Abysia CB 5.0 AAR

[RedRover]

This game is unusual for me on several levels. It started as a 10-Turn Test. It is my first game after an extended break. It is my first game with the Concept Balance 5.0 mod. It is my first game with low magic settings and slow research. It is the second outing for this particular Pretender chassis (see below). While it is not my first game at the Difficult level, it’s the first one in recent months; so far I’ve been pretty happy soloing at Normal.

10-Turn TEST: Because I intended to run just 10 turns, I didn’t keep close track of income, gems, etc. the way I would in a dedicated AAR. However, the game just sucked me in, and I have kept playing. I am well past turn 50 as I post this first installment. Thus, any advice on strategy or play techniques, while welcome, is unlikely to be relevant to the game’s current progress. With this in mind, feel free to comment. I will post play notes as I transcribe them.

TEST OUTCOME

Cradle map with 8 nations. Nondefault settings: Independents 6. Sites 30. Research slow.
Password off. Rename on. Cheat Protection disabled*. AI Difficult.
Mods: Complete Concept Balance 5.0, Oceania 1.0.
Nations: Abysia (me), Arcoscephale, Caelum, C’tis, Man, Pythium, Oceania, Ulm
*I always do this. I think it’s twitchy, had difficulties before it was patched, and haven’t used it since.

Pretender: Manticore 7S3N Dom: 5 (note: S=Astral; other paths abbreviated by first letter; N=Nature.)
Scales: 2 Order/1 Production/3 Heat/0 Growth/-1 Misfortune/1 Magic
Fort: Citadel (much cheaper in the CB mod!)
Provinces Owned: 7 (poised to take 2)
Current Research: Evo 2 (Evo 3 will be reached turn 11)
Research Rate: +25 (Bid on wizard Dagon turn 10)
Gem Income: 5F (starting income—low magic means low magic)
Income: 398 gold
End of Turn Treasury: 8
Capital Resources: 160 (have taken three of the four provinces adjacent to the capital).

Leaders: Manticore*, 1 Warlord* (Prophet), 1 Assassin* (*starting leaders); 2 Apprentices, 2 Salamander Priests, 2 independent Commanders. Turn 10, buying another Apprentice.
Mercenaries: Blackfist (about half strength); Dagon (renegade mage) bid on turn 10.
Field Armies: Two. The first is about out of steam (probably last attack on turn 11). The other is going into combat for the first time on turn 11. (An army is about 12 Abysian Infantry, plus 20 or so Independent or Mercenary foot, supported by a Salamander priest).

Provincial Structures: Temple construction ordered in province #169 (Lizard Men, south of special magic site), to be followed by a Lab.

Strategy: Normally I clear the provinces around the capital first. However, I start in province 157 (east continent, northwest quadrant, well inland), giving me access to two of the inland special magic sites—if I can get there quickly enough (as opposed to clearing out around the capital and heading for the coast). This decision is driven by the relative scarcity of magic sites in this game.

By turn 10, I have secured the first special magic site and conquered the Lizard Man province directly south of it. Intelligence says my two paths to the second site (an island with one access point) are blocked by a 70-man force and a 60-man force, respectively. The latter route is quicker (three moves, opposed to four), but farther from my capital, so reinforcement will be slower.


((Flashback
This test is actually the second try with this setup. I wasn’t doing a 10-turn test then, or recording an After Action Report, so the following details are sketched from memory. The first Pretender was generally the same, except the Manticore had Earth instead of Nature magic, a Mage Tower instead of a Citadel, and no Production scale. C’tis (default nation) declared war on me around turn 20 and popped the global spell “Foul Air” around turn 30. The war was a major blunder on my part—I provoked it too early in the game.

I discovered later that when the war started, C’tis was greatly outbuilding me in raw number of troops. I had a fortified chokepoint between us, but by turn 25 he was hitting it with 30-40 infantry plus a half dozen Bog Beasts every single turn, while a typical defense for me was 8-12 Abysian Infantry and scattered scum troops. Turned out, he could reach the chokepoint from his capital before I could reach it from mine. The chokepoint was changing hands about every turn, until I managed to clear it long enough to build 25 province defense (PD). The next few turns, the PD died every turn, but I always seemed to have 1 or 2 unbroken regular infantry when the smoke cleared, just a little more battered than before. (I would have been history by turn 24, except that I managed to get a Wand of Wild Fire up there, so by turn 30, C’tis was still trying to pry my bloody fingers off the province.)

After that, though, with no way to counter either disease or the global spell, and with all my income being sucked into the battle for the chokepoint, things were pretty much over. As of turn 30, I had not discovered a single Astral site and was still at L1 Enchantment (I had been concentrating on Fire, Earth, and Blood magic—Evocation, Blood, and Construction schools—and Dispel is a fifth level Enchantment). I discontinued the game at this point, and started over.

The experience with Foul Air reminded me of some earlier experiences with C’tis and the Burden of Time global spell, before that was patched. Isolated event? C’tis is going to be on my priority opponent list for some time, I think.
End Flashback

Overall, the restart is decent for a single player game, but not nearly good enough for multiplayer, IMO. It may have been a mistake not to send the Manticore out conquering early, but I chose troops over researchers for early expansion. I need the Manticore as a researcher, and I’m a little skittish about getting early afflictions on the Pretender, anyway.

Projected: I will be pursuing an inland strategy for the next 10 moves or so. At this time, only one black candle is visible, in a sea province off the west coast (#135). Turns 11-20 should see the start of a Blood economy (I usually prefer non-blood magic paths, but this game is an experiment). I will probably build a big Fire mage soon, and send one of the Apprentices out blood hunting.

[quantum_mechani]

RedRover said:
Fort: Citadel (much cheaper in the CB mod!)

Much as I would like to, there is no way to mod forts.

[RedRover]

Oops! You are right. I wonder how that got into my notes.

Oh well. I remember that thinking this did have an impact on which fort I took for this game--I usually prefer the Castle for the Admin or Watchtowers because they are cheap.

I guess I spent a little too much time on summer vacation!

Thanks for the catch!

[shovah]

ive never even noticed the foul airspell before i can see my ermor combining this with burden of time and maybe utterdark , mwa ha ha

[RedRover]

Shovah: Have fun! Happy to help!

SNAPSHOT: TURN 15
(picking up from the Turn 10 summary)

I have hacked through to the shores of the inland lake, defeating Heavy Infantry and a force of Woodsmen. Never seen a more ragged battle line than my Abysian Infantry. Of the seven survivors, the affliction count reads: 3, 2, 0, 1, 3, 3, 5. The recently hired Dante’s Stingers are in better shape: 4 dead, 7 afflictions, and one triple affliction out of 30 men. The army’s Salamander priest hasn’t seen a gem in so long he’s not sure what they look like anymore. The Prophet Warlord is holding this crew together, but intelligence reports 70 Longdead on the island. Oh, and there isn’t enough food here—I have to attack, withdraw, or starve. Can’t resist going for it…

A relief force consisting of the Second Army, plus Edward Blackfist, is cleaning out the rest of the interior, and just defeated a force of Heavy Infantry. They’re two turns away from the shore. Meanwhile, I have built a Lizard Shaman and escort near the first magic site. The Manticore turned up a 1-gem Astral site, so I can now probe for more. Still looking for the first Nature site, though. Also, I’m starting to hunt Blood Slaves south of the capital (15 in two turns!). I’m building an Independent leader to carry these back to the capital—I can’t afford a Lab here yet.

For research, I’ve cleared Thaumaturgy 2, and started on Blood 1. Now, if a random event gives me Nature gems, the Manticore can do remote searching for a few turns. Finally, I have no idea where Man is, but he just declared war on me, so I need to start looking for him.

This changes my plans considerably. Checking for new mercs, Hector’s Heavy Horse has just appeared. At a hefty 220 gp, I can (barely) swing this by cannibalizing almost everything in queue. I think Man may be east of me, across a major river line, but my side of the crossing can’t sustain a defensive force of any size. The chokepoint on the far side of the river might, and if Man’s capital is far enough away, that province might make a reasonable site for a fort. Intelligence reports only 20 Lizardmen. The downside is that I give up exploiting the island magic site for now. So be it. The battered First Army will cross eastward, with Hector falling in behind them. The Second Army can be on the island site in three turns (the only enemy province now in the way has mostly militia).

The big risk here is that I’m renting Hector instead of building Third Army. Anything breaks north or west of me and I will be in serious trouble, I have no reserve other than the nub of a regular spearman unit that I’ve been slowly building north of the capital, and I’ve put very little into province defense anywhere. Interesting times.

[RedRover]

TURN 16-17
Disaster! First Army is wiped out. The intelligence report was low—there were 40 Lizard Men. They chewed through the Abysian Infantry and Dante in short order. Only the Salamander and Prophet escaped the debacle, and the Prophet was Cursed. Even worse, Hector showed up in the capital, instead of at the east bridge (oops!), so he’s totally out of position for any offensive action. On the bright side, Second Army flattened the militia, and shortly will be in position to cover the bridge.

Time to settle for half a loaf. I can just as easily build my fort on this side of the river. First, though, I lay out a Temple and Lab. This will let me recruit Druids, and stock my Salamanders with Fire gems, both useful for an assault either on the island with the site or across the river to the east.

I can’t wait to build a second fort—I need a source for halfbreed spearmen that won’t keep running afoul of the Abysian Infantry heat ability. Tactical separation and orders can do only so much to preserve normal troops fighting alongside Abysians. (Typically, I have been deploying the Abysians forward and far right with orders to attack closest. The normal foot have been deployed refused far left with orders to attack rear or archers. Usually, the Abysians draw off the missile fire, which their heavier armor helps deflect, as well as any enemies with attack orders. The normal human foot engages either the rear enemy units or comes in on the flank of enemies fighting the Abysians, thus limiting their own exposure to “friendly fire” (at least it’s better than having the Abysians coming in straight behind them!). My assassin sneaks over the bridge to look for Man.

On his way to the first magic site, the Manticore discovers a Nature site—Farm of Plenty. Bah, but then I note that somewhere along the line I picked up 16 Nature gems (some troops did get cursed by a witch a turn or so ago). Manticore diverts south to the Lizard Shaman’s Lab—time to scry out some Nature sites and maybe forge something nice.

First Blood Slaves hit the labs. While I could start summoning Spine Devils immediately, I’m going to hold off until I can recruit a Demonbred leader and reach Blood 3, which would give me summonable Devils. Hector and my human spearmen converge northwest of my capital. When I get a little stronger here, I might try a breakout, but the two possibilities are Heavy Horse or Amazons with Nightmares, so for the time being, this group is defensive.

[RedRover]

TURN 18
Caelum buys Blackfist away from me! Also, it turns out C’tis, not Man, is east of me. I can see a province he owns, but not his capital. My assassin moves in to investigate. My fort construction starts now and I have raised the PD there to 15. I’m two turns away from Blood 3, so a Demonbred will soon be a priority.

Hector’s contract is up, so it’s him or the fort. I choose the fort. With Blackfist gone, Hector in his current location isn’t helping. If I let him go and no one else hires him, I might be able to hire him back on turn 19, and put him where he will be useful. Risky. I would not have this problem if I’d positioned Hector properly the first time. Also, the last of the aquatic mercenaries came up this turn, so down the road it’s going to be harder to get into the oceans.

I’m feeling a little low, so I sneak a peak at the graphs. Ulm and C’tis are tied for most provinces, I’m third. I have the best income, with Ulm right behind me. For gem income, I’m fifth of eight; looks like the other three lowest still have only their original sites. Ulm and C’tis are in a dead heat for first, probably pulling 11-12 gems each. For dominion, I’m tied for fourth. For army size, with the loss of Blackfist, I’m dead last, a little behind Oceania. I need to raise my troop count before everyone starts jumping on me. No choice, the fort goes on hold, I keep Hector, bid on the Fishermen, and start raising cheap troops. If my fort type was a Castle instead of a Citadel, I would be building now.

I need more provinces. If Hector and the spearmen move northeast, there’s another pass, and I’ll have two more provinces to attack before I run up against the Amazons. The first is Light Infantry and Crossbows, no clue about the second. Stay tuned…

[RedRover]

TURN 19

Oceania outbids me on the Fishermen, so my troop situation is going critical fast. On the other hand, Orion is up, and I intend to bid high—I could use his punch for expansion in the north. If I can cobble together an army of Mercs and Independents in the north, use the Abysians of Second Army to bolster the east, and build a fully Abysian Third Army in the capital, then I should be able to continue expanding north and west. I can’t move east before building a fortified base of operations, and I still have the Longdeads in the magic site on the island to deal with.


C’tis is expanding north along the east map edge, I think. My assassin spotted a Temple of theirs south of the first province I found, so I’m betting their capital is south, rather than north. The assassin moves south, leaving behind a force of 40 C’tis Militia and Tomb Worms. Tomb Worms, drat. I was hoping that C’tis would be the default nation, but apparently not this time.

I am completing Blood 3 next turn; I put the rest of my research into Construction. If C’tis turns my way, a decent item or two could be the difference between standing and folding. The Manticore has already turned from remote search to research, so I’ll build a Druid to bolster my future Citadel site and handle remote Nature scrying in his time off.

[RedRover]

TURN 20
C’tis does seem to be south. No capital yet, but two more provinces with Temples. He does move in my direction with some of his force—I count 9 Militia on the east side of the bridge after he takes out the independents, and no Tomb Worms. I must fortify here as quickly as possible. I can’t put off building another turn.

Orion joined, so the attack (northwest) is on. After I take these two provinces, it looks like I’ll have to backtrack and start working the far north. C’tis has sealed off the east, the only other crossing is about two provinces northeast of my northern force. I take a minute to reorganize armies.

The new “First Army” is at the east bridge with the Prophet. It’s still something of a paper army until the Abysians from the old Second Army join it. By that time, the new Citadel will be up and pumping out cheap halfbreed spearmen. The new “Second Army” is the northern force. It consists of Hector, Orion, and two understrength spear units. It is attacking with no magic support (other than Orion) but a Lizard Shaman is on the way. I’ll probably delay him long enough to build a Temple somewhere—I need some cheap, weak Priests to bolster the army, aid province defense, and chat up the locals. “Third Army” is building in the capital, currently a dozen halfbreed spearmen and three Abysian Infantry (also a half dozen archers I raised during the blood hunts, but they’re more of a castle guard). I need to double this force and add a Salamander and a half dozen more Abysian Infantry before sending them anywhere.

Scores: For provinces, I’m still third, but static, while everyone else is growing. Not good. For income, I’ve dropped to second, below Ulm; Man is behind me, and accelerating. Not good. For gems, I’m still fifth, but Man has caught up to me. In research, I am sixth, but catching up to three, four, and five. No one is catching Man any time soon, and Arco is so far ahead they’ve more than doubled everyone except Man. In dominion, I am third and accelerating. I will pass C’tis soon; Caelum is ahead of us, but static; Man and Oceania are not only at the bottom of the heap, but fading. For army size, C’tis just hyperaccelerated past Man to grab first place. I’m in last place, but at least my rate of growth is higher than Ulm (third) or Oceania (seventh). Overall, it’s not looking so good.

TURN 21
Pressure’s on. C’tis parked 60 Ghouls and Tomb Worms on my doorstep, and I have only a handful of troops to meet them. The province defense (PD) is up to 25, backed by the Prophet, a Druid, and a Salamander priest. The Abysian Infantry is still two turns out, but the Manticore can get there now. I build junk archers. I think I will not see Construction 4 before the hordes of C’tis attack. Now I need money and troops, and the only way to get those is to get land. I find the C’tis capital, it is on the map edge several provinces southeast of the bridge.

While the new Second Army moves through Godsgrave Pass (how appropriate!) against a Militia/Light Infantry force, the half-built Third Army moves northwest from the capital. We may see a combined attack on the Amazons soon. Elsewhere, I hire Urgek and his Beast Brothers, who will combine with one spear unit and the Lizard Shaman to expand into the far north/northeast. My Demonbred will pop in the first Devil next turn, but the blood hunting came up dry this turn. I have enough slaves in reserve to get three or four Devils. I am relying far too much on mercenaries, but I haven’t been able to ramp up production of national troops yet.

[RedRover]

TURN 22
Mixed news. The C’tis horde moved away from the border, leaving a guard of 10, mostly Tomb Worms and a priest (Prophet?). I have a couple turns, maybe. Meanwhile, my assassin discovers that the C’tis capital is on a choke point--no movement south without going through its province. Do I risk it, or hang around keeping tabs on troop movements in my direction? I think I’ll try infiltrating with a scout before risking an assassin.

The strategic implications are troubling. Northeast/east expansion will eventually hit C’tis coming the other way, so it’s ultimately a dead end. Northwest will be good for a while, but I’m sure someone’s across the bay from me—I just can’t see him yet. I can’t go south on my west border without trickling out down along the coast, and that means dealing with Knights.

Almost forgot to renew Dagan and Orion this turn. That would have really messed things up. Fixing this prevents my getting another Demonbred this turn. I bank the difference and send a researching Apprentice out to find Blood Slaves. This cuts my research even more. I put the Manticore back on line, but I’m only getting 48 research points this turn. At current rate, I’m two turns off Construction 3, and Construction 4 is where all the goodies are.

TURN 23-24
Moving right along. First Army is building at the east bridge, and the Citadel there will finish soon. Trouble on the horizon. Assassin spots a 60-lizard force of C’tis, mostly Slingers and Militia, may be headed my way. In the northwest, Second/Third Army cleans out the Amazons. In north, Urgek and company reach the river border and will cross this turn. Urgek’s mercs were reduced to meat shield status in the last combat, but the force across the river looks soft—30 Militia/Archers. Still, after the next battle there won’t be much left to rehire.

Boy, was that right! The attack failed. Urgek was killed, the spear unit and lizards were virtually annihilated, but at least the leaders and a few troops escaped. With the remnants reorganizing for another attack, the mercenary ettin Pak-Ur joins.

To the west, the Second Army cuts its way northwestward, stopping next to a magic site province (Witch's Roost) guarded by 60 Barbarians. Fortunately, the mercenary unit Grom’s Breakers is available, so I put up a bid. If it comes through, I’ll try to get the site.

At the east bridge, the fort is finally done. I’m going to risk First Army by throwing everything except one priest at the island magic site. C’tis looks far enough away that I can hit it and get back. Also, the 70 Longdead are reading 30 now, so there surely won’t be more than 70, and I can handle those, I think. I’ll just have to suck up the research loss, but I need to find some gem sites.

The extra priest heads north to help the northern river crossing. This map is very constricted; ground units have little mobility and it takes forever to get anywhere. With one renegade air wizard and no sites, it’s not like I’m ever going to be building the Flying Ship (Construction 8), and the Gate spell is a very long way away.

Next turn: Oops!