Saga (2008 video game)

In keeping with the RTS genre, gameplay in Saga revolves around managing a persistent, online kingdom. Each player is given a plot of land by their faction God, which they must develop and improve. These improvements include building defensive walls and towers, researching new technology at the university, and harvesting the available resources.[7]

Players, at the time of nation creation, choose which layout their nation will have. Then, as their resources grow (by questing or by peasant workforce) they can build buildings. Building spots are chosen by a system called "Free Build". Free build lets the user place buildings wherever they want, although there is a limit to how many of each building a player can build. Resources can be played on colored squares (brown = wood, gray = stone, gold = gold, purple = mana). There are an excess of these squares though, so one is not limited.

Additionally, players maintain a population of peasants, which rises and falls depending on the popularity of the player as a leader. Unpopular leaders can suffer riots, leading to extensive damage to structures and mass desertions by peasants. A player will gain peasants by capturing houses in quests or in PvP. At 74 happiness one's peasants will riot and at 90 one gains production bonuses. Any happiness above this is excess and should be used to tax the peasants. Normally, if your happiness is above 74 you gain 4 peasants a day. However, after the happiness system was patched in 2008, peasant happiness is no longer displayed as a numerical value. Happiness is gained by winning battles (PvP or quests), bribery and by having sufficient food and housing. Generally, having happiness in 'jubilant' is considered ideal.

Saga employs a booster pack system to amass troops. Each player receives an initial starter pack, as one would with a TCG, featuring a collection of various individual troops. These troops must be placed into like units to create an army. When more troops are needed, players buy "booster packs", which are a random selection of 10 troops ranging from common to rare. These troops can then be drafted into existing units, or traded off to other players. Through the trading system, players can customize their armies and trade for exactly what they are looking for. Trading takes place in the market, which also allows for resources to be traded, and troops to be bought and sold. There are also third party sites that sell individual cards.

Units grow in experience, increasing their base efficacy. Additionally, units can be further upgraded through collecting special armor and weapons. Each unit can equip one armor and one weapon. This gear is obtained through Questing against computer-controlled opponents. Armor and weapons are subdivided into numerous types. For example, dragons use wards and charms, while mechanical (sometimes called 'machine', not to be confused with Machine faction) units mostly use siege gears and plates.

Combat in Saga is real-time, in keeping with the RTS genre, and consists of maneuvering units around the field to fight and gain an advantage over the enemy. Spells, special abilities and reinforcements add to the various strategies that can be employed to gain an advantage. Battles can be fought against computer-controlled opponents through the Quest system, or against other players in PvP battles. While quests largely take place on neutral battlefields across the world of Saga, PvP battles are city-to-city conflicts between the competing players. PvP battles can be fought between two or four players, either on teams or as a free-for-all. In PvP combat, the two (or four) players have their kingdoms stitched together so that battles take place upon their lands. Being a persistent world, damage inflicted during PvP battles in 'hardcore' mode carries over, including the pillaging and destruction of opponent's buildings, and the death of troops. Dead troops can be resurrected in temples using God-favor, a combat-based resource. PvP battles can be fought in "scrimmage" mode, which allows for players to compete without any permanent damage being done to their kingdoms or troops; no experience or resource rewards are accumulated through "scrimmage" games. Battles fought in 'normal' mode will result in death of troops but building damage will not carry over. However, rewards are less than in 'hardcore' mode. It is common practice among friendly matches to have an agreement not to excessively damage buildings during a 'hardcore' battle. Therefore, both parties receive battle rewards as in 'hardcore' mode while damage inflicted is kept to a minimum.