AAR: Feb25 Update - Calling All Tourists! - MA Oceania DAR - Chapter 13

[sansanjuan]

When you get a siren like that just rename her Rosanne Barr and put her on the front lines...
-ssj

[cleveland]

Chapter 4: Who ordered the squid?

Turn files: Turn4.zip

Well, Haon Door did indeed come back to the capital, but those ingrates in Divine Ocean seem to have taken offense to it and organized an insurgency of Brigands in some godforsaken ruin. So much for that high income province, a few extra inchtycentaurs next turn would have really helped against these unnaturally tough indies.

Speaking of which, the North Pole Deeps is now visible guarded by - you guessed it - Sea Trolls & Krakens! At least I'll get some practice this turn, as I'm sending our hero Haon Door against the Troll/Kraken infested Cerulean Sea. This is a risky move, as these indies are always supported by Hydromancers and as a rule of thumb I never engage artillery without artillery. But Haon Door is a seasoned veteran, and with some "attack rear" scripting, I'm gambling my ichtycentaurs will be able to take out that Hydromancer before he water-strikes me off the field.


This at-risk decision is made for the sake of expansion speed, as I'm currently tied for last-place in the province count, despite our Prophet's most recent success in the Sea of Carassos. It was a cakewalk, and many of his retinue have picked up their first star of experience. Those troops will be tasked with taking the Sea of Woe this turn, where estimates of defender numbers have fallen to 40.

Rosanne, er, I mean Sade the Siren has reached Morn Woods and has made an unfortunate discovery: our southern neighbor is Atlantis. That sucks, R'lyeh is going to be quite tough when-and-if I finally meet him on the field. My only hope is to swiftly dispatch Atlantis, but his 32-kill Ancient Kraken (I assume) won't make it easy. The known world (note Agartha to the West):


I will consequently need to rethink my original research strategy...already. The Ancient Kraken is fearsome indeed, with 4 armor-piercing attacks, an AOE poison attack, 50% poison immunity, 50% cold immunity, fear, and probably Dom10=Awe+2. Not to mention a mountain of HPs in that Dom10 dominion. I'll need to hit him early, before good items or buffs can become available. I really can't expect to outright kill him with damage, not underwater. An artist's rendition:


I have a few options:
1) I can try to fatigue him to death with cold. Namely Numbness (Alt-2) or Ice Pebble Staffs (Const-2). This will be difficult, as he has base 50% cold resistance, and his troops can forge Frost Rings that he can wear. Viability - low.
2) I can try to fatigue him to death with Sleep (Thau-2). This unappreciated spell makes any SC completely useless, ramming his fatigue beyond 100, making most hits critical. It does, however, require a failed MR roll, and he'll have base 18mr. However, if I start recruiting Captricons now, I should have a few N4 casters at game time, which will give a +1 penetration bonus...basically a 10% chance of success per cast. However, he can wear a Amulet of Antimagic and be MR buffed by his troops, so this wouldn't work past the early game. Viability - moderate.
3) I can have him hold still. I'm of course talking about that unsung hero Tangle Vines (Conj-1), which all vets know can be devastating vs. SCs when wielded properly. This spell is AOE-1 (read: no chance to avoid) and costs the target his action for the next turn...but not before lowering his defense to zero (or is it cut in half?). Basically, it makes him a sitting duck for 1 round. With a half-dozen casters spamming it each round, it'll turn even the biggest, meanest guy around into a impotent, doomed statue. At N1, all my mages can cast it, preferably right after casting Eagle Eyes. And the AI will tend to target the big guys. As a bonus, diverting to Conj doesn't really change my original research strat too much, just changed the order a bit. Viability - high.

So my new research strategy is to hit Conj-1, then Alt-1, and hope to meet the Ancient Kraken unaccompanied in a single decisive battle. I'll also need to spit out a few Horns of Valor to counter his fear aura and Awe. Probably slap them on some Trident Lords, commanders of the useless Trident Knights.

[Noob-hint: Be flexible! Whatever paltry success I've had in MP can be solely attributed to being adaptable. Like Carl says, "No plan survives first contact with the enemy," so never hesitate to overhaul a long term strategy when when faced with new intelligence.]

One other interesting thing is Morn Woods has a Wolf Tribe. I like this, Wolf Tribe Shamen are remarkably more cost efficient researchers than my national troops. Really. Plus they get a 10% chance at D1, nice to get the Death gems flowing early. Lastly, Wolf Tribe Warriors pack quite a punch in a small package, with size 2 and 2 attacks...especially underwater where there are no arrows, only a big stinking squid in need of some dicing. Sade, take 'em down

[cleveland]

Chapter 5: Death of a Heroman

Turn files: Turn5.zip

A terrible day! Our hero Haon Door, brave champion of Oceania, has fallen. I knew sending just 10 ichtycentaurs against a sea troll province was a bad idea, but I got too greedy. The approach was successful, as 2 ichtycentaurs did in fact make it to the hydromancer commander, but the execution failed, as his 2 sea troll body guards were able to keep him from being slain:


Under a withering barrage of water strikes, we took heavy casualties. As last time, Haon Door held back until he could wait no more, and charged confidently into the fray:


But Haon was grievously wounded in the tail, suffering an aqua-limp. With 60% of his troops killed, Haon realized the situation was hopeless and sounded the general retreat, ordering the survivors to save themselves. Haon tried to escape, but the sea trolls quickly ran him down:
[Image censored. - Oceania Dept of Defense]

So my attempt at an early 2nd expansion party failed. Adding insult to injury is the fact that a Death Match has been announced, where Haon Door surely would have been crowned champion. We shall send his understudy, Gorenigrai the Ichtyid Lord, in his stead. Gorenigrai is a vibrant 23 year old with absolutely no combat experience. We, who are about to watch you die, salute you.

At least we were fortunate enough to receive a lucky event: 3 Astral gems were found on a starry night...at a depth of 3,000 feet. Logistics aside, these will come in handy against my quadra-tenticled foe, as once they're alchemized to a Death gem my Old Man can use it to Spirit Curse ol' Glug. A Curse will go a long way toward making and keeping him ineffective, even after he gets recalled from the dead (Curses stick forever).

Sade unfortunately failed again at the simple task of convincing a key enemy leader to swim out into the ocean to his death. Hmmmm, fortunately Valentines Day is right around the corner, so hopefully we can get a discount on a new - ahem - wardrobe for her.

At least our Monsieur le Comte de Maquereau was successful, capturing the Sea of Woe without a single casualty. His next task is to capture the North Pole Deeps, which like the Creulean Sea is crawling with Sea Trolls. It'll be a nice warm-up for his subsequent wheel south to exact vengeance upon the Hydromancer of the Cruelean Sea:


With the failure of Haon Door, our newest Mermage (W3N1) has no lands to hunt for Kelp Fortresses, so he's directed to finally begin the great research endeavors of Oceania. As mentioned in the previous chapter, the original research plan will be delayed until Conj-1 and Alt-1 are completed.

Cash is starting to get tight, as my army draws a lot of pay and I'm now behind on my provinces. I can only afford another Ichtyid Lord, a Mermage, and a half-dozen Ichtycentaurs.

On the intel front, Shinuyama is now visible south of Agartha. Tien Chi, Vanheim, and R'lyeh all failed to capture a single province last turn, a sign that the choice indys are starting to dry up (not that I had many). Brettonia now has a second non-prophet non-god in the HoF, so they can be expected to be a thug nation; but they've just declared a NAP-3 with R'lyeh (all diplomatic arrangements are made public, per the game's house rule) so it's safe to assume he's located far to the south.