Chapter 1: Where do we begin?
Turn 1 file:
Turn1.zip
(Note that you'll need to download the mods & map from my 1st post to open these files.)
At the beginning, of course.
Hello, and welcome the first in what's sure to be a pathetically few number of turn reports! To get things off on the right foot, we'll begin with a little mood-setting poetry:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alfred
"'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldiers knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred."
|
Yes, that about sums it up: a foolhardy charge by an outmatched yet proud nation into the Valley of Death.
But before we can get to the being eliminated part, we have some administrative details to sort out, like where we are in the world. Aha! We begin in the North:
A good start location, plenty of sea neighbors. The Northern sea start is very easily defensible, with just 2 narrow causeways connecting it to the middle seas; though the same holds true in the opposite direction, and I plan being on offense. Plus I'm bottled up by capital-controlled provinces from my southern neighbor.
But I can take and hold the entire region quite easily, provided none of my foolish land neighbors venture to dip a toe in. I'll only have one aquatic neighbor, I hope it's R'lyeh so I can kill him before he gets Mind Burn/Soul Slay.
My starting army is too weak to send blindly into battle, so I'm going to raise a little extra cash by overtaxing the citizens a bit, and killing anyone who complains. Taxes to a modest 150%, not unlike here in America; while I could probably safely go higher, I want to minimize the risk of excess Unrest in the capital, which would be very bad for recruitment the next few turns. Captain Haon Door is in charge of patrolling detail, give 'em hell HD.
Usually I'd prophetize my scout, but Oceania has two compelling reasons to take an alternate route: (1) my starting scout is a Siren, capable of killing commanders in coastal provinces, and (2) I can recruit H3 Bishop Fish, which when prophetized become H4. Not that H4 is terribly useful, but I do plan on fielding some largish armies, so Fanaticism will be helpful, and it'll help with preaching up my good scales.
So with that said, I send my Siren off to the Ripewoods in hopes she can kill off all thier commanders, hopefully to get me a painless backdoor onto the land.
Recruitment consists of our future prophet Bishop Fish, and a pile of Ichtycentaurs. These bad boys, not to be confused with their incompetent and wildly overpriced Trident Knight big brothers, are damn fine units:
20hps, 17def, First Strike Bonus, amphibious and a 5:1 gold:resource ratio, which allowed me to take Sloth scales (I'll almost always be gold-limited). We'll be recruiting these just about every turn from now on.
Not much else. No mercs I can recruit, not that I would. But there are a few amusing pretender names, I'll be sure to be diplomatically lienent with those who made the extra effort:
Philbert the Round? Might be some kinda big scary Ogre SC. We'll see...