Neo Xekinima - LA game of Mod nations (finished)

[Tuidjy]

Well, I had announced that I considered Ulm at war with the demons very early.
I was surprised you were asking for a treaty, but technically, what did the
priests know about Jomon? They had not seen demons, the troops we'd seen
happened to be mercenaries and humans, and you were being peaceful. I thought it
made sense that they would accept. Afterwards, when the scouts noticed the Dog
soldiers, it was only player knowledge that told me they were demons. I thought
the treaty was untenable, and I exited it, following the terms to the letter.

As for he final 'pretext', yes, I was moving east, but you did bring demons at my
original borders. By that time, I had decided to invade, but remember that the
treaty was no longer current. Furthermore, I had just discovered that Ulm's
national summons are undead... and I discovered it by summoning them, so the
priests could only object to demons with a straight face.

I am usually not a roleplayer. I am making an effort in this game, because I
love the mod... but I do not use roleplaying as an excuse to lie and cheat. In
any case, now that the misunderstanding is cleared, it's time to get down to
business. And business for Ulm is mostly killing demons. It is amazing how much
of that we have been doing, lately.

By the way, do not feel bad about this game. It's hard to survive as the central
power. The only thing has worked for me is to pair the neighbors two by two and
start a war with half of them, letting the other half have more than they
deserve. You pulled it off perfectly with Vaettiheim and Teutianon, and Ulm was
constantly at war anyway. The elves were your downfall. We are only bringing
the last nail to the coffin. And it looks like a crossbow quarrel :-)

[Jazzepi]

I seriously don't think that Jomon has any game against Sylvania, they're just far too vulnerable to the massed archers thing + fear shock troops. Despite getting my butt wooped on a strategic level by Sylvania's raiders, even at a tactical level I NEVER won a single decisive battle despite mixing morale 17 demons with the calavary, and bringing along priests to spam sermon of courage.

For about the 10th time this game I managed to attack Sylvania in their capital. Killed their god. Had the entire force surrounded by an overwhelming force of calvary and demons, and they just broke.... again. It's soooo frustrating.

The low morale thing + lack of shields makes me really scratch my head on how you're suppose to play this nation against massed archers. You just get abused from afar so badly by the time you close your lower morale forces you to route.

I'm playing the regular LA Jomon in another game and it's extremely refreshing. The high morale + sermon of courage + fighting in friendly dominion gave me calvary with 17 morale against Abysian humanbred infantry with 9 morale. Despite charging through a horde of arrow fire, and fireballs the calvary and infantry didn't have a single squad break.

So, basically, I think Sombre made this mod if that's correct? Something has to give with this whole morale deal, it's just too bad to play it the way it is right now. I would shudder to think what would happen to New Jomon against a nation with panic-spam. Here are my suggestions.

1. You give them real chaff troops. Not the extremely low morale ones they have right now. Give them troops that are "equivalent" to the lobo guards that Ry'leh has. They need to be mindless. It's okay if they still have low protection, no shields, just as long as you have something to catch arrows while the unprotected low morale calvary flank. I think this would be the best, and most thematic, suggestion. It's easy to see why the enslaved samurai thrulls would be mindless. You could say that the calvary represent an elite group of Jomon warriors that are not mindless, but just enslaved.

2. Give the nation access to air for fog warrior and arrow fend.

3. Give the nation a level 3 priest to recruit, preferably one with flying, so that they can cast fanaticism by giving that level 3 priest the rank of prophet.

4. Give them access to a troop type with shields.

I'm not the best player in the world, but I think I'm OKay, but these are the suggestions I have.

Jazzepi

[Sombre]

To Tuidjy: To the Ulmish they aren't undead in the sense of reanimated corpses or ghouls or vampires, they're effectively angelic/spirit beings given physical form by the White Priests. They're as holy and righteous as the xenophobic supercharged crusaders (Reborn guard), terminator like portable brainwashing/gulag/killing machines (Anchorites) and heretic torturing inquisitors (black priests). As a deeply religious nation, Ulm Reborn turn hypocrisy into an art form, so deeming enemy undead as unholy shouldn't be a problem for them.

Attacking Sylvania out of nowhere is also entirely justifiable for Ulm - they can happily be roleplayed as an /extremely/ aggressive nation.


Jazzepi: Thanks for your suggestions. Let me go through them bit by bit.

1. I could indeed give them some mindless samurai, that's a good suggestion and fits the theme, so I'll think about what I can do. They're getting mindless undead handmaidens in the next version, which they will be able to amass in quite some quantity a low level death magic spell. They will be relatively good units too, better than ghouls/skellies etc. Let me say at this point I don't understand your constant emphasis on the cavalry - you keep complaining about how awful they are, but you continued to use them as your main unit. They are supposed to have a morale issue, it's a feature of the race - they are cheap considering how much damage they can do - if you can stop them from routing they are a bargain. If you can't,.. well you might want to build something else. If the other options (the thrall infantry etc) are no good, well that needs to be mentioned/changed.

2. They already have BFEWD in the late era and all at level 2+ guaranteed. They'll have to find another way around problems vs missile fire. You can't always have a perfect answer to everything.

3. A flying level 3 priest just because their troops have a morale issue? They just aren't that religious, so they aren't getting above level 2. They will have some more and different maiden commanders in the next version though, including a blood hunter and a cheap on-foot seducer/spy.

4. If I gave them shields they wouldn't be very jomonese.

I'm unsure as to how Jomon Broken stacks up vs Jomon. I believe they have more powerful magic, but clearly they lack the higher quality general troops and the longbows. If they are significantly weaker, I am completely willing to improve the nation in an effort to improve their balance, but I'm not going to add shields or air magic or remove the lack of morale or give them level 3 flying priests because that's a matter of flavour and theme more than balance.

Of course it's possible that some of Sylvania's units are overpowered - the sacred is currently looking a bit too good to me, but they have their own weaknesses. I agree that Jomon Broken doesn't match up too well against them, but as long as it isn't a hopeless wash, that doesn't bother me much.

[Jazzepi]

2. Sorry, I should have been more clear. No no, I wasn't suggesting you give them air in addition to what they have already, just in replacement of something else. You could remove one of the girls, and add a "hanged girl" and associate her with air.

3. It doesn't have to be flying. It would just be nice to have a priest that doesn't move slow than most of the units. Again, this was only a suggestion on how you could provide them with a way to deal with low morale. If it fits into the flavor or not, that's up to you. I believe, and I could be wrong, that fanaticism and sermon of courage stack.

4. Again, just another suggestion.

1. I keep using the calvary because there's nothing else that I felt was going to be effective against archers. IMO, the mêlée troops suffer exactly the same problem that the calvary, except the problem is even worse because they move much slower than the calvary. So not only are they going to route from arrow fire, they're going to do it from much farther away relative to the archers then the calvary. The only thing I probably could have built instead was the high protection high morale shield less troops, but then those are demons. The fact that you can banish them always kills it for me, and that's just another "archer" unit to bash on them while they're crawling across the battle screen. It's such a huge liability, and for note, one of the nastier things that happened in the last battle I fought in was, of course, the much feared banishment spam.

Honestly I don't really have a vested interest in what you do with the nation. It's a very neat nation thematically (I love the drown/burned/buried girls for mages). I'm just giving suggestions. I don't want you to feel offended over what I've said, I'm just trying to voice what my experiences were picking up the nation and playing it in multiplayer.

Jazzepi

[Tuidjy]

It's your mod, but it's also my nation ;-) I see them a bit different than you do.

For me, the two most important things about Ulm are that they survived a
horrible civil war and the revelation they received to end it. I like how you
left the exact nature of the Aufklarung unclear. In my book, every Ulmish
believer experiences prophetic daydreams that show what their fate would have
been without the Aufklarung, i.e. in the official time line. So they are aware,
of what Ulm would have been - dying population, immortal vampires, blood hunting,
human sacrifice, summoned demons, etc...

Thus, as far as I am concerned, the believers of Lady Elena are completely
self-righteous, very brave, and at the same time, very afraid of what might have
been or still may come to pass. Any slavery, vampirism, or demons are a total
abomination. Think about guilt, too. Some of these knights, priests, and
guardians would have become the monsters of Late Age Ulm. They dream of being
vampires, ghouls, and of sacrificing their daughters. And they are still normal
human beings, who feel about this the way you and I would.

Yes, Ulm Reborn is insanely paranoid and aggressive. Any, and I mean any,
threats to their security, or hints of blood magic and demonic presence sends
them into righteous indignation, mobilization and full on assault. On the other
hand, they live with their guilt, and try their best to be honorable in all their
dealings. They want to distance themselves from the people they dream they would
have become. When their paranoia is not actively engaged, they're pacifists!

Oh, and right now, there is a Theological debate within the Priesthood about
death magic and undead. It is clear that not all death magic is forbidden,
given that lady Elena knows quite a bit and that some of the heroes of the Civil
War are returning as undead. It is also obvious that undead without free will
or those that feed on the living are an abomination. Everything else is a grey
area, and the discussion is raging. Very polite discussion, if I may add, as
everyone is afraid of another Civil War. It is bad enough that the old one is
still being waged - in the South, Ulm's armies are fighting the Blood Drakes,
who used to be Black Templars themselves.

[Tuidjy]

We are greatly worried that the perennial ennui has once again gotten hold of
our elven friends. For two months now, no orders have been given to the troops
operating behind Jomon's lines and many of the elven raiders have been cornered
and slain by the demons' thralls. Ulm is distraught by the decline of Sylvania's
fortunes, and would like to hear from the elven leadership.

[Tuidjy]

For a long time, the Priesthood of Ulm has been deeply suspicious of the
Vaettiheim confederacy. While proclaiming their love of freedom and racial
harmony, they were conducting a propaganda campaign against Ulm. Their obvious
attempts to turn the nations of the Light against each other were vile and
deceitful, but also clumsy and ineffective. Unwilling to risk the lives of our
citizens, the Priesthood chose not to take action.

But early this morning, we received a message from one of our faithful, who had
been sent to observe the goblins in their homelands. The brave soul had followed
the rumors of blood hunting to a forest in the far northeast, and risked his life
to approach a suspicious group of old women. He had barely gotten a good look at
them when a huge pack of wolves discovered him, and attacked.

We are sorry to say that he was eventually ran down and slain, but not before
managing to release one of his messenger pigeons. He reports that the Vaetti
hags had abducted no less than ten human girls from their families, and had
prepared them for use in blood sacrifice. Even more damning, a goblin lord was
seen amongst the wolves, proving that the cultists were operating with the full
support of Vaettiheim's rulers. It's clear what place the Vaetti vision of racial
harmony has reserved for the rest of us - that of slaves and blood sacrifices.

The vile creatures of Vaettiheim have been declared an abomination upon Lady Elena.

[Sombre]

Gee what a surprise. Interesting that it should coincide exactly with your attack force reaching my borders ;]

Well come then Ulmish conquerors, let's be having you.

[Tuidjy]

As a matter of fact, until we received word of your unholy practices, we were only
drafting a proclamation that was warning you to stay away from the lands still held
by the demons of Jomon. If you were to take some time away from tormenting little
girls, and were to instead review the reports of your own patrollers you might
notice that your hags were indeed observed by one of our men.

Do you think that we would have picked today to start a war with an enemy that our
forces cannot really reach, and especially at a time when we are already engaged
on two separate fronts? The only reason that the might of Ulm is now being
marshalled against Vaettiheim is the fact that you were caught preying on the
defenseless, and that your involvement with blood magic has been proven beyond doubt.

[Nikolai]

"You have been declared an abomination unto Lady Elena. " (Kharad Dzum 16/07/2007)

"They've been declared an abomination unto Lady Elena, and their days are numbered." (Sanguinia 1/08/2007)

"All those serving Jomon have been declared an abomination unto Lady Elena!" (New Jomon 20/08/2007)

"The vile creatures of Vaettiheim have been declared an abomination upon Lady Elena." (Vaettiheim 29/08/2007)

I am not in game, but can I start taking bets on next abomination? Is Lady Elena related to Nuggan ?