MP: STACKERS, newbie game, (started)

[krpeters]

So, I've learned from this game what I already knew -- that if you don't expand rapidly and establish a dominating troop presence early in the game, you're done.

Ermor is officially toast, and since there is no AI option, I guess the next few turns are going to take a while for you all. Unless someone can suggest an entertaining way for me to die? There's no suicide option for my troops

Oh, wait, that's right, Bogus is still active, I can try to kill him, that should be fun.

[otic]

Since I had the privilege of observing (what I assume to be) Ermor's last stand in (118) I might be able to offer a little advice. Keep in mind that this is my first MP. Don't take any of this too seriously.

First of all, Ermor's national units were outnumbered by the enemy's national units. This is probably the result of economic imbalance or past defeats. The disparity in national units could probably have been remedied by stronger expansion.

However, the biggest factor in the battle was not a disparity in national units. I think that your enemy would have won with a force only half the size of yours. In my opinion, the most important lesson is that a powerful army is based on synergy between commanders, nationals, and summons, not on massed national units alone. The real killers were your enemy's commanders and/or summoned troops (or were they freespawn? I'm no expert on _____), which used magic and/or gear to deal severe damage while the national troops were little more than blockers.

Also, where were the undead? When I got the message "_____ has attacked Ermor in Inuptia" I really expected to see a huge number of longdead horsemen on the field. I was quite shocked to see principes instead.

Edit: After reviewing the province graph, I have to conclude that expansion had very little to do with the outcome of the war. Ermor was not very far behind his conqueror in province count until after the war was underway.

[krpeters]

Originally Posted by otic

First of all, Ermor's national units were outnumbered by the enemy's national units. This is probably the result of economic imbalance or past defeats. The disparity in national units could probably have been remedied by stronger expansion.

That actually was my smaller army. The larger army was attempting to engage his main force and missed. His main force combined with some lesser forces and stomped my smaller force. But with the loss of 1/3rd of my troops, along with the combination of another player deciding to join in, I'm toast.

My frustration is seeing how completely ineffectual the smaller force was against the larger... had I at least inflicted some casualties, I wouldn't have minded so much. I took a gamble, and lost badly. I could have played defensively, and only engaged when I was certain of numerical superiority... but that inevitably leads to me parking my army on my capital and waiting to be attacked. That's simply no fun.

[Greyjoy]

I also happened to have scouts watching the fight. I think the principes actually inflicted notably more casualties on their opposite numbers than vice versa, but that's not really what the infantry swarm was for - they were mostly there to just keep the principes pinned down while the mages spammed evocations.

And yeah, I too am puzzled by Ermor's troop composition. Puzzled, but not necessarily distraught.

Do remember that nether bolts have a good chance of feebleminding targets in the area. You may not be able to win, but you can certainly annoy one or both of the *ahem* perfidious invaders.