AI for Games
Ground Battle
Battleship, but on land. Hide your army on your half of the map and find the enemy's before they find yours.
Every shot is fired by one of your soldiers
You command the outpost at Stone Ford on the Sezha River. Deploy sections, platoons, scouts and a mortar on your hidden half of the map, then take turns with the enemy striking cells on their half.
The key difference from Battleship: the unit itself does the shooting. Lose your mortar and you lose its salvos too. So deployment is both your defence and your choice of weapons for the whole battle.
Between battles there's the HQ: coins and experience for victories, ranks, supply purchases and preparation for the next mission.
One minute of the game
The start of the campaign: the intro, the map and the battle of mission M1 Stone Ford. Sped up and silent; our side is played by the Veteran AI here. The game is in Russian.
How a battle plays out
The AI knows exactly what you would know in its place, and it doesn't peek.
- Deployment. The intel briefing tells you how many units of each type the enemy has. You place your pieces on a 10 × 4 half; they can be rotated, and there's auto-deploy.
- Command points. 2 CP per turn; the side that moves first gets 1 on its first turn. An action costs 1 CP, and each unit acts once per turn. One unspent CP carries over.
- Recon with numbers. A recon team scans a 3 × 3 square and shows how many cells are occupied. It deals no damage, but it turns a shot into a deduction instead of a lottery.
- Fog. In fog, a shot outside your own recon squares costs 2 CP instead of 1.
- Defence and orders. Body armor gives each cell +1 durability; trenches protect against mortars. "Regroup" moves a unit to untouched cells.
- Victory. Destroy all enemy combat units. If 20 turns run out, whoever destroyed more by value wins.
Units
| Unit | Size | Action | Special |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rifle section | 1 cell | Shot: 1 cell, 1 damage | — |
| Rifle platoon | 2 cells | Shot: 1 cell, 1 damage | — |
| Rifle company | 3 cells | Burst: 2 cells, 1 damage | — |
| Recon team | 1 cell | Recon: 3 × 3 square, number | No damage, reaches the near rear |
| Sniper pair | 1 cell | Aimed shot: 2 damage | 1-turn reload |
| Mortar crew | 1 cell | Mortar round: 2 cells deep, 1 damage | Area fire, 1-turn reload, no effect on trenches |
| Body armor | defence | +1 durability to each cell | Infantry only |
| Trenches | defence | Area fire deals no damage | — |
| Regroup | order, 1 CP | Relocate a unit | Untouched cells only |
2048, the Sezha River valley
Serious in tone but not brutal: no blood, losses are just markers on the map. The central theme is human versus calculation.
A small agrarian country in the Sezha valley. Its emblem is a white bunch of grapes on green. This is you.
A state run by a military conglomerate. It bets on automated warfare and is secretly testing the OKO combat control system.
A veteran infantryman with a prickly sense of humour. Teaches the basics under fire and comments on the battle over the radio.
"The Watchmaker" in radio intercepts. A professional who fights by the rules: "leave the village alone". Appears from M3.
Lieutenant of the Stone Ford outpost. Face and gender are never shown — this is you.
Act 1 "Front Line"
Under the guise of exercises, the Directorate crosses the Sezha. Only the Stone Ford outpost stands in the column's way.
| # | Mission | What happens | Unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| M1 | Stone Ford tutorial | The outpost meets a Directorate column; Bugrov teaches the basics. | Section, platoon, company |
| M2 | Fog over the Sezha | Fog: a blind shot costs 2 CP, so recon is a must. | Recon team |
| M3 | Duel at Dawn duel | Remer's snipers pick off commanders. | Sniper pair |
| M4 | Fire from Behind the Hill | A hilly map; mortars strike deeper. | Mortar crew |
| M5 | Hold the Line defence, 12 turns | The enemy is three times stronger: hold out and keep at least one unit alive. | Body armor, trenches |
| M6 | The Bridge | The last battle for the ford. The enemy has body armor and a trench, and the finale brings the first artillery barrage from across the river. | "Regroup" |
What it looks like
Shots from build 0.5.0 and story illustrations. The game is currently in Russian only, so the interface in the screenshots is Russian. Click an image to view it in full.
What's added and what's changed
The playtest on OnlyPlaytest opened on 31 Oct 2026. Below are all versions, starting from the first working battle.
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0.5.031 Oct 2026built, coming to the playtest soon
Codex, battle saves and control settings
Added- Codex in the main menu and pause menu: units, terrain, rules, characters. Anything you haven't encountered yet is hidden under a "Not cleared" stamp.
- Campaign battle saves at the start of each of your turns: quitting or a crash costs at most one turn.
- "Display" settings (window, vertical sync, frame limit) and "Controls" (rebinding battle keys).
- A splash screen with the Veresk stamp; any key skips it.
Changed- In-battle hints show the keys you've assigned.
- New game icon featuring Bugrov; the intro is now set in 2048.
-
0.4.031 Oct 2026in playtest · build 3
First playtest version
Added- Battle animation: muzzle flash, dotted flight path, mortar arc, explosion, stamp, flip of the destroyed piece, screen shake.
- Voiced lines via speech synthesis: intro, briefings, radio, tutorial.
- Pause menu: resume, settings, surrender, leave battle.
- Settings for animation speed, screen shake and volume across five channels; auto end turn.
- New portraits and act illustrations; F11 or Alt+Enter toggles windowed / fullscreen.
Changed- The briefing advances on its own; the focus frame only appears when playing with a keyboard or gamepad.
- Loading screen with the Veresk seal; the Windows build got lighter: 171 → 112 MB.
Fixed- Replaying an early mission no longer includes units and defences from later missions.
- A card in the tray no longer clips the selection frame.
Early pre-playtest versions
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0.3.030 Oct 2026Act 1 campaignAdded
- Missions M1–M6 with briefings and a tutorial in M1; fog, hills, defence, enemy protection.
- Service record: coins, experience, ranks, reserve, three save slots.
- Rewards for accuracy and battles without losses; HQ shop; main menu, campaign map, briefing, after-action report.
- "Regroup" order; portraits of Bugrov and Remer.
Changed- The army is deployed from the reserve within the rank limit.
-
Arsenal30 Oct 2026unnumberedAdded
- Recon team with numbers, sniper pair, mortar crew, body armor and trenches.
- "Proving Ground: Act 1", drag-and-drop deployment, cards with reload and damage preview, radio log.
- Keyboard and gamepad controls.
Changed- The side moving first gets 1 CP on its first turn: the first mover's win rate dropped from 57–58% to 49–54%.
- The Veteran AI learned to scout and trust the numbers.
-
First battle30 Oct 2026unnumberedAdded
- Rules, map, infantry: company, platoon, section.
- Recruit and Veteran AI; the Mission 1 battle from deployment to results.
What's next
These are plans, not promises: order and scope may change based on playtest results.
- Act 2 "Near Rear"Missions M7–M13, 10 × 7 map, 4 CP, tanks, artillery, MLRS, radar and air defence.
- Act 3 "Deep Rear"Missions M14–M20, 10 × 10 map, drone factories, electronic warfare, missiles, power plants.
- Act 4 "Citadel"Assault on an OKO node, a three-phase finale and four epilogues shaped by your decisions.
- Music and voicesMusic, final sound effects and live voice acting to replace the placeholders.
- New modesQuick battle, "Endless War" and the General AI.
- English languageFor now the game is in Russian only.
Be the first to play Act 1
The playtest is free; the game installs via OnlyLauncher on Windows. For now the game is in Russian only — an English version is planned. We care about one thing: whether you'll want to keep playing once Act 1 is over.