Turn 4

Disaster of a turn for me. I have lost my mercenaries and half my army

I hope Arco is doing better than me. Otherwise things aren't looking good in the south.

Action Report:
GK got yet another affliction. Seriously, what the hell. Air Shield (80%) + Ethereal should have stopped that, and he took a single hit and got an affliction two battles in a row. So now in addition to his limp he has a never healing wound. I doubt this will slow him down much at all as he moves into the water.

Expansion army took province to my SE without a loss.

Alt 1 research finished - my GK will now be scripting Barkskin.

Question: Just how far back should i stand the GK to be able to cast a spell and get first attack in against tritons? Against merfolk? Remember i'm limping.

Marching Orders:
GK into the water 330 vs. ~30 tritons. Easy win, 100+ gold/turn province.

Expansion army is moving ESE to 271, and will fight ~10 militia. Wow, pushover. But I'm pretty sure I want to put a castle there. To that end my prophet is taking command of the troops, and my starting general will start building the castle next turn, funds permitting. Ordered independent commander from WNW province into home territory to pick up an army next turn.

Will finish research into Conj 1 trivially and be well on my way to Conj 2.

Bought a mage, 11 dai-bakemono archers, and a regular dai-bakemono in my home province. Bought a light cavalry commander in my SE province. Bought PD up to 10 in my two new provinces.

I have ~350 gold remaining.

There are mercs. I'm not really interested in them, but its 30 guys so someone should probably make a grab for them.

Requests:
I could use anywhere from 3-500 gold for next turn to start my second fortress building right away with minimal interruption of my unit output. So, if anyone has any spare gold lying around...

Scouting:
Not really enemy scouting, but the forest to my SW has a death and heat scale (certainly not from my scales) - banefire braziers would be the most parsimonious site that could cause that, but it could be two different sites. I'll have to check it out. In the province to its W is a heat scale, but my dominion strength isn't nearly as strong there, which makes this less unusual - still, possibly also worth checking out. (I'm Cold 3, fwiw).

Edit:
Egads, two turn 4 threads! That's what I get for writing my full report right away... Could someone with the power do a merge? Thanks!

More Edit:
I have *two* Arena sites already. Does this mean I'm likely to host deathmatches? Does that mean a deathmatch in my arena counts as being within my dominion?

300 gold for Shinuyama and now I'm poor. So you ain't getting any more from me. That and now I actually have the resources to spend my cash

Lavaere wrote:300 gold for Shinuyama and now I'm poor. So you ain't getting any more from me. That and now I actually have the resources to spend my cash

I can probably give it back to you next turn. I just need a little kick to get the fortress turn 5 instead of 6. (and by 'get' i mean 'start')

Things went well for me, I have my scout on Abysias capitol, apparently his pretender is there I assume researching, took two provinces and next turn may have surrounded my capitol (all things willing), building some indie commanders to field more elephants. Building up a force of winged archers and more elephants + mages.

Im tempted to start rushing abysia, my forces move 3 prov a turn after I conquer them, so feasibly 7 turns with perhaps 10-12 elephants and 3 or 4 strong mages, reinforcements could flow, but it would put a damper on my researching and expansion.

I dont really have any gold to spare sorry.

Also, is it worth buying shamblers and making an expensive attempt at the sea? I wouldn't think so but let me know.

Skinu wrote:Things went well for me, I have my scout on Abysias capitol, apparently his pretender is there I assume researching, took two provinces and next turn may have surrounded my capitol (all things willing), building some indie commanders to field more elephants. Building up a force of winged archers and more elephants + mages.

Im tempted to start rushing abysia, my forces move 3 prov a turn after I conquer them, so feasibly 7 turns with perhaps 10-12 elephants and 3 or 4 strong mages, reinforcements could flow, but it would put a damper on my researching and expansion.

I dont really have any gold to spare sorry.

Also, is it worth buying shamblers and making an expensive attempt at the sea? I wouldn't think so but let me know.

Um, I believe Abysia is on our team!

Skinu wrote:Things went well for me, I have my scout on Abysias capitol, apparently his pretender is there I assume researching, took two provinces and next turn may have surrounded my capitol (all things willing), building some indie commanders to field more elephants. Building up a force of winged archers and more elephants + mages.

Im tempted to start rushing abysia, my forces move 3 prov a turn after I conquer them, so feasibly 7 turns with perhaps 10-12 elephants and 3 or 4 strong mages, reinforcements could flow, but it would put a damper on my researching and expansion.

I dont really have any gold to spare sorry.

Also, is it worth buying shamblers and making an expensive attempt at the sea? I wouldn't think so but let me know.

I think i'm good on cash. Current income ~900 - 90 upkeep + 350 cash on hand + 300 from Lavaere + ~125 additional income from to be conquered provinces and decreasing unrest = ~1535. 1000 for the fortress still leaves me with 535, which would let me buy a lesser mage (eh, i need a nature pick sometime) and 10+ dai-bakemono archers. Ie, a perfectly reasonable turn that doesn't blunt my tempo much. Have I noted how mean and lean shinuyama is? 90 upkeep is crazy low for how fast i can expand. (Yay sacred mages and resilient elite troops!)

Someone should make a map that marks which vets are where as we find out so we know what we're up against. Ie, numbering the vets 1-6 from top to bottom, where is your scout Skinu?

Squirrelloid wrote:[Someone should make a map that marks which vets are where as we find out so we know what we're up against. Ie, numbering the vets 1-6 from top to bottom, where is your scout Skinu?

I'm updating post #2 (in the maps thread) of Melnorjr's diagram for now, filling in the vets as we go. Yes, where is your scout Skinu?

OK, last turn went well. Gladiators did their job taking out the heavy cavalry. The other attack went well too, zero casualties, and I've laid the foundation for my second fortress there (4 month construction time).

Ermor is Vet number one! That's actually a pretty good match-up for Pythium - his deadites wont last long against all my holy and astral. Should be a good match-up for C'tis and Shinuyama too, what with their strong death magic.

I did make one boneheaded move, recruiting a communicant instead of an acolyte (damn Pythium sprites all look the same!). Oh well, I guess he'll be useful later, and in the meantime, he can still lead troops (only 10, but that's OK if they're serpent riders).

Anyhow, I'm recruiting the first of what should be a constant stream of Arch Theurgs from my capital, so hopefully my flat-line research should pick up, unless I need to deploy them immediately against Ermor.

My 3 attacks were successful. Forgot to move my harpy to TC's cap though. Should I try to find out what is at the cap or move the harpy to try to uncover more of the provinces between me and TC?

I will be attacking indies in 293 and 301. The later with my Gorgon vs 20 militia, archers,heavy infantry in that order. (cross fingers?)

I believe a good spot for a second fortress for me would be at 272 (occupied by longdead and ghouls). It is on the direct route to TC. I believe also that my second fortress should be:

1. Not a direct neighbor of another of my forts.
2. Contain some useful indy recruitables (not sure what indy recruitables are available in this province? Undead?)
3. Be of strategic import.

I'd also like to build a coastal fort at some point hopefully in a province with amphibious indies to crank out undead for water expansion when I (1. Get a pan with death, 2. Research E2).

Any ideas, comments, suggestions?

Septimius Severus wrote:
1. Not a direct neighbor of another of your forts.
2. Contain some useful indy recruitables (not sure what indy recruitables are available in this province? Undead?)
3. Be of strategic import.

1) Good idea. You'll lose resources at both forts otherwise.
2) Not a priority unless your national recruit-anywhere units suck or you really need an indie unit type to fill holes. Ie, if you have no archers and really need archers, building a fort where you can recruit archers is probably a good idea. But I'm going to mostly be building forts to recruit my national units closer to the front lines, so i'm looking for provinces with high resources and 5+ adjacent provinces as my second priority, and really don't care about indie recruitables at all. (That province is probably some combination of archers, militia, light/heavy infantry. You cannot recruit undead for gold).
3) I'm not sure what strategic importance means on this map. The most important strategic asset a fort will have will probably be 'proximity to the front lines' to keep units and mages flowing.

Lavaere, i have a thought. Turn 5 I'm going to be sending an army into the province SW of my capitol. It will then sweep around W and SW and get the rest of my backside provinces in turns 6 and 7. This leaves it in a dead end. Now, it does have strategic move 2, so I could just move it back to my capitol, but its also in a good position to take provinces you're supposed to get - which i can then leave totally undefended for you to walk into. I can clear indies with few to no losses, so this really doesn't hurt me, and it'll let you end year 1 in a much stronger position (i'd take the first of your provinces in turn 8, which'll let you take it in turn 9). And all you have to do is not expand to your NW until then, and then a single commander should do. I figure I could easily do any or all of 261, 269, and 257 over the course of turns 8-10, letting you take them on turns 9-11 respectively.

How's that for a return on 300 gold?

(possibly subject to change when i find out which vet i'm running into and how desperately I need more troops, but I doubt it'll be a problem since I'll be more than replacing that army each turn at that point).

Who need gold?

I've 850 Gold in treasury

I captured provinces 187 and 167 with only 1 loss each. Planning to attack 190, 122, 151 and 141. It looks like I'll have to recruit a commander instead of a mage this turn, since there are no independent commanders available for me just yet. If I get lucky, I might be able to try and grab a mountain province for my second fort next turn.

TwoBits wrote:

Skinu wrote:Things went well for me, I have my scout on Abysias capitol, apparently his pretender is there I assume researching, took two provinces and next turn may have surrounded my capitol (all things willing), building some indie commanders to field more elephants. Building up a force of winged archers and more elephants + mages.

Im tempted to start rushing abysia, my forces move 3 prov a turn after I conquer them, so feasibly 7 turns with perhaps 10-12 elephants and 3 or 4 strong mages, reinforcements could flow, but it would put a damper on my researching and expansion.

I dont really have any gold to spare sorry.

Also, is it worth buying shamblers and making an expensive attempt at the sea? I wouldn't think so but let me know.

Um, I believe Abysia is on our team!

I'm Abysia...

viccio wrote:Who need gold?

I've 850 Gold in treasury

Well, if you're just giving it away, I wouldn't say no to up to 200 more. =)

Or try to buy the Shipwreckers from Marignon, turn Abysia into a sea power - that or just use them to conquer your land provinces

I send 150 Gold to Shinuyama and Bandar Log and Bid 501 for Shipwreckers(is too much?)

Well if you have any spare cash I would appreciate a couple of hundred as I lost 900 gold last turn

Many thanks to Lavaere and Joelz for the much-needed cash infusions. Barring any unforseen catastrophes, I've enough gold for at least one turn. Lavaere... did you get the PM I sent a few hours back?

My first expansion army suffered a single casualty against the barbarian tribes to the north...

The C'tissian nobles worried greatly about the repercussions to morale in light of this momentous loss. Their concern spiked briefly when a keening wail was heard from the birthing chambers shortly after news of the battle had reached our home province; no mourning this, though... just an unusually large clutch of eggs coming in to the world. The brood marches on.

I have started construction of my third fort in province 324.

My pretender will assault province 317. My first expansion army will assault province 349... very likely bringing me into contact, maybe even conflict, with Ermor. If anyone would like to advise against this, now's the time.

My second expansion army will assault the bloodhenge druids in province 328. This is risky, but I've not had a single loss against them with my current setup in SP practice.

EDIT: I meant to say that I haven't lost a single battle against the druids. I usually lose about 10 out of 50 units.

viccio wrote:


I'm Abysia...

Hi there, Abysia. I'm your neighbor to the south and I don't intend to invade . If you'd like to work out castle/province placement that yields you more resources for your resource-heavy troops, I pretty much only need gold.

This turn, I got 39 free militia for the meat grinder, a free priest commander, and 38 or so free machakan infantry with shields. Looks like I'll be mostly limited by commander recruitment for expansion force deployment. Found a Death and a Nature site in my first claimed province, which was nice. If anyone's researching construction, let me know if you need some nature gems. I get 5 a turn now (with the free ones from my pretender).

viccio wrote:Who need gold?

I've 850 Gold in treasury

I could use some. couple hundred maybe. elephants are expensive and when you're trying to get forts up it can be tough.

Status:

Captured province 43. taking 46 and 22 next turn. Not going to be any losses or defeats, since my cap is surrounded on all sides by militia and light infantry

Next turn I can also scry any enemy cap's we haven't seen yet to figure out who's there.

Vet6 has not expanded in my direction, so I don't know what he is yet. Will next turn.

I am attacking two of my Capital border provinces. Both are a little risky as they are Barbarian & Heavy cavalry defended but I can't combine my two forces in to one sure attack and both seem fairly weakly defended in numbers.

I still can't see Vet 6 so he is not coming my way that quickly either. My guess is that he's Vanheim as he hasn't been spotted elsewhere. Having seen some more black candles of his I can see Cold, death, magic and sloth (in various provinces). All likely Vanheim picks. But nothing definite yet.

Squirrelloid wrote:Lavaere, i have a thought. Turn 5 I'm going to be sending an army into the province SW of my capitol. It will then sweep around W and SW and get the rest of my backside provinces in turns 6 and 7. This leaves it in a dead end. Now, it does have strategic move 2, so I could just move it back to my capitol, but its also in a good position to take provinces you're supposed to get - which i can then leave totally undefended for you to walk into. I can clear indies with few to no losses, so this really doesn't hurt me, and it'll let you end year 1 in a much stronger position (i'd take the first of your provinces in turn 8, which'll let you take it in turn 9). And all you have to do is not expand to your NW until then, and then a single commander should do. I figure I could easily do any or all of 261, 269, and 257 over the course of turns 8-10, letting you take them on turns 9-11 respectively.

How's that for a return on 300 gold?

(possibly subject to change when i find out which vet i'm running into and how desperately I need more troops, but I doubt it'll be a problem since I'll be more than replacing that army each turn at that point).

That will be cool, it will leave me just to keep moving towards the vets.

Caelum, we wants you turn. We wants it, precious. Give it to smeagol. Give it to us!