a4435d79bc9bfce1b2834abe21ca

Now, combat is being rebuilt around 5v5 officer-led turn-based battlefield warfare, inspired much more by strategic war games than by traditional RPG combat.

Built around:

• Formations
• Morale and cohesion
• Officer and sub-command dynamics
• AP and stamina decisions
• Positioning that matters every turn

Less isolated duels.

More battlefield command.

More Romance of the Three Kingdoms in spirit than traditional RPG combat.

New Combat Concept

https://preview.redd.it/b8xwdqqrp6xg1.png?width=1447&format=png&auto=webp&s=1e991e3c0f5842d1269771b16d91083383e9021f

This is much closer to the kind of warfare I imagined reading Kingdom.

And while rebuilding all this…

I quietly put up a Steam page.

Steam Page
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2480350/Rise_Of_The_General/

If it looks interesting, feel free to check it out.

Wishlists help, but honestly, I’d love feedback from Kingdom fans most

because you’re exactly who I’m making this for.

If anyone wants deeper development updates, I made a subreddit for the project, too:

Game Subreddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/RiseOfTheGeneral/

This has been a passion project for a long time.

And after rebuilding everything…

I finally feel like I’m making something worthy of the idea.

My dream is to capture even a fraction of the feeling of the Coalition Arc, large-scale campaigns, and the rise to great general fantasy.

For fellow Kingdom fans — what would a Kingdom-inspired game HAVE to include for you?

Thanks for reading.