Hinterland Interview

The crew at Fidgit has published an interview with Tilted Mill founder Chris Beatrice and designer Jeff Fiske about their newly announced RPG/strategy crossbreed, Hinterland.
TC: On the feature list, "party-based tactical combat" implies the game breaking out into turn-based battles. Is this the case? If not, how will battles work? Is it hands-off Majesty style fighting?

CB and JF: Play follows your character continuously, so when he/you are in the village, you can interact with the village. As you move outside the village you encounter enemies and other characters and creatures. Combat can happen anywhere the village can be attacked, you'll discover hostile lairs in the countryside, etc. You directly control only yourself throughout the game, and some of the fun comes from the fact that you don't directly control any of the folks on whom your success is dependent (which is entirely the case in [city-builder] games). Your success in combat depends largely on which followers you bring with you, and how you equip them. Because your party is only a maximum of four characters (including you), what you do tactically with yourself is extremely important-- and no, you do all of your fighting and should you flee, your party flees with you. But the really interesting context for combat is not just about deciding who is going to be best to bring, in terms of combat victory, but also thinking about what happens if you lose that guy. In a village with a dozen people, each person's specific capabilities are critical.