Here's how the strategy layer works in Menace, the turn-based squad combat RPG from the Battle Brothers devs
"A tactically rich turn-based game with some meaty role-playing elements", was how Staff Sergeant James Archer characterised his Menace hands-on, back in September. The only thing missing from his account of the game was the bread needed to make that rich, meaty concoction a tasty, nourishing sandwich.
And by bread, I of course mean the strategic layer - the parts between the turn-based battles where you pick your next mission, improve your squads, deal with pop-up story events, appraise your standing with each NPC faction, and equip your strike cruiser with auxiliary systems. Developers Overhype have now shared a few details of how it all works. Mmmmm, such malty, yeasty strategicalness.
Honestly, it all sounds pretty straightforward next to the difficulties of avoiding injury on the surface. Between missions, you'll return to a starmap of the Wayback solar system, on which you can see planets and the factions that own them, together with any requests for aid. There's a reputation management element - leave a faction request hanging and they might sour on you.
Faction distress calls aside, the starmap is where you'll spend the game's main resources. Promotion points are for levelling up squads, OCI components (that's "Operational Capability Improvements" - you're impressing nobody with this wanton jargon, Overhype) are for embiggening your ship, the Impetus, while authority points are for keeping a lid on your crew's morale and mood.
Your crew are described as "motley", which here means "a massive liability". You might have to intervene in a bar fight, or deal with the problem of a moonshine distillery, or resolve an accident in the hangarbay. It sounds like the usual strategy-RPG rhythm of having to decide between fixing a problem now, or letting it slide to save resources and getting into hot water later.
As for ship upgrades, these have both active and passive benefits during missions. You can equip the Impetus with facilities that let you call in a
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