AAR-Neophyte with Caelum

[Wyatt Hebert]

Alright, here's my first attempt at an AAR... more of an IMR (in media res), but anyways...

This is not really designed for me to instruct anyone... it's for feedback on how I play Caelum according to the game definition, and for explanation of why strategies work or don't. I will, of course, be giving my input, but I'd appreciate if the more experienced players give me feedback on what I'm doing wrong (which I suspect will be almost everything).

Oh, and another note: Careful with the flames... Caelum can't handle them!

Alright, first things first, the Pretender:

Virtue
Magic: Air 8
Dominion stats: Order 3, Cold 3, Growth 1, Luck 0, Magic 3 D. Strength 7
Fortification type: Castle

Well, this is a pretty vanilla start. I know that Caelum are some of the best air mages, and, being inexperienced, I don't want to have a Pretender at radical odds to the theme's Magic. I've read the Caelum Posts, and it seems to me (also after playing Caelum for about 45 turns before I read the post) that Mammoths will be a must, so I have Order 3 for the Gold Income, and no Productivity because the majority of my units don't have a high Resource cost. The Castle is my default fortification, so I just went with it for this game. Also, Luck is even for a specific reason. I'm going to keep a track of all events that happen to me, the scales where they happened (as best as I can determine), and stuff like that.

Lack of Water on the Pretender precludes Quickness being cast by him, I understand, but once I have access to Boots of Quickness, it'll be another issue entirely.

Game Setup:
All enemies except Ermor, Atlantis, and R'lyeh enabled (on Normal AI).
Again, being my first attempt at this, didn't want to deal with the problem of Ermor, nor the tactical flexibility of the marine races. Also, my map selection would have made the marines pretty sickly, so that's another issue.

Map: Inland Map (154 provs, 5 Underwater)
(Lots of Forests, supposedly)
This map looked interesting, I don't know it too well, and the lack of Water means that my pretender sans Water isn't making a difference in the flexibility to attack the water.

Starting Prov: 1
Independent Strength: 4
Magic Site Freq: 50
Renaming Allowed

This is all set up basically by my normal setup. I'm used to Magic Sites all the way up at 75, but I'm trying to be more normal in my playstyle, so I put it at 50. The independent strength is actually average to a little high for me, but that's probably due to my poor skills as a tactician.

Anyways, that's the setup, and feel free to comment (as I know you people will). I'll respond when I can, and try to keep this up and running at a good pace.

Wyatt

[ March 27, 2004, 07:40: Message edited by: Wyatt Hebert ]

[Wyatt Hebert]

Turn 1 Orders:

Well, I started in Province 92, whose terrain is simply Forest. On 5 sides, there are more forests, and to the direct south, there are some plains, and to the south of that is some farmlands. To the west of the western border forests are some plains as well, which I want to get so as to keep a good income. From a first glance, the Farmlands will probably be a very good place to put a second Fortress, as it should have very good income, as well as decent Resources due to the surrounding Forests. My first turn orders are as follows:

I order my starting Storm General to become my prophet, I tell the Scout to bypass the immediately adjacent provinces and go check out the southern farmlands, and I order the Pretender to start researching Evocation (to get to Lightning Bolt, predominantly).

I notice that Burelk's City Guard is for hire, so I grab them (paying 145 G to make sure I get them), and then I recruit a Seraph, 6 Wingless (to get started for a Mammoth support unit), and 3 extra Caelian Archers. That's about it for the first turn.

Couple of points: I didn't wait to get a Seraphine (for the level 4 priest from prophet) mainly due to no bless effects, time loss getting a prophet, and to keep the commander out of combat. I'm losing access to Fanaticism, but as I only expect to have a single squad in combat at a time, I think it should work out ok, at least for now.

I grabbed the mercs because I'm only on Ind St 4, and Burelk comes with 60 guys... in one squad, even Militia will have pretty decent morale. I'm also hoping that the local enemies won't be very tough, but that may be a forlorn hope. We'll see.

That's most of the stuff for turn 1.

Turn 2 is coming up.

Wyatt

[Inigo Montoya]

I am a total novice, so take my advice with a grain of sand.

I feel strongly you should make your prophet from a Seraphine. You spent points for Order 3, Growth 1, and Magic 3. You want to spread your Cold 3 as fast as you can. Having a prophet with a level of 4 is going to spread your dominion much faster than making a prophet from a Storm General. I look at my prophet as only second in importance in spreading my dominion.

[ March 27, 2004, 13:33: Message edited by: Inigo Montoya ]

[Wyatt Hebert]

I did think about that, and when I lose this prophet (which I assume I will),I will undoubtedly make a Seraphine the prophet. I just decided to make the Storm General the prophet to do the following:

1) Create my prophet immediately.
2) Get a free level 3 Priest immediately.
3) Move him out immediately.
4) Not lose a turn for research when a lvl 4 priest isn't required.

I was thinking in terms of a time crunch, and also that the sneakiness of the Seraphine is unnecessary at this point in time, as well as point 4. I want to ramp up the research engine, as well as expand as fast as I can.

Just my reasoning.

Wyatt

[Inigo Montoya]

Makes sense, plus it will make your commander a bit beefier in your dominion.

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Inigo Montoya:
Having a prophet with a level of 4 is going to spread your dominion much faster than making a prophet from a Storm General.

This is only true if your prophet is preaching, which means that it is not available that turn to cast fanaticism in a battle.

[Wyatt Hebert]

Turn 2 Report:

My scout sends back the report that ~30 Militia and Crossbowmen are in the Farmlands province, so I will be sending the mercenary unit south to try and take them out. I again have him skip around to the west, to check out the plains in that direction. (He's moving to province 97)

I give one air gem to my Prophet, and one to my new Seraph. Then I do a bit of unit location maintenance. I move the 10 Spire Horn Warriors I started with to the Seraph, and lump all 18 of my Caelian archers on the prophet (Storm General), as well as the 6 Wingless. I also move the Archers to the side, for enfilade fire.

As I mentioned above, I send the militia Mercs south, against an estimated 20 light infantry and crossbowmen, and I also set them as far forward on the setup map as possible. The prophet and Seraph are moved NW against an estimated 20 militias and archers. The Spire Horn Warriors are on Hold/Attack orders, the Wingless are guarding, and the Archers are on fire closest. The Seraph is scripted to cast Wind Guide.

The new Mercenary unit Urgek's Beast Brothers (I think it's called... the Foul Spawn) are available, and I hire them so that they can take the shock hit from some Barbarians next turn when my main army hits them. I also hire another Seraph, 5 more Wingless, and 6 more Caelian Archers.

That's most of the orders for Turn 2.

Now for my explanations (and, experienced guys, bear with me... this is probably all old-hat to you guys).

First, I gave the air gem to the Seraph because it's required for Wind Guide (which, for the other neophytes out there, increases the precision of all of your troops on the battlefield). I gave the gem to the prophet because I don't want the Seraph wasting any when it casts Air Shield (as I knew it would). This gives me an endurance of two turns before needing more gems.

Second, the Horn Warriors are Hold/Attack to give the archers a chance to damage the enemies before they engage, and they aren't that well protected, so I'm trying to keep down on casualties. Also, something that you can't know is that I went NW with the main army due to a rather nice income in that Forest province. At least, that's what was reported. I'll be happy to answer any other questions about my proposed moves. Let's hope they work out.

Wyatt

[Gandalf Parker]

I always try to send some sort of commander with mercs. Even if they dont do any fighting. Even a scout on open movement if nothing else is nearby. No reason to waste the experience and possible hall of fame bonuses.

[ March 27, 2004, 15:01: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

[Wyatt Hebert]

Thank you, Gandalf, for pointing that out. Unfortunately, I'm spread a wee bit thin right now, and am hoping to expand very quickly, so some sacrifices need to be made.

It was not a point I had thought of previously (though I tended to send lvl 3+ Priests with mine to keep them from breaking), and I will keep it in mind.

Turn 2 aftermath and turn 3 orders going to be posted soon.

Wyatt

[Inigo Montoya]

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Inigo Montoya:
Having a prophet with a level of 4 is going to spread your dominion much faster than making a prophet from a Storm General.

This is only true if your prophet is preaching, which means that it is not available that turn to cast fanaticism in a battle.

---

Not true. A prophet is like a mobile temple. It gives you a temple check every turn in whatever province the prophet is in. You can preach in addition, but preaching cannot spread dominion to other provinces -- it only affects the province in which preaching occurs. This is why your prophet is second in importance to your God in Dominions. The third most important factor is how many temples you have. Preaching is helpful in specific provinces, but as far as spreading dominion to neighboring provinces (not counting the Restless Worshipers special dominion), all you have is your God, your prophet, your capital and temples.

Please correct me if I am wrong.