Noob's shot at an R'lyeh AAR

[CharonJr]

Turn 5 results

I reasearched Alt2 and Const1. Pythium declared an Emerald Lord as the prophet.

R’lyeh had a summer festival and I received 200 additional tax from R’lyeh, too. In Dunheim 5 fire gems were found.

My troops did very well in this battle, too. I lost only 2 slave troopers and the mercs lost another 2 men. The enemy force consisted of about 1/3 knights, militias and longbowmen and was supported by a priest.

Only 3 knights of the knight charge were even able to get into close combat range, but were killed fairly fast, but they still managed to kill 2 slave troopers and 2 mercs. Meanwhile the archers were shooting at my commander and Illithid Soldiers (good that those were armored well enough), but due to the range and protection nobody was killed. While the Last knight was killed the militias got into melee range, but after just one turn of attacks their morale broke and they ran. My troops killed the stuned/retreating troops and before they were able to reach the archers their leader turned and fled. My troops just had to dispatch some more paralysed victims, including about 5 of the archers in the end.

Provinces: 3
Treasury: 447
Income: 276
Upkeep: 69
Resources: 72

Water gems: 12 (+2)
Astral gems: 15 (+3)

Unrest went down to 0 in R’lyeh, is at 2 in Dunheim and 18 in Gol Phalas.

Dom is at 7 in R’lyeh, 1 in Dunheim and -1 in Gol Phalas.

Updated province information:

Devourer (6) – 40(s) -60(g) Trition Troopers and Triton Guards – Sea
Tiash (15) – 20(g)/30(s) – 40 (g) Militias and Heavy Infantries – Forest/Swamp – Dom1, 2.5k pop, 10 inc, 45 res
Dershid (20) – 40(s) – 60(g) Tribal Warriors and Tribal Archers – Plains – Dom1, 6k pop, 29 inc, 12 res
Vepitre (14) – 40(g)/60(s)-80(g) Tribal Warriors and Tribal Archers – Plains – Black Candle1, O1, P2, G2, Mi1, Ma1
Kolermegor (5) – 40-60 Crossbowman, Militias and Heavy Infantry – Forest – general intel – Dom0, 9k pop, 46 inc, 34 res
Talito (36) – 30(s) – 50(g) Milita, Light and Heavy Infantries – Plains
Scythia (35) – 40 Light/Heavy Infantry and Crossbowmen – general intel
C’tis (27) - ???
Abysia (40) – 20 Abysian Infantry and Humanbreads, Cyclops pretender
Aran Plain (23) - 50 Light/Heavy Infantry and Militia – general intel


My scout in Vepitre (14) reports that the capital to the east does not belong to Jotun, but to Pangaea, which does surprise me a little bit.

My confirmed neighbours are Abysia, Pangaea and C’tis and I am not to happy about any of them. Still no trace of Atlantis, which is not making me really sad

My army is in Gol Phalas (26) and the bordering provinces are (west to east) Talito (36), Abysia (40), Scythia (35), Aran Plain (23) and Vepitre (14).

The main question now is which AI to fight first and how to be fairly save from the other AIs stabbing me in the back.

Without Atlantis in the game my first choice would have been trying to crush C’tis on the peninsula NW of my capital, but I currently have no common border with C’tis and they might actually serve as a buffer vs Atlantis.

My newly aquired province of Gol Phalas (26) is bordering right on Abysia (40) and makes Abysia a likely target for further expansion. But in this way I would have Pangaea potentialy in my back, but since I don’t share a common border with Pangaea at the moment I would have at least some warning if they want to go after me.

If my reports from Abysia are correct and there are only 20 infantry and a pretender in his capital this might actually be a chance that is too sweet to miss.

The mercs are paid for one more turn and attacking Abysia might just be the way to put them to best use. Taking Abysia would put me closer to the 3 farm lands to its west, too.

I think I will recruit a mage starspawn this turn for 280 in order to get a offensive mage who is able to bring the Illithids I recruited during the Last turns and the 3 summons to the (potential) front and cast quickness and mind burn.

Either I will add 3 Illithid Soldiers for further offense or start to raise some defenses – but since the only direct threat at the moment is Abysia I tend towards the Soldiers.

I am still undecided about what to do next and would love some feedback. Personally I tend towards attacking Abysia immediatly (despite bad intel – hmm, bad intel, sounds familiar, wasn’t there something about making a mistake due to bad intel earlier ? ).

CharonJr

[Norfleet]

Don't forget that despite seeing only 20 units in his capitol, that a capitol also begins a defense of 25: That means you're going to see +25 units of whatever Abyssia uses for a defense. 45 units is a big difference from 20 units. Plus, the report is probably off by about 50%, so there's probably more like 40 units in there, for a total of 65 units. Reports from castled provinces tend to misunderestimate.

[IKerensky]

There is one more thing you can do with Cthugul, and it is ...

... something he is really good for as he only have 2% bad luck.

[CharonJr]

Hmm, you are right, I have completely forgotten about the 25 capital defenses. There is no way I can win vs 45+ Abysians. Their troors are able to take a decent beating while burning their enemies and I lack the numbers with my Illithids to get a good number of them fast enough. Waiting for reinforcements from my capital would delay the attack.

Concerning Cthugul, yup, I have shortly thought about replacing my starspwan priest with Cthugul, but since he is said to have no additional strength in summoning besides having only a 2% chance to get feebleminded instead of the 5% my priest gets, I think I will rather use his superior research.

I am fairly happy with my summons till now and would hate to lose even the few turns I have already played in order to get a new summoner up.

Hmm, ok, this leaves Pangaea and C'tis. I think I could use the death/nature gem combo I might get from C'tis.

This has the added benefit of stoping C'tis before they are able to summon too many mindless.

Thank you for the comments

CharonJr

[Sleepy]

What does AAR stand for anyway??

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Sleepy:
What does AAR stand for anyway??

After-Action Report

[Taqwus]

On the other hand, it's quite possible that the Abysian armies are mostly not on 'patrol', in which case you'd be facing primarily the province defense in the first battle. In that case, I would then expect an immediate relief / break-out attempt unless your numbers are very much greater than those inside, which would be unlikely.

[Sleepy]

Okay, thanks Arryn.
I like the idea of an AAR, I might want to try doing one.

[CharonJr]

Turn 6

Ok, I will go after C’tis first because this enables me to link up my expeditionary force currently in Gol Phalas (26) with the second army I am currently building in R’lyeh and I would love to get my hands on some death/nature gems .

By attacking the indies in Talito (36) this turn I will be able to use my mercs one more time and since there should be about 40 light/heavy infantry defenders and some militias I should be able to take this province without losing many of my own troops.

If I wanted to go for maximum expansion here I should surely try to retain the service of my mercs or try to get some new mercs, but since I was able to consolidate my position with their help I want to restrict myself from using them again unless I become desperate again (no need to lose due to pride ).

On the next turn I plan a combined attack of both my armies on Dershid (20). Due to the tribal archers there I will need some additional arrow fodder and I will buy 3 lobo guards for this in addition to the 3 Illithid Soldiers and the starspawn mage. The Things from the Void should be decent arrow fodder due to their 24 HP and 6 HP regen per turn, too.

My second army will consist of 1 starspawn mage with astral 3+ who will cast quickness and mindburn, 6 Illithid Soldiers, 1 lobo guard (due to just being able to lead 10 troops) and 3 Things from the Void.

Now I only have to hope that Pangaea and Abysia will leave me alone while I embark on my little adventure. At least while my army is in Talito (36) I am fairly optimistic that Abysia will not attack and I still don’t share a common border with Pangaea.

CharonJr

[CharonJr]

Turn 8

I reasearched Conj2 and found an magic item (astral shield) in Talito (36).

Looks like C’tis wanted to have Dershid (20), too. They attacked first with about 40 troops, the army was lead by the prophet, a priest and a commander. They managed to defeat the indies without many problems, losing only 2 runners and 1 poison slinger to the archers.

Next my forces attack the C’tis in Dershid (20). The mindbLasts and burns are doing their jobs again and the runners route before even getting close to my troops. After another 2 volleys of bLasts and burns the remaining forces are routed, too, right before my troops are in close combat range. My troops manage to slay some unparalysed enemies while those are fleeing and manage to paralyse some more. In the end about 10 city guards and poison slingers are able to flee together with their commanders.

Provinces: 5
Treasury: 317
Income: 314
Upkeep: 104
Resources: 72

Fire gems: 5 (due to an event some turns ago)
Water gems: 16 (+2)
Astral gems: 21 (+3)


Updated province information:

Devourer (6) – 40(s) -60(g) Trition Troopers and Triton Guards – Sea
Tiash (15) – 20(g)/30(s) – 40 (g) Militias and Heavy Infantries – Forest/Swamp – Dom1, 2.5k pop, 10 inc, 45 res
Vepitre (14) – 40(g)/60(s)-90(g) Tribal Warriors and Tribal Archers – Plains – Black Candle1, O1, P2, G2, Mi1, Ma1
Kolermegor (5) – Pangaea – black candle 5
Scythia (35) – 40-50 Light/Heavy Infantry and Crossbowmen – general intel
C’tis (27) - ???
Abysia (40) – 50 Abysian Infantry and Humanbreads, Cyclops pretender
Aran Plain (23) - 30-50 Light/Heavy Infantry and Militia – general intel
Hoburgdorf (34) – 60-100 Ichtyids/Ichtyid Warriors – farm lands - general intel – black candle1
Gol Ryepe (46) – 70 Light Infantry – farm lands - general intel
Bright Woods (17) – 20 Woodsmen - forest - general intel – black candle 1


Pangaea took Kolermegor this turn, but since I doubt they want to visit me in R’lyeh there is still one province between me and them, but I will keep this in mind after I managed to defeat C’tis.


My Provinces:

R’lyeh (10) – 29.760 pop, 100% tax, 0 UR, 188 inc, 72 res, 25 def, dom 6
Gol Phalas (26) – 13.090 pop, 90% tax, 4 UR, 45 inc, 9 res, 0 def, dom 1
Dunheim (28) – 11.500 pop, 100% tax, 0 UR, 54 inc, 5 res, 0 def, dom 1
Talito (36) – 8.440 pop, 100% tax, 1 UR, 33 inc, 12 res, 0 def, dom -2
Deshid (20) – 6.380 pop, 70% tax, 13 UR, 22 inc, 11 res, 0 def, dom 3


Intel reports 30 enemy units in C’tis mainly slave warriors and longdead including a master druid pretender. As long as there is no undead commander I am not too worried about the undead troops, this might even work to my advantage since when I kill the living commanders the undead will disperse. And since my mindbLasts and burns will only target living troops I might get to fry some commanders rather early.

I slightly rearrange my squads (all Illithids are in one squad with my mage and the summons are in the first squad of the commander, the fodder is in his second squad). Both armies will attack C’tis this turn. With the capital defenses the fight might be fairly hard (unless the regular troops are already hiding inside the castle – mausoleum in this case), but I think I should be able to win without taking too many losses.

I will buy another starspawn mage and am hoping for a 2W or 4As here in addition to get some additinal research.

CharonJr