Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Yeah same here. However Sindai was just kidding or not? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Hmm, I see that Gifts from Heavens still has the old graphic. It looks kind of silly along the special effects. =/

EDIT: Terrain now has an effect on units?

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

ROTFL! Morskie Oko is a picturesque mountain lake in Poland, a very popular tourist venue. According to a legend, it has an underground connection to the sea. It turns out the makers of the legend were right and the "No swimming!" posts around the lake have been put there for a reason http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
The next thing I imagined was a kid throwing stones at the lake, someone wiser telling him "Do not disturb the water!" and... we know the rest.
BTW it's like a third Polish province name I see on the screenshots, it's kinda funny for someone from these parts.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 52
Set Vanheim's forces to flight easily, and can storm T'ien Ch'i's fort already. I will do this immediately and make it a base of operations. I moved my troops into T'ien Ch'i territory on my southern frontier also, and took it easily, but again forgot that I would need supplies, so I will have to withdraw and send them down.

Apala (the Yakshini in charge of the inland sea) summoned a Kraken. I think she may almost have enough to attack the next province. I will send her, hoping for the best. The reports say that the troops there are just regular Tritons - not the fancy Hippocampus-riding ones.

Here's a shot of my armies pounding T'ien Ch'i into the ground.
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...coldbolt52.jpg

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Hmm, I wonder if Tien will suppendly bring out a huge pack of archers...

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

suppendly? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Should be "suddenly"

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

oh, ok http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

I'm curious about the terrain, as well. I always thought that swamp survival was a rarely useful skill since swamps are not found very often in most maps. For it to negate combat penalties as well as help with starvation seems a little better to me.

Do mountains or forests bestow combat penalties as well?

=$=

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 53
The water province fell, but my Kraken died in the fighting. The Asp Turtle is pretty impressive in combat! I also captured T'ien Ch'i's Swamp Fortress. Here is a shot of my Yavanas entering the fortress.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...wampfort53.jpg

T'ien Ch'i must be getting desperate - he tried breaking Vanheim's siege again, with as poor a result as previous times. I think what I need to do is outfit a very strong army and go directly there, defeat Vanheim's army, and try to take the city. It could happen!

Devasura and friends are site searching in the province of the fort they just captured. Apala is taking her asp turtle back the the starting province to summon another one and cast the incantation known as 'Voice of Tiamat' on the newly conquered province. I'm equipping the army to the south with bags of wine, amulets of missile protection, and earth boots for the Yakshas. Bishen the Siddha is going down there this turn to join the army. Then next turn they will plunge into enemy territory.

I'm setting Arana to build temples, since for every five temples I build my maximum dominion goes up by one, and thus the number of Yavanas I can recruit goes up.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Congratulations on the new fort, good luck (As if you need it) in your future conquests. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

*gasp*

That fort looks so nice!

Good progress so far. Any idea when we'll see Devata?

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

That is a gorgeous fort (great AAR, btw).

Can the units go up to that tower, or is it just scenary?

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

I was wondering that too, but I had to ask myself, "when in Dominions have I ever seen units fighting each other on a north/south plane?" Of course, the answer is "never", so I have to doubt that you can defend or attack that cool looking tower. Maybe we can request that for Dom 4, though! Some castles with multiple sections and specialized defenses you have to conquer. Man, that would make sieges interesting, now wouldn't it?

=$=

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 54
My researchers have discovered the means to summon a powerful hero from the celestial sphere: a Devata. Devasura was a Devata before he fell; now I have discovered the means to summon unfallen Devatas. Unfortunately the cost in magical resources is high: 45 astral pearls. This is in fact higher than I can afford right now. I will have to wait before enacting this ritual.

One of my Yakshas was casting a routine spell attempting to find sites of magical power, and found a fortification: The Jervellan Wall. This is all to the better since the province in which it is located is a province I recently took from T'ien Ch'i, so it is on the new frontier. Having said this, it is not a particularly good fortification, but better than nothing.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...15-jwall54.jpg

Devasura, having secured T'ien Ch'i's Swamp Fort, are moving on to attack some Forest Ramparts held by T'ien Ch'i but besieged by Vanheim.

Bishen and the army he is leading are continuing to move south into T'ien Ch'i's territory. If I can hold the pass over the mountains to the west I can move south down a fairly narrow path. I need one more commander who can bless all my troops. Either I recall Dhritiman from site searching, which is tough because I need a greater income in gems, or I wait until I can recruit a Devata, which will probably be a couple more turns. I think I will probably do the latter.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Well, at least your troops won't be starving near the Jervellan Wall. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Can we perhaps get a shot of your conquests?

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Supply storage is only in sieges. Supply distribution is admin dependent IIRC

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Oh. I see.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

That's still not bad. If the euqations I've seen on these forums are correct, you could have:

1000 supply turn 1
500 supply turn 2
333 supply turn 3
250 supply turn 4
200 supply turn 5
166 supply turn 6...

1000 castle supply really is useful. Question about that...when you're seiging, is there any way at all to see what the supply factor for the troops on the inside is?

=$=

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

The Jervellan Wall has great siege supply, but not much defence, so unless you have a very tough army inside the walls will fall rather quickly. The idea (I'm guessing) is that it takes a lot of manpower to hold, and therefore has a correspondingly high siege supply.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 55
Success on every front: Devasura kicked Vanheim's sieging force off T'ien Ch'i's fort, but the defenders of the Ramparts were dismayed to find that these new troops merely resumed the siege where the Vanheim army left off.

Bishen took T'ien Ch'i's province with only 2 losses. Below is a shot of the melee which shows one of my Yavanas aging particularly rapidly due to one of T'ien Ch'i's mages casting a spell to Decay his flesh. Of course, this spell was much less effective on a celestial being than on a fully mortal being: the individual aged 60 years over the course of the battle due to this enchantment, but celestials are long-lived, so this attack merely took him from young manhood (114) to maturity (174), which is well short of old age (300).

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...20-55decay.jpg

Vanheim's god is on the move - a massive titan with a huge golden shield. Balakrit witnessed him putting T'ien Ch'i's forces to flight. Unfortunately he is in an adjacent province to the forest ramparts I just attacked, so I may be a potential target next turn. For this reason I will hold off of storming the fort for a month, until I see what his movements will be.

Bishen is advancing towards the T'ien Ch'i capital; one of the Yakshas is bringing up a defensive force to protect the border in case of counter-attacks.

I think next month I will alchemize gems to produce more astral pearls, so that I can perform this ritual to call a Devata. I had to forge a Starshine Skullcap for myself, to increase my ability in astral magic, because the ritual involves a high degree of familiarity with astral magic (level 5).

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Hmmm, it seems Decay has lost a lot of it's charm. I kinda wish there was a higher level spell with same effect as the old Decay. It was great killing off Iron Dragons etc. which would be just dominating without it. =/

Bu nevertheless, good going. Let's hope that the Vanheimian pretender won't be too troublesome.

And Devata!

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

?http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif?

I really like the integration of Decay with the aging system a lot. I think it's way cooler than the old Decay!

Kailasa's Yaksha troops are kinda an exception to its effectiveness, given they are so long-lived. Most regular commanders would be dead, or so old that they would be racking up afflictions that would make them kinda useless. I'm not sure what kind of age Iron Dragons get, so I don't know how effective it'll be against them (however I thought the spell most useful against constructs was Disintegrate).

The old age thing really alters the game, partly because most of the powerful mages are old, and they tend to get diseases and die off, so there is incentive to buy some less powerful mages, as they tend to be more youthful and therefore last a bit longer. Then to have spells that mess with this... I think it's really cool.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Well, it is cooler now, and I admit that Decay was a crazy powerful spell for it's level. But it was a good counter versus low MR targets.

EDIt: And one thing is that it is no longer a viable counter for most of summons since I bet they live for a long time...

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

I could be wrong, but I think there are more spells which target magical beings than there used to be. If so I'm pretty sure that they were included so that there would be more options when attacking summons, since many summons are magical beings...

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 56
It occured to me as my army makes its way towards the T'ien Ch'i capital to attack Vanheim's sieging army that perhaps my force is not strong enough to destroy this army. Paying closer attention to one of T'ien Ch'i's pathetic attempts to dislodge Vanheim I think I may be right...

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...-56vanarmy.jpg

I will have to get some reinforcements. I think 2 more Yakshas and 2 more Yakshinis, as well as another 40 Yavanas in reserve ought to do it. I will order troops to the front. In the mean time Bishen will take the army to the mountain pass to claim that province. Then next turn I will group the army.

Vanheim's god did not attack my troops this turn, and it would appear has moved away, so I will storm the ramparts.

Apala, my Yakshini in service beneath the waves, is taking her army of Tritons (and Asp turtle) westwards into the ocean that surrounds the continent.

I am beginning the ritual to summon a Devata. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

I see then.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 57
Balastha the Devata has come in response to my calls.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...0-57devata.jpg

The Devata is much like the Siddha, except armed and armoured for war, and trained for war. 8 more HP, 4 more morale, 4 more strength, 5 more attack skill and 3 more defence skill. Sadly not as mobile as the Siddha, but in every other category impressive to say the least. I will be outfitting him and sending him to the front lines as soon as possible.

In the military things went smoothly this turn: Devasura captured T'ien Ch'i's forest ramparts (screenshot below), even though Vanheim sent a small force to attack the besieging army.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...-57rampart.jpg

Bishen took the mountain pass called Cathedral Gap without incident; none of my forces were counter-attacked. Apala led her army of Tritons into the wide ocean and won the area, even though she lost a lot of Tritons. Now I will put together an army capable of destroying Vanheim's army, and move it into position, so that next turn it can attack.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Wow, that Devata sure looks formidable. Vanheim ought to be quaking in their boots.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Hmmm, I'll let the Reaction Guys sum up my feelings on the Devata and Kailasa in general...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...uys_bandar.jpg

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Agreed. That Devata is a sexy, sexy summon. I'm stoked to see what the other nations get as comparable national summons. Woo!

Oh, and what're the casting requirements/costs for the Devata anyway?

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

IIRC 45 pearls, 5 Astral

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

I imagine Devata is pretty Umoring brutal with Water bless. Six, eight or even more attacks in one round! Or fire bless. 6 AP damage x 3 = 18 AP damage + weapons damage...and you can also give him a fourth weapon instead of a shield...

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Might even be better than that. I think the fire bless applies to all melee attacks, not just weapons. So the kick would be fire based, as well. The kick would definitely benefit from quickness.

Man, I am loving all the castles everywhere. This is going to be so much fun!

=$=

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Oooh I forgot the kick! Of course the kick counts too!

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 58
No attacks this turn, but I did notice T'ien Ch'i attacking Vanheim with a group of mercenaries: a beast trainer with a group of fire drakes.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...-58fdrakes.jpg

I have readied my army for attacking Vanheim's force which is besieging T'ien Ch'i's capital. Bishen is commanding, supported by Avilasa, Bhadrayu, and Anuprabhu the Yakshas, as well as Guruprasada and Bemra the Yakshinis. I have 165 Yavanas, as well as 30 Bandar apes and 18 Gandharvas. The Gandharvas will take the center, with a large group (30) of Yavanas on each flank with orders to flank the enemy. The Bandar will be forward, to either side of the Gandharvas, to draw arrows away from the Yavanas. In the second rank I have 5 groups of 15 Yavanas spread across the line, with orders to wait for a few minutes before attacking. Finally in reserve I have 2 more groups of Yavanas, to support the line should it weaken.
The Yakshinis will be calling powerful showers of frost on the enemy ranks, while the Yakshas will be hurling meteors and wind composed of blades towards the enemy. Bishen will stay in the back to bless the troops and oversee the battle.

Things are quiet. The calm before the storm. I am confident we will win a great victory.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

There are....light effects now? =O

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

I like Vanheim's commander's name. Makes me thirsty.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

This isn't the first screenshot where you can see them.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

the original budweiser http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

turn 59
Success! Vanheim's army was tough, but Kailasa proved stronger! Here is a shot of the 2 armies facing each other:

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...-59battle1.jpg

Vanheim had 271 troops altogether, many of them Van Huskarls and Hirdmen. These were tough adversaries, because of their glamour ability, which gives a mirror image effect, making them harder to hit. In addition, they have very high defence (15 and 19 respectively). Vanheim also had 11 commanders, many of them dwarves. Thankfully Vanheim appears to not have researched powerful attack spells, so his magical offense was limited to the spell 'Flying Shards', which is not as effective as the 'Blade Wind' that I was casting (although it cost me many troops' lives).

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...3-59battle.jpg

I killed all but 31 of Vanheim's troops (that would be 240 killed), and 5 of his commanders. My losses were 59 Yavanas and 11 Bandar. None of my commanders were harmed.

Furthermore, it would appear that T'ien Ch'i's city wall has been breached, and so I have the opportunity to lead a team of warriors into the city and take it. Needless to say I will be doing just that.

In other news my researchers discovered a new battlefield incantation, which makes all celestial dancers move quickly.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...9celestial.jpg

I'm not entirely sure if that includes just Apsaras, Gandharvas, and Yakshas, or if Yavanas qualify as 'celestial dancers' too. If so this would be pretty powerful. I will be doing a field test as soon as I can get it together. Even if it doesn't affect Yavanas, Gandharvas will become powerhouses with this in place.

Balastha is almost fully equipped for battle. Next turn he will lead a contingent down to the front. I am tasking my researchers on finding an enchantment that will protect my troops from missiles. I believe Balastha would be able to cast such a spell, should it become available.

The other noteworthy thing that occured this month is that one of my Yakshas, casting site-searching spells, found a magical site called the Castle Arcanum, which, in addition to providing some magical gems, allows recruitment of both Wizards and Warrior Mages. I am recruiting a Wizard, in hope that he will be skilled in fire magic - a path none of my mages are skilled in.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

I think I got most excited by the topmost shot that shows the size of the armies. The thought of what some of the more epic clashes in Dom3 must look like fills me with a lot of anticipation for release. Very exciting.

And Celestial Music is hot. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Cool stuff. Good going. The power of Vanheim is broken, at least for a while. Let's hope the Titan doesn't become too problematic.

And boy! It was a big battle!

And that spell looks quite interesting. Now I know what they mysterious Celestial Music spell is that appeared on the changelog...

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

You are talking about this, right?

4th june
* New spells (most of them national): Summon Spectral Infantry, Tempering the Will, Stand Firm, Celestial Chastisement, End of Culture, End of Weakness, Arcane Bolt, Conflagration, Hydrophobia, Inner Furnace, Celestial Music.

I think I know three of those spells.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Yes, them, including the highly mysterious "End of Culture".

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Must...wait...until...October...Cannot...let...hea d...explode...

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Hehehe, I feel your pain. I guess when I get the game.. I will play all night long that day. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif
School, training, girlfriend...everything will be seconday on that day. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Ahh don't worry guys, only 3-4 weeks.

...

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

Turn 60
Success once again! My brave warriors stormed the gate of T'ien Ch'i's fortified city and slew his warriors. The pathetic creature that these barbarians call a god I killed while he was running away from my invincible armies!

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...947-60jade.jpg

I am raising a temple to myself in the ruins of T'ien Ch'i's shrine to the false god, the so-called 'Jade Emperor'.

Now I have conquered the capitals of two of my foes. I will consolidate my power over T'ien Ch'i and then crush Vanheim also.

Speaking of Vanheim, they led a somewhat serious assault on the pass over the mountains, which my forces hold. It was a close thing, but with many losses I was able to hold the pass.

Balastha the Devata is finally ready to assault my enemies:

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...7-60devata.jpg

I'm not exactly sure how many attacks he ought to be getting in one round, but it should be a lot, especially once he is blessed. Each sword of swiftness gives 2 attacks, plus the Demon Whip and kick gives 6 attacks, and then the boots of quickness should double that, and on top of that the water 9 blessing.

Defence of 33 (+4 when blessed) should make him pretty much impossible to hit in melee. Missile weapons should pose no problem either. Magical attacks may succeed against him, especially elemental attacks since he does not have resistances, but I am hoping that my opponents are not smart enough to take advantage of this vulnerability.

Re: Silent Seas AAR
 

This shows my level of ignorance regarding the game, but do quickness effects stack? How exactly do they work -- is it added attacks per strike, reduced time between attacks, some other formula? If so, does quickness act as a multiplier or an additive for purposes of stacking?

Someone break it down for me?