Turn 20

News in the south...Marignon's army...has vanished. He ran off back toward his land, I'm guessing to protect his fort from machaka since he saw he isn't winning the attack on me. Vanheim actually backed off also - I think I worried them a bit. I'm deciding now whether to press or to sit a turn or two and get mind hunt asap.

If anybody needs anything from me, now is the time to ask - I've got some breathing room.

Noob Gold Total - 364,251
Noob Gem Total - 1,969

Vet Gold Total - 147,193
Vet Gem Total - 1056

I now officially have a nature 4 mage at the 50% off conjuration site and I have call of the wild researched. Time to disrupt enemy movements. This will require really great scouting reports, though. Pretty much the best use is to assassinate lone mages (doubtful), or to plant them along a probable reinforcement route, canceling movement through that province. Even better... after they arrive, they can go stealth and start irritating the vets even more.

I have fire arrows and I've been recruiting archers here and there for the whole game and not really sending them out anywhere. I also have a bane thug leading 27 fire drakes. Sounds like it's time to start having the "archers" handle fire and have my mages switch over to primarily other things. Once I get Arrow Fend, I'll be set in Enchantment basically forever.

I expect that Marignon and I are about to have a pretty big fight in the next turn or two... I hope to surprise him horribly by casting Arrow Fend since he's almost completely reliant on crossbowmen. Should be really nasty for his forces. I can hardly wait.

I don't suppose anyone can forge a Staff of Storms yet...

note that he might use a fair bit of royal guard as well. he used a fair number on me, though I killed the majority of them.

Glorious news... not from C'tis, but from the land of the Bakemono! One of Ashdod's sacred armies is GONE. That's right; 2 of the big guys (Adons) and 16 (yup, sixteen) of his Cap-only sacreds are officially toast. 100% losses. And it only cost Shin about 10 death gems and 29 Bakemono.

I'd love to take credit for this, but the truth is that I just deployed what had already been provided. Shin just hit Evo-6, so I'm sure Bane-fire was a surprise. But here's what really made the difference: ICE PEBBLE STAFFS. Just three of them was enough to numb every single unit in that army by the time non-PD units clashed with the enemy. These things are a MUST for all of us in the north! They won't always turn the tide, now that the cat is out of the bag, but it's one more thing he'll need to counter.

----------------------

Ermor is down to nothing; my mages were not interecepted and I'll be storming this turn. Wish me luck!

melnorjr wrote:note that he might use a fair bit of royal guard as well. he used a fair number on me, though I killed the majority of them.

Royal guard are essentially the perfect meal for spiders, of which I will be using 138 in this army.

Raiel wrote:Glorious news... not from C'tis, but from the land of the Bakemono! One of Ashdod's sacred armies is GONE. That's right; 2 of the big guys (Adons) and 16 (yup, sixteen) of his Cap-only sacreds are officially toast. 100% losses. And it only cost Shin about 10 death gems and 29 Bakemono.

I'd love to take credit for this, but the truth is that I just deployed what had already been provided. Shin just hit Evo-6, so I'm sure Bane-fire was a surprise. But here's what really made the difference: ICE PEBBLE STAFFS. Just three of them was enough to numb every single unit in that army by the time non-PD units clashed with the enemy. These things are a MUST for all of us in the north! They won't always turn the tide, now that the cat is out of the bag, but it's one more thing he'll need to counter.

----------------------

Ermor is down to nothing; my mages were not interecepted and I'll be storming this turn. Wish me luck!

Ice pebble staves are beautiful, beautiful things.

I'm going to claim partial credit for the victory over Ashdod, as there were 4 Adons in that army - finally, a complete success with teleporting Magic Duel! So, that means Ashdod lost in one round 4 capital only 400gp mages (along with ~50 gems worth of equipment - hope Shinu picked up some of that!) and 16 125-150gp cap only sacreds. Ouch!

I'll have more on Pythium's situation later after I get back from work (a hint though: Operation 'Harder they Fall' will be commencing shortly).

177, 217, 227, 198 all hit by Sidhe thugs and taken. He tried the same stunt somewhere else and got rocked by some halberdiers. I'll reclaim those lands except for 217 and 227. For some reason Eriu buys PD up to "quite well organized" even though we can see from the graphs that his income has been shot to hell lately, plus the guys I hit it with are so heavily armored that his PD gets destroyed.

Marignon attacked me at Hergendorf (118) which I have taxed and pillaged into near-uselessness (unrest over 255, pop down to 7000). I knew I was going to lose it and all my troops had retreated already. He has no mages supporting his royal guards. I've got 20 black knights and 23 flailmen to go against 22 royal guards and 15 or so crossbowmen. I've also got 3 mages to back them up, although they are Ulm mages and I'm not sure if my magma bolts are going to do too much to royal guards. Damn Ulm mages.

Caelum, can you get some troops ready? I'm going to just sit back behind PD and hope that he attacks me, but he might see you as an easier target.

Congrats on the great Ashdod victory! Hopefully this is another vet nation that you guys are really squeezing.

Attacking 236, probably some other places (I will list here when I do). Caelum please list everywhere you are attacking in case I update my turn after I post where I'm going!

thanks to septimus for the 50 N gems, the next turn i can cast rain of toads and "send lesser horror".

Vanheim rejected me but I am preparing another army for creating a nuisance

The siege of Eriu's Fort continue

Bandar - Slowly building up mages and research. Supplying some cash to Jotunheim so he can build Skrattis.

Bandar is still looking for Hammers (for cheaper forging) and any spare nature gems people have. If anyone has any nature or astral forging requests let me know.

Bandar is now totally boxed in by other Noobs. I therefore want to march my monkey armies through Ulm's fort province to Bandar's East and onwards towards the Vets. There are plenty of Ulmish troops there but as long as they stay in the Fort Bandar's armies should be able to deal with the PD and then march onwards towards the Vets. Due to supply problems I will need to move through the province in two different turn groups. Is this OK with you Ulm? And please leave some indies or Vet lands for me to capture between you and Shin There are still plenty there at the moment or so my scouts tell me.

Jotunheim - My Capital has been breached. When he storms he will win as there are few mages there. But he may probe with a scout first giving me another turn. I will be attacking a neighbouring province with stealth troops (Bolivar's old province, it only borders other Vanheim lands).

In the north I killed off a Vanheim attack with my Pretender. I will be attacking Dragon Pointe (the Vanheim held forest province between my fort and my capital). I would also like to attack Marignon's province to the north of my fort if Caelum is not going to.

Jotunheim has begun blood hunting with two B3 Skrattis. I will keep the slaves at the moment but if Abysia (or someone else) needs some hopefully I will be building up a store. I got 15 this turn. Jotunheim also has Death gems going spare.

Any spare cash going would be appreciated, although I think my outgoings are about to be cut with the loss of my Capital defenders

Ok, I'm back and because I will not be traveling for the near future, but Squirrelloid will, I will be subbing for Shinuyama until Squirrelloid gets back in mid-August since he thought this game would benefit most from a continuous presence. Thus, direct all coordination requests/offers of stuff/etc. to me and I will do my best to manage them. I'm looking forward to playing on the Noobs team, I would have signed up for this game if I had become involved in MP in a serious way slightly sooner.

Raiel, you did an excellent job handling the situation in 302. I was extremely pleased to see Ashdod's entire army of 16 giants and 2 commanders die a horrible death to bane fire, numbness, and magma eruption. I'm going to wait a turn to finish the fort and reorganize my units, then I'm going to start marching on Ashdod's provinces in force. Is there a particular reason you had research set to further Evocation? (After hitting 6 for bane fire?)

In the immediate future, I see 4 major objectives for Shinuyama:

1) Site-search. Shinuyama has tons of unsearched provinces (research was more important for banefire) and weak gem income. I'm going to research Thaum 2 for next turn and start spamming the spells in a serious way, and I might also gear up some Bakemono sorcerers for the old-fashioned approach by going for Construction 4 soon. If anyone has a few spare thistle maces and some nature gems, a handful of those could speed up the nature site-searching a lot--I particularly want to search for kelp fortresses since Shinuyama can recruit kappa in aquatic forts.

2) Take the rest of the ocean provinces inside Shinuyama's "border." I've been recruiting some triton troopers and shark knights to help Shinuyama's GK pretender take the harder nuts to crack. Depending on how the game develops, this may result in being able to mount an amphibious invasion, but I think all the vets bordering Shinuyama's ocean (e.g. Ermor) will be dead by then?

3) Push Ashdod. I've heard other people are having success with beating Ashdod on the other side. Now, with their major army in the region gone, I think I can spare troops to start cleaning up independents (knights who've recaptured provinces from me or Ashdod), ghouls who broke through weak PD, etc.

4) Start planning for a later-game strategy. (I haven't come up with any brilliant ideas on this yet, but I just got back into the game).

Sorry about the research! I thought I had assigned it to Construction or Thaumatrugy, but I wasn't sure what your/Squirrelloid's long term goals were - so when I reviewed the turn before submission, I must have been confused or distracted.

Welcome back, Iainuki. When the Ashdod threat in 302 appeared, I re-routed numerous forces in case I needed to counter any attack. Well, now Ashdod is looking pretty open in that area, and I have significant forces in 316 and 321, including a lot of mages (5 Theurgs and two Arch Theurgs). I intend to follow up your victory by attacking 302 next turn, and then heading due East from there (so 305 would be next). If you like, I can also clear out 294 (presuming it is only light PD) if you don't have forces available to do so next turn.

In the north, I'm holding at 329 for the time being. I want to see how Ashdod disposes of the forces in his capital (~60 Archers, Militia, Anakites, and 4 more Adons), and also to make sure that I don't get too far away from Ermor if he manages to pull off another miracle (although I'm pretty confident in Raiel handling it for good this time). As expected, the Father of Winters has departed 320 to parts unknown (or does someone else know?).

Reinforcements are also heading to the north, either to go against Ermor (unlikely, but just in case), or join up with forces at 329 to drop down on Ashdod from above, ideally linking up with forces moving from the SE on Ashdod's capital (hey, I can dream, can't I?).

I'm leaving 302 open for Pythium to move in. After looking at the situation again, there's nothing dangerous visible adjacent to 280 so I'm sending some troops from there to take back 294. I've increased PD everywhere (to 5) so hopefully no more ghouls will be able to take over provinces, we'll see. I have another army moving to 265 which will attack either Ashdod or independents next turn. I have some other smaller groups moving to take out independents.

I'd like to get Obscuro for the next three turns, or if not now then the three turns after that. How much should I bid for him to ensure the vets don't get him, presuming no one else wants him more? I posted in the mercs/items thread more about those two situations.

Nothing much to report. I am site searching like a fool, and finding nothing. So my Earth gem income is only 11, which means I can only cast a few golumn spells a turn. Sigh..

Also, I made a blunder that turned to my atvantage, I was going to attack 224, but didn't direct my troops there, just my scout. Now with the 270 TC troops there, it doesn't look like a bad mistake.

The leader is named: f2a2w2s2, I am going to crack this code and assume that the leader is a pretty good mage.
Here is a screen shot:


I am moving troops up, and casting spells. Also still site searching. I am not sure I can defeat the TC troops, but with my fort, I can hold out for a while, as I have quite a few troops and mages there. I just don't have any death gems to fuel finding death sites, so if anyone wants to send me a few it would help.

I am going to start walking around and site searching, but that takes too much time.


Lanka, can I take 204 as this will give me a quicker ave to TC from my other Fort?

Thanks.

OK, my latest plans: Attack 302 with major forces. Attack the northern Vanheim enclave at 320 with token forces (enough to take it if there's only Black Hawks and minimum PD, but not enough to cry about if they get wiped out by more substantial defenses). Other northern forces will move to the border with Ermor, to try to guard against any kind of Vet CT/Teleport attack/relief for Ermor, and to be in position in the unlikely event C'tis' attack fails. If all goes well with C'tis next turn, they'll be out of position for a couple of months in attacking Ashdod from the north, but as long as I'm able to hit them from another flank, I think it's worth it to be sure.

Regarding LumenPlacidum's plan to start casting Call of the Wild - that can be useful, but only effective against enemy provinces with really minimal PD (so if anyone has scouts showing light PD in enemy provinces, time to share the info - from Ashdod, 305 and 391 show only minimal defenses - even so, I wonder if a pack of wolves can take out one of their giant PD commanders - you can try it if you want to). LP, you might just want to cast that spell on your own territory near your borders (they wont attack you - it's just like getting a free commander, but one who can summon more free chaff every round - probably why it's so expensive).

Regarding Pelthin's situation, I didn't know Renaming was available (BTW, how do I do that?). Just remember, with these cunning Vets, that could be total misinformation (otherwise, I'd be tempted to teleport down there for some more Magic Duel fun, but until there's 'hard' information, I wouldn't risk it). I'll also send you the Earth and Death gems I have available (only 1 E and 3 D a turn, but you've got 'em for now, unless someone can make a stronger claim). And I'm pretty sure your neighbor is Abysia, not Lanka! Coordination, you guys! Sounds like you'd better PM Viccio ASAP (yes, most definitely, as I'm fairly sure that viccio's not a native English speaker - but hey, you've been doing fine so far viccio! - and he might miss the Lanka remark!).

Thanks Twobits. I just was looking and noticed that I typed the wrong nation, as I don't think Lanka was even taken. PM has been sent. Sorry for the wrong info.

Also, in regards to site searching I was reading some where that the different types of terrain have a % impact on what you will find. So should I always start searching for Earth in Mountains, and Death in Swamp/wastes? Just looking for advice. Maybe I should put this somewhere else.

Thanks!

TwoBits wrote:OK, my latest plans: Attack 302 with major forces. Attack the northern Vanheim enclave at 320 with token forces (enough to take it if there's only Black Hawks and minimum PD, but not enough to cry about if they get wiped out by more substantial defenses). Other northern forces will move to the border with Ermor, to try to guard against any kind of Vet CT/Teleport attack/relief for Ermor, and to be in position in the unlikely event C'tis' attack fails. If all goes well with C'tis next turn, they'll be out of position for a couple of months in attacking Ashdod from the north, but as long as I'm able to hit them from another flank, I think it's worth it to be sure.

Regarding LumenPlacidum's plan to start casting Call of the Wild - that can be useful, but only effective against enemy provinces with really minimal PD (so if anyone has scouts showing light PD in enemy provinces, time to share the info - from Ashdod, 305 and 391 show only minimal defenses - even so, I wonder if a pack of wolves can take out one of their giant PD commanders - you can try it if you want to). LP, you might just want to cast that spell on your own territory near your borders (they wont attack you - it's just like getting a free commander, but one who can summon more free chaff every round - probably why it's so expensive).

Regarding Pelthin's situation, I didn't know Renaming was available (BTW, how do I do that?). Just remember, with these cunning Vets, that could be total misinformation (otherwise, I'd be tempted to teleport down there for some more Magic Duel fun, but until there's 'hard' information, I wouldn't risk it). I'll also send you the Earth and Death gems I have available (only 1 E and 3 D a turn, but you've got 'em for now, unless someone can make a stronger claim). And I'm pretty sure your neighbor is Abysia, not Lanka! Coordination, you guys! Sounds like you'd better PM Viccio ASAP (yes, most definitely, as I'm fairly sure that viccio's not a native English speaker - but hey, you've been doing fine so far viccio! - and he might miss the Lanka remark!).

No problem. And I'd say go ahead and put that here, as this thread will be closed anyway, once we get to the next turn, so it's not like you're taking up space. And yes, from what I've read, you're right, search for Air and Earth in mountains first, search for Water (and Death?) in swamps, search for Nature in forests (of course), and search for Fire in wastes (and Death too?). Astral and Blood (aside from places that show chronic unrest) are pretty much anywhere? At least that's how I understand it. Please someone else comment if I have it wrong, or there's something else missing.

Glad to hear of the victory against Ashdod.

Ashdod is either increasing their presence in the east or recalling troops to the cap (sign of desperation perhaps).

My attack vs. Ashdod in 277 (center province right below Ashdod's cap) succeeded.

Following Rdonj's advice regarding both beseiged armies and releiving armies particpating in a break out during the same turn I am now attempting to the break the seige of my fort in 281 with the largest number of troops yet assembled in the game, or at least by me. Over 500 units attacking from 5 different provinces as well as the beseiged army. Versus 120 Ashdod troops (probably 100 slingers and maybe 20 Sheshei). If successful, it is then on to the Ashdod fort in 285 and then the cap (304).

Also planning a possible attack on Ashdod in 251. If successful, and my provinces hold, I will have built a province bridge clear through the vet center to the other side.

Intel updates:

TC Deva in 231 (may seek to disrupt bridge).

10 Sheshei and an Adon in 306 (next to 303) possible building another fort C'tis.

4 lonely rephaite sages in 285 (Ashdod's fort). Remote target maybe? May help defend against seige breakout.

Mixed group of 80 archers, militia, sheshei, and 4 adons in Ashdod cap.

Continuing fort construction in 303 and 255.

I do hope the vets are not considering an early concession, I am having a such a good time. Besides the most experienced vets are now in the center/south.

To rename a commander: Right click on the commander in the strategic view and press r.

If the mage with that army really is an immortal I would think twice before trying to magic duel it.

Stretch wrote:
Caelum, can you get some troops ready? I'm going to just sit back behind PD and hope that he attacks me, but he might see you as an easier target.

Attacking 236, probably some other places (I will list here when I do). Caelum please list everywhere you are attacking in case I update my turn after I post where I'm going!

For starters, congrats on your great success against Ashod.

Im having a rough go against these Sidhe lords, going to try to take 79 back although im sure he will just move the lords to somewhere else.

Found a tower of the silver order - bad ass, that astral is going to come in very handy.

Stretch, Can you give me advice on what province might be attacked.

Marignon might hit 112, Skinu. Not sure where the Sidhe's are, but next turn I will queue movement to sit a bunch of troops on top of Eriu itself. I'm going to send you 300 gold to help out with the lab building and astral recruiting. Astral mages will give a nice punch in addition to your lightning storms.

TwoBits wrote:
Regarding Pelthin's situation, I didn't know Renaming was available (BTW, how do I do that?). Just remember, with these cunning Vets, that could be total misinformation (otherwise, I'd be tempted to teleport down there for some more Magic Duel fun, but until there's 'hard' information, I wouldn't risk it). I'll also send you the Earth and Death gems I have available (only 1 E and 3 D a turn, but you've got 'em for now, unless someone can make a stronger claim). And I'm pretty sure your neighbor is Abysia, not Lanka! Coordination, you guys! Sounds like you'd better PM Viccio ASAP (yes, most definitely, as I'm fairly sure that viccio's not a native English speaker - but hey, you've been doing fine so far viccio! - and he might miss the Lanka remark!).

Pelthin, take 204, i don't need of this

viccio wrote:

TwoBits wrote:
Regarding Pelthin's situation, I didn't know Renaming was available (BTW, how do I do that?). Just remember, with these cunning Vets, that could be total misinformation (otherwise, I'd be tempted to teleport down there for some more Magic Duel fun, but until there's 'hard' information, I wouldn't risk it). I'll also send you the Earth and Death gems I have available (only 1 E and 3 D a turn, but you've got 'em for now, unless someone can make a stronger claim). And I'm pretty sure your neighbor is Abysia, not Lanka! Coordination, you guys! Sounds like you'd better PM Viccio ASAP (yes, most definitely, as I'm fairly sure that viccio's not a native English speaker - but hey, you've been doing fine so far viccio! - and he might miss the Lanka remark!).

Pelthin, take 204, i don't need of this

hehe..What can you expect from a bunch of old Statue worshipers. Thanks V, for the Prov. I PM'd you the other two prov you can take.