Re: Jotunheim:Utgard AAR
 

I'm going to use short words so you can understand me:

IF THIS IS BORING YOU, WHY ARE YOU READING IT?

Re: Jotunheim:Utgard AAR
 

<center><font size=1>Turn #40, Summer of Year 4
Cat and mouse.</font></center>

<center><font color=darkblue size=1>Part 2 of 2</font></center>

I raise 10 PD each in Clon, Wold, Arnbeg, and Isurian. I raise 20 PD in Kratas, and raise the PD of the Well by 4 (to 17). New temples are to be built in Gipha, Imictan, and Saeborea. These preparations drain the treasury of 1092 coins.

The taxes of Agenor, Man, Gipha, Imictan, and Saeborea are raised back to normal. Taxes are lowered to 90% in Isurian, 80% in Arnbeg and Kratas, and 70% in Betane, Clon, and Wold.

Six nature gems are converted via alchemy into three astral pearls, two of which are then further transmuted into an earth gem.

The Ivy King Thomm continues a monthly ritual of Awakening Vine Ogres, at a cost of 1 nature gem each month. The Norna Rimdriva prepares to invoke the ritual of Acashic Record upon the province of Arnbeg, for which I allot all 25 of the astral pearls in the treasury. The Enchantress Pladina, using a Dwarven Hammer, forges another Dwarven Hammer, at a cost of only 15 earth gems. The Skratti Tunne, using a Dwarven Hammer, forges a Clam of Pearls at a cost of only 7 water gems. The Wizard Retheric forges another Clam of Pearls at a cost of 10 water gems. A Seithkona forges another Endless Bag of Wine, expending all 5 of my remaining nature gems. The Enchantress Kara will cast Fires from Afar upon the forces of Vanheim at the Pillar of the World, consuming 10 of the fire gems in the treasury.

Rod the Firbolg, leading a company of 18 Jotun spearmen and a bodyguard of 2 vine ogres, along with seven priests (five of whom each have Sceptres of Authority and a bodyguard of one vine ogre apiece), abandons the just-conquered province of Betane and moves south to defend the fortress of Man from possible assault.

Ualgo (carrying a Sceptre of Authority), in command of a company of 19 Jotuns plus a bodyguard of one vine ogre and one Jotun axeman, together with the priests Albrecht and Geiserek (carrying Sceptres of Authority and with one vine ogre apiece as bodyguards), will attack west into the mountain province of Banded Hills which Vanheim appears to be defending with twoscore archers and light infantry. Assuming a successful battle, Ualgo will be well-positioned to recapture Betane, should it prove necessary, or to establish a forward fortification from which to continue the campaign against Vanheim.

The priest Totila moves from Gipha to Clon. From Heghendorf, the priest Alfred moves to Wold, while the priest Amalarik moves to Kratas. The priest Hermann moves from Melma to Arnbeg, and the priest Alaric moves from Pythium to Isurian.

Bove, commanding 26 Jotuns, will attack northwards into the Ulmish mountains of Bergamum, along with the priest named Erkeborn (carrying a Sceptre of Authority and with a bodyguard of one vine ogre and one Jotun axeman). A successful battle will place Bove directly south of the capital of Ulm. Of more immediate interest is the destruction of the Ulmish temple in Bergamum, and its measly five amazonian defenders.

My prophet Grymis, commanding 23 Jotuns, plus a bodyguard of one Jotun axeman, moves east to attack the Ulmish forest-covered mountains of Validun, where as many as 70 slingers, amazons, infantry of Ulm, and black plate infantry may await. My prophet's force will be outnumbered and perhaps even outmatched, but my dominion extends into Validun and I am confident that Grymis shall prevail.

My wyrm Jorgun will attack the Ulmish forest of Dendra Nigra, which is reported to have approximately 50 bone fiends and slingers.

Swanuth the Firbolg, in command of 20 Jotun spearmen and 8 vine ogres, moves from Isurian to the independent farmlands of Helmshire, ostensibly defended by twoscore fanatics, archers, and heavy infantry. Joining them in the battle will be commander Theag from Saeborea, with 5 troglodytes and a bodyguard of 4 vine ogres.

Turn #40 plotted movement (1174x1002)

Re: Jotunheim:Utgard AAR
 

I find your upkeep costs a little worrying at present. Have you looked at it?

Re: Jotunheim:Utgard AAR
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Huh? As of turn 41 (which I have not posted yet) my upkeep has been unchanged for the past 3 months and my income has increased by 30% (by over 500g). It doesn't get much better than that. And my largest gold producers are unthreatened by my enemies, so I'm in no danger of losing any significant income. I don't worry about gold until my upkeep exceeds 50% of my income, which it's never come close to doing thus far in this AAR. Of all the things I might worry about at present, gold doesn't make it on to the top 5 of my list. Sure, you can never have too much, but I've been blowing my cash as fast as it comes in to build up PDs and temples. I very rarely bank gold.

EDIT: and if you're alluding to the turn #40 cost, I'm not a believer of Christian superstition. It's just a number.

[ March 19, 2004, 09:46: Message edited by: Arryn ]

Re: Jotunheim:Utgard AAR
 

That wasn't my point. It's just that it so happens your upkeep costs of this turn amount to $666.

Re: Jotunheim:Utgard AAR
 

Another weapon you can give a commander that normally just stays in the back is the Rod of the Phoenix. It costs quite a bit more than the Sceptre, but has the spell Incinerate that has a 100 precision and can hit from anywhere on the battlefield it seems.

I haven't had a chance to try the Sceptre of Authority yet to see how they compare, but Last time I played Arco and had lots of extra fire gems lying around, I put the rods on my Strategos commanders whom I normally keep out of battle to use their standard bearer ability to keep troops fighting. Armed with the rods and quickness boots, they could do some real damage from long range that helped turn some battles for me. Once in a while they would even take out enemy commanders towards the beginning of the battles http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif . Also, the Incinerate spell on the rod would only take 5 fatigue per cast. I am not sure if that is normal or not, but it is a lot less than the spell of the same name.

Re: Jotunheim:Utgard AAR
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Easy, easy, easy... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif Norfleet was just making a little joke.

Re: Jotunheim:Utgard AAR
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Thanks for the suggestion. I'd already planned to make them. At the time I was equipping some of my priests with Sceptres I lacked the gem income to build Rods in significant quantities. Sceptres = 5 gems, Rods = 20 (now 15 w/Hammers). The Rod is considerably more effective than the Sceptre. I've used them before and they are pretty much auto-kills for most normal units. And a priest with one is almost like the Energizer Bunny, he keeps killing and killing. The 5 fatigue per is standard for magical items, but in the case of the Rod, it means a lot of kills before the wielder has to rest. Only castle sieges might Last long enough for that to happen.

Re: Jotunheim:Utgard AAR
 

Arryn: I just finished reading through your AAR from the beginnning, and I want to say: Thanks! The level of detail in which you cover all aspects of the campaign has been very educational and interesting for me.

Some questions I'm curious about:
- A few turns back, all the shield colors on your game maps changed colors - You can change them mid-game with that mod?
- Didn't you create a Bane Lord or some other undead nasty a while back? I don't recall seeing him mentioned for a while now (unless I'm forgetting things). What is he doing now?
- You don't have a lot of death gem production, but have you considered either using what you have to do a few death site searches to boost you income, or using them to produce a horde of spirits you could use as part of a war on Atlantis?
- IIRC, a few times, you mentioned a province having a VP, making it likely to have magic sites. What is a VP?
- Have you considered using mercenaries at all? Do you not like them? It seems like they could be a pretty good value in some cases. I don't recall you mentioning them at all here.

Norfleet: Have you at all considered writing an AAR for an undead campaign, maybe from an MP game? I gather from what you've written here that the strategy for the undead is very different, so I think it'd make for a very educational read.

[Edit - added mercenary question I had forgotten in include originally]

[ March 19, 2004, 17:56: Message edited by: LintMan ]

Re: Jotunheim:Utgard AAR
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Thanks! Just remember that I've made various mistakes along the way, and that I'm exploiting several weaknesses of the AI, which may or may not be applicable in other games.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Yes, provided that you had already begun the game with the mod loaded, and that you overwrite the original mod icons with the new ones. If you manually edit the .dm file to point it to another icon directory with the newer icons, that should also work. The key thing is that the name of the .dm file must not change. The original Unwise mod and V'ger's updated one do NOT have the same mod and .dm names. I'm using the V'ger icons with a manually-editted Version of the original Unwise .dm file.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Heh. That's pretty sharp of you to notice. His name is "Ashsoul the Bane Lord", and he's parked on his butt at Jotunheim. I prematurely summoned him way back, presuming I would grow my death gem income which I've been unable to do thus far. I have more commanders than I have troops, so he's patiently sitting idle until I find a use worthy of him.

EDIT: one such use which I've neglected until now is to make Fever Fetishes and give him one ...

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Gah. The Last thing I need right now is a war with Atlantis. I could scout the provinces on my list for Acashics for death first (which would be faster). I hadn't considered that. It wouldn't have made a difference until this past turn (#40) as it wasn't until I began my war against Ulm that I captured any provinces that will have death sites in them. Thanks for the suggestion, and I'll implement it as part of my turn #41 orders. It's too bad that the death site search spell costs 3 gems and not 2 like most of the other paths.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Victory Point

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Yes, I have considered it. And they can be useful at times. I'm kicking myself for getting so wrapped up in defending my border with Ulm (spending all my gold on PD) that I overlooked Orion and his knights were available Last turn (#40). Vanheim hired them. That's a mistake that will soon come back to bite me, HARD.

[ March 19, 2004, 19:11: Message edited by: Arryn ]