1 player AAR - Machaka

[Tom_Scudder]

(I just remembered that I'd taken a screen shot after Turn 11, which I'll attach to this one if I can figure out how.)

Turn 12

No messages. Whew.

A smallish legion (more of a squadron, really) of the undead has been summoned, big enough that I need 2 of my death mages to ferry them to the front, along with the giant spiders. Kimya searches for magic sites as long as he's there, and Mjima the Tax Accountant of the Gods continues his long march to the front. The entire army should be assembled next month.

Meanwhile, scouts are reporting that Pythium has five provinces, and none of them border any other empire besides mine. This is disturbing. I would feel much better if they had another border to worry about. Pythium is also massing troops directly south of my border, but they might well be trying for the independent province just west of them. Another scout moving into position next turn should be able to give me a sense of how big Ulm is (and thus, how big a threat).

I recruit a Voice of the Lord and an independent priest, although at the last minute I realize that my previous calculations were off: If I'm going to invade next turn, I will need to have my level 4 Priest along, blessing my troops and giving them courage. If half my troops end up routing, leaving the other half to be fed to my esteemed opponent, it won't much matter if I get my god back in 4 turns rather than 5. The old math, starting this turn, went 7 + 14 + 19 = 40. The new math for continuing to recruit on the same plan, assuming Most Holy doesn't get killed in the attack, and that he can distribute his troops to some other commander for the siege, goes: 7 + 10 + 19. If I leave out the independent priests, I get 7 + 8 + 15 which still gets me my god back by turn 16. If I leave out the independents and the second votl, it goes 7 + 8 + 12 + 12 which doesn't quite cut it. If Most Holy gets killed or is otherwise unavailable, we get 7 + 8 + 11 + 14, which is exactly 40, with the voice of the lord plan. But. It occurs to me that having a bunch of independent priests casting banishment might be really handy when it comes to sieging a death mage. And that Ulm seems to have pretty piss-poor dominion, which would indicate that I might just be able to preach them out. So, after all that, we'll stick with plan A.

I also recruit two more hunters, alchemizing two more earth gems to do it. Shujaa can bring them up next turn.

In the meantime, I'm feeling pretty stupid about having kept my research in construction last turn. I have a pretty sad assortment of spells for my mages right now, and could use alteration 1 (barkskin), 2 (stoneskin) and thaumaturgy 1 (dust to dust). I can get alt 1 and thaum 1 this turn, and put 9 points toward alt 2, which I can get in time for the assault, if not in time to script spells for it. So that's set. I'm not going to talk about taxes again unless it's funny, but you can assume that I'm doing the little geeky alterations, basically dropping tax for provinces with unrest of 10 or more and then raising it back to 100 when unrest drops to single digits.

Provinces 7
Income 545 Upkeep 152
Research 49 (29 Alteration, 20 Thaumaturgy, both will be level 1 next turn) also Evo 1, Const 3, Ench 1.
Gems: F 6 (+1) A 3 (+1) E 6 (+4) D 1 (+1) N 5 (+5)
God calling: 7/40

End turn. Host.

Turn 13.

Kimya found another magic site - so far, he's 4 for 4. I sure hope he doesn't get killed in the battle. It's another Earth Blood Seepage, which puts me up to 6 a month Earth income. Me likes. I get my level 1 in thaum and level 1 in alt, so I'm a happy camper. In the meantime, Ulm seems to have pulled almost all of its troops out of the capital. But I'm sure they'll be moving them right back in next turn. Pythium keeps shifting its stupid army back and forth on my border. On the plus side, they've made contact with Abyssia on their south, so I'm no longer the only front they have to worry about.

The various bits of my army have now all converged on Gula Kusten. It consists of:

20 Manikins
10 assorted Longdead
17 Machaka Hoplites
8 Black Hunters plus 1 Spider
8 Machaka Archers plus 1 independent (nearly identical, except the independent is wearing a bit of armor)
2 sorceresses (F E D)
1 witch doctor (E D N)
1 black sorcerer (2F 2E D N)
plus 1 level 4 priest (and prophet) and 2 level 2 priests.

Heck with it, I'm going in (with my prophet). I ditch 1 hoplite who has battle fright, but decide to keep the one spider who does also. Ulm province defense of 25 means lots of crossbows, so I need to get my spiders on them right quick. I put the hoplites front and center with their big arrow-absorbing shields, set to "hold and attack" and set the spiders back a bit and to their left with "attack archer" orders. The undead are stationed on the hoplite's right with "attack nearest" orders. The archers are back a bit with "shoot large monsters" (just in case the behemoth I've seen puts in an appearance - if so, I think I remember that they don't have much defense, just a whole lot of hit points. I refuse to consult references on this.) I'm leaving one unscripted "cast spell" as the first spell slot and hoping my wizards take the clue and use it to cast stoneskin, and not fire shield. Then it's bombs away with the fire darts. I'm half tempted to leave them completely unscripted so they can cast dust to dust if the behemoth comes to play. But I don't

Okay, there's the plan. Now let's see you do it.
In other news, I shuttle 2 hunters to the front with Shujaa, recruit a voice of the lord, an independent priest, and 2 more hunters, and tell my scouts to do scouty things.

Total income: 536 Upkeep 165
Research: Alteration 31 (31 for level 2), Evocation 18 (33 for level 2) also const 3, ench 1, thaum 1.
Gems: F 7 (+1) A 4 (+1) E 11 (+6) D 2 (+1) N 10 (+5)
God Calling: 17/40

End Turn. Host.

[shovah]

any chance of battle screenshots?

[Tom_Scudder]

Well, since you asked nicely, here's the key battle from turn 11 - there won't be any more because I didn't save any of the later turns (except maybe from turn 20-something when I declared victory).

They are (in order): early on in the fight, with Cirin still sitting behind the lines and both forces in motion (5 spiders vs. 1 knight, I like those odds); Cirin springs into action vs. the siege engineer (poor lad, only doing his job); and the dolorous stroke itself, in all its pixellated glory (I flatter myself to think that my prose was EVEN MORE evocative of the moment).

Hm. Guess I'll put them in 3 posts since it doesn't seem to want to let me attach multiple files to one post.

[Tom_Scudder]

Right. So. 2/3: Cirin vs. the Siege Engineer

[Tom_Scudder]

And, finally: In a scene as old as pixellated time, pixellated knight takes on pixellated dragon.

[Tom_Scudder]

Turn 14

Victory!

Well, in the initial fight, anyway. The plan worked out pretty well. It was just the province defense, which meant 5 infantry, 20 crossbows, and a commander and a priest (which last I'd forgotten about. The infantry did their job of soaking up crossbow fire, although the undead took a bit of a hit, particularly the longdeads, and somehow or other I ended up losing another two hunters, although their spiders are doing just fine, thanks. One infantry died, and they ended up routing, but not before the PD was pretty much history.

Ulm (actually, on this map it's "Helshov", and Machaka is "Viddlanden") has only one black candle - I think I can probably preach them out once Cirin gets home, if they don't manage to break the siege first. I set my prophet to preach, instead of call god, since I have enough excess capacity to get Cirin back in two turns anyway. I also have enough excess capacity to be able to use my Tax Man of the Lord to shuttle back in the routed infantry along with a couple spare Hunters who arrived last turn. That puts me to 10 total spiders, which is nice. I reorganize my army setup on the theory that future battles will be fought against lots of infantry and practically no bows, since Ulm somehow arms its province defense with nifty crossbows but doesn't think it's a fitting weapon for a mobile soldier. Or something.

My scout reports zero Ulmish troops in the immediate vicinity. They all must be inside. In the meantime, Pythium has a 100+ strong force sitting on my border, and nobody on their Abysian border. Don't they understand how dangerous those smoky firey guys are? I hire a mercenary, Gynter Blukraft's Sonnenkinder, to my capital to give me some kind of reserve, and so that Ulm doesn't get them - I bid their asking price plus 5, which has yet to not win me a mercenary against a computer opponent. I also forego new Spiders to pick up a Black Sorcerer, and edge my province defense in Midkrona (bordering Pythium) up to 12, which is pretty pathetic, but I don't feel like looting my gem supplies again when he might just be going after independents.

Provinces: 7.5
Income 571 Upkeep 168
Research: Evo 37 (15 to level 2), Construction 12 (12 to level 4). Also Alt 2 Ench 1 Thaum 1
Gems: F 8 (+1) A 5 (+1) E 17 (+6) D 3 (+1) N 15 (+5).
Call 30/40

End Turn. Host.

Turn 15

There was a battle in Helshov (Ulm).
They killed all but 1 of my undead (a single Manikin), all but 3 of my Hunters (but I still have a bunch of unsaddled spiders) 5 of my hoplites and a couple of my archers who ran out of arrows and decided to be helpful.

The Behemoth did indeed come out to play, but it was too small to stomp on my spiders, so it wasn't as grim as I had feared. Also as expected, the Ulmites brought no archers to the game, and had to walk all the way across the field through a peppering of fire darts. Then it was a pure infantry shield-wall-to-shield-wall struggle, and my guys managed to pull through. In the meantime, the vamp queen (paths W6 E7 D9 B2, lots of gems, no other magic stuff) was spending all her time casting raise dead (the one that brings back half a dozen or so at once) and sending them up to the line, and my priests kept banishing them. I think I lost at least as many of my undead to friendly fire as anything else. Anyway, ultimately the Machakan forces prevailed in the infantry clash, cleared the field of skeletons, and hopefully left the immortal vamp queen with a nice battle affliction to nurse while she sits on the inside.

In the meantime, Pythium apparently did concentrate its troops to attack independents. Now I worry that they might go after the longbowmen and knights that I've designated for MY sphere of influence next. But I can't worry about that just now. Gynter Blukraft shows up at my capital (I now wish I'd hired him to Ulm - oh well) and will head down to the Pythian border to show the flag (or the big shaded X, in this case). My new Black Sorcerer shows up - it's Muyaka, known to his friends (and us) as "Nature Boy" Muyaka for the third-path Nature magic at his command. This gives me visions of Gift of Health and other fun 5-nature magicks down the road. We'll see.

There's a troop of 20 more Infantry of Ulm, but I'm not worried. The Armored Fist of God is up for hire, so I hire him, more to keep him away from Ulm than anything else. I hire a new commander in Gula Kursten just on the off chance some of my sodiers rout there again, and then I'm stuck with a choice: more spiders, or more magic? With 160 gold left, I could hire a spider and a few indy archers up at Gula Kusten. Or I could get a sage and a witch doctor. I opt for the magicians, since I need someone to start forging bags o' wine, and would rather have a low-research peon take care of it. I also put one of my sages to making a crash helmet for the new dragon. He *****es about manual labor being a waste of his talents, but needs must.

I make my first bag o' wine, since I'm a bit worried about supplies what with the mercenary force showing up at the siege. I figure the dragon can fly it in with him.

Provinces 7.5
Income 588, Upkeep 157
Research: 42 Evocation (Evo 3 needs 38. Yay! Magma bolts! - I erase most of my sorceresses' and sorcerer's scripted spells, hoping that they know a good thing when one is handed to them.)
Gems: F 9 (+1) A 6 (+1) E 18 (+6) D 4 (+1) N 15 (+5).
Call: 41/40. Yay!

End Turn. Host

[Tom_Scudder]

Turn 16

Just as the people celebrate the unlooked-for return of their God from what seemed like his death, tragedy again strikes the Cirinist faith. In a battle at the Ulmish stronghold, a vampire swoops down upon the Most Holy Prophet of Cirin and claims his life. The beast is promptly annihilated by the combined fire of the nearby mages, but the damage has been done: Cirin has lost his prophet, just as he made his triumphant return.

Taking possession of a few keepsakes made for him by his followers (a black steel helmet ("for that last blow, the one where he conked you on the head, not the one with the lance") and an endless bag of wine, whose endlessness Cirin certainly put to the test), and bearing a scabbed-over wound that would never quite heal, the dragon flew out to inspect the siege.

"So a vampire has tasted dragon blood. I mean to enjoy the taste of broiled vampire."

Ofagion the commander collects up the expected straggler from the previous fight (just one hoplite this time), along with a couple spiders shuttled in by poor old Shujaa. He is replaced at his post by the three Voices of the Lord (Kamau, Abasi, and Mkufuzi), who had been trained to perform the ceremonies that led to Cirin's return, and now found themselves in a competition to see who could take the Prophet's mantle.

In the meantime, Giuseppe Del Migo, the inquisitor, was pleased to find himself hunting vampires. "No filth more unclean," he said, "not even among the tribals."

Recruiting: 1 sage, 1 scout, 1 black sorcerer, 1 black hunter.

No mercenaries this turn (thank God).

Pythium has dispersed his (still alarmingly large) armies. Scouts are moving into position to find out a bit more about Abysia and the other still unaccounted-for Pretenders.

Troops moved to the front of the field so as to give the Vamp Queen a bit less time to summon her undead minions.

Provinces: 7.5 (I need to start conquering the remaining bits of Ulm soon. Maybe another mercenary will turn up.)
Income 595 Upkeep 161
Research: Evocation 56 (96 needed for level 4) (with a pair of Earth Boots, Kinya could cast Blade Wind. That is all.) Also, Alt 2, Con 4, Ench 1, Thaum 1.
Gems: F 10 (+1) A 7 (+1) E 24 (+6) D 1 (+1) N 5 (+5). I forgot to mention that a necromancer stole all my death stones. Jerk.

End turn. Host.

Turn 17

Once again, the vampire sorceress attempts to retake her castle. This time, she finds the fresh mercenaries of Giuseppe Del Migo and a very alive, and very angry, dragon to contend with. Cirin flies across the battlefield hunting down vampires, very happily munching down the vampire who had murdered his prophet before becoming bogged down in a seemingly-endless stream of the undead called up by the Queen. His forces eventually came to his relief, and the Queen, sensing that her dominion had passed and that she might not revive if she stayed to the bitter end, fled the scene.

Scouts, in the meantime, report that Ulm controls only two more provinces beyond its capital, and that beyond those provinces lies the Jotun capital. Jotunheim and Abyssia appear to share the bulk of the southern portion of the continent. But where is Tien Chi? The mysterious Easterners have yet to put in an appearance.

It turns out I recruited a regular sorcerer instead of a black one last turn. Oops. Still, Kitunzi shows promise as a site searcher (1F 1W 1D 2N) so I'll send him to the one unsearched province I control. No Earth searching, but I do not anticipate a shortage of earth gems being a concern.

Shujaa ferries a Hunter along with a ring of regeneration and a bag of wine to the staging point at Gula Kusten. Two of the three Voices of the Lord step in to assist at the siege. The third awaits Shujaa's arrival.

Vatteskog U now boasts one faculty in each of the main specialties of Magic except for Blood (as is only right), and has two faculty each devoted to Hydromancy and Astral magic.

Pythium continues to shuffle its troops about according to no clear plan.

I rehire Gynter Blukroft (who has probably never seen such soft service) and train a sage and a black sorcerer (this time for sure). Fordo Boggit is up for hire, but I blanch at the 220 gold he demands. If Ulm wants to pay him, so be it. At last sighting, the Queen was leading an elite band of slingers, so I doubt myself if she has the financial resources to pay mercenaries.

But I could be wrong.

Provinces: 7.5
Income 612, Upkeep 185
Research: 40 Evocation (40 needed for level 4), 33 Construction (160 needed for level 5). Planning on shooting for enchantment 5 and construction 6, not necessarily in that order, so that I can get Gift of Health running. Construction 5 and a pair of Earth Boots gives Kinya a chance to build some fun wind-up toys.
Gems: Fire 11 (+1), Air 8 (+1), Earth 30 (+6), Death 2 (+1), Nature 10 (+5).

[PashaDawg]

Excellent AAR!

[shovah]

yea, we need more aars here

[Tom_Scudder]

Turn 18. The Vampire Queen returns, but now instead of a vast host, she is at the head of a pathetic band of slingers, with one infantry and one pikeman still at her call. This time, Cirin is able to pounce upon her before she has started summoning her undead minions, and happily ignores them as he finally takes his revenge.

A pathetic message arrives from the scattered remnants of Ulm's queendom: "You killed our God! This war will not end until everyone of your people are dead!" Or vice versa.

The gates to the castle now lie open. I'm going to go in in force, just to be safe, but do not expect to be opposed. And then, Ulm's remaining territories lie open for quick conquest. I will rehire Giuseppe for that purpose, and then perhaps turn his hand at suppressing the Amazons in the mountain provinces.

Meanwhile, scouts report finally seeing evidence of Tien Chi. And how. They report a battle between Tien Chi and Abysia, with Tien Chi bringing an impressive array of archers, infantry and cavalry to bear against Abysia's local overmatched local militia. It seems Tien Chi may be the true power in the South. Abysia's capital is yet unconquered and unbesieged, but its only other known province is now cut off by the Tien Chi invaders.

Giuseppe Del Migo's contract is up next month, so we rehire him to finish the job he's started in Ulm. Meanwhile, another Black Sorcerer and four more Hoplites are recruited at the capital. Shujaa arrives at Gula Kusten bearing magical supplies and reinforcements, only to be told that he's too late. Ofagion takes pity on the confused veteran, and tells him to bear the magical gifts he holds on to his God while Ofagion leads the Black Hunter home. Cirin's many priests start to disperse to begin the vigorous temple-building project the God drew up during his convalescence. "Fire-eating" Mshabatha is the latest addition to the God's growing ranks of magicians. He spends his first days in the city's lab, forging some earth boots for his old colleague Kimya, while an order is put in to VU's Department of Earth Science for a set of Bracers of Defense.

Income 628, Upkeep 206.
Research 74 Construction (127 left for level 5), also Alt 2, Evo 4, Ench 1, Thaum 1.
Gems: F 12 (+1), A 9 (+1), E 21 (+6), D 3 (+1), N 15 (+5).

This is threatening to become tedious, so I'm not going to report on the next few turns if all goes as expected. I hope to mop up Ulm's remaining provinces, then take out the longbowmen and knights on the last day of Gynter's contract, and then do a bit more mopping up of independents whilst rebuilding my armies and perhaps engaging in a spot of temple-building. Thus far, I've had no problems with hostile dominions, so I may not even bother with that last.

Anyway, if Pythium or Jotunheim go to war, I'll consider that worthy of comment.

Turn 26: Okay, so Pythium declared war, and their initial attack was shredded. I have labs at the three choke points with nice buff casters at each lab, and more spiders than I know what to do with. I'm far ahead in the graphs in provinces, income, research, and gem income, and the only reason I'm not way ahead in army size is I haven't been bothering to cast my summon spells. I also have the top 9 spots in the hall of fame. There are only three territories through which I could be attacked, plus an independent so buff I doubt anyone but me could take her out, and even I would probably lose too much for it to be worth it. The other players might be able to harass me with imprint souls or ghost riders or whatever (assuming they had the research for them), but that's about it.

If I successfully conquer Pythium, I won't be overexposing myself, either, because swallowing up all their territories still only leaves me with a grand total of three points of exposure to enemy territory. In the meantime, everyone else is squeezed into one corner of the map, and Tien Chi and Abysia would have to go through either Pythium or Jotunheim just to get to me.

I'm declaring this game won, because I don't feel like actually fighting a war against an opponent I feel sorry for. Maybe I'll save it for some time when I get jumped by 3 computer players simultaneously or something.

I think the 9-strength independents worked in my favor, as once I'd accumulated the firepower needed to take out the moderately tough ones, I was able to sweep through a large number of them, while the computer player doesn't seem to have been able to crack that puzzle.

Bonus Grafix: This one is a final map of my territory. I'll also include a world map in the next post.