Here's where we can post speculation in terms of story and gameplay for Iron Marines. There's not much yet, but hopefully that will soon change.
- Heroes! Mr. T, as I will call him for short, is an anagram of Agustin, Father of Dragons and one of the earliest members of Ironhide. This hero seems much stronger compared to the enemies he faces. Perhaps he was given huge stat damage numbers just to test if he could do the things Ironhide wanted him to do, and will be rebalanced to a more reasonable state afterward. Perhaps this is already his final state, and the enemies are just significant weaker compared to heroes. We see that he has a shield. This could be a recharging shield that protects a certain amount of damage, similar to Arivan's rocks. Alternatively, it could be a skill that gives him super defence, or blocks specific damage types. It could also block some damage types as a passive. Either way, it definitely looks unique to him and not like a spell or item used on him that can apply to other units.
- As a "casual" RTS made by the developers of Kingdom Rush, I suspect that there will be some Tower Defence relation in this game. This is a tenuous assumption, since the team is so much larger and won't have full influence from the guys handling KR, but games of this genre tend to have defensive methods anyways, as that's part of the core gameplay. Offensive towers could be included amongst normal unit-training buildings, and I bet those would be excellent, especially if they took inspiration from KR.
- There are different and variated troop types, for instance the blue people seem to have some snipers. I hope this means we have troops that fall into pre-designated categories, with set ranges and speeds each work best at. Because of a presumed lack of melee what I remember from being pretty good at Rome (1) Total War won't help me, but I still love those good ol' hammer and anvil days.
- There are buildings to use. I would assume that these are made in the usual RTS way of specific units to act as builders, however I actually think I would also like the Edain Mod's building technique. It is presumable that there will be multiple buildings, one or possibly more for resources, several for training different units, and perhaps one or more to upgrade troops and buildings. A defensive tower of some kind will probably exist also.
- Turrets confirmed. AOE confirmed. Enemies grant numbers in the hundreds, making me assume that if it is a resource, then it comes in large quantities like this to avoid decimals or just look better. If merely a score,it could also be for those reasons. They fall quickly, meaning that there is a large gap in the power of some things in the game. Turrets could be very strong, and some enemies could be very weak. Maybe it's one of the two or both, or maybe a third option, like altered stats for testing.
- From this picture below, I presume that the close-up art will be as intricate and refined as always, but even more than before. Also, unique and original science-fiction guns could play big roles for special units, most likely heroes.
- Based on the blue dotted line, movement of units is executed by tapping the desired troop and directing it to a location by tapping the ground. Dragging seemed to occur as well, so that hopefully plays a role in specifying movement types, such as tapping to move and dragging to patrol.
- Objectives regarding reactivation of energy from a still-unknown source called the COMSAT (communications satellite) and likely more types of missions exist, with layers, as shown in "2/3." I loathe that hero portrait for its blandness, but further confirmation of heroes is assuredly a positive thing.
- Based on the below image, we get to see th most of the environment, which is a very snowy mountainous region with holes in the firing and has brown, grotesque blobs, likely to be alien egg sacs or some time of infection.
- A possible final boss or ultimate hero?
- Sounds: Sound effects as well as music are crucial to building atmosphere. Compare Origins to the first 2 KR's to see how much music can make a difference.
- Factions. See JB's post. I really want factions as well, preferably with drastically unique play styles. BFME2's factions are well-balanced (for the most part), but they're all so similar. Only heroes and spells really separate them from each other, and even then, some heroes are quite similar to each other as well as spells overlapping. Have armies that are focused on certain tactics but still have a little bit of everything else, to keep long games interesting and varied.
- Multiplayer. If I can interact with other players in matches, either against or with them, the game will have infinite play time as well as infinite fun.
- Spells. Besides strategy, some tactical bonuses would also help tremendously to keep combat varied. Spell trees, or at least multiple options from the start in any other form would be the best for an RTS. One faction could even have a heavy focus on spells compared to others as a defining trait, which would be amazing.
- Detailed Micro. Pretty much Kevin's suggestion. Options to change the amount of hostility that units have towards enemies, their goals in a mission (defend a unit/structure/area, attack, etc.), and set multiple movements at once. It might make for quite a full menu when a unit is selected, but fullness means options, which strategy games need to be interesting.
- Detailed Maps. See Kevin's suggestion. Large maps, or at least on the verge of big, aren't always best, but some should be present. Small maps with narrow spaces can also be fun to take advantage of, especially when they limit unit types and army sizes. Environmental additions, neutral/always hostile units guarding treasure, and neutral buildings for capture (possibly guarded by neutral units) to add bonuses should not only be present, but also optional.
- Customizable Matches. Being able to set up a Skirmish match is a must. Starting resources, unit availability, hero availability, spell usage, neutral enemies, neutral buildings, and whatever else you can think of. Make as many things optional for the most variety, player adaptability, and replay value.
- Skins. This is a stretch, but if I could unlock different skins or other visual, non-gameplay bonuses by using a certain unit effectively multiple times, I might love this game more than the KR series. Better skins should take more to earn, but still be within reason. Even if I do play this game enough to kill 1,000 units with a hero, I would like to kill at least 300 of them with a brand new skin.
- Target-Locking: Force units to shoot at a specific unit and not waste abilities/resources.
- Patrolling: Make units move between any amount of selected spots until ordered otherwise.
- Unit Upgrades: Self-explanatory. The game needs this because customisation of one's army should be as in-depth as possible, adding more strategic possibilities and length to games. Plus, it gives more things to spend Etherium on.
- Unit Abilities: Beyond just heroes, units should have special powers that they can use. Not all need one, but there should still be plenty of units who do have powers. They should all have cooldowns, as well as a low Etherium cost to use.
Unit/Enemy Suggestions:
To be updated.