Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 16
Again an uneventful turn. Another 5 blood slaves. I wonder if Caelian virgins have wings...

Caelum didn't even try a counter-attack this turn. Ananda is moving north towards the lone Caelian province. Devasura is turning his attention from blood hunting to preaching. Anuprabha is searching to see if the border provinces have any secret magical sites. I am recruiting another Yakshini to help with research and site searching.

All is quiet...

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Is it calm before storm? Dun dun dun!!

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

These AARs are -very- enjoyable. Thank you for the effort in putting them together. They make the wait for Dom3 release both more and less bearable at the same time. ;-)

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Really, it's the little touches about this game I love the most. They give it flavor that just can't be beat.

Very, very cool.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

you're welcome http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Now I'm wondering if that's intentional or not http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Eh, it's unintentional.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

st. patric, this is a very enjoyable AAR, thanks for posting it.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 17
I was worried this month when the first scattered reports came in: people from my border with T'ien Ch'i reported an attack. Upon further investigation I found out that there was indeed an attack, but it was a magical attack of black hawks sent by Caelum! Thankfully I was able to beat off the attack easily - Anuprabha was in the province at the time searching for magical sites and organized the defence. This did not prevent him from completing his search: he found a particularly productive farm (able to feed 50 soldiers), and a mineral cave producing a small amount of earth gems.

I got my first look at the Vanheim war machine this turn: Balakrit witnessed Vanheim taking over an independant province. It was an interesting fight - a horde of Van Hirdmen against a troupe of war elephants. I thought the elephants were going to take it, but there were just too many Hirdmen in the end.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...5-17battle.jpg

Ananda has worked his way north by now and is preparing his attack on Caelum's last free province. Should be a cake-walk. Devasura's preaching reduced Caelum's dominion in their home province from 8 to 7 - still a long way to go. My new Yakshini, Asisa, arrived, but I am giving her the task of helping the Yogis with their research this month. Next month she will lead out a contingent of Yavanas to the border with T'ien Ch'i.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

It's a Vanir human wave! =O

Good going. So, when are you going to make a final move against Caelum?

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 18
This month my Yogis, under the watchful eye of Asisa, discovered how to call Apsaras into the world. Apsaras are divine nymphs who dance for the gods. They can however be convinced to come down to this world if the proper incantation is known, and the appropriate magical gems are sacrificed. Now this ritual is known I am recalling Divya to the capital, because he is the only one who can cast this ritual.

I took over Caelum's last free province, although the resistance was stiffer than I thought it would be. I lost 4 men in the attack, though it is worth it because now Caelum only consists of a beleaguered few, huddled in their city, food running out, without hope of being saved. Devasura's preaching again succeeded in reducing the people's confidence in the false god of Caelum.

Ananda is building a temple, which is an expensive enough undertaking (400 gold) that I can recruit relatively few troops this turn. Asisa, now that her research has paid off, is heading south to patrol the border and look for magical sites along it. Anuprabha is doing the same kind of thing - patrolling and searching.

For the next few turns building temples is the most important thing. Since I haven't seen Caelum's god yet, it is possible that he/she is imprisoned in much the same way I am, in which case I may be able to destroy her people's faith in her before she escapes. It would be unfortunate to have to deal with a huge Manticore or Dragon in a few turns time. That could get ugly. So yes, preach to the people to change their ways, and who knows - maybe we can avoid a bloody end to this.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Here is the spell screen. The Spells in blue are national spells which are particular to the nation you're playing.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...430-18conj.jpg

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Wow, surprised to see the summon elemental spells are now only Fire 1, Air 1, and Earth 1. Should lead to some nice elemental spam.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Yep, that's quite suprising.


Apsaras eh, can we get a screenie when you summon them? And what are those "Amphiteres"?

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 19
Everything Quiet. Ananda built a temple, and immediately the devotion to the false god of Caelum went down in the province. Devasura is continuing to preach but has not yet swayed public opinion decisively, even though unrest is very high. Asisa has arrived on the front line and is deploying her troops and searching for magic sites. The next few turns are playing the waiting game - building temples and preaching, and watching my dominion slowly grow. After this I will turn my attention to T'ien Ch'i.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Definitely

They are flying serpent-things which breathe poison

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 20
Caelum once again sent a flock of hawks to attack my border province with T'ien Ch'i! And once again they were beaten off handily. Also, an ill omen was seen (allegedly) in Caelum's capital, and some of my troops were cursed! I think the ill omen was more for him than me - as in 'you are soon going to all be dead'.

Divya has made has way back to the capital and is setting up the ritual to call some Apsaras. Ananda is building another temple adjacent to Caelum's capital. Everything else is quiet.

Below is a map showing the extent of my empire, including the Caelian capital under siege.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...1451-20map.jpg

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Hmm, have you considered snatching some neutral provinces to help your war efforts? Or is it not worth it?

Also, do you plan to use the harvested blood slaves for something?

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Yeah, I am going to take those remaining indys now that I have Caelum boxed up.

re. blood slaves, I don't really have specific plans for them just yet... Maybe I will try to forge something fun later on.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 21
Three beautiful Apsaras answered the call and are being entertained in the palace as we speak. Being basically dancing girls they aren't really armed per se, though they have a strong aura of awe (+3) and tend to inspire the (male) Yavanas to do great deeds in battle. I told Divya to do the ritual again.

False belief went down in the province I just built a temple in, but true belief in me has not increased in the other temple province. It seems they need time to make a decision about which god they will follow. Worse still, belief in this false god of the Caelians actually went up in their home province! This despite Devasura's eloquent and rational explanation of why it would be a better idea to serve and follow me!

Ananda is moving into the last province that is adjacent to Caelum's capital to build a temple there. Hopefully these temples will encourage a wise course of action (namely following me).

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...-apsaras21.jpg

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 22
Caelum AGAIN sent hawks against the same border province. Clearly Caelians are a little mentally challenged, either that or the hawks really love that one province. Needless to say I drove them off easily. They also sent hawks against another province, which was slightly less well defended, but thankfully my militia did their job and managed to make the hawks fly away.

Divya called up a few more Apsaras. I recruited a new Yaksha (Arana) to take them and the reinforcement Yavanas down to fortify the line. I think I wil leave an Apsara or two in each squad, to motivate the soldiers to do their best.

Asisa found a very helpful site in her searching that had eluded others: Rustwater. It looks to be some kind of Geyser which produces magical water, earth and fire gems.

Ananda is building a temple. belief in the false god went down in the province I built a temple in last month, but other than that no change.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Apsara...hmm, kick and holy. Fire 9 bless for Flaming Punches? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 23
Very little happening. Belief in the false Caelian god fell a little. Ananda is now preaching - trying to explain why I am the smart choice for godhood.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 24
Another uneventful month. Everyone has been quiet this winter.

Caelum threw some more hawks at me. Belief in him wavered several places. I recruited more troops. I waited patiently.

I guess while I am sitting around waiting for the Caelians to lose faith in their god I will build up an expeditionary force and take some more independant provinces. The border with T'ien Ch'i is strong enough to withstand a medium-sized assault, so I feel fairly secure...

Two years so far and I am still not free of my chains. Still, I am happy with my troops' progress: we have dominated one of the nations that compete for mortals' attention, and even though those mortals haven't yet given us their attention the end is in little doubt. Ghanivallika will conquer all!

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 25
All the provinces bordering Caelum's capital have given up faith in him. They have not yet embraced faith in me, so I guess you could call them atheists. This is an important step forward though.

Arana is taking what troops I have north, to exchange a few with Ananda. Then he will start a campaign against the remaining independant provinces.

I am recruiting another Yakshini in hopes that she will be skilled enough in nature magic to summon up more of her kind. I have a stockpile of nature gems that I could turn into Yakshas and Yakshinis if I only had the mage with skill enough to perform the ritual.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 26
Balakrit, my Markata scout, witnessed some barbarians attacking Vanheim in the deep south of the world. In the fight was Sinfjotle, Vanheim's prophet, who is a hero impressive enough that I could wish he were fighting for Kailasa. His toughness is legendary, not to mention his incredible strength, and skill at both attack and defence.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...mprophet26.jpg

In Kailasa itself things are less exciting. Arana is working his way north to attack independants. The Yakshini I summoned doesn't know enough nature magic to be helpful, so she has been given the job of helping the Yogis with their research. Otherwise things are stable and frankly uninteresting. Now if I were actually able to be present in the world things would be different...

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Three Apsaras for how many gems? They don't seem that great, especially since you can recruit sacred troops that have better equipment. Ok, they don't have the 'standard' ability but 13 morale + 3 for blessing (if that hasn't changed in dom3) means you aren't going to route much anyways...

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

3 for 3 gems - so they're not too pricey.

They have higher awe as well as the standard effect. The standard could be useful particularly when they are combined with weak-willed monkeys...

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Well I'll be reading this AAR faithfully to see how you use them. Thanks for doing this, its excellent.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 27
Breakthrough in research! My yogis, under the watchful eye of Ahana the Yakshini, have discovered how to call a group of Gandharvas! Gandharvas are warrior musicians of the same race as the Yakshas. I am instructing Divya to begin the ritual immediately!

Vanheim's lands appear to be very extensive. He has at least two strongholds that I have discovered so far. He may be the hardest of my opponents.

Arana traded roles with Ananda. Since Ananda has more experience he will lead the assault on the independant provinces, while Arana preaches with a small bodyguard of Guhyakas. Ananda is moving his troops up to the Caelian capital, where he will confer with the prophet Devasura before heading west to take the lands on the northern coast.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...1560-27map.jpg

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Warrior musicians? Bards? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif Show them!

Good going...it's almost three years too!

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

but i haven't summoned them yet...

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 28
Six Gandharvas answered my call. Gandharvas, unlike Yavanas, wear armour. All around pretty impressive. Add the water blessing and you have a very impressive warrior, especially for Early Era.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...andharva28.jpg

Also I finally found a Yaksha who is able to summon others of his kind: Candakirana. For 25 Nature gems I can call another Yaksha to join me. This is good, since if I want to recruit one I would have to pay 360 gold. I will soon have plenty of semi-divine mages to carry out my bidding.

Ananda is crossing the border as we speak into the independant province next to Caelum's capital. He has a force of 10 armoured Bandar apes, and 30 Yavanas divided into 2 squads with orders to outflank the enemy. I expect no trouble.

I had decided that as soon as the next breakthrough in research is complete I will direct the yogis attention to the science of Construction. I want to outfit my (expensive) commanders with items that will make them likely to live longer. After all, if Boreda the Yakshini is any guide, they have at least another 230 years before they hit old age.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Just curious, but do the summoned Yaksha cost the same amount in upkeep as the hired ones? Oh, and while I'm on the subject of upkeep, is math still required or does the UI display upkeep for a given unit somewhere? It may be that I have seen a screen and missed that detail???

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Wow, those Gandharvas are regular hard boys. The AI doesn't stand a chance! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Not that I have any idea, but "Divide by 15" isn't such difficult math http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif (neither is "If Holy, Divide by 30")

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

How many Gandharvas for how many gems the spell summons?

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

I would assume that summoned Yakshas/Yakshinis cost the same upkeep as recruited ones. As to upkeep costs, you still need to do math for the individual units as far as I can tell.

You get 6 Gandharvas for 18 astral pearls, so 3 pearls per Gandharva. I think this is about right - it means you can get a small elite force, but you can't flood the field with them.

Personally I think they pretty much rock, especially considering that in early era there are almost no prot 17 units - armour that thick just doesn't exist yet. So these guys stand out.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 29
Took over the independant province easily, although I may need to reposition Ananda - I'm not sure he was close enough to the second group of Yavanas to bless them. Here's a shot of the action:

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...4-29battle.jpg

In other news, Caelum sent some more hawks my way (when will he learn?). I guess there's not much else he can do right now. Also, whether by accident or attack I do not know, but somehow there was an earthquake in one of my provinces, which destroyed my temple there. Frustrating setback. Arana must now go back there and build another one. It's an unlucky province, which may have something to do with it.

The Yaksha that answered Candakirana's call, Asamati, is somewhat skilled in Astral magic, which is unusual for a Yaksha. I have heard tell of a powerful spell which, when invoked, sends great meteors crashing into the ranks of one's enemy. I believe that Asamati may be uniquely gifted to exercise this arcane power. However, I have no idea of the specifics of the incantation. Maybe I will task my Yogis on researching this rather than Construction.

Divya called up more Gandharvas this turn. They can withstand frontline action, even including the arrows T'ien Ch'i is likely to use.

Ananda is pausing in his tour of Independant territories to build a temple. Now all that is needed is for these bars that restrain me to crumble and let me come in person to oversee my people.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Gift from Heaven eh? You think it's worthwhile to purse it?

And a setback, nasty.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Gifts from Heaven is a great anti SC spell, although that's more important in MP play than SP. However, I do want my Yakshas and Yakshinis to be able to be able to cast some enemy-damaging spells - blade wind, falling frost, gifts from heaven, etc.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Have they changed it's precision? I remember that it required crazyinsane Prec buffing before it hit a thing in Dom 2.

But yeah, evocation is often useful.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Ah. Disappointed that individual unit upkeep is not displayed, and indifferent to summons vs hired upkeep.
Thank you st.patrik for satisfying my curiosity.

(btw Agrajag, I have no problem doing the math, but I knew that Illwinter has gone to great lengths to make the UI and game mechanics more accessible to new players and thought this feature might have been added.)

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Yeah, showing unit upkeep cost would have been good.

Maybe something for the patch.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 30
Caelum's dominion stubbornly refuses to die. Belief in his capital is stronger than ever. Still, the worst he can do is throw out some hawks now and again, so I'm not too worried.

Ananda is attacking the next independant province; Arana is building a temple to replace the one that fell down in the earthquake. Unfortunately all these temples really cost a lot, so I don't have much money for troops.

I'm sending Asamati north east to attack the indepedant provinces to the east of the great forest. He'll give the Gandharvas their first taste of combat. Candakirana summoned another Yaksha skilled enough to cast the meteor-calling incantation.

Short term plans are to take all remaining independant provinces. Medium term plans are to equip a force capable of taking out T'ien Ch'i or Vanheim, and still defend the homelands. I will need to outfit my commanders, research some damaging battlefield spells, and recruit a bunch more troops to do this. Long term: take over the world.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Sounds like good plans.

How much money you are making per turn?

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 31
Well this is really too funny: Caelum just sent me a message telling me that he has decided to declare war on my nation! It must have taken him months to figure out that that was a good idea! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I guess maybe the difference this turn was that he sent hawks against my capital, rather than some random other province.

Ananda took the independant province to the west and discovered Vanheim. In fact, combined with the reports of Balakrit it would appear that our friends to the south, particularly T'ien Ch'i, have been very busy. Ananda is staying put and searching for some magic sites while I ponder what to do with him.

Asamati reaches the first of the independant provinces to the east next month. Apparently heavy cavalry have been seen there, which will be a new challenge. I am confident Asamati will acquit himself well.

I sense I am near a breakthrough with my research team of Yogis, so I am tasking some of them to the study of Evocation - direct damage to my enemies sounds like a useful thing for my Yakshas and Yakshinis to be doing while they are staying towards the back of the fight.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...2007-31map.jpg

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Tien Chi looks worryingly big.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

You'll also notice that he's been building castles - one of the new (and most-requested) features of the AI.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 32
Mostly good news this month: the yogis have made a breakthrough in their research - they have discovered the incantation required to summon a Kinnara. However, Divya informs me that he is not skilled enough in Astral magic to complete the ritual, and he is the most skilled mage I have in that path of magic. I will have to complete the ritual myself, once I am free of this prison.

Ananda found a farm which produces a huge amount of supplies, so I need have no worries about my army starving while in that province. Asamati led his Gandharvas and Yavanas to an easy victory over the independant heavy cavalry.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...2%20battle.jpg

The only real bad news is that yet another earthquake occurred, destroying another temple. If this continues I will become quite perturbed.

It would appear that Vanheim and T'ien Ch'i are at war: Balakrit informs me that Vanheim is sieging one of T'ien Ch'i's fortresses (specifically a Swamp Fort). He's moving closer to the action to gather more info.

Asamati is continuing his campaign against the independant provinces this month. Two additional provinces require his attention. Ananda is going to preach on the western frontier. Arana is traveling to the now temple-less province to direct the rebuilding efforts. Devasura continues to preach on the Caelian capital, hopefully with some effect. Asisa and Anuprabha hold the southern frontier. Kailasa grows stronger while Vanheim and T'ien Ch'i weaken each other.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Is that the amount of damage being inflicted in those numbers rising over the units? That looks pretty cool; a certain amount of transparency in the battle mechanics would be welcome.