Noob's shot at an R'lyeh AAR

[CharonJr]

Turn 46

Forge of the Ancients was cast adding hugely to my forging program.

4 blood slaves were captured in Gol Phalas, another 5 in Kolermegor and 2 in Dunheim.

Acashic Record cast on Wicker Woods revealed 3 magic sites – Damned Merchant (+1 blood slave), The Inverted Tower (+4 air gems, can recruit Illusionists) and a Brigand Lair (increases unrest by 5, can recruit villain).

An ill omen was seen in Faran.

Ulm attacked in Giant’s Rest. Their forces consisted of 20 militias, 20 Infantry of Ulm and about 15 archers being lead by the Ulm pretender (Moloch), Terminus the Merc-Assassin and a Siege Engineer with 5 sappers. I forgot to move my mage with his 2 Ice Trolls and 1 Otherness to The Two Woods, that’s why he was there with the 21 PDs. My mage managed to paralyse the Moloch, but sadly my troops were not able to take advantage of this since they were outnumbered and defeated.

Glisas easily defeated the PDs in Witches Copse.

My troops met roughly 130 defenders in Monherboa – 40 crossbowmen, 30 light infantry, 20 Infantry of Ulm, 20 militias and 10 guardians being lead by 5 Siege Engineers, 4 Priests, 4 Commanders of Ulm, 1 Master Smith and 1 Lord Guardian. I was fielding 15 Illithid Soldiers, 7 Vine Ogres, 8 archer/crossbowmen, 5 knights and 7 fodder being led by 2 mages, 1 2H priest and 1 Illithid Lord. Except for the fodder I just lost 1 Vine Ogre and killed 88 troops and 6 commanders.

My armies in The Two Woods were met by 45 regular Ulmish troops (mainly 30 crossbowmen and 15 Infantry of Ulm) in addition to about 25PDs, while my forces numbered 80 troops (about 40 archers, 30 heavy Infantry and 10 knights being led by 2 mages and 2 priests. 1 enemy knight managed to break 25 of my archers (reminding me why I prefer summons in my armies). With the help of some Fanaticisms my heavy infantry and knights were able to break the Infantry of Ulm and the crossbowmen shortly after. In the end 36 troops and 3 commanders were killed while I lost 10 troopers.

My armies in Pythium faced just 4 Theurg Acolytes, 1 Hero, 1 Triarius and 1 Serpernt Lord. All but 1 Acolyte were enslaved

Atlansha summoned a Greater Otherness.

Pythium was destroyed.


Provinces: 63
Treasury: 2.743
Income: 3.188
Upkeep: 1.749
RP: 545
Fortification: 9
Temple: 16
Converted Provinces: 32

Conjuration – 9
Alteration – 8 (researching, will reach 9)
Evocation – 6
Construction – 8
Enchantment – 7
Thaumaturgy – 6 (researching,will reach 7)
Blood Magic – 7

Fire gems: 90 (+18)
Air: 39 (+15)
Water gems: 39 (+22)
Earth: 9 (+9)
Astral gems: 1 (+23/+18)
Death: 0 (+11)
Nature: 40 (+12)
Blood: 9 (+1)


Updated province information:

I am not sure about the name of Ulm’s capital, but would have expected Ulm. Maybe it is Nicia or Ulm got a fortress there for some reason, but I will siege it anyway.


My Provinces:

Due to the info about my provinces getting longer and longer I will skip this one, too.

Mainly I reduce taxes by 10% for each 5 points of unrest/raise them again when unrest is going down.


The Golden Adept is 3F, 2S (argh, now that I “wasted” the gems on empowering another mage) and will move him to Tiash, another one will be recruited.

I got a 1W, 4S, 1B mage who will move with 10 Illitihds to the northern front – recruiting 1 more.

The Lore Master turned out to be 2F, 1A, 1W who will research – recruiting 1 more.

3 More Vine Ogres will be summoned for 1 nature gem in Kolermegor.

Acashic Records will be cast for 25 astral gems on Cimri.

The Clam is given to a star child in C’tis, the Sanguine Rod the the newly empowered 2B mage who will move to Hoburgdorf and hunt there, the Flame Helmet is given to my 3(4)F mage, the Starshine Skullcap and Sceptre of Authority are given to a 2W, 1E, 3S mage who will move to Kolermegor to pick up the Vine Ogres there, the Cyclops exchanges the Earth Boots for Boots of Quickness and will move to Gol Ryepe.


The fodder army from Nifel will move with 25 militias to Gol Ryepe.

The 2 fodder armies from Pythium will move to Tirannea.

A mage led army and a mage will move from Pythium to Glanis while the remaining 2 mage led armies move to Iron Range.

The star spawn priest from Pythium will move to Temiglia.

2 mage led armies and the priest will move from Monherboa to Midland while the Illithid Lord and his Illithid Soldiers and the remaining mage will attack Forest of Idun. Both provinces are defended by roughly 20 troops from Ulm.

Both fodder armies from The Two Woods supported by 2 priests and one mage will try to take Nicia which is defended by 20 troops and PDs.

A commander without troops from The Two Woods moves to Glimmering Fields.

The remaining mage led army from The Two Woods will attack Banded Hills which is defended by PDs and 1 sapper.

Glisas attacks Lupia from Witches Copse and will met about 20 militias/archers in addition to PDs.


A temple will be build in Pythium and the 8 recruited mages will move to empty provinces to build temples there.

The PDs in Gol Ryepe are increased to 21 while the PDs in Glimmering Fields and Bolfagon are raised by 10 to 31.


4 Clams of Pearls will be forged for 16 water gems in addition to an Armor of Souls (+1B) for 16 blood slaves, a Skull of Fire (+1F) for 1 fire and 1 death gem, a Trident from Beyond (+1W) for 8 water and 4 astral gems, a Sceptre of Authority for 5 fire gems and 2 Starshine Skullcaps (+1S) for 8 astral gems.

10 astral gems were converted to death gems and Well of Misery will be cast for 83 death gems.

23 Illithids will be recruited in R’lyeh in addition to 1 Hybrid Commander in Glimmering Fields to pick up some routed troops.


To be continued...

CharonJr

Map: http://homes.highspeed3.de/CharonJr/R'lyehAART46.JPG


BTW, I updated to 2.08 on this turn.

[Arryn]

Originally posted by CharonJr:
My troops met roughly 130 defenders in Monherboa – 40 crossbowmen, 30 light infantry, 20 Infantry of Ulm, 20 militias and 10 guardians being lead by 5 Siege Engineers, 4 Priests, 4 Commanders of Ulm, 1 Master Smith and 1 Lord Guardian. I was fielding 15 Illithid Soldiers, 7 Vine Ogres, 8 archer/crossbowmen, 5 knights and 7 fodder being led by 2 mages, 1 2H priest and 1 Illithid Lord. Except for the fodder I just lost 1 Vine Ogre and killed 88 troops and 6 commanders.

An impressive achievement to kill so many with such a small force. Your mages must have played an important role ...

[CharonJr]

Turn 45


8 blood slaves were captured in Gol Phalas, another 5 in Kolermegor.

3 Vine Ogres were summoned in Kolermegor.

Acashic Record cast on Great Aran Waste revealed 3 magic sites – Mineral Cave (+1 earth gem), Mercury Pond (+2 water gem) and a Unholy Temple (+1 death gem).

A witch cursed some of my troops for taking her gems in Jerib.

A group of religios zealots (militias) showed up in Nifel to join my forces.

Ulm attacked in Giant’s Rest again, with about 190 troops this time – about 80 militias, 30 Infantry of Ulm, 20 heavy infantry, 20 archers, 20 sappers, 10 Black Plate Infantry and about 5 Black Knights lead by 2 Black Lords, 1 Siege Engineer and a Lord Guardian. My army fielded 21 PDs with their commanders in addition to 15 fodder, 3 summons and 3 Ice Trolls lead by a starspawn mage and supported by a 2H priest. My PDs were decimated by the archers but kept pressing on and were able to break the leading militias. My mages Astral Fires riped decent holes into the advancing enemies. Due to the huge losses the Pythium forces routed after about 10 more turns despite my forces just having 1 Otherness and 2 Ice Trolls left in addition to 5 fodder.

The 22 indie barbarian defenders were easily defeated, but as expected Man attacked. But since the attack was just lead by 20 spearman, 10 archers and 10 militas it was easily repelled.

The entrance to Pythium has been breached.


Provinces: 63
Treasury: 2.743
Income: 3.101
Upkeep: 1.609
RP: 503
Fortification: 8
Temple: 17
Converted Provinces: 30

Conjuration – 9
Alteration – 8 (researching, will reach 9)
Evocation – 6
Construction – 8
Enchantment – 7
Thaumaturgy – 6
Blood Magic – 7

Fire gems: 80 (+16)
Air: 18 (+10)
Water gems: 58 (+19)
Earth: 62 (+8)
Astral gems: 21 (+18/+17)
Death: 56 (+11)
Nature: 33 (+12)
Blood: 36


Updated province information:

Since I seems to be unable to bleed the Ulmish forces dry (too many are able to escape) I will attack this turn. Witches Copse is virtually undefended while The Two Woods and Monherboa are defended by about 100 troops each in addition to heavy PDs. Ulm’s Moloch defender is in The Two Woods.


My Provinces:

Due to the info about my provinces getting longer and longer I will skip this one, too.

Mainly I reduce taxes by 10% for each 5 points of unrest/raise them again when unrest is going down.


The Golden Adept is 2F, 1A, 2S and will be set to research, another one will be recruited.

I got a 1W, 1E, 3S, 1N mage who will research – recruiting 1 more.

The Lore Master turned out to be 2W, 1E, 1N who will research – recruiting 1 more.

3 More Vine Ogres will be summoned for 1 nature gem in Kolermegor.

Acashic Records will be cast for 25 astral gems on Wicker Woods.

The Clam is given to a star child in C’tis, the Treelords Staff is given to my 2(3)N mage in Tiash, the Amulet of Antimagic, Spirit Helmet and Ring of the Warrior are given the the Cyclops and the Ruby Eye to my 3F mage.

A 1B mage will be empowered to 2B for 30 blood slaves in order to get another bloodhunter.


The fortress in Pythium will be stormed by the 5 armies with the support of 2 priests and 1 additional mage.

Glisas will attack the lightly defended province of Witch Copse.

My 3 fodder armies and 1 mage led army will attack The Two Woods with the support of 1 mage, 1 priest and the prophet from Glimmering Fields.

My 5 armies from Giant’s Rest and Bolfagon will attack Monherboa.

A commander from Abysia will move to pick up the militias in Nifel and a new one will be recruited.


A Clam of Pearls will be forged for 8 water gems in addition to a Flame Helmet for 16 fire gems, a Sanguine Rod for 4 blood gems, Winged Shoes for 4 air gems, a Sceptre of Authority for 5 fire gems and a Starshine Skullcap for 8 astral gems.

A Tarrasque will be summoned this turn for 25 nature gems in addition to casting a Forge of the Ancients for 86 earth gems by transforming all astral gems into earth gems.

23 Illithids will be recruited in R’lyeh in addition to 8 priests to build temples in the conquered provinces.


To be continued...

CharonJr

Map: http://homes.highspeed3.de/CharonJr/R'lyehAART45.JPG

[CharonJr]

Arryn,

you are right, I should have been a bit more elaborate about this one.

Mainly it was the usual mix which which tends to lead to success for my forces:

Some enemies are enslaved - leading to fighting among themselves - while my mindbLasters do their job of stuning/killing more troops to great effect due to the additional time they get due to the infighting.

The Vine Ogres took the brunt of the infantry attack - giving my bLasters even more time to do their work - breaking the infantry fairly fast (thus sustaining only light casualties, except for the fodder which did their job of being fodder ).

In addition the knights were put on hold/attack archers (my standard setup for them) and tore through the ranks of the crossbowmen and commanders later on.

The crossbowmen were fairly inefficient due to the decent protection of my troops and the long range (they were trying to take out the Illithid Soldiers mainly).

Overall I would say that my mages played actually a fairly minor role (except for the VERY important enslaves). The major number of the kills were caused due to the stuned enemy troops who were just standing there waiting to be killed after their other forces routed. I seem to recall that about 40 were killed after the battle was won.

But my mages surely could have played a larger role if I assigned gems to them. Due to no gems they are limited to 4S and tend to mainly cast protection spells on themself after the scripted spells are cast.

CharonJr

[Norfleet]

Hmm. I wouldn't say that those enslaves played a "minor" part in the battle. I'd say they were rather crucial in buying you more firing time. Don't discount the small stuff: I've seen battles go totally pear-shaped because of a single "minor" event such as a single militiaman getting Enslaved, a battle which would otherwise have ended in their favor....but for that event.

[CharonJr]

Yup, that's why I said "except the VERY important enslaves", but after casting the scripted spells they became virtually useless

CharonJr

[CharonJr]

Hmm, having them use the mindbLasts would be a possibility, but sometimes (even fairly often) they decide to use decent spells (Soul Slay and Paralyse mainly after buffing themselves), but this time they kept on casting buffs for some reason.

Now that I think about it this might have been due to them standing right in the middle of the Illithid Soldiers, thus having enough targets for their buffs with a range of 1.

Next time I will try to position them away from other troops, this might "force" them to use more useful battle spells.

This will leave them more vulnerable to attacks, but I will surely try to see if it helps. If it helps I can decide on a case by case basis if I am willing to risk my mages for more offensive output.

CharonJr

[Wendigo]

The Starspawn are among the best mages in the game, do not missuse them with mindbLast orders. Give them a chance to prove themselves with the right research & they will not let you down.

What is more, missile troops & commanders that run out of ammo default to attack orders...in a long battle your mages would end up charging into melee after exahusting their mindbLasts: paralyze a SC, only to purposefully suicide vs his fire/cold aura!

[CharonJr]

Originally posted by Wendigo:
The Starspawn are among the best mages in the game, do not missuse them with mindbLast orders. Give them a chance to prove themselves with the right research & they will not let you down.

What is more, missile troops & commanders that run out of ammo default to attack orders...in a long battle your mages would end up charging into melee after exahusting their mindbLasts: paralyze a SC, only to purposefully suicide vs his fire/cold aura!

Since I already suspect that they behaved this way due to me placing them right with the Illithid Soldiers there is no real danger of me wasting them

As have been said in other threads I tend to believe that about 80% of the stupid spells cast by the AI are due to "user errors" and not knowing what factors into the AIs decision about what spells to cast.

Here it seems like protecting the Illithid Soldiers got priority over offensive spells. Due to the range/precision of the crossbowmen and the decent protection of the Illithid Soldiers this wasn't a good decision in this case but it could have been a VERY good decision under different circumstances.

CharonJr

[CharonJr]

Just a quick question here:

Due to the reluctance of the AIs declaring war, the numbers of enemy troops I can see and the remaining provinces I am fairly sure that R'lyeh is at least as strong as the other remaining nations combined.

Sadly the AIs haven't ganged up on me like I have been expecting for the Last turns.

This has got me thinking about attacking Man and Altantis in order to force them into a war with me before I can further strengthen my position.

What do you think about this ?

CharonJr