Ulm SP AAR- Swords Vs. Sorcery

[boltcutter]

I like Ulm, in concept. Poor magic, low morale, expensive units. . . I can see why it has a poor reputation in practice. However, I've done some thinking and I've developed a Three Phase Plan. [Phase Three is "get eaten by demons." I'm hoping by then I'll have a better idea. ] Swords against Sorcery- in memory of Fritz Leiber.

The One True God was dead, they said. All over the world, false prophets arose. Blood drinking demons, lunatic sorcerors and crazed beasts rose up and declared their godhood. In the forgotten caves beneath Mt. Ulmon, unbreakable chains. . . broke. Ulmon, ancient beyond Gods, Who had been imprisoned ages before, strode forth again to save His people from madness and magic. And the people of Ulm, the children of fire and steel, long-suffering and faithful, strode forth at his back.

Setup: I took the Cyclops, with Earth 8 and Nature 3. Indy strength 4. Ten pretenders total, none aquatic and no Ermor- I'm new and Ermor still cleans my clock. High productivity, high drain, and good fortresses- I'll need a lot of forts, both for supplies and troops. Ulm NEVER has enough troops.

My plan for Phase I is to send out my Cyclops as a low-end Supercombatant while I build up Smiths and troops.

I'm on a small ismuth- four provinces, and then natural bottlenecks to the north and south, water to east and west.

Ulm remembers much and says little. The Forges of Ulm started up again, producing the legendary Black Steel armor, and a Smith of Ulm reappeared- nobody asked where he came from. Ulmon Himself forged a Black Steel blade in the old true pattern, quenched it thrice, and raised it high.

TURN 1:
Results- none yet.
Shopping- I buy a Master Smith and a handful of crossbowmen.
Action- My dozen light infantry (well, light for Ulm) are in no position to fight anything. I send my spy to the northeast. Ulmon, Himself, is currently unarmed- totally unacceptable. I forge a Sword of Sharpness.

TURN 2:
Results- I have an alleged 60 mixed infantry and archers to the south, 10 militia and infantry to the north, and 30 barbarians to the northeast [as measured by my spy.]

Shopping- I call forth another Master Smith to the forges and request more crossbowmen. My Ulmites are powerful soldiers, but so few, so very few.

Actions- I, Ulmon, walk northeast to spread the Word of Myself. I send my spy farther north, to the first possible bottleneck, to measure and report. My Smith starts researching Evocation.

TURN 3:

Results- Ulmon takes up the mantle of war. The Barbarians flee after inflicting but little damage; however, one of the wounds scars badly. I take this as a reminder to be careful. My spy reports relatively weak resistance to the north of my new first province; less reliable reports put the northwestern strength at 10 soldiers, and the south at 20 [from 60?!].

Shopping- another Master Smith and some heavy infantry. I choose the Black Plate with flails- multiple weak attacks, but the survivors will get stronger. Later I'll want to switch to something with a shield. Predictably, my new province produces nothing but barbarians, and I don't want any of those.

Actions- my First Army is far from grand, but it is ready to attack a few militia and light infantry. 12 light Ulmish infantry, 10 crossbows, and my first general. I send them to the north of my capitol, and decide Myself to go north to the end of my isthmus, and to open combat with a barrage of stones [Legions of Steel took my damage resistance from 28 to 29.] . I send my spy further north still, lest I overrun my intelligence. My Smiths are all diligently researching.

[Sandman]

Personally, I'd forget about blacksteel and light infantry and just concentrate on churning out those Infantrys of Ulm. Get some mercenaries as well.

[shovah]

or a ****load of sappers works for me

[boltcutter]

(By the way, I've played the first 9 or so turns, but haven't posted all of them yet. The heavies are coming. . . the 12 light Ulmish infantry were my starting troops. )

[shovah]

i believe sandman is suggesting you dont get heavies

[boltcutter]

I'm new. . . We'll see. I have A Plan.

I also have my notes with me for this post. I think I'm playing The Desert Eye- it's hard to tell, because of the wraparound. Which I didn't realize the map had. . . My enemies are Abysia, Pythium, Caelum, Pangaia, Vanheim, Jotunheim, Mictlan, T'ien Chi and Machaka. Plenty of Sorcery to go around.

Turn 4:

Results- Ulmon takes out some regular troops- about 30, again- while the First Army knocks out 3 commanders, 15 troops while taking no casualties- no kills, no injured. This turn, not last, is where Ulmon picks up his never-healing wound. Ulmon's new province has a Library- nice, but with the crippling Drain I don't think Sages are worth it.

Shopping- I recruit 7 archers in the First Army's new province. They can fire into melee with my Black Plate infantry and basically damage only the enemy. Also, more Black Plate and another Smith. I end the turn with 164 gold and big plans for a castle in the northern bottleneck.

Plans- my First Army goes back to the capital to collect the archers. I move Myself, alone, into the province where my spy waits- and keep him where he is.

Turn 5:

Results- Ulmon cleans out a variety of heavy infantry, light infantry, archers and militia. One gets a lucky hit on the side of his knee and I develop a slight limp. Time to stop Phase I- at least for now; My physical toughness isn't sufficient to keep me entirely safe, and the next affliction could be more serious.

Shopping- I buy a second Spy. My Spy starts building a fort in the bottleneck, and I raise 8 Province Defense. For Ulm, PD below 8 or above 20 is cost-effective. Desperate for cash, I convert 5 Earth vis into gold and buy more flailmen

Plans- the First Army goes back to pick up their archers. Ulmon, protecting his bottleneck, searches the province for gold and gems.

Turn 6:

Results- none.

Shopping- I buy a Priest. First Army is now 8 flailmen, about a dozen light Ulmish infantry, 10 crossbowmen and 7 archers.

Plans- I move Ulmon to the province with the Library. Spy keeps moving. First Army heads back to Ulm , with the goal of heading south and converting the rest of my isthmus. Pippin will become my Prophet. [I missed the chance to rename him, alas.]

Turn 7:
Results- Mictlan is the neighbor of my fort-to-be, which is protected by a spy and nine crossbowmen. . . it would be bad to lose that. Evocation 2 is reached.

Shopping- My planned push to glory- a Smith every turn, researching their hearts out- has been sapped by lack of money and focus, and the castle on my north. More troops, of course, but no Smith.

Plans- I will search My internal province, risking my expensive, expensive construction project. I am betting that the blood-drinkers of Mictlan will pause before starting a war. First Army heads south to conquest, with 18 Black Plate and nearly 50 troops in total.
Turn 8:
Results- Mictlan did, indeed, hold off. I found no magic sites in My province. First Army crushed the independent pagans, with neither deaths nor permanent afflictions.

Shopping- I can, barely, afford another Smith. And the Forges of Ulm continue running at full speed.

Plans- First Army will continue to a chain of islands to the south; I will move to protect My construction project. Pippin shall north with five of Ulm's finest flailmen as a personal guard.

Turn 9:
Results- First Army took the chain of islands, and along with it a magic site- the Wormwood Forest, producing 1 Nature gem. Truly fortunate. Evocation 3 has been researched, and my Smiths are now capable of sending Magma Bolts down on the unbeliever. Mictlan seems to have backed their army off, and my fort is complete.

Shopping- I, Myself, build a lab in my new fort- while I would like another Smith [I have six] the fort is maintenance-free and the cost of my army is starting to become significant. I purchase a Commander of Ulm along with the flailmen- my army is large enough for a second-in-command.

Plans- I send First Army agaisnt a large force of Woodsmen. This is the last "bottleneck" province I will be able to hold and I wish to move as far as possible before putting in the choke point. 210 gold of Point Defense is not a small investment.

Current status( start of turn 10):

Upkeep: 105 gold.
Income: 376 gold.
Treasury: 276 gold.
Research: partway through Evocation 4. 30 RP per turn.
Gem income: 5 Earth, 1 Nature.
Magic Resources: 40 Earth, 2 Nature.
Provinces: 8
Soldiers: 49 in First Army; 5 with Pippin; 10 in Capital.

Notes: Some of my turn-by-turn results are off; I didn't save the turns as they happened. I got sloppy on the latter turns- Pippin is still one province behind my fort, my spies are in my own territory, and my new fort has not turned out a single Black Plate Soldier. Second Army is forming as slowly as I feared.

[boltcutter]

Turn 10:

Results- All is quiet.

Shopping- Two Smiths (they're expensive, but once I can cast Blade Wind one smith should be the equal of twenty archers), and troops. I convert another 5 Earth gems into gold, sadly.

Planning-Everyone moves up and out. Research continues. I get greedy and send First Army against the independent Ichthyids to the west, rather than waiting two turns for my Smiths [with Blade Wind] to arrive. Research continues as I slowly build up Second Army.

Turn 11:

Results- Disaster. The Ichthyids take out six troops- not particularly good- but Caelum, from the other side, attacks the province just after I do. My outnumbered, outmanuevered troops fight valiantly, but they are not in formation for this and individual acts of heroism are not enough. At the end, my Commander- alone, badly injured, and surrounded- nearly cuts his way to freedom but is finally taken down by sheer numbers and time.

The shell of First Army mills around, leaderless- 27 troops total, two of whom are missing an arm [naturally enough, they both had two-handed weapons so are worthless.] I lost all my hammermen and archers, half my axemen, four of my flailmen and only one crossbowman- the Ulmish tendency to put armor on EVERYTHING works in my favor.

On the plus side, I have now researched Blade Wind and my Smiths are a force to be reckoned with- as long as they have gems, that is.

Shopping- I buy what troops I can, and a single Smith for Second Army. I put some Province Defense into the southern bottleneck- it's now up to PD 8.

Planning- My Smiths will arrive in "the bottleneck" with a true combat commander, to take control of the First Army.
I start researching Conjuration- once they have Earthpower, my Smiths will truly be a combat force I can count on. And I have quite a few Smiths.

Turn 12-

Results- None of note. Conjuration 1 acheived.

Shopping- Another Smith, and a pathetic handful of Hammermen.

Planning- Strike directly for T'ien Chi's capital. Hopefully three Smiths will be enough to compensate for my severe troop reduction. I'm bringing more troops and a siege engineer south from the capital.

Turn 13-

Results- The assault on T'ien Chi went well. The Smiths rip a good chunk out of the enemy troops and flailmen clean out what's left. I am pleased to note that the enemy composite bows do nothing to me; unfortunately, the glaives work a little better. I lose a couple troops but nothing to worry about. Siege commences.

Shopping- Built three horsemen- I need to be able to hit harder. Also a siege engineer and raise Point Defense to 13 in the southern bottleneck. T'ien Chi is a wealthy province.

Planning- Hold T'ien Chi and destroy the enemies as they come . Consider starting a third war with Mictlan.

Looking at the score charts, Pythium and C'Tis are far ahead. I'm second from the bottom in almost everything. If I don't start taking capitals soon, I'm going to be too far behind to have ANY chance. If I can take Mictlan fast enough, I can pincer T'ien Chi.

It's a bad idea but the only one I have.

Turn 14-

Results- I got cleaned out at T'ien Chi. Celestial Warriors aren't something I can fight, apparently and I lost every Smith I brought in a display of exceptional stupidity. Give them a set of gems and they summon Earth Elementals instead of casting Blade Wind.

I'm losing and there's not much I can do about it.

[Sandman]

Sounds like you didn't take strong enough scales if you're hurting for money as Ulm. That Cyclops was far, far too expensive to just sit around searching.

[boltcutter]

I'm going to switch to a much more general "Things of Note" format, as I am putting in too much detail.

Turns 15-18:
"The Stall."

Reinforced First Army. Bought up Province Defense to 20+, bought some cheap archers, brought down troops from capitol. Built Second Army- brought up Hammermen from capitol, bought several Smiths. Set my Cyclops and Smiths to researching until I got to Conjuration 3.

Now Smiths are truly in Phase 2: able to cast Blade Wind at least once each per fight.

Researching for Construction 4- Earth Boots will make them twice as valuable.

Turns 19-25: War on Mictlan. This is exactly what my army is designed for- wiping out lots of cheap scuzzy troops. I send Second Army north with 3 Smiths and Myself. We besiege the blood-drinkers. Our besieging army, though surrounded, repulses huge attacks [96 troops attacked, 50 were wiped out] easily. Six or more Blade Winds are truly brutal. Myself goes for a walk through the remaining Mictlanese provinces. (Truly, the Cyclops is best used not "just sitting around searching." Especially when One can start a battle with 150+ flying blades.)

Turn 23, the would-be God disappears in a puff of disbelief. This is somewhat disturbing, although it allows Me to take his castle unopposed. I now have a large, ferocious army to the south of T'ien Chi and a medium ferocious army to the north. Time for a rematch on those Celestial Warriors.

Also, My people research Construction sufficiently and start producing a truly astounding number of Earth Boots- yet, not enough. . . now I must decide what I need next.

* Alteration- that my Smiths may protect themselves?
* Conjuration- that I may summon large, ethereal bears and eventually Trolls? I need something fearless.
* Thaumaturgy- that my Smiths may find more sources of power?
* Enchantment- that Myself may become an unstoppable regenerating force of Supernature?

Looking at the scorecard: Pythium and C'Tis are far ahead in almost everything; Caelum is badly only ahead in magical power. Jotunheim and Vanheim are also generally ahead. Abysia and Machaka are being beaten badly and I am theoretically ahead of T'ien Chi- though they have a Dominion of 8 [!]

Looking at the map- if I take T'ien Chi I will have a north-south wraparound. I have a long border with C'Tis and short ones with Caelum [at war with me already], Jotunheim, and Man- an unrealized "across-the-sea" highway to my capitol. I have no information on Pythium, Pangaea, or Vanheim- three of the powerhouses out there.

Looking at the economics- I am making a profit of around 250 Gold per turn. If I limit my production of Smiths I may be able to start buying Temples and priests. I now have a lot of gems, by this game's standards, and a good variety of types. I still have a lot of Earth gems- even after making six sets of Earth boots, and a couple of items of armor for Myself.

I should be able to pin up T'ien Chi in a single province within three turns of the start of the war- I fear that storming the castle will be a bloody mess. Celestial Warriors cause fear, and are proof against light missiles, and there may be a large number of them inside.

[boltcutter]

Turns 25-31: Quagmire.

Second Army strikes deeply and effectively. First Army gets thrown back to their base province with severe losses. I need to work on impatience and lack of focus. T'ien Chi breaks out with a small army and rampages through the former Mictlanese provinces. I do not have the resources to start a Third Army; eventually they run up against my northern bottleneck and are repulsed.

I start besieging the Dark Citadel where the TC Pretender, a lich, is locked up with less than 10 troops.

Unfortunately, TC's main army was out on campaign to the west. I go Myself with a few troops to intercept at the obvious blocking point.

I am destroyed. Ten Celestial Warriors come in and clean house. Looking at what went wrong:

1. I didn't bring enough troops. Two half-armies are no good. One Smith, a handful of troops [fled from the last wreck of First Army]- not enough.
2. I didn't concentrate on building up the province defense, despite knowing where the enemy would strike.
3. My physical form was not equal to the challenges. I was fighting in Dominion -8 [!] and so, instead of the 70+ HP I should have had, I had about. . .20.

This is the beginning of the end. There are three really large enemies- C'Tis, Pythium, and Jotunheim- remaining. Jotunheim's armies are starving, diseased, and miserable [my spies report] but still crushing Pangaea. I have very few priests, fewer temples, and many months before I can return as even a shadow of my old Self. I do not have the forces, I suspect, to hold TC against the armies coming home- never mind actually taking the Dark Citadel. [Can I wipe out an immortal Lich with multiple Blade Winds? I think that's what the question comes down to.]

The next on my decreasingly-plausible To Conquer list is Caelum. Their research has been spectacular and, even if their troops can only peck vainly at my armored masses, they undoubtedly have horrifying magical calamities waiting for me.

I suspect at this point my only option is stubborn, doomed resistance.