In order to allow further experimentation, I added a scenario setup screen before battle, allow setting the number of roman squads and barbarians.

I continue with the idea of not adding new types of units for now, but I added one that had to go: the Centurion, it’s a single unit squad with range of command (you can only command squads within the range of a centurion) and boost the morale of nearby troops when engaged in combat. Units outside commanding range lose their minds and discipline, and just attack the nearest enemy.

Centurions have an additional stat, “virtus” which acts as a kind of regenerable shield in battle, so they can go in and out of battle to recover it. Units also now flee if their morale drops to 0, counting as a loss.

Added a bar at the bottom which you can use to select your centurions or squads, as well as a number on top of each squad to identify them on the map, and a status panel for the selected unit or squad. Also made all the game in the canvas since the initial prototype had scattered HTML elements, and scaled it to cover all height.

Improved group movement, whenever multiple units are selected and a movement command is given, they will now keep formation, moving towards the direction without breaking their ranks.

At this point I don’t really know how to continue the experiment before expanding it into more types of units. I think I managed to experiment with the core aspects I wanted to see, and now I don’t see a clear way forward for it. I think I’ll take a couple of days to think about it. For now, my last action will be to refactor it into several javascript modules and use spritesheets for the images, so that it’s easier to maintain in the future.