Silent Seas AAR

[st.patrik]

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).



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).

[Nerfix]

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!

[st.patrik]

??

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.

[Nerfix]

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...

[st.patrik]

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...

[st.patrik]

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...



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.

[Nerfix]

st.patrik said:
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...

I see then.

[st.patrik]

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



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.



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.

[okiN]

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

[Nerfix]

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