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Velusion said:
Here I come Sauro! All my apes are gathering, all my long bows are ready. My demons are hungry and the gold is gleaming from my sacred gorillas! Our goal is to head strait for your capital and to rip down your castle and pillage the provinces to nothingness!
Pull back all your forces, marshal all your hosts!
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Velusion said:
Feel the upcoming hurt!
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Velusion said:
I forgot to mention that I'm still brining the hairy demonic ape pain!
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Heh, it looks like the news spread quickly, by the revelations of the divine oracle called "Army Graphs".
Before I could check my turn this morning I got several PMs congratulating me on a victory over demonic horde and asking to describe on the forum what has happened. So here it goes, the story of demons and their doom...
First of all, I must say that for all above bragging and boasting and threatening, at the end Lanka went away with more of a whimper rather than a bang. In the beginning of our war, on the next turn after Lanka has suddenly attacked me, they have pulled all sacred demons they have been building since the beginning of the game, gathered them into one huge host and send it after me.
Since all Lanka's earlier conquests were accomplished against stalling Helheim, they had not suffered any losses since the beginning of the game.
All in all Lanka's Horde had 400 soldiers (about 60% demons, 40% longbow ape archers), backed by 17 battle mages, stuffed to the bursting point with various gems(mostly death). Each demon carried a double W9S9 bless, making them very deadly.
As Lanka's leader promised, orders were given to this Horde to raze Sauromatia's capital, ravage its land, and destroy the entire nation.
Even before I saw that horde I knew I am in deep troubles.
Everybody knows that Lanka's is one of the most powerful nations in EA, to the point that many people consider it to be overpowered. It is nation that is banned in some MP games for that reason. And Sauromatia is very badly suited to fight Lanka - it has no sacred troops of its own, raiders or stealth troops to take advantage of Lanka's weak PD, no direct battle magic, no priests. And its hydras would be useless against archers and cheap non-capital sacred demons.
Still I had no choice but to fight with all I can. Fortunately I had 4 turns to prepare (or so I thought) before Lanka's juggernaut would reach my capital.
On the first turn of the war my border defenses were smashed to pieces and my border castle besieged. I knew I had no chance in hell of winning that early battle, but since I had scrambled about 120 archers to defend the castle and had PD of 30, I hated to retreat without trying to inflict some losses on attackers. So I've positioned my composite bow poison archers all the way in the back and scripted them to fire at Lanka's longbow apes and retreat. I hoped that my 70 soldiers from PD together with my decoys will delay demons for the first 2 rounds.
Big mistake on my part. I have managed to kill about 40 ape archers, but I've lost 90 of my own archers, who just couldn't retreat in time. W9 blessed demons have movement 30 - can't run from them.
Still during that disastrous battle I have seen a glimpse of hope for my nation. To put it blandly - looking back at Lanka's actions during all these turns since the beginning of the war, I have to say that I am very unimpressed by Lanka's leadership. They have made many mistakes that have cost them this war and their goal to destroy me - which could be easily achieved should they act differently.
The first mistake was made before the game started, during Lanka's design. They have taken W9S9 bless. Should they take N9 + something (best of all - N9E9) I would have no hope in this war - my only weapon against were my archers, and they would be useless against regenerating demons. S9 could be somewhat justified by making demons more difficult to ban by nations with cheap high level priests. (although demons have pretty high MR to begin with, which could be relatively easily boosted with spells). But W9 instead of N9?
But this was before the war began. Still even with S9W9 bless Lanka could have won this war with little losses. But their actions were their undoing.
Despite declaring the war on another nation, Lanka never bothered to build PD. They had PD of 1 in many of their provinces, including those on their border with me. Sure, Sauromatia do not have raiders, but what about remote summons? Using Arouse Hunger and Call of the Winds over several turns I was able to get 6 Lanka's province while they have been slashing and burning their path toward my capital. That helped a lot to partially compensate money and gem losses from Lanka's invasion. Even after Lanka knew that I was using these summons, they didn't raise their PD enough to stop these weak summons.
But their gravest mistake was that they have given me time to prepare.
Since the beginning of the war, my whole strategy for the approaching apocalypse battle was to rely on Fog Warriors spell and forging two air boosters by my pretendrer so my air mage could cast it. Unfortunately I was very far from reaching Fog Warriors. So I've cancelled all gem searches and forging, and directed all my mages to study to the point of dropping dead in the library, but give me that critical Fog spell. Without it I knew that no matter what melee troops I would build or summon in my capital, 400 demons and apes backed by a lot of necromancers casting powerful "Shadow Blasts" and air mages casting thunder strikes will tear through my melee screen in no time and will get to my precious archers, who were my only hope of stopping Lanka.
To my horror, I knew that I would not be able to research this lvl 7 spell in time. I needed 2 more turns that Lanka would needed to reach and destroy my capital. And I knew I could not delay Lanka's horde using my walls - Lanka's strength 18 demons would tear my walls on the first turn of the siege.
So I knew I was doomed - I didn't want to abandon my capital to the demon apes - it would leave me without my best weapon in this game - poison archers. One turn of pillaging by 400 demons and my capital would be turned into complete wasteland. But I could not defend it either - without Fog Warriors spell I had no hope to delay demons long enough for my poison archers (boosted by Flame Arrows) to slowly grind them down.
Fortunately Lanka itself has come to rescue.
They got greedy. And they got arrogant. Because I was offering no resistance after initial border clash and my armies were retreating in front of the approaching demon avalanche (for I had no intentions of destroying my troops in hopeless battles), Lanka got overconfident. They have split their mighty host in 3 armies to grab more of my provinces. I took advantage of their greed and left my capital completely empty, forming two armies of my own and positioning them on both sides of Lanka's 3 armies, as if they are about to ambush his smaller eastern and western army. That has stopped Lanka's cold, and they have completely wasted one turn on putting his troops back together before continuing their march on my capital.
I've left my heavy infantry mercenaries with task to follow advancing Lanka's host and to take back my provinces behind Lanka's back. All other troops have retreated back to my capital - by that time Lanka's horde was sitting next to it, about to attack it.
By that time I've have pulled each and every battle-capable mage I had and 98% of my soldiers from entire nation into my capital for my last stand. But I still needed one more turn that I had available.
And because all my mages were researching like crazy in the capital, I didn't even had time to cast any summons. I had hundreds of archers, covered by about 50 weak melee troops.
I was beginning to wonder if I am preparing an elaborate death trap for myself.
Fortunately Lanka have made another of their blunders - they have given me turn that I needed. Perhaps they have been a bit intimidated by the unexpected size of my host that have appeared in front of them as if ready to defend my capital. (by that time my army was about 500 large - slightly larger than Lanka's by head count, but his were elite double blessed demons, and mine were archers )
Perhaps they have thought that I am ready to defend my capital, taking advantage of my first round as a defender, and capital high PDs. But whatever was their reason, for one critical turn they have wavered. They have wasted their last turn when they could still crash me by waiting for 40 more of their archers to join the main Horde. Ha! I had 2 castles building troops around the clock for my last stand, and during that extra turn my mages have managed to triple my melee defenders strength by casting all local and remote summons they knew on my capital.
But most importantly - I finally had time to forge last air booster, teleport my pretender into my capital for Flame arrows, and be able to cast that bloody Fog Warrior spell that would allow me to delay Lanka's unstoppable demons! The research and forging was still one turn away, but since Lanka didn't attack me, and since they have wasted another turn earlier, I knew that now I had time to get all my prepared pieces in place by the time of the final battle.
Next turn when Lanka had finally attacked they found my capital to be deserted. The tidal wave of 400 demons backed by prophet and mages carrying dozen of gems each have smashed ... nothing.
I imagine the look of the face of the Lanka's general.
All my troops were sitting inside the castle. I just got my spell and a final booster this turn, and my mages were ecstatic. Because of the extra 2 turns given to me by Lanka I had now enough troops to stop Lanka from destroying my walls in one turn. But I was not going to wait for them, or let them pillage my capital. All the soldiers that I have been gathering to my capital , backed by each and every mage I had in my empire, have burst out of the capital, challenging Lanka to a defensive battle.
Lanka's general must have thought that I am nuts - first I have abandoned all my provinces without a fight, and even sacrificed my capital, and now I am not even waiting for demons to break my walls, that would allow me to take advantage of castle defenses, narrow gates, and the initiative in the first combat round?
Nevertheless, it had happened - with battle cries that have shaken ancient walls of Sauromatia's capital, my troops were pouring out of the gate to meet the attackers. Lanka has finally met its match...
Nevertheless, the demons were ready. They had advantage of the first combat round. The opening salvo of dozen of Death Blasts have darkened the skies before falling down on my troops. It was deadly. Without protection of my battle magic, the first several rows of my defenders were completely annihilated. The thunderstrike and opening salvo of 180 longbow ape archers have completed the devastation. About 10 percent of my army was annihilated in the first round, before melee would even started.
As the final killing blow Lanka air mage has casted Arrow Fend on all their troops, greatly reducing the effectiveness of my fire.
And the avalanche of 200 sacred demons rolled forward, covering an entire distance between our armies in one round, and stopping just few squares away from my troops and my archers. 200 blessed demons were posed to smash my weak melee defenders (those of them who somehow survived the initial devastation) and immediately massacre my archers. Next combat round sacred demons were going to build a high temple to their God from corpses of hundreds of my archers they would slaughter.
The demons never reached my archers.
Now it was my turn to cast spells. Flame Arrows went first, then Fog Warriors. Then Anti magic, to give my low-MR troops a chance to resist enemy Shadow Blasts.
And then my several dozens of nature mage have begin their deadly work, summoning ants, swamp flies, anything to delay demons. At the same time my best summoned and national melee troops, which I have positioned all the way in the back to prevent them from being destroyed in the first combat round by enemy mages and archers, have poured forward. This wave of battle summons and melee troops has met an approaching demonic juggernaut just few feet in front of my forward archers.
And demons have stopped.
The battle lasted for 20 turns or so. Each turn quickened demons and mages were destroying hundred of my weak summons, trying to break through to my archers who were raining death on them from above. And each turn my carefully scripted mages were summoning more and more creatures, to replace the fallen. Arrows Fend and high hitpoints have given demons good protection against worst of my missile fire.
But flame arrows and poison were slowly grinding the demon horde down, while their shock troops could not break though my melee screen.
The ape longbow archers were the first to rout – after all, half of my archers were scripted to fire at them. The demons backed by enemy mages lasted longer. But eventually, the whole horde routed. The proud demons, who have arrogantly bragged to destroy Sauromatia and its capital, were retreating. Fleeing before swamp flies and ants…
The demons still had most of their mages, some carrying gems with them, and about 70 of their soldiers survived the massacre. But… Both provinces they could retreat to were snatched behind their back by my troops. Lanka's leader has never learned the virtue of province defense...
Overall I have lost about 140 soldiers in that battle. But not a single demon from the Lanka’s Horde has survived their apocalypse.
And that concludes the story of the great Demon Monkey March on Sauromatia's capital. I hope it has satisfied the curiosity of those who were wondering what had happened.
Oberon,
Lord of Sauromatia
Hexxagon Champion!
Re: Rlyeh
Linear Mode
