1 player AAR - Machaka

[Tom_Scudder]

Okay, so I felt like writing up a SP after-action thingy. I'd played Machaka a couple times in the demo, but I'd never tried a dragon pretender, so here goes:

The pretender:

Red Dragon, Fire 4 (because (a) I figure I can wear a hat and two misc slots in battle, and a bit more in human spellcasting form, which means I can cast pretty much any fire thing I want. In any case, I seriously doubt I'm going to script more than "fire shield" "change form" "attack".

Castle: I go for a fortified city, because I want as many spider knights as I can, and I can only recruit those in my capital city anyway, so the ridiculous cost to build a new city isn't as much of an issue.

Scales: Productivity 3, Order 3, Growth 3, Bad luck 1, Heat 2, Dominion 6.

Productivity first, to maximize the spider production in the home city - I really, really like my spider cavalry. Then the other positive scales. I'm not thinking this is going to be a research-heavy build, so no magic scale manipulation. I give up some luck since I'm running order 3 anyway, it should be mitigated. I feel a little cheap making that particular trade-off, I must admit. By the way, for single-player games, I'm keeping to a personal handicap of sorts of not creating any gem-producing items (no clams, that is), although with the no-water-magic Machaka, that shouldn't be a problem anyway.

Game setup: 5 difficult opponents: Tien Chi, Jotunheim, Pythium, Abyssia, Ulm, chosen semi-randomly by going click-click-click and then discarding Ermor and the water guys. The Sundering is the map, independents at 9, special sites at 50.

So Cirin, the everburning one, Lord of Penitential Torture, Prince of Patience, Commander of Truth is ready to send his Cirinists out to conquer the world.

[Tom_Scudder]

(There actually will be a bit of fiction later, but I went with a more-or-less conversational tone to start with).

Turn 1: I'm in the middle of the great plains (savannah?) on the northern peninsula. There's a forest to my northeast, the other 4 boundary countries are plains. Potential bummer for my hopes of producing 3+ spider knights a turn, eventually.

I recruit a black sorcerer, a black hunter, and 2 hoplites. I transfer as many of my soldiers as possible to Mjima the Eye of the Lord and send Shujaa the Machaka Chief off to make contact with the natives, with orders to retreat if met with hostility. Mjima is set to patrol in case anyone is upset over the 40% tax hike I'm instituting, and Cirin, in human form, goes to study magick, working on enchantment.

I recruit a Black Sorcerer, a Black Hunter, and a couple Machaka Hoplites.

Provinces 1
Income 352
Research 6
Gems: F 1 (+1) E 2 (+2) N 2 (+2)

End turn. Host.

Turn 2: There was a battle! Zounds! Looks like 25 or so archers, 20 heavy infantry, and maybe 40 light infantry plus 3 commanders. And they were not so pleased to see Shujaa arrive. So he scarpers.

Patrolling troops have killed 8 filthy insurrectionists. The land is now safe and orderly. Heh.

Looks like 80+ troops in all the surrounding plains, in various scary configurations - crossbowmen in one, heavy cavalry in another, and the traditional militia, longbowmen and knights to my southwest. The forest apparently has only 30 or so Vaetti and Wolf Riders, so my buddy Shujaa (who has apparently developed tough skin from dodging the previous volley of arrows) will go check it out.

I recruit a Bane Spider, a Black Hunter, and a hoplite. The Bane Spider will be in charge of conducting further negotiations, as it were, with the commanders of the force to the southeast.

Kimya, the Black Sorcerer, looks to be a good site-searcher down the road (2 F 2 E 1 N 1 D). For now, he can go help out in the lab. And by "help out", I mean "do the Dragon's homework for him".

Provinces 1
Income 350
Research 14 (Enchantment 1 next turn!)
Gems: F 2 (+1) E 4 (+2) N 4 (+2)

End turn. Host.

Turn 3:

Research in Enchantment is completed.
Proclamations from Ulm and Jotunheim. A commander of Ulm and a Jotun Herse have been named prophets of their respective Gods.

There are in fact 32 Vaettis and wolf riders, plus 2 commanders, in the creepy forest. 17 Vaetti and 15 wolves, to be precise. And no "oops - I forgot to mention the five trolls or the scary death mage" like I was expecting. Looks like I will be going into forestry.

Either Cirin or the troops could handle these luzers by themselves, but I want to give my Black Hunters a day out, so Cirin will take the heavy cavalry off with him. They're set up at the back of the field, Cirin in human form. Fire Shield, Fire Flies, Fire Flies, change shape, attack rear. 3 Black Hunters on Hold and Attack. Oops. Only 2 Black Hunters, so I send some Machaka Warriors and Hoplites along as well to back them up.

Mtoto the friendly neighborhood Bane Spider goes off to negotiate with the humans to the southeast. Shujaa goes off to open relations with the heavy inf, crossbowmen, and light inf to the west. I recruit a black hunter and alchemize an earth gem so I can afford a sorcerer.

Provinces 1
Income 336 (I may need to stop overtaxing my people).
Research 8 (Evocation)
Gems: F 3 (+1) E 5 (+2) N 6

End turn. Host.

Turn 4:

We are victorious in the forest of Voteskogg. I shouldn't have messed around with the fire flies spells - they do a bit of damage, but by the time the dragon has run through his script, the wolf riders have already arrived and fought two rounds of combat. Then three of my warriors, despite explicit orders to attack the enemy cavalry, decide to go for glory, break formation, and rush the mass of enemy infantry. They get killed immediately, which convinces the rest of the infantry that they've seen enough, and they run straight home. In the meantime, one of the Black Hunters has been pulled off of his Spider and is now wolf food.

Fortunately, by this time Cirin has assumed his true form and started snacking on wolves. He, the surviving Black Hunter and the dismounted Spider mop up.

The warriors are no great loss, but losing one of my Hunters is a pain, even though the spider is still a good troop. Next time, no messing around with puny magicks for me! Go in monstered up, fire shield, attack.

There is a library, of all things, in the forest. Cirin builds a lab while Kimya the black sorcerer comes over to search for secret doors. Mtumwa the sorcerer (who is also black, but is not so named, for some reason) takes over in the lab at home.

In the meantime, Shujaa has been chased away by 63 troops, including 21 crossbowmen. Mtoto prepares to open negotiations with the people to the southeast, and Shujaa goes off to the north to talk with the heavy cav, heavy inf and light cav there.

The two new provinces bordering the forest of Vateskogg are a coastal plains to the north, peopled by heavy cavalry and heavy infantry, and a forested mountain to the east peopled by Hoburg Guards, Earth Gnomes, a Crusher (!) and Satina the Sorceress (who radiates power). I just like saying "Satina the Sorceress". Where was she when they were handing out names?

Because of the expense of lab-building, I can't afford to recruit any Black Hunters or magicians, so I alchemize another earth gem and recruit a Voice of the Lord, who will be my prophet (and hopefully help keep the infantry from running away quite so soon). Unrest in the new forest is only 8, so I leave taxes at 100.

No sign of the computer players yet, although I do see black candles in both directions.

Provinces 2 (yay!)
Income 371 (upkeep 73)
Research 7 (Evocation)
Gems: F 4 (+1), E 6 (+2), N 8 (+2).

End turn. Host.

[Tom_Scudder]

Turn 5

There is much rejoicing in the village today. Ubwa, destined to be the Prophet of the Most High Cirin, has arrived. All other activities are put aside: Cirin himself marches home with his army (what didn't run away from the fight). The sorcerers (black and not-black) put their researches on hold to prepare the traditional prophet's raiment of a black steel breastplate and a raw hide shield. And Shujaa runs off to invite the militia, longbowmen, and knights from the southwest to the big party. As part of the ceremony, Ubwa will give up his birth name and will now be known simply as "Most Holy". The people are especially pleased to learn that once Most Holy takes up his prophetic office, they will no longer be taxed at 140%.

Meanwhile, one of the commanders who so rudely rejected Shujaa back on turn 1 is found dead in his bed. Doctors, seeing the massive chest wound, diagnose hepatitis. Mtoto is ordered to continue his mission of subtle diplomacy. In the meantime, the newly-founded University of Vateskogg (motto: "We no longer feast on the flesh of humans") seeks to attract its first resident scholar, and the Black Hunter's Academy, done mourning its lost alumnus, resumes its training program. I alchemize two of my remaining earth gems to hire a Sorceress, thus bringing a token female character into this story.

Provinces 2
Income 373 (upkeep 76)
Research 0
Gems: F 5 (+1) E 1 (+2) N 5 (+2)

End turn. Host.

Turn 6

As the ceremonies are held for Most Holy's ascension to the Prophethood, word comes in that Mtoto the Bane Spider was found dead next to the body of the second commander. The envoy from Midkrona was most unpleasant about how he returned the body, and suggested that Machakan diplomacy left something to be desired. And so it was with mingled joy and sorrow that the Machakan people celebrated their new prophet. Nayla, the token female, was seen to shed a bitter tear at Mtoto's unhappy fate. Cirin nearly set fire to the province when he heard how much it would cost to replace him. ("150 GOLD? 150 of MY gold?") The people are overjoyed to hear that their taxes have been reduced - to 120%. Mjima continues to patrol, on his own, to see that no dissent is raised.

Shujaa was seen off by 8 knights, 3 knight commanders, a priest, 21 longbow, and 45 militia when he arrived. Ta'ar Bal, Full Professor of Necromancy, arrived and commenced his researches. Kimya searched the University grounds for the entrance to the steam tunnels. Shujaa headed towards the U in order to attempt to contact Satina the Sorceress and see if she was interested in teaching a few courses. (While secretly hoping to find out just WHY she was named "Satina".) Nayla and Mtumwa repair to the lab to "continue their researches". A second Sage, a new Bane Spider, and 4 more hoplites are recruited.

And the great Machakan Army, commanded by its God and accompanied by his Prophet, marches north to begin its campaign of conquest.

Provinces 2
Income 325, upkeep 79
Research 19 (5 to Evocation, 14 to Construction)
Gems: F 6 (+1) E 3 (+2) N 7 (+3)

This is turn 6, so I'm going to peek at the score charts. I expect to be down the list on provinces, but not too far down. Indeed. Tien Chi has 4, Jotunheim 3, and Ulm 2 provinces, and Abyssia and Pythium have not yet gotten out of their home provinces. Thanks to my tax and repress policy, I'm number one in income and have been since turn 1. I'm last in dominion, last in research, tied for last in gem income (only Ulm has found any), and fourth in army size. Tien Chi's army grew very suddenly - they must be the early-season mercenary users. I'll check in again in 5 more turns.

End turn. Host.

[Tom_Scudder]

Turn 7

The Battle of Norrslatt: Once again, the infantry takes it on the chin. This time, thanks to the prophet encouraging them, they stand and get slaughtered by the enemy cavalry, instead of routing immediately. The good news is, first, that I won, and second, that my Black Hunters came out of the fight unscathed. The (other) bad news is that the reason they came out unscathed was because they interpreted my "hold and attack" order as "stand there and watch the infantry get slaughtered", and only got into the attack after the infantry were basically all dead. I suppose I'll have to place them closer to the infantry next time.

Elsewhere: Kimya, unable to find the entrance to the steam tunnels, comes across an old battlefield instead, giving Machaka the death gem income to go with its death-obsessed sorcerers (and sorceresses, yes, Nayla). Kimya goes off to search the newly conquered province. Pythium proclaims that Faglius (no, really!) the Emerald Lord will be their prophet. The prophet Faglius. And Vatteskog University welcomes Manvale, Full Lecturer in Hydromancy, to the fold.

Mashuhuri, my new Bane Spider, heads off to Midkrona after first consulting with the spirit of his predecessor. Shujaa heads out to ask the Sorceress Satina for her phone number. And the much-diminished army continues on to the north, to take on an unscouted coastal province with some 40-odd heavy cavalry and heavy infantry. And, cheeseball that I am, I'm going to hold off and copy my savegame so I can come back if Cirin dies in this fight.

(And then I went and hosted before I reset my research priorities. Oops.)

I recruited another sage, a Black Hunter, and four more Hoplites.

Provinces 3, Income c. 370, upkeep less.
Research 26 (Construction 19, Evocation 7)
Gems: F 7 (+1) E 5 (+2) D 1 (+1) N 9 (+2)

Turn 8

The Battle of Nordhamn:

As it turns out, instead of 40 troops, there were only 20, so Cirin and his spiders were able to rout the cavalry (after killing half of them) before the infantry had gotten halfway across the field. Much chompage and stompage ensued.

Research in Construction is completed. It occurs to me that I can probably make Manikins. I wonder if I should.

Wow, Satina the Sorceress was totally out of Shujaa's class. F 2 E 4 S 3 D 3 N 3, wearing a robe she sewed herself that gives plus 1 in all sorcery spheres, as well as a poison ring and a lucky charm. She was hanging out with one of her sorceress girlfriends (F1 E1 S2 N1), her pet fall bear, a huge hulking crusher, and about forty Earth Gnomes (25 hp, regenerate). Oh, and a bunch of Hoburg Guards hanging around out back, pointing and laughing as Shujaa beat a hasty retreat.

In the meantime, Vatteskog U is pleased to welcome the eminent son of an eminent father, Ta'ar Bal Jr., to its faculty. He will head our new Center for Pyromantic Studies, the first such center to be located in a forest environment.

Mashuhuri the Bane Spider sets out to have a heart-to-heart (or possibly dagger-to-heart) discussion with the surviving commander in Midkrona, while Shujaa prepares to walk in and reap the benefits of this diplomacy (or possibly get slaughtered, if I miscounted and there's one commander left.) He looks forward to seeing a battle that he doesn't have to flee from headlong.

There's a bit of unrest in Nordhamn, so I bump the tax rate down to 80. I recruit a new sage, a new sorceress, a Black Hunter, and a few more hoplites. Kimya has arrived in Norrslatt and prepares to search. Cirin searches Nordhamn for sources of fire, while Most Holy takes the army south. Cirin will fly in to join in a combined invasion of Gulvidda with fresh troops from the main city next turn.

Provinces 4, income 398, Upkeep 95
Research 33 (33 Construction - Con 2 next turn! I'm headed for Con 4 because I need supplies if I'm going to lead much of an army into the mountains to the west of me).
Gems: F 8 (+1) E 7 (+2) D 2 (+1) N 11 (+2)

[Tom_Scudder]

Turn 9

Shujaa arrives in Midkrona to find a succession struggle in progress, as all of the commanders have mysteriously turned up dead. He rapidly takes command, and converts the province to the service of Cirin. It turns out that one source of the town's discontent was that it has its own library, and resents the fact that Vatteskog University (which has just opened a Faculty of Earth Science) has drawn away all the top scholars. Shujaa promises to talk to Dean Ta'ar Bal about opening a branch as soon as possible, but is somewhat distracted to see a purple banner up over the horizon.

The ancient empire of Pythium yet lives! He had thought it only a story from old books. He rapidly organizes a provincial militia (defense 10), announces a one week tax holiday, and heads back to the capital to report.

In the meantime, Mjima the Eye of the Lord is taken off of his tax-collecting duties to bring the fresh troops from the capital (2 Black Hunters and 9 Hoplites) west, to join the rest of the army in an assault on Gulvidda. With him leaving, taxes are reduced back to normal.

Cirin, meanwhile, has been unable to find the source of the fire emanations he SWORE he could feel in Nordhamn somewhere. So he shifts to dragon form and flies off to Gulvidda, hoping a bit of destruction will make him feel better. Kimya, fresh from having found a Stone Circle (1 N/turn, can recruit Druid), heads north "just in case" his boss missed something.

Mashuhuri heads south to scout ("JUST to scout") the empire of Pythium. In addition to the legion, two new independent territories are visible. One to the east looks temptingly vulnerable: 30 Vaetti and wolf riders. But taking it might represent an unsupportable extension of the Cirinist empire's borders.

Recruits: an independent scout in Midkronia, a sage, a Black Hunter, a witch doctor.
Provinces 5
Income 408 - Upkeep 114
Research: 45, all in construction (54 for level 3)
Gems: F 9 (+1) E 9 (+2) D 3 (+1) N 14 (+3).

End turn. Host.

Turn 10

The battle for Gulvidda goes reasonably well - 1 hoplite and 1 precious Black Hunter lost to defeat an army of 60 or more. In retrospect, I should have positioned the two squads of Hunters next to each other, as the small group of 2 fresh from town found themselves surrounded out ahead of the infantry. They inflicted serious damage on the enemy infantry, but one of them didn't make it out.

Gulvidda is home to the Cedar Pillars - 2 N, 1 A, 30 Enchant bonus. NU may look into opening an experimental lab here. The army, now that it is organized and united once more, faces a choice of directions: north, to a group of 40 (unscouted) militia, archers and heavy foot, south, to the force of knights and longbows, or west into the mountains, where a tribe of wild Amazons has been training Griffin riders. The griffins look interesting, but I want to complete my conquest of the northern plains first. I think the current army could probably beat the knights, but it would be better to have a few extra Hunters and infantry (and maybe even, god forbid, some extra archers). So north it is.

Mjima the Tax Man of the Lord was going to go to Midkronia and help them organize their tax collection, but it turns out that Shujaa has gone a bit simple in the head and will not be capable of leading the reinforcements from town for the battle in Solhov (against the knights) in two turns. So Shujaa is sent west to make first contact with whoever lives north of the amazons. (Scouting flying creatures by the attack-and-retreat method is not highly recommended. It would be a way to get rid of a more-or-less useless commander, but I've grown attached to the little guy.)

Pythium has conquered the vaetti I mentioned last turn, but still only border one of my provinces. Scouts report that they must have come in from the east or south, as there is nothing but independents to the west of them.

Kimya is searching Nordhamn for magic sites. Various scouts are doing their scouty things. Researchers are researching. All is well and at peace, except where they're at war.

Recruits: a sage, a scout, a hunter, five more hoplites.

Provinces: 6
Income: 486, Upkeep 125
Research: 55 - 9 from Construction 3 (already have Evo 1 and Ench 1)
Gems: F 10 (+1) A 1 (+1) E 11 (+2) D 4 (+1) N 19 (+5)

My nature income is getting to the point that setting up a druid temple and starting Vine Ogre mass production seems like a good idea. Or I could just make Manikins (which it turns out take Con 3, not 1 like I thought.)

So far, a pretty good start, but I am nervous about not running into any other computer players yet. Though I guess that's also a good sign, in a sense.

(NEXT: An unforeseen setback forces me to commit fan fiction.)

[shovah]

great aar, keep it up

[Tom_Scudder]

(I just remembered that I'd taken a screen shot after Turn 11, which I'll attach to this one if I can figure out how.)

Turn 12

No messages. Whew.

A smallish legion (more of a squadron, really) of the undead has been summoned, big enough that I need 2 of my death mages to ferry them to the front, along with the giant spiders. Kimya searches for magic sites as long as he's there, and Mjima the Tax Accountant of the Gods continues his long march to the front. The entire army should be assembled next month.

Meanwhile, scouts are reporting that Pythium has five provinces, and none of them border any other empire besides mine. This is disturbing. I would feel much better if they had another border to worry about. Pythium is also massing troops directly south of my border, but they might well be trying for the independent province just west of them. Another scout moving into position next turn should be able to give me a sense of how big Ulm is (and thus, how big a threat).

I recruit a Voice of the Lord and an independent priest, although at the last minute I realize that my previous calculations were off: If I'm going to invade next turn, I will need to have my level 4 Priest along, blessing my troops and giving them courage. If half my troops end up routing, leaving the other half to be fed to my esteemed opponent, it won't much matter if I get my god back in 4 turns rather than 5. The old math, starting this turn, went 7 + 14 + 19 = 40. The new math for continuing to recruit on the same plan, assuming Most Holy doesn't get killed in the attack, and that he can distribute his troops to some other commander for the siege, goes: 7 + 10 + 19. If I leave out the independent priests, I get 7 + 8 + 15 which still gets me my god back by turn 16. If I leave out the independents and the second votl, it goes 7 + 8 + 12 + 12 which doesn't quite cut it. If Most Holy gets killed or is otherwise unavailable, we get 7 + 8 + 11 + 14, which is exactly 40, with the voice of the lord plan. But. It occurs to me that having a bunch of independent priests casting banishment might be really handy when it comes to sieging a death mage. And that Ulm seems to have pretty piss-poor dominion, which would indicate that I might just be able to preach them out. So, after all that, we'll stick with plan A.

I also recruit two more hunters, alchemizing two more earth gems to do it. Shujaa can bring them up next turn.

In the meantime, I'm feeling pretty stupid about having kept my research in construction last turn. I have a pretty sad assortment of spells for my mages right now, and could use alteration 1 (barkskin), 2 (stoneskin) and thaumaturgy 1 (dust to dust). I can get alt 1 and thaum 1 this turn, and put 9 points toward alt 2, which I can get in time for the assault, if not in time to script spells for it. So that's set. I'm not going to talk about taxes again unless it's funny, but you can assume that I'm doing the little geeky alterations, basically dropping tax for provinces with unrest of 10 or more and then raising it back to 100 when unrest drops to single digits.

Provinces 7
Income 545 Upkeep 152
Research 49 (29 Alteration, 20 Thaumaturgy, both will be level 1 next turn) also Evo 1, Const 3, Ench 1.
Gems: F 6 (+1) A 3 (+1) E 6 (+4) D 1 (+1) N 5 (+5)
God calling: 7/40

End turn. Host.

Turn 13.

Kimya found another magic site - so far, he's 4 for 4. I sure hope he doesn't get killed in the battle. It's another Earth Blood Seepage, which puts me up to 6 a month Earth income. Me likes. I get my level 1 in thaum and level 1 in alt, so I'm a happy camper. In the meantime, Ulm seems to have pulled almost all of its troops out of the capital. But I'm sure they'll be moving them right back in next turn. Pythium keeps shifting its stupid army back and forth on my border. On the plus side, they've made contact with Abyssia on their south, so I'm no longer the only front they have to worry about.

The various bits of my army have now all converged on Gula Kusten. It consists of:

20 Manikins
10 assorted Longdead
17 Machaka Hoplites
8 Black Hunters plus 1 Spider
8 Machaka Archers plus 1 independent (nearly identical, except the independent is wearing a bit of armor)
2 sorceresses (F E D)
1 witch doctor (E D N)
1 black sorcerer (2F 2E D N)
plus 1 level 4 priest (and prophet) and 2 level 2 priests.

Heck with it, I'm going in (with my prophet). I ditch 1 hoplite who has battle fright, but decide to keep the one spider who does also. Ulm province defense of 25 means lots of crossbows, so I need to get my spiders on them right quick. I put the hoplites front and center with their big arrow-absorbing shields, set to "hold and attack" and set the spiders back a bit and to their left with "attack archer" orders. The undead are stationed on the hoplite's right with "attack nearest" orders. The archers are back a bit with "shoot large monsters" (just in case the behemoth I've seen puts in an appearance - if so, I think I remember that they don't have much defense, just a whole lot of hit points. I refuse to consult references on this.) I'm leaving one unscripted "cast spell" as the first spell slot and hoping my wizards take the clue and use it to cast stoneskin, and not fire shield. Then it's bombs away with the fire darts. I'm half tempted to leave them completely unscripted so they can cast dust to dust if the behemoth comes to play. But I don't

Okay, there's the plan. Now let's see you do it.
In other news, I shuttle 2 hunters to the front with Shujaa, recruit a voice of the lord, an independent priest, and 2 more hunters, and tell my scouts to do scouty things.

Total income: 536 Upkeep 165
Research: Alteration 31 (31 for level 2), Evocation 18 (33 for level 2) also const 3, ench 1, thaum 1.
Gems: F 7 (+1) A 4 (+1) E 11 (+6) D 2 (+1) N 10 (+5)
God Calling: 17/40

End Turn. Host.

[shovah]

any chance of battle screenshots?

[Tom_Scudder]

Well, since you asked nicely, here's the key battle from turn 11 - there won't be any more because I didn't save any of the later turns (except maybe from turn 20-something when I declared victory).

They are (in order): early on in the fight, with Cirin still sitting behind the lines and both forces in motion (5 spiders vs. 1 knight, I like those odds); Cirin springs into action vs. the siege engineer (poor lad, only doing his job); and the dolorous stroke itself, in all its pixellated glory (I flatter myself to think that my prose was EVEN MORE evocative of the moment).

Hm. Guess I'll put them in 3 posts since it doesn't seem to want to let me attach multiple files to one post.

[Tom_Scudder]

Right. So. 2/3: Cirin vs. the Siege Engineer