Neo Xekinima - LA game of Mod nations (finished)

[Tuidjy]

We have seldom seen such twisting of the truth! But what can one expect from
those who live on the life force and suffering of others?

Yes, our knights did execute some villagers. But executions were far from
random. When our forces entered the provinces in question, they were aghast at
the rioting and destruction. Corpses were littering the landscape, the unrest
had reached levels that made any production impossible, and there were no
supplies to be had for any price. The history of the Civil War is part of the
education of every commander of Ulm. We have never engaged in pillaging
ourselves, but we recognize the signs!

And in the middle of this vampire-made Hell, some rather peculiar villagers were
strutting around, helping Sanguine Reeves prey on the innocent. These
vampire collaborators were in the best of moods, cheerful and confident despite
the desolation around them.

Even if we had wanted to let these immoral wretches live, they did not give us
the chance. They threw themselves under our warhorses' hooves, and died.
We guess they feared the justice of their former neighbors, whom they had
betrayed to the vampires of Sanguinia.

We are happy to report that after just one month under our rule, the rioting has
greatly diminished, no one is starving, and the grateful population has taken
Lady Elena into their hearts. They have noticed the undead horde moving north,
and are joining the local militia. Your soulless minions and cowardly harpies
will be given a chance to appreciate the difference between the enthralled,
ragged scum that was policing the lands under your rule, and the well-trained,
well-equipped militia, who defends it now.

[Tuidjy]

I'm definitely up for a second game. This time I would like to play someone
evil. I have never tried blood magic, but it may be time... Can I place
a tentative claim on Sanguinia?

By the way, I think that it would be a very good idea to make a couple of
nation specific pretenders. Nothing overpowering, just flavour.

For example, for Ulm Reborn, I would like to see the first person who felt the
Aufklarung as a choice. Just copy the Enchantress or another existing human, and
give him/her an Ulmian steed. Skill in astral/earth, an appropriate description,
cost to reflect the path and steed, et voila!

For Sanguinia, we need a master vampire, that is, the Sanguini kind. Non-flying,
non-stealthy, some armour, maybe a horse. If you want to model him after a
blood drake (I love the picture) you can even give him the name of a former Ulm
hero, and tell about his fall and subsequent flight from the Aufclarung.

Something I would like to suggest for the dwarves, now they are out of the
game, is a real crossbow. Repeater crossbows have their place, but the
whole war, I knew that I outranged them enough to fire at them with impunity,
and I think that after a battle or two, the stunties would have figured the
problem themselves. Give them them option to field pavise crossbowmen.
Arbalest, tower shield, one shot per three turns, to account for hiding
to rewind the mechanism. High parry, high penalty to defense, to make it
useless for hand to hand combat. Of course, the author may think that this
is not in character for the pirates.

Anyway. I know it is too early to discuss balance, but I wanted to help the
second game.

[Sombre]

Unfortunately the author of Kharam Dzu has gone and vanished. Just so you know.

[Tuidjy]

With heavy hearts, we notify the nations of the light that the future looks dark.
A nightmare that we believed long gone has returned to our world. The Civil War
rages again. A Heretical sect of the Black Templars flew Ulm during the
Aufklarung. We believed them destroyed. Unfortunately, they have found refuge
at the court of Sangvinia's vampires, and flourished.

This month five squads, a devil's dozen each, rode against one of our provinces.
It shames us to say, there is nothing we can throw in their path. These beasts,
have surrendered their human nature to become a mix of demon and vampire. Their
wounds close by themselves, they suck the life from their opponents, their armour
is uncomprehensible, better than anything even great mages can craft. Due to
their unnatural equipment and their inhuman abilities, they are able to kill even
our heaviest sacred infantry in one swing, and defend even against the most
skilled attacks with ease. They do not tire, and no mundane means can even slow
them down.

We cannot field enough mages or priests to stop a horde of that magnitude.
Furthermore, if nearly seventy of them could be fielded against us, many more are
being trained every month. Ulm is doomed. The ghost of the Civil War has caught
up with us. For the sake of the light, start preparing to fight to this menace.
It will be at least an year before the Vampires infest our numerous castles. We
hope the time we will buy will allow you to prepare. It is too late for us.

[lch]

The thread for the second mod nations game has been created, see you there. I already added Sombre, Tuidjy and Jazzepi to the list because they expressed their interest in playing.

[LoloMo]

The superstitious wailers in Ulm must have been dreaming again. There has been no pitched battle between Ulm and Sanguinia. There has been a retaking of one of the three villages previously unceremoniously and sneakily acquired from us by Ulm. The dozen or so troops encountered certainly can not be considered by any stretch of the imagination as sacred or elite.

But perhaps Ulm has seen their future in their dreams. If so, then we advise them to leave these lands and seek the comfort of their mothers in their own lands.

Protestations of weakness while you break Khazad Dumms back with thousands of cowardly crossbowmen and steel encased riders have been witnessed before, and you will not be believed this time.

[Jazzepi]

Guys, I have to confess I've lost all interest in this game. I *REALLY* hate this map, the layout made it impossible to defend the eastern side of my empire. Also, New Jomon is [censored] useless against archers. Not a single shield, and their calvary is morale 9. Twice I've seen them get to the archers, and THEN route. No access to air magic for arrow fend. I also built a crappy multipath pretender who is still sleeping, in retrospect I should have taken worse scales to get him to awake.

I'd be happy to set myself to AI. Or try to look for a sub, I guess. I just staled my last turn because of my complete antipathy towards playing in this game. A lot of different factors all adding up together. The awful map layout. The positioning of the races. The fact that I got stuck dead in the middle of a non wrap around map, with a kingdom *full* of mountains and forests turning the mapmove 3 armies I have into worsethenUlm garbage, and my placement next to Sylvania. I wished that Sombre would have just taken my stupid NAP instead of saying "Oh we have bigger prey" so that I could have rushed Sylvania when I had the chance before they got this ungodly horde of crappily blessed guys + archers.

Oh well, my bad.

Jazzepi

[LoloMo]

haha, don't give up yet! Or the Evil Do Gooders will Triumph!

Sanguinia is in an even worse position. Our lands are devoid of life, income, or gems. We have to scratch a living from barren sands. Our Great Pretender Wyrm got killed on turn 1. It was only after turn 10 or so that I learned that I have to do blood sacrifice to spread my dominion hahahaha. But we will extract every bit of pain from the Evil Twin Do Gooders the Wretched Ulms and the Doity Elves!!!

[Sombre]

Pure OOC:

Sub or AI is up to you, try to let us know either way.

I agree the map has problems, but like I said before, other people have suffered plenty from it. I for example have largely low province pops with either mountain, forest or both on them. They didn't even yield that many gemsites.

I'm also playing with the handicap of Bandarlover's production/turmoil scales, which are absolutely not what Vaettiheim, a nation with basically no resource overheads, should have. Check out my income on the score graphs - it sucks and has always sucked.

Before you attacked me and got jumped by Sylvania, you had in my opinion the second strongest overall position in the game, with swathes of territory, a friendly Teutanion guarding your back, great income and large armies. I'm not 100% sure why sylvania was so effective against you (your troops were on the other side of your territory?) but neither I nor they expected them to actually beat you.

As for the nation itself - It's based on LA Jomon, obviously it isn't going to be rocking any shields. The morale problems with the samurai are also a feature of the race. Your armies of Red Nekoni and Vassal Cav were clearly very effective in expanding, allowing you to leap forward and become the largest territory holder with the biggest income. No air magic is sort of the price you pay to have solid DEWFB in the late era.

Anyway, if you aren't having fun, it's best to leave. Don't want anyone to feel forced to play, that'd be silly.

Before you go, do you have any suggestions for changes to any of the mods?

[Morkilus]

Huh. I thought I was losing this war. By the way, where are my allies! WTF!

I did have one very surprising victory, where I was all but beaten and the coward cavalry took off. I guess you need to mix them with some demons or something.