Turn 15

Lol, I'm swimming in gems.

Thank you all, especially Lanka, but I can't use them all. I'll send the rest back.
Unless if someone can cast Mother Oak I could send the nature gem surplus to them.

viccio wrote:I'm under attack from Caelum and Nielf... Caelum attack me with the prophet and 8 eagle Kings (the Eaglie Kings casting Thunder Strike...)

advice?

You (Abysia), Sauromatia, and Lanka (all heat nations) were all set up to support one another along that front vs those two vets. But Formoria should be pressuring Caelum from the north, and Ctis putting pressure on Neifelheim from the south, at least that was the original planned layout. Heh. I wish Formoria and Sauromatia would post something. Rdonj, Illuminated, p3d, can you advise viccio, I don't know much about Caelum or Nief.

Hmm, I have only seen Niefel via a scout.

Niefel Jarls have good defense and very good protection, good mr, too.
He has earth-9 and nature-9 bless so reinvig takes care of fatigue and he regens 15 hp per turn.
However he has a high fatigue after buffing so that might be an opening.

What worked in a test of mine was spamming tangle vines (he breaks free after a turn but he can't attack and his def drops to 3) and then hitting him with my sacreds. But that's just theory, I guess I'll attack him in 127 now and find out...

Fatigue spells could work extremely well. Stellar Cascades or Ghost Grip (but his armor helps against both, probably not enough though).
All armor negating/armor piercing spells with high damage and no mr negates.

And I don't know that much about Caelum, but maybe very small squads of troops could serve as decoy for thunderstrike?
Lesser Horrors might eat his eagle kings.


I have an army ready that could go north. I don't see a way though. I'd rather go south and try to put some pressure on Niefel there.

Oh, the tanglevine strat works nicely. I killed some skinshifters and then a Jarl with it.

Sadly, you can only script vines for 5 rounds (and won't be in range for the first two), and they take longer than that to kill, at least with chaff level stuff/undead.

You should be aware that his buff cycle is basically two holy spells (Blessing then Holy Avenger, which is better than I thought), so he only has fatigue of around 8, and it goes usually before anything can close in. Don't rely on that.

I'm doing my best to not be killed BY Neifl in the south, but I'm not sure I can provide much pressure, I have Helheim and Atlantis picking at me down here as well.

Septimus - I need a force breakdown on that incoming atlantian army that just landed in Validun (6) please, as much detail as you can stomach typing up. I wonder if there's anything I can actually do about them...

Also, are you going to attack 6, or 14?

Grah, I need more SCOUTS, damnit, I can't tell if there are legions of giants in 18 and 34. I will assume there are.

Edit: 14 has Exceptionally Strong PD, and it's Niefel PD -_-

Edit2: Okay, I'm going to submit my turn so I don't stale, I've done what I can and also pushed forwards a little with what I have. I'm not attacking anything within reach of an allied province.

Darloth wrote:Oh, the tanglevine strat works nicely. I killed some skinshifters and then a Jarl with it.

Sadly, you can only script vines for 5 rounds (and won't be in range for the first two), and they take longer than that to kill, at least with chaff level stuff/undead.

You should be aware that his buff cycle is basically two holy spells (Blessing then Holy Avenger, which is better than I thought), so he only has fatigue of around 8, and it goes usually before anything can close in. Don't rely on that.

I'm doing my best to not be killed BY Neifl in the south, but I'm not sure I can provide much pressure, I have Helheim and Atlantis picking at me down here as well.

Septimus - I need a force breakdown on that incoming atlantian army that just landed in Validun (6) please, as much detail as you can stomach typing up. I wonder if there's anything I can actually do about them...

Also, are you going to attack 6, or 14?

Grah, I need more SCOUTS, damnit, I can't tell if there are legions of giants in 18 and 34. I will assume there are.

Edit: 14 has Exceptionally Strong PD, and it's Niefel PD -_-

Edit2: Okay, I'm going to submit my turn so I don't stale, I've done what I can and also pushed forwards a little with what I have. I'm not attacking anything within reach of an allied province.

Darloth, I won't get a chance to check my turn till later today,tonight. You mean Atlantis took Validun? I believe I said I could counterattact coastal provinces west of validun (6). Everything east is up to you for now. Let me know which province you are attacking this turn. I had planned on taking 14 but may have to double back. More later.

Illuminated One wrote:Hmm, I have only seen Niefel via a scout.

Niefel Jarls have good defense and very good protection, good mr, too.
He has earth-9 and nature-9 bless so reinvig takes care of fatigue and he regens 15 hp per turn.
However he has a high fatigue after buffing so that might be an opening.

What worked in a test of mine was spamming tangle vines (he breaks free after a turn but he can't attack and his def drops to 3) and then hitting him with my sacreds. But that's just theory, I guess I'll attack him in 127 now and find out...

Fatigue spells could work extremely well. Stellar Cascades or Ghost Grip (but his armor helps against both, probably not enough though).
All armor negating/armor piercing spells with high damage and no mr negates.

And I don't know that much about Caelum, but maybe very small squads of troops could serve as decoy for thunderstrike?
Lesser Horrors might eat his eagle kings.


I have an army ready that could go north. I don't see a way though. I'd rather go south and try to put some pressure on Niefel there.

I beleive Sauromatia is blocking you there. Thats great tactical knowledge, your a regular encylopedia. Feel free to post more of those counters and strats in the strategy thread for easy access.

Septimius Severus wrote:

Illuminated One wrote:Hmm, I have only seen Niefel via a scout.

Niefel Jarls have good defense and very good protection, good mr, too.
He has earth-9 and nature-9 bless so reinvig takes care of fatigue and he regens 15 hp per turn.
However he has a high fatigue after buffing so that might be an opening.

What worked in a test of mine was spamming tangle vines (he breaks free after a turn but he can't attack and his def drops to 3) and then hitting him with my sacreds. But that's just theory, I guess I'll attack him in 127 now and find out...

Fatigue spells could work extremely well. Stellar Cascades or Ghost Grip (but his armor helps against both, probably not enough though).
All armor negating/armor piercing spells with high damage and no mr negates.

And I don't know that much about Caelum, but maybe very small squads of troops could serve as decoy for thunderstrike?
Lesser Horrors might eat his eagle kings.


I have an army ready that could go north. I don't see a way though. I'd rather go south and try to put some pressure on Niefel there.

I beleive Sauromatia is blocking you there. Thats great tactical knowledge, your a regular encylopedia. Feel free to post more of those counters and strats in the strategy thread for easy access.

The most effective way I found to deal with thunder strike spam is with lightning immune thugs, it doesn't take much to make thugs that can walk through anything caelum can throw at you and if you use them in small groups it will be tough for his recruitables to bring you down. Then he'll probably bring in mammoths to squish your thugs, but you already know how to fight those.

Decoying with small squads does help a lot too, especially if you can decoy with one or two high hp units. They'll draw a lot of fire but it will be hard to hit them, especially if he casts storm. And even if he does with high hp decoys it can take 2 or 3 direct hits to take them out. Decoying works best if you have some fast unit that can then run up and pummel the eagle kings in melee. I used undead cavalry, but horrors should work quite handily. I know abysia doesn't have access to nature magic, but casting swarm would be a very good way to make caelum's life harder. He won't be able to cast at your real units if he's dealing with dragonflies, plus he may end up shooting his own eagle kings as they try to defend themselves.

If you can spam undead or something that can also be useful, so long as you have decoys set up to take the initial tunderstrikes. Otherwise the thunderstrikes can take out your mages, since they can hit anything on the battlefield.



For niefelheim the previously discussed tactics for mammoth countering still apply, plus you should try to hit them with armor destroying spells. At least this will work on anything not wearing magic armor. Using fire bola-wielding commanders against them could be pretty useful. What illuminated one said was good advice as well. And if you can get high defense commanders, get them immune to cold and equipped with armor piercing/negating weapons, they could be quite useful in taking out jarls. Equipping these sorts of thugs with chainmail of displacement is highly recommended.

I can start making Copper plates starting next turn, but for that I need
a/ air gems
b/ a hammer

I'm attacking the small farmland over to the right of my terrain. I can't recall the number right now, but it's not 14. 14 is full of giant PD, enough to get the good stuff, so I won't attack that until I've pushed the rest back. I suspect he's building a fort in 14 though, and yes, you've lost 6, to roughly 100 deep ones and other amphib assault.

Darloth wrote:I'm attacking the small farmland over to the right of my terrain. I can't recall the number right now, but it's not 14. 14 is full of giant PD, enough to get the good stuff, so I won't attack that until I've pushed the rest back. I suspect he's building a fort in 14 though, and yes, you've lost 6, to roughly 100 deep ones and other amphib assault.

Yep, we expected it, and I can counter attack with a small force of retrarius (40) this turn, however it may be best to move into Ministra with most of my other forces (100) I was going to use for 14 and if necessary retake 6 next turn. Rather than using the mercs on 14 this turn as I planned, I suppose I'll have to holdem on 11 till next turn and use em with the rest to retake 6 or relieve a possible seige on your fort at 265.

For the next game, I intend to drop indy strength as low as it will go. We had more trouble than I expected expanding ending up with the vets in control of the noman's land between our main camps. Hopefully we can recover it piece and piece and then some.