Ulm SP AAR- Swords Vs. Sorcery

[boltcutter]

Turn 10:

Results- All is quiet.

Shopping- Two Smiths (they're expensive, but once I can cast Blade Wind one smith should be the equal of twenty archers), and troops. I convert another 5 Earth gems into gold, sadly.

Planning-Everyone moves up and out. Research continues. I get greedy and send First Army against the independent Ichthyids to the west, rather than waiting two turns for my Smiths [with Blade Wind] to arrive. Research continues as I slowly build up Second Army.

Turn 11:

Results- Disaster. The Ichthyids take out six troops- not particularly good- but Caelum, from the other side, attacks the province just after I do. My outnumbered, outmanuevered troops fight valiantly, but they are not in formation for this and individual acts of heroism are not enough. At the end, my Commander- alone, badly injured, and surrounded- nearly cuts his way to freedom but is finally taken down by sheer numbers and time.

The shell of First Army mills around, leaderless- 27 troops total, two of whom are missing an arm [naturally enough, they both had two-handed weapons so are worthless.] I lost all my hammermen and archers, half my axemen, four of my flailmen and only one crossbowman- the Ulmish tendency to put armor on EVERYTHING works in my favor.

On the plus side, I have now researched Blade Wind and my Smiths are a force to be reckoned with- as long as they have gems, that is.

Shopping- I buy what troops I can, and a single Smith for Second Army. I put some Province Defense into the southern bottleneck- it's now up to PD 8.

Planning- My Smiths will arrive in "the bottleneck" with a true combat commander, to take control of the First Army.
I start researching Conjuration- once they have Earthpower, my Smiths will truly be a combat force I can count on. And I have quite a few Smiths.

Turn 12-

Results- None of note. Conjuration 1 acheived.

Shopping- Another Smith, and a pathetic handful of Hammermen.

Planning- Strike directly for T'ien Chi's capital. Hopefully three Smiths will be enough to compensate for my severe troop reduction. I'm bringing more troops and a siege engineer south from the capital.

Turn 13-

Results- The assault on T'ien Chi went well. The Smiths rip a good chunk out of the enemy troops and flailmen clean out what's left. I am pleased to note that the enemy composite bows do nothing to me; unfortunately, the glaives work a little better. I lose a couple troops but nothing to worry about. Siege commences.

Shopping- Built three horsemen- I need to be able to hit harder. Also a siege engineer and raise Point Defense to 13 in the southern bottleneck. T'ien Chi is a wealthy province.

Planning- Hold T'ien Chi and destroy the enemies as they come . Consider starting a third war with Mictlan.

Looking at the score charts, Pythium and C'Tis are far ahead. I'm second from the bottom in almost everything. If I don't start taking capitals soon, I'm going to be too far behind to have ANY chance. If I can take Mictlan fast enough, I can pincer T'ien Chi.

It's a bad idea but the only one I have.

Turn 14-

Results- I got cleaned out at T'ien Chi. Celestial Warriors aren't something I can fight, apparently and I lost every Smith I brought in a display of exceptional stupidity. Give them a set of gems and they summon Earth Elementals instead of casting Blade Wind.

I'm losing and there's not much I can do about it.

[Sandman]

Sounds like you didn't take strong enough scales if you're hurting for money as Ulm. That Cyclops was far, far too expensive to just sit around searching.

[boltcutter]

I'm going to switch to a much more general "Things of Note" format, as I am putting in too much detail.

Turns 15-18:
"The Stall."

Reinforced First Army. Bought up Province Defense to 20+, bought some cheap archers, brought down troops from capitol. Built Second Army- brought up Hammermen from capitol, bought several Smiths. Set my Cyclops and Smiths to researching until I got to Conjuration 3.

Now Smiths are truly in Phase 2: able to cast Blade Wind at least once each per fight.

Researching for Construction 4- Earth Boots will make them twice as valuable.

Turns 19-25: War on Mictlan. This is exactly what my army is designed for- wiping out lots of cheap scuzzy troops. I send Second Army north with 3 Smiths and Myself. We besiege the blood-drinkers. Our besieging army, though surrounded, repulses huge attacks [96 troops attacked, 50 were wiped out] easily. Six or more Blade Winds are truly brutal. Myself goes for a walk through the remaining Mictlanese provinces. (Truly, the Cyclops is best used not "just sitting around searching." Especially when One can start a battle with 150+ flying blades.)

Turn 23, the would-be God disappears in a puff of disbelief. This is somewhat disturbing, although it allows Me to take his castle unopposed. I now have a large, ferocious army to the south of T'ien Chi and a medium ferocious army to the north. Time for a rematch on those Celestial Warriors.

Also, My people research Construction sufficiently and start producing a truly astounding number of Earth Boots- yet, not enough. . . now I must decide what I need next.

* Alteration- that my Smiths may protect themselves?
* Conjuration- that I may summon large, ethereal bears and eventually Trolls? I need something fearless.
* Thaumaturgy- that my Smiths may find more sources of power?
* Enchantment- that Myself may become an unstoppable regenerating force of Supernature?

Looking at the scorecard: Pythium and C'Tis are far ahead in almost everything; Caelum is badly only ahead in magical power. Jotunheim and Vanheim are also generally ahead. Abysia and Machaka are being beaten badly and I am theoretically ahead of T'ien Chi- though they have a Dominion of 8 [!]

Looking at the map- if I take T'ien Chi I will have a north-south wraparound. I have a long border with C'Tis and short ones with Caelum [at war with me already], Jotunheim, and Man- an unrealized "across-the-sea" highway to my capitol. I have no information on Pythium, Pangaea, or Vanheim- three of the powerhouses out there.

Looking at the economics- I am making a profit of around 250 Gold per turn. If I limit my production of Smiths I may be able to start buying Temples and priests. I now have a lot of gems, by this game's standards, and a good variety of types. I still have a lot of Earth gems- even after making six sets of Earth boots, and a couple of items of armor for Myself.

I should be able to pin up T'ien Chi in a single province within three turns of the start of the war- I fear that storming the castle will be a bloody mess. Celestial Warriors cause fear, and are proof against light missiles, and there may be a large number of them inside.

[boltcutter]

Turns 25-31: Quagmire.

Second Army strikes deeply and effectively. First Army gets thrown back to their base province with severe losses. I need to work on impatience and lack of focus. T'ien Chi breaks out with a small army and rampages through the former Mictlanese provinces. I do not have the resources to start a Third Army; eventually they run up against my northern bottleneck and are repulsed.

I start besieging the Dark Citadel where the TC Pretender, a lich, is locked up with less than 10 troops.

Unfortunately, TC's main army was out on campaign to the west. I go Myself with a few troops to intercept at the obvious blocking point.

I am destroyed. Ten Celestial Warriors come in and clean house. Looking at what went wrong:

1. I didn't bring enough troops. Two half-armies are no good. One Smith, a handful of troops [fled from the last wreck of First Army]- not enough.
2. I didn't concentrate on building up the province defense, despite knowing where the enemy would strike.
3. My physical form was not equal to the challenges. I was fighting in Dominion -8 [!] and so, instead of the 70+ HP I should have had, I had about. . .20.

This is the beginning of the end. There are three really large enemies- C'Tis, Pythium, and Jotunheim- remaining. Jotunheim's armies are starving, diseased, and miserable [my spies report] but still crushing Pangaea. I have very few priests, fewer temples, and many months before I can return as even a shadow of my old Self. I do not have the forces, I suspect, to hold TC against the armies coming home- never mind actually taking the Dark Citadel. [Can I wipe out an immortal Lich with multiple Blade Winds? I think that's what the question comes down to.]

The next on my decreasingly-plausible To Conquer list is Caelum. Their research has been spectacular and, even if their troops can only peck vainly at my armored masses, they undoubtedly have horrifying magical calamities waiting for me.

I suspect at this point my only option is stubborn, doomed resistance.

[RedRover]

Have been reading and enjoying.

Do hang in and keep fighting--I'm rooting for you. In my own AAR, things are going to hit the fan very soon. There are ways of fighting out of many tight corners. The Forum in particular can be a valuable resource.

Cheerio...




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Think outside the box? What's a box?

[boltcutter]

Sorry for the lack of updates. I have been busy with other things.

Update:

Turns 31-37: Restoration. My forces sweep back through and recapture the TC territory. First and Second armies meet up in the TC capital. The Celestials can be beaten with numerous Blade Winds and some sturdy troops to slow them down- perhaps 12 Blade Winds to 10 Celestials. I try my new plan of bringing reinforcements in before needing them.

Shopping: My loyal people buy Temples and Priests- I have almost none of each- and set them to restore Me. I create a new Prophet- much more heavily armored than the last- and bring up some Cavalry. My Smiths build a Crusher [disappointingly poor attack and defense skills] and a batch of Clockwork Horrors.

Two of My Spies discover the extent of Pythium and start spreading sedition- if I cannot directly destroy Pythium yet, I can at least slow them slightly. Another starts trouble in C'Tis.

Turns 37-41: The Two Front War.

I am restored!

My troops finally win a brutal war of attrition, breaking into the Dark Citadel of T'ien Chi and finding almost no resistance (I lost one Cavalryman to the lich's evil spells and perhaps a few footsoldiers to the Citadel's defenses.) I capture the Desert Eye itself and pin the T'ien forces in a single province.

And Caelum attacks. The southern bottleneck works well. I lose the province [26 Prov. Defense] but, of the 160 attackers, 20 are killed and many rout. In a bit of luck, one province up from there [Ulmwards], the local chief built a fortress with no prompting from me. The bottleneck that was taken was immediately next to T'ien Chi, where My army is pinned down in siege. Caelum attempts to continue the attack (towards Tienese territory )but is repulsed in the next province and, after T'ien Chi itself falls, is thrown back from the bottleneck. Unfortunately, I still had my Smiths dispersed and un-bodyguarded to lower the chance of losing some to the Citadel defenses. Two or three are slain, but two sets of Earth Boots are recovered for the next generation to step into.

In the Desert Eye, my new Clockwork Horrors face an unexpected threat before they can finish off the few [less than 10?] Tienese forces- Caelum attacks me [80 Caels vs. a Smith, a couple of heavy infantry, the Clocks and a handful of Province Defense.]

I did not realize that Clockwork Horrors gained 15 Fatigue per turn, every turn. Fortunately, the flying Caelumites surrounded them near-immediately and the Clocks inflicted great damage before getting smashed. Net result: Approximately 25 Caels killed, all my Clocks destroyed, no other casualties and the province is still mine.

I, Myself, created another miraculous bag of wine, and started moving south to the bottleneck with reinforcements. Soon I will step into T'ien Chi and empower Myself back to pre-death levels.

Enemy Status: Caelum has taken noticeable losses in troop strength. They have cast Dark Skies and their leader seems to [based on his Prophet] have significant Death and Air magic strength. C'Tis has a long border with me, and many large armies along it. Jotunheim has two short borders with me, a huge army, and has driven Pangaea near-literally into the ocean. Vanheim, and Pythium are vague future threats- Abysia shall not last long, I think.

Own Status: Outside of TC's resources, I have found another source of Earth gems [I'm up to 7/turn], and a source of Nature gems. I have a few other small supplies, including an embarassment of blood slaves. Gold is available in reasonable quantities- never as much as needed, of course.

Planning: I require more Smiths. Also, having proven that constructed troops are severely limited, I feel that contacting Trolls is my best bet for "advanced" troops. This will be a long and difficult time researching- My Smiths are almost all needed for war and I have only Conjuration 3. [One Smith is probably the equal of 30 Longbowmen right now, offensively.] My Dominion is weak- destroying the last vestiges of the lich lord of T'ien Chi is crucial.

I want to experiment with economic warfare- using Spies to lower Pythium's available gold and the like. Probably too little too late, but perhaps some defections will occur.

I will also be building a few Commanders to place in the border provinces- they will not survive determined attack, but at least my province defense will not be routed by a stray arrow in the first volley [as has happened.]

As far as my enemies: After Caelum [all going well] I must assault C'tis- all my gains in Mictlan and TC could be overrun easily by only a fragment of their strength, and I have only weak defenses in place.

[RedRover]

re: Two-Front War

Well, at least you're not attacking Russia in the winter.

re: Mechanical Men
Meat shields are even more effective when they are not actually meat.