This concept of being a shopkeeper selling items to the main characters was actually proposed by one of my game jam teammates, so it is super cool to see someone actually made it.
From what I understand, the numbers on the cities represent the power level the hero needs to be to survive. If their attack exceeds the number of the city they plan on attacking, there is a good chance they will survive. And if they do, they will help restock your shop later with their spoils of war.
Although I had one run that was really good, it honestly seems like whether you survive the beginning of the game is pure luck. Most of my runs inexplicably end early because the heroes end up winning the war quickly, despite the fact that when I checked the map last turn, half the cities were taken by enemies! Is that a glitch? It's frustrating to get a negative score over and over again while trying different strategies.
Also my best run ended RIGHT before winning because of a scripting error. Sad, cause I made fat stacks of cash.
Overall, obsessed with figuring out this game and there's a lot of potential here. Would love to see the mechanics better explained and more fleshed out.
Viewing post in Currents Of War jam comments
Ending with a negative score means you got into debt, which is one of the losing conditions. This happens when a hero comes and sells you their loot, which costs too much so you go into debt. The error was specific to the build, but it only occurred when you lost. But yeah the debt loss could have been explained better and we plan to change it so that you dont lose immediately. Also, the fact that whether you survive is up to chance is true to some degree, especially when you dont know whats going on, so we will try to address that too. Additionally , whether the hero dies or not is determined by his survivability. Thanks for trying the game out and for your feedback!