Kashmir Slippers
Magister
The game is 75% off on steam today, if anyone else is interested.
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In Progress Let's See the World Die. Dominions 4.
- Thread starter Grimwulf
- Start date
I WANT MY LIFE BACK!
JohnTheRevelator
Arcane
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2011
- Messages
- 1,160
So you can play in official codex pbem games.
Kashmir Slippers
Magister
Just played a couple of turns against AI and... oh my what am I doing?
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2013
- Messages
- 3,469
If you need someone to replace Penda on the front lines, sign me up then.
If you're recruiting somewhat viking-y codexers, then Grunker, Ulminati and I are all Danes, whereas you already have LundB the Swede, but not yet his countryman Luzur.
Andhaira (svartalf)
Grimgravy (most likely Vanjarl)
Grunker (most likely Vanjarl)
Ulminati (Vanjarl/Hagadrott)
Azira (Vanjarl/Hangadrott/Svartalf)
Luzur (Vanjarl/Hangadrott/Svartalf)
Are entering the War in order they were mentioned in this thread. If something bad happens to you, don't blame me.
Next update is somewhat delayed, sorry. Holidays/birthdays/weddings - people gone crazy in Russia. My liver can barely handle that shit.
Besides, this turn brought a lot of... unexpected stuff.
Can't say any more becauseI'm a prick internet connection problems (currently posting from Soviet refrigerator). But I'm glad you guys enlisted to back me up with this.
Grimgravy (most likely Vanjarl)
Grunker (most likely Vanjarl)
Ulminati (Vanjarl/Hagadrott)
Azira (Vanjarl/Hangadrott/Svartalf)
Luzur (Vanjarl/Hangadrott/Svartalf)
Are entering the War in order they were mentioned in this thread. If something bad happens to you, don't blame me.
Blame Azira
Next update is somewhat delayed, sorry. Holidays/birthdays/weddings - people gone crazy in Russia. My liver can barely handle that shit.
Besides, this turn brought a lot of... unexpected stuff.
Can't say any more because
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Hehehe. Yeah, I'm cool with taking the blame. 
This is fucking nightmare.
Whoever attacked my city is going to regret it.
Caelum hawks.
They had no chance against formidable PD 25, not mentioning Gordon Cageman and his city guards. The black hawks routed almost immediately.
This attack wasn’t about causing damage, though. It was an insult. Throwing down the gauntlet. Those of you, who follow this LP from the beginning, may remember dat little prediction:
By saying “a lot” I meant A LOT.
Who said you can only cast one Call of the Winds per province? If you have enough A2 casters and air gems, you may perform as many Calls as you want. Caelum has cast one ritual on our capital and two rituals on Midvale. All in a single fucking turn.
That caught me completely by surprise. When I ordered Brutus and blood slaves to move towards Helheim, I didn’t expect any difficulties. Movement between allied provinces is always proceeded before attacking hostile ones. That’s why I didn’t bother scripting Brutus – I just knew that he’ll make it out of the province before Ulm attacks.
Well, who would have guessed that Caelum SUDDENLY decides to declare War and cast Call of the Winds on Midvale. You see, casting rituals is proceeded before ANY movement. Brutus retreated on turn 1, following my previous scripted orders. And leaving blood slaves behind, while others butchered them black birdies.
One should never leave blood slaves behind. In the end, we lost them all.
Along with archer-provoker, but fuck him anyway. Black hawks didn’t have anywhere to escape, so we had genocidal type of victory in both battles.
However, those black hawks were nothing. Not even a warm-up.
What we saw in Valley of 1000 Deaths was beyond terrifying. This is how Impossible AI looks like at turn 22:
This unholy army is led by several commanders, most notable of which is Airya Seraphine.
50-year old, with a “Never Healing Wound” affliction, she can die any day now. And she knows that very well, thus I don’t expect any slow-ass approach from them.
Even if she won’t survive that long, there is a bunch of younger commanders standing by her side, including a Mairya Ahu.
And several Sastars (Balgruuf killed one of those in the Arena).
What can I say. An ENOURMOUS army is marching towards Helgate.
If we don’t stop them, Caelum will take over the fort. Afterwards, they may attack our capital any moment. I would gladly think it over right now, but I can’t. Because Helheim is under attack. AGAIN.
This winter is brutally cold. 70 wolves lead by two leaders of the pack.
Our capital has a decent PD and Gordon Cageman, but that’s a lot of fucking wolves.
The fight was long and grueling. Some people died, some others routed. It wasn’t easy, but in the end we managed to fend them off.
Gordon lost 5 men. And one is heavily wounded (“Diseased” affliction), so he won’t last long (assigned him as Andhaira’s bodyguard).
And if that wasn’t enough, Jon Snow was discovered by Ulm’s patrol. No such thing as “prisoner” in Wars of Ascension.
Jon didn’t go down fast. They had to set him on fire and surround from all sides. Still, he had no chance against Ulm’s capital PD.
Dammit. Keep calm andCHEEKI BREEKI read the messages.
Must. Not. Panic.
Calum and Vanheim declared War simultaneously. They are not at war with each other. Vanheim isn’t at war with Ulm, and Caelum only had one border incident with them freaking ages ago. You know how it feels like? It feels like Caelum, Vanheim and Ulm formed an alliance against me.
See for yourself. Caelum is one month away from Helgate.
Ulm didn’t attack Midvale last turn, and brought reinforcements instead. It was a good call not to attack Lower Ulmwood last month, but now I’ll have to give up on Midvale and Thunder Falls. I can’t face that kind of numbers with my current forces. Or maybe I can..? I’ll think of it a bit later.
Vanheim is Vanheim. I don’t know shit about their glamourous armies.
What will happen next? I’m going to be attacked from all sides, and gangbanged. Hard. Chances are, this is the end.
But hey. I still have messages to read.
That’s it, I’m done. I’m fucking done with Crispy and his bullshit. He searched SIX provinces in total, and found nothing. He is the worst.
Even Headless Horseman does a better job.
It’s gonna be so painful to give up on this province. I could really use extra gold right now.
By the way, I was right about blood site in Resting Shore.
Villains are awesome, actually. Cheap, fast, stealthy – what else do you want for yer archers?
But they really don’t fit in my strategy.
At least we solved mystery of Resting Shore unrest. Next.
Even Kailasa manages to overcome shitty circumstances. Who am I to complain?
Next comes a bunch of minor news. Harkon fails, BoT spreads across the world, some battles and events that were discussed already. Aha, another unexpected event.
That’s what I like to see! The donation is shitty, but I’m a merciful God. I hereby forgiveth thine sins or smth. You may now go hang yourself.
No more significant undiscussed messages.
Andhaira the svartalf arrived in Helheim. That’s a E3D2 svartalf, just like Crispy.
Well, at least he'll make a decent combat caster.
Ulm lost another province to Marverni.
Something tells me there is one sole reason for that: Ulm moves all his forces towards Helheim.
Agartha takes a serious beating from Sauromatia as well.
What a long fucking month. Conclusion: we are in deep shit.
Keep calm andI V DAMKI issue orders.
But before I begin, gotta correct some mistakes. Like I said, I’m old and senile, and things often get messed up in my head.
Let us begin with Helheim and surroundings.
Fuck temples. Roark wasted some time (figures), I should have known better. Can’t protect my provinces from neutral attacks (I could assemble undead patrols later on, but not nearly soon). That’s why Roark comes sneaking into Weeping Falls.
So, next turn Vanheim will most likely attack this province. They could aim for one of coastal provinces first, but if there is anyone in Falls of Farewell fortress, he/she will conquer Weeping Falls. I can’t divide my army between two fronts. In fact, I don’t have enough troops to fight even a single enemy. So, here is how I’ll counter Vanheim for now:
1. They attack Weeping Falls and conquer it.
2. Roark reveals himself and attacks Vanheim in Weeping Falls. Lysandus attacks Weeping Falls from Misty Hollow. Raider Brutus attacks Weeping Falls from Edge of the Melt. They are all issued “immediate retreat” order.
3. If I’m lucky enough, the three of them will manage to attack Vanheim BEFORE he moves deeper in Helheim territories. Then we shall win ourselves some time (remember last battle between Eginolf and Penda? Penda was ordered to move from Weeping Falls to Misty Hollow, but Eginolf got to Weeping Falls first, engaging Penda. In that case, Penda fought Eginolf on place, and didn't move anywhere - his turn was spent. I hope to do the same with Vanheim).
4. Next turn: repeat maneuver. Do it until DRN fucks us. Win as much time as possible.
Ulfric returns to Helheim. Maybe he’ll go straight to Helgate from here, maybe stays for a bit – I’ll decide next turn.
Andhaira goes to Helgate to do battle support. He will most likely die fighting Caelum, but he still has some time for casting Twiceborn.
Harkon hunts, because we need more blood.
Crispy researches, because we’ll get significant RP drop otherwise.
Now for Caelum front.
Right. I have a plan. It’s shitty, risky, and naive. Just as usual.
You see, Caelum had a real hard time surviving in those mountains. Feeding an army that size – you need miles of farmlands to do that, not fucking mountaintops. When all those birdmen and mammoths came down to Valley of 1000 Deaths, most of them were starving already. Especially mammoths.
That’s not the only example. In fact, I had a hard time finding any unit that has more than 10 morale among this freaking army. Starvation makes your troops weaker, and prone to deserting, afflictions and death. Attacking the Valley (which never had a lot of supplies in the first place) was probably a mistake. I lost nothing during this battle. And they… Well.
Caelum suffered the greatest unit loss in their entire history. And it wasn’t even because of BoT.
I want them to stay there as long as fucking possible. That’s why I ordered LundB and one of Helgate’s Skalds attack the Valley. Same “Retreat” order, same tactics: distract and make them lose a turn. Let them starve some more. There will be even less supplies in Helgate.
Of course, if Caelum makes it to Helgate first, I’m going to lose LundB, his 20 huskarls and a Skald (they won’t have an escape route). But someone told me that LundB tends to be DRN-lucky, so…
Meanwhile, Zephyr is going to build Wooden Towers for 200gp.
Expensive, maybe even pointless, but EXTREMELY effective against those mammoths. Most of Caelum’s mammoths have morale 5 or lower, some have 8 and just a couple has 9 and 12. And it’s going to get worse with every passing turn. One arrow hit from that tower might be enough to force the entire squad of mammoths into retreat. Retreating mammoths trample their own forces, making their morale fall too. Chain reaction. Andhaira will be able to cast Terror using death gems. Helkarls (Royal Skalds) will cast Frighten and Raise Dead with death gems. And I think I might be able to reclaim the Valley while they will storm Helgate. Thus, all retreating units will just vanish. How awesome is that?
Phew. That was the short version. Now, on to Ulm front.
You may call me crazy all you want, but I’m staying in Midvale. We must hold our ground. If Ulm attacks, we SHOULD be able to get rid of them, bit by bit. If they throw every single squad from Lower Ulmwood and Avilwood towards Midvale, then I am probably proper fucked.
Thing is, I don’t have much choice. BoT is still taking effect, and Helheim area has plenty of supplies. If this attack happend 6-8 turns later, I would have used the opposite tactics:
- lure them deeper into my lands;
- hide and wait for their units to starve and/or get old;
- cut off escape route and finish them off.
One day, I will do exactly that. Up til then, we stay and we fight. Two terror-spammin’ Hangadrotts, 17 experienced Helhirdings, a bunch of Valkyries, sturdy shieldwall, some PD. We’ll manage. No other option.
Hiring Grimgravy the Vanjarl in Helgate; Vanherse-skald in Helheim; and PD 1 in Thunder Falls. That leaves me with 14gp.
A little detour in research. Gotta grab Blood Magic 2 next turn.
I hope to receive a Hangadrott with B path eventually in order to summon some Bone Fiends. Meanwhile, we can really use Agony against Caelum, if they besiege Helgate.
That stuff works wonders when used against starving and demoralized army, especially mammoths.
It requires B2 caster, but our Vanjarls can pull this off via Sabbath. I’ll go into details once we’ll get to dat siege.
Traditional National Overview.
And that’s that. Last turn it was quiet, stable, boring. Now it’s suffering, despair and gangbang all over the place. Yeah, shit like this happens in Dominions.
Poor Jon. He was an idiot, but he was MY idiot. I'll make those bastards pay for your death.
TURN 22
WINTER IN THE YEAR 2 OF THE ASCENSION WARS
WINTER IN THE YEAR 2 OF THE ASCENSION WARS
Whoever attacked my city is going to regret it.
Caelum hawks.
They had no chance against formidable PD 25, not mentioning Gordon Cageman and his city guards. The black hawks routed almost immediately.
This attack wasn’t about causing damage, though. It was an insult. Throwing down the gauntlet. Those of you, who follow this LP from the beginning, may remember dat little prediction:
AI Caelum tends to spam this spell a lot:
By saying “a lot” I meant A LOT.
Who said you can only cast one Call of the Winds per province? If you have enough A2 casters and air gems, you may perform as many Calls as you want. Caelum has cast one ritual on our capital and two rituals on Midvale. All in a single fucking turn.
That caught me completely by surprise. When I ordered Brutus and blood slaves to move towards Helheim, I didn’t expect any difficulties. Movement between allied provinces is always proceeded before attacking hostile ones. That’s why I didn’t bother scripting Brutus – I just knew that he’ll make it out of the province before Ulm attacks.
Well, who would have guessed that Caelum SUDDENLY decides to declare War and cast Call of the Winds on Midvale. You see, casting rituals is proceeded before ANY movement. Brutus retreated on turn 1, following my previous scripted orders. And leaving blood slaves behind, while others butchered them black birdies.
One should never leave blood slaves behind. In the end, we lost them all.
Along with archer-provoker, but fuck him anyway. Black hawks didn’t have anywhere to escape, so we had genocidal type of victory in both battles.
However, those black hawks were nothing. Not even a warm-up.
What we saw in Valley of 1000 Deaths was beyond terrifying. This is how Impossible AI looks like at turn 22:
This unholy army is led by several commanders, most notable of which is Airya Seraphine.
50-year old, with a “Never Healing Wound” affliction, she can die any day now. And she knows that very well, thus I don’t expect any slow-ass approach from them.
Even if she won’t survive that long, there is a bunch of younger commanders standing by her side, including a Mairya Ahu.
And several Sastars (Balgruuf killed one of those in the Arena).
What can I say. An ENOURMOUS army is marching towards Helgate.
If we don’t stop them, Caelum will take over the fort. Afterwards, they may attack our capital any moment. I would gladly think it over right now, but I can’t. Because Helheim is under attack. AGAIN.
This winter is brutally cold. 70 wolves lead by two leaders of the pack.
Our capital has a decent PD and Gordon Cageman, but that’s a lot of fucking wolves.
The fight was long and grueling. Some people died, some others routed. It wasn’t easy, but in the end we managed to fend them off.
Gordon lost 5 men. And one is heavily wounded (“Diseased” affliction), so he won’t last long (assigned him as Andhaira’s bodyguard).
And if that wasn’t enough, Jon Snow was discovered by Ulm’s patrol. No such thing as “prisoner” in Wars of Ascension.
Jon didn’t go down fast. They had to set him on fire and surround from all sides. Still, he had no chance against Ulm’s capital PD.
Dammit. Keep calm and
Must. Not. Panic.
Calum and Vanheim declared War simultaneously. They are not at war with each other. Vanheim isn’t at war with Ulm, and Caelum only had one border incident with them freaking ages ago. You know how it feels like? It feels like Caelum, Vanheim and Ulm formed an alliance against me.
See for yourself. Caelum is one month away from Helgate.
Ulm didn’t attack Midvale last turn, and brought reinforcements instead. It was a good call not to attack Lower Ulmwood last month, but now I’ll have to give up on Midvale and Thunder Falls. I can’t face that kind of numbers with my current forces. Or maybe I can..? I’ll think of it a bit later.
Vanheim is Vanheim. I don’t know shit about their glamourous armies.
What will happen next? I’m going to be attacked from all sides, and gangbanged. Hard. Chances are, this is the end.
But hey. I still have messages to read.
That’s it, I’m done. I’m fucking done with Crispy and his bullshit. He searched SIX provinces in total, and found nothing. He is the worst.
Even Headless Horseman does a better job.
It’s gonna be so painful to give up on this province. I could really use extra gold right now.
By the way, I was right about blood site in Resting Shore.
Villains are awesome, actually. Cheap, fast, stealthy – what else do you want for yer archers?
But they really don’t fit in my strategy.
At least we solved mystery of Resting Shore unrest. Next.
Even Kailasa manages to overcome shitty circumstances. Who am I to complain?
Next comes a bunch of minor news. Harkon fails, BoT spreads across the world, some battles and events that were discussed already. Aha, another unexpected event.
That’s what I like to see! The donation is shitty, but I’m a merciful God. I hereby forgiveth thine sins or smth. You may now go hang yourself.
No more significant undiscussed messages.
Andhaira the svartalf arrived in Helheim. That’s a E3D2 svartalf, just like Crispy.
Well, at least he'll make a decent combat caster.
Ulm lost another province to Marverni.
Something tells me there is one sole reason for that: Ulm moves all his forces towards Helheim.
Agartha takes a serious beating from Sauromatia as well.
What a long fucking month. Conclusion: we are in deep shit.
Keep calm and
But before I begin, gotta correct some mistakes. Like I said, I’m old and senile, and things often get messed up in my head.
1. Sneaking units don’t have any priority in movement calculations. For some forsaken reason I though that “Attack current province” order falls into 18 category in TRS (Assassinations). Apparently, I was wrong. It falls into 22 category (Other Movement), so it’s possible for the enemy to get out of province before sneaking units ambush them.
2. Actually, diseases and afflictions spammed by “Old Age” trait can be healed. Therefore, keeping your old guys surrounded by a horde of healers will make them virtually immortal.
The penalties from the trait are very harsh by themselves, but still. What that means is Ermor still got a chance to counter BoT, if they follow a VERY fucking SPECIFIC strategy, surrounding every commanders with 3 healers and not using living units at all or using exclusively gladiators/retiarius (only participate in one battle and then leave forever – they won’t be bothering healers with their afflictions).
However, there is a single affliction that can’t be healed ever - Dementia. Thus you can only support your elders until they get demented. After that, they are virtually dead.
2. Actually, diseases and afflictions spammed by “Old Age” trait can be healed. Therefore, keeping your old guys surrounded by a horde of healers will make them virtually immortal.
The penalties from the trait are very harsh by themselves, but still. What that means is Ermor still got a chance to counter BoT, if they follow a VERY fucking SPECIFIC strategy, surrounding every commanders with 3 healers and not using living units at all or using exclusively gladiators/retiarius (only participate in one battle and then leave forever – they won’t be bothering healers with their afflictions).
However, there is a single affliction that can’t be healed ever - Dementia. Thus you can only support your elders until they get demented. After that, they are virtually dead.
Let us begin with Helheim and surroundings.
Fuck temples. Roark wasted some time (figures), I should have known better. Can’t protect my provinces from neutral attacks (I could assemble undead patrols later on, but not nearly soon). That’s why Roark comes sneaking into Weeping Falls.
So, next turn Vanheim will most likely attack this province. They could aim for one of coastal provinces first, but if there is anyone in Falls of Farewell fortress, he/she will conquer Weeping Falls. I can’t divide my army between two fronts. In fact, I don’t have enough troops to fight even a single enemy. So, here is how I’ll counter Vanheim for now:
1. They attack Weeping Falls and conquer it.
2. Roark reveals himself and attacks Vanheim in Weeping Falls. Lysandus attacks Weeping Falls from Misty Hollow. Raider Brutus attacks Weeping Falls from Edge of the Melt. They are all issued “immediate retreat” order.
3. If I’m lucky enough, the three of them will manage to attack Vanheim BEFORE he moves deeper in Helheim territories. Then we shall win ourselves some time (remember last battle between Eginolf and Penda? Penda was ordered to move from Weeping Falls to Misty Hollow, but Eginolf got to Weeping Falls first, engaging Penda. In that case, Penda fought Eginolf on place, and didn't move anywhere - his turn was spent. I hope to do the same with Vanheim).
4. Next turn: repeat maneuver. Do it until DRN fucks us. Win as much time as possible.
Ulfric returns to Helheim. Maybe he’ll go straight to Helgate from here, maybe stays for a bit – I’ll decide next turn.
Andhaira goes to Helgate to do battle support. He will most likely die fighting Caelum, but he still has some time for casting Twiceborn.
Harkon hunts, because we need more blood.
Crispy researches, because we’ll get significant RP drop otherwise.
Now for Caelum front.
Right. I have a plan. It’s shitty, risky, and naive. Just as usual.
You see, Caelum had a real hard time surviving in those mountains. Feeding an army that size – you need miles of farmlands to do that, not fucking mountaintops. When all those birdmen and mammoths came down to Valley of 1000 Deaths, most of them were starving already. Especially mammoths.
That’s not the only example. In fact, I had a hard time finding any unit that has more than 10 morale among this freaking army. Starvation makes your troops weaker, and prone to deserting, afflictions and death. Attacking the Valley (which never had a lot of supplies in the first place) was probably a mistake. I lost nothing during this battle. And they… Well.
Caelum suffered the greatest unit loss in their entire history. And it wasn’t even because of BoT.
I want them to stay there as long as fucking possible. That’s why I ordered LundB and one of Helgate’s Skalds attack the Valley. Same “Retreat” order, same tactics: distract and make them lose a turn. Let them starve some more. There will be even less supplies in Helgate.
Of course, if Caelum makes it to Helgate first, I’m going to lose LundB, his 20 huskarls and a Skald (they won’t have an escape route). But someone told me that LundB tends to be DRN-lucky, so…
Meanwhile, Zephyr is going to build Wooden Towers for 200gp.
Expensive, maybe even pointless, but EXTREMELY effective against those mammoths. Most of Caelum’s mammoths have morale 5 or lower, some have 8 and just a couple has 9 and 12. And it’s going to get worse with every passing turn. One arrow hit from that tower might be enough to force the entire squad of mammoths into retreat. Retreating mammoths trample their own forces, making their morale fall too. Chain reaction. Andhaira will be able to cast Terror using death gems. Helkarls (Royal Skalds) will cast Frighten and Raise Dead with death gems. And I think I might be able to reclaim the Valley while they will storm Helgate. Thus, all retreating units will just vanish. How awesome is that?
Phew. That was the short version. Now, on to Ulm front.
You may call me crazy all you want, but I’m staying in Midvale. We must hold our ground. If Ulm attacks, we SHOULD be able to get rid of them, bit by bit. If they throw every single squad from Lower Ulmwood and Avilwood towards Midvale, then I am probably proper fucked.
Thing is, I don’t have much choice. BoT is still taking effect, and Helheim area has plenty of supplies. If this attack happend 6-8 turns later, I would have used the opposite tactics:
- lure them deeper into my lands;
- hide and wait for their units to starve and/or get old;
- cut off escape route and finish them off.
One day, I will do exactly that. Up til then, we stay and we fight. Two terror-spammin’ Hangadrotts, 17 experienced Helhirdings, a bunch of Valkyries, sturdy shieldwall, some PD. We’ll manage. No other option.
Hiring Grimgravy the Vanjarl in Helgate; Vanherse-skald in Helheim; and PD 1 in Thunder Falls. That leaves me with 14gp.
A little detour in research. Gotta grab Blood Magic 2 next turn.
I hope to receive a Hangadrott with B path eventually in order to summon some Bone Fiends. Meanwhile, we can really use Agony against Caelum, if they besiege Helgate.
That stuff works wonders when used against starving and demoralized army, especially mammoths.
It requires B2 caster, but our Vanjarls can pull this off via Sabbath. I’ll go into details once we’ll get to dat siege.
Traditional National Overview.
And that’s that. Last turn it was quiet, stable, boring. Now it’s suffering, despair and gangbang all over the place. Yeah, shit like this happens in Dominions.
Poor Jon. He was an idiot, but he was MY idiot. I'll make those bastards pay for your death.
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What a teaser update. I want the next one to happen. Soon.
Next update is coming today.
I'm always recruiting.
Scout it is, then! I'm sure you'll end better than Jon Snow.
I'm always recruiting.
Scout it is, then! I'm sure you'll end better than Jon Snow.
Agiwulf. Does the name ring a bell? The Prophet of Kantena, Pretender of Ulm. Prophet from turn 2, mind you, just like Codex Troll.
Now a 40-year old man, with “Heroic Precision” ability (He was in Hall of Fame long time ago). He is the man who almost conquered Marverni, gotta give him some credit.
So, what happened to him? Why did he let Marverni reclaim all those lost territories? Where the fuck is he right now?
Well…
The Man himself.
38 hp + 5 Undying. More than capable in melee combat. All his men have 10-15 morale, none of them is at old age yet.
But the worst thing about Agiwulf is this.
Actual tactical approach. That giant fucking line won’t let my cavalry through.
And Valkyries won’t kill Agiwulf on their own. Or at least won’t do it fast.
Our shieldwall messed up with local PD. Gotta place them a bit behind next time.
What does it matter, though? We are fucked, fighting against those numbers.
Kantena’s blessing makes all Steel Warriors of Ulm look like mini-Agiwulfs.
At least they don’t have regeneration.
Our Hagadrotts cast Raise Dead, because enemy line moves slow, and Terror spell doesn’t have enough range.
As soon as I finish researching Construction 4, I plan to send a couple of Helkarls with Skull Staves to join our army.
Their sole purpose will be spamming Raise Dead. Of course, if we all die today, it won’t matter anymore.
The little decoy-provoker trick worked like a charm.
Enemy archers keep shooting (and missing) our single wounded archer two turns in a row. They were targetting him even when shield-less PD militia came almost at point-blank range.
That line of Ulm moves slow as fuck. More Raise Dead, then.
Valkyries are ready to move out. Same as cavalry.
And… fail.
They all charged into infantry ranks. No chance they will survive this.
It had to happen one day, I suppose.
Them archers are still trying to shoot our decoy guy.
The line finally moved close enough. TERROR motherfuckers! When you see Penda, you’ll shit brixx.
Turn 4. Ragnar and Krummi make their checks now. Come on…
They made it! Taking down Agiwulf and his assistant Patza (standard Warrior Chief without any experience) will take some time, especially since they are surrounded by archers. But I believe in Krummi and Ragnar. They will break their bodies and/or morale eventually.
Meanwhile, militia from Midvale PD reached front units of Ulm.
Valkyries sure managed to break their formations. Still not a reason enough to die, but… Sigh.
Helhird charges into enemy lines on both flanks, causing heavy damage.
Followed by a heavy counter-attack. If anybody wonders how “Undying” trait works, there you go:
Having “Undying 6”, our Helhirdings fight until they are at -6 hp level. Of course, this one won’t survive the battle anyway – everyone with negative hp dies after battle ends. But at least there is a chance to kill more savages until last dying breath.
More stuff to tell when he enters Helhalla.
The last Valkyrie dies.
Give me a moment.
Ok.
Another Helhirding dies.
Militia is butchered by Steel Maidens.
Let’s look at the battlefield like aboss God.
Troll and Penda are chillin’ behind our ranks. Zombies are still far away. Ulm line is totally broken, we fight them bits by bits. Which is good, I say. Headless Horseman charged ahead, but his Fatigue is 96, which worries me some (kinda didn't expect him to cast fatigue-demanding Raise Dead).
Helhird is doing fine. We all should be fine. *Mumbles to himself nervously*
Fucking Steel Warriors. One of them chopped a horse’s leg. Apparently, the horse fell on Helhirding. He won’t make it, ffuck.
Make. More. Damage.
Other guys from PD closed in on enemy lines. Our shieldwall and zombies are not too far behind, led by Headless Horseman. Helhird makes dat snow red with Ulm blood. … And with their own too.
Militia from PD retreats. Well, not much of them left anyway. I wish fucking Ulm began routing too. Nothing fucking scares them.
Krummi and Ragnar still fighting Agiwulf and Patza.
Another Helhirding dies.
Ulm doesn’t retreat. Fuck. Losing Helhirdings is always tragical. Just so you know, most of the battle looks like this:
Yes, even the great warriors of Ulm, those dual-wielding beasts, have an extremely hard time landing a hit on Helhirdings. Misses, repels, illusion hits, shield hits – not a cakewalk to be sure. Our Helhird is 2-3 experience level each. Under King Grimwulf’s every-school-blessing they are truly a sight to see.
That’s why I was fairly sure we can withstand average army of Ulm. Our defensive capabilities are just too good for them.
Back to business. Ragnar is completely surrounded by women. Nothing he can’t handle.
Those who don’t fight Ragnar are STILL trying to shoot our decoy-man.
Our shieldwall is a bit scattered by now (well, it started that way because of PD), but it’s ready to replace PD infantry now. Raider Lod charged by himself.
That’s it, Lod! Show dem bastards how it’s done!
Why do I keep wasting gold on humans?
The battle goes on, and on. Helhird deliveres the message. Ulm doesn’t give a damn.
Terror is nearly useless against giant squad in line formation. In fact, forcing Ulm units to retreat is practically impossible. Even fucking Vanheim would have retreated by now.
Headless Horseman kills one Steel Maiden, then attacks another.
Too bad he’s out of stamina. This might end bloody.
Meanwhile, we fight. Ulm troops die rapidly, but their morale is as strong as ever.
Steel Maidens have probably the best chances of hitting Helhirdings, with 12 attack and dual-wield. Still, the chances are shit.
On our right flank huskarls rushed to the aid of Helhirding, who was fighting single-handedly against a bunch of Steel Warriors, for a couple turns already. Landing a hit on huskarl is almost as hard as on Helhirding.
You might remember that all our huskarls are level 3 and in perfect shape. A shame we don’t have more of them.
A small group of heavily wounded warriors finally retreats.
Most of these guys have wounds and afflictions, some are bleeding. Still, all of them have 11-12 morale, so I might consider myself lucky they failed the check.
If you look at first pics of this post, you'll notice a group of warriors standing behind the big-ass line, in box formation. That means that they were fighting in separate squad, and have a separate morale check. Now you see them retreat.
Krummi has a hard time with Agiwulf. I wish she had one of those Rings of the Warrior right now.
Ragnar is doing much better, showing those archers some mighty damage.
Meanwhile in Zombieland:
Can you handle that much undead, Agiwulf?
Fuck you, then.
More of our PD infantry falls. Raider Horas lost a duel against Steel Maiden.
I won’t miss him.
Ulm forces are MUCH fewer in numbers now. They can’t land a single hit on any of our Vanir.
Archers are still trying to shoot our decoy guy :3
Ulm may not be able to fight Vanir, but they do pretty well against other humans and zombies.
Don’t worry though. Penda can summon them all day long.
He’s not spamming Terror because it’s far beyond turn 5, and AI took control over my commanders quite some time ago. Troll fights along with left flank Helhird, by the way.
Steel Warriors, Ulm's elite sacreds, may not be as offence-effective as Steel Maidens, but they are much more bulky.
Hard to take them down, that's for sure.
I’m starting to doubt we can murder Agiwulf this time. He is too gud with dat two-handed sword.
Sometimes hit box is just not big enough. It can’t handle that much epicness.
Don’t worry about Codex Troll. He had his share of fun too.
SUDDENLY
Wha, how? What happened? Nevermind, KILL FUCKING AGIWULF!!1
FUCK!
And that was yet another battle for Midvale. Not an easy one, by any means. We’ve lost entire SVD squad, not mentioning other Vanir.
We faced only a part of Ulm’s army, and struggled to hold our ground. While another part claimed Thunder Falls without facing any resistance.
We may have slayed some of their troops. We may have forced their Prophet into routing. But can it really be called a victory? I don’t know. I’m just a God, not some kind of philosopher.
* * *
This will be the last update of 2014. I find it kinda symbolic that we take a break now, when it’s midwinter both in game and IRL. I’ll make new updates as soon as I, err, recover.
Meanwhile, feel free to enlist, ask questions, post comments and critique, or just any kind of crap that comes to mind. Also, enlist.
The army of Helheim needs you!
Now a 40-year old man, with “Heroic Precision” ability (He was in Hall of Fame long time ago). He is the man who almost conquered Marverni, gotta give him some credit.
So, what happened to him? Why did he let Marverni reclaim all those lost territories? Where the fuck is he right now?
Well…
AGIWULF vs CODEX TROLL
BATTLE OF PROPHETS
BATTLE OF PROPHETS
The Man himself.
38 hp + 5 Undying. More than capable in melee combat. All his men have 10-15 morale, none of them is at old age yet.
But the worst thing about Agiwulf is this.
Actual tactical approach. That giant fucking line won’t let my cavalry through.
And Valkyries won’t kill Agiwulf on their own. Or at least won’t do it fast.
Our shieldwall messed up with local PD. Gotta place them a bit behind next time.
What does it matter, though? We are fucked, fighting against those numbers.
Kantena’s blessing makes all Steel Warriors of Ulm look like mini-Agiwulfs.
At least they don’t have regeneration.
Our Hagadrotts cast Raise Dead, because enemy line moves slow, and Terror spell doesn’t have enough range.
As soon as I finish researching Construction 4, I plan to send a couple of Helkarls with Skull Staves to join our army.
Their sole purpose will be spamming Raise Dead. Of course, if we all die today, it won’t matter anymore.
The little decoy-provoker trick worked like a charm.
Enemy archers keep shooting (and missing) our single wounded archer two turns in a row. They were targetting him even when shield-less PD militia came almost at point-blank range.
That line of Ulm moves slow as fuck. More Raise Dead, then.
Valkyries are ready to move out. Same as cavalry.
And… fail.
They all charged into infantry ranks. No chance they will survive this.
It had to happen one day, I suppose.
Them archers are still trying to shoot our decoy guy.
The line finally moved close enough. TERROR motherfuckers! When you see Penda, you’ll shit brixx.
Turn 4. Ragnar and Krummi make their checks now. Come on…
They made it! Taking down Agiwulf and his assistant Patza (standard Warrior Chief without any experience) will take some time, especially since they are surrounded by archers. But I believe in Krummi and Ragnar. They will break their bodies and/or morale eventually.
Meanwhile, militia from Midvale PD reached front units of Ulm.
Valkyries sure managed to break their formations. Still not a reason enough to die, but… Sigh.
Helhird charges into enemy lines on both flanks, causing heavy damage.
Followed by a heavy counter-attack. If anybody wonders how “Undying” trait works, there you go:
Having “Undying 6”, our Helhirdings fight until they are at -6 hp level. Of course, this one won’t survive the battle anyway – everyone with negative hp dies after battle ends. But at least there is a chance to kill more savages until last dying breath.
More stuff to tell when he enters Helhalla.
The last Valkyrie dies.
Give me a moment.
Ok.
Another Helhirding dies.
Militia is butchered by Steel Maidens.
Let’s look at the battlefield like a
Troll and Penda are chillin’ behind our ranks. Zombies are still far away. Ulm line is totally broken, we fight them bits by bits. Which is good, I say. Headless Horseman charged ahead, but his Fatigue is 96, which worries me some (kinda didn't expect him to cast fatigue-demanding Raise Dead).
Helhird is doing fine. We all should be fine. *Mumbles to himself nervously*
Fucking Steel Warriors. One of them chopped a horse’s leg. Apparently, the horse fell on Helhirding. He won’t make it, ffuck.
Make. More. Damage.
Other guys from PD closed in on enemy lines. Our shieldwall and zombies are not too far behind, led by Headless Horseman. Helhird makes dat snow red with Ulm blood. … And with their own too.
Militia from PD retreats. Well, not much of them left anyway. I wish fucking Ulm began routing too. Nothing fucking scares them.
Krummi and Ragnar still fighting Agiwulf and Patza.
Another Helhirding dies.
Ulm doesn’t retreat. Fuck. Losing Helhirdings is always tragical. Just so you know, most of the battle looks like this:
Yes, even the great warriors of Ulm, those dual-wielding beasts, have an extremely hard time landing a hit on Helhirdings. Misses, repels, illusion hits, shield hits – not a cakewalk to be sure. Our Helhird is 2-3 experience level each. Under King Grimwulf’s every-school-blessing they are truly a sight to see.
That’s why I was fairly sure we can withstand average army of Ulm. Our defensive capabilities are just too good for them.
Back to business. Ragnar is completely surrounded by women. Nothing he can’t handle.
Those who don’t fight Ragnar are STILL trying to shoot our decoy-man.
Our shieldwall is a bit scattered by now (well, it started that way because of PD), but it’s ready to replace PD infantry now. Raider Lod charged by himself.
That’s it, Lod! Show dem bastards how it’s done!
Why do I keep wasting gold on humans?
The battle goes on, and on. Helhird deliveres the message. Ulm doesn’t give a damn.
Terror is nearly useless against giant squad in line formation. In fact, forcing Ulm units to retreat is practically impossible. Even fucking Vanheim would have retreated by now.
Headless Horseman kills one Steel Maiden, then attacks another.
Too bad he’s out of stamina. This might end bloody.
Meanwhile, we fight. Ulm troops die rapidly, but their morale is as strong as ever.
Steel Maidens have probably the best chances of hitting Helhirdings, with 12 attack and dual-wield. Still, the chances are shit.
On our right flank huskarls rushed to the aid of Helhirding, who was fighting single-handedly against a bunch of Steel Warriors, for a couple turns already. Landing a hit on huskarl is almost as hard as on Helhirding.
You might remember that all our huskarls are level 3 and in perfect shape. A shame we don’t have more of them.
A small group of heavily wounded warriors finally retreats.
Most of these guys have wounds and afflictions, some are bleeding. Still, all of them have 11-12 morale, so I might consider myself lucky they failed the check.
If you look at first pics of this post, you'll notice a group of warriors standing behind the big-ass line, in box formation. That means that they were fighting in separate squad, and have a separate morale check. Now you see them retreat.
Krummi has a hard time with Agiwulf. I wish she had one of those Rings of the Warrior right now.
Ragnar is doing much better, showing those archers some mighty damage.
Meanwhile in Zombieland:
Can you handle that much undead, Agiwulf?
Fuck you, then.
More of our PD infantry falls. Raider Horas lost a duel against Steel Maiden.
I won’t miss him.
Ulm forces are MUCH fewer in numbers now. They can’t land a single hit on any of our Vanir.
Archers are still trying to shoot our decoy guy :3
Ulm may not be able to fight Vanir, but they do pretty well against other humans and zombies.
Don’t worry though. Penda can summon them all day long.
He’s not spamming Terror because it’s far beyond turn 5, and AI took control over my commanders quite some time ago. Troll fights along with left flank Helhird, by the way.
Steel Warriors, Ulm's elite sacreds, may not be as offence-effective as Steel Maidens, but they are much more bulky.
Hard to take them down, that's for sure.
I’m starting to doubt we can murder Agiwulf this time. He is too gud with dat two-handed sword.
Sometimes hit box is just not big enough. It can’t handle that much epicness.
Don’t worry about Codex Troll. He had his share of fun too.
SUDDENLY
Wha, how? What happened? Nevermind, KILL FUCKING AGIWULF!!1
FUCK!
And that was yet another battle for Midvale. Not an easy one, by any means. We’ve lost entire SVD squad, not mentioning other Vanir.
We faced only a part of Ulm’s army, and struggled to hold our ground. While another part claimed Thunder Falls without facing any resistance.
We may have slayed some of their troops. We may have forced their Prophet into routing. But can it really be called a victory? I don’t know. I’m just a God, not some kind of philosopher.
* * *
This will be the last update of 2014. I find it kinda symbolic that we take a break now, when it’s midwinter both in game and IRL. I’ll make new updates as soon as I, err, recover.
Meanwhile, feel free to enlist, ask questions, post comments and critique, or just any kind of crap that comes to mind. Also, enlist.
The army of Helheim needs you!
Meanwhile in Valley of 1000 Deaths
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3 troops short of 666. AI not even trying.
JohnTheRevelator
Arcane
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2011
- Messages
- 1,160
I'd sign up for Bane Lord/Bane duty if you'll get those.
Emily
Arcane
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2012
- Messages
- 3,068
So you are betting on everyone just dying off?
As i see you are losing more and more territories meaning you dont have money to hire anymore and keep up with wages
It is kinda an interesting gimmick. I wonder if they scripted the AI to recognize it maybe. how does AI even use global spells? Pre scripting per race?
As i see you are losing more and more territories meaning you dont have money to hire anymore and keep up with wages
It is kinda an interesting gimmick. I wonder if they scripted the AI to recognize it maybe. how does AI even use global spells? Pre scripting per race?
A few days ago I tried a similar game. Fired BoT and domkilled Vanheim (just a turn after they killed off my entire army in a siege at Weeping Falls
). Fast forward several years, playing endless tug-of-war in Ulm woods with Ermor, remnants of Ulm (holding on Ulm, Marverni and Caelum capitals) and Kailasa, everybody spamming skeletons and statues in droves, only Kailasa still uses some living troops. Probably won't resume; even if I can outspam them with skellies over time due to bloated gem income, it's not worth the time investment
Of course I will. Consider yourself enlisted.
Nope, it will never happen actually. Nations with Growth 3 can almost keep their population level unchanged under BoT. Besides, there are plenty of other ways to make gold and hire new units and commanders. By casting BoT I aim for:
- Getting close to previously handicapped level level of AI gold income and army size;
- Reaching population zero in provinces under my dominion. Did I say that there is no way to increase population level once it reaches zero?
The first goal guarantees a more or less fair fight. AI will still have more of everything, but no as much. The second goal makes my territories almost impenetrable for standard AI attacks (no supplies). My lands will kill their living armies without me participating.
BoT won't win me a game session by itself. Even with Foul Air follow-up. They are working great in synergy, and fully uncover their potential after casting Well of Misery.
Which won't happen until late midgame. This LP is gonna take a while
Mm, not quiet so. You can see on screenshots that I have a mighty fine difference between income (around 700) and upkeep (around 300), because I mostly use cheap-to-maintain sacred units and commanders, and try to keep it that way. I'm able to hire new troops and commanders for the time being.
As for PD, I normally don't hire much of it in most of my sessions. And it is especially pointless in this one, because I'm aming to kill my population (PD dies along with population).
When playing with Impossible AI, you are supposed to have that kind of problems. No human player could have gathered an army of 666+ units by turn 22 when playing Caelum.
Another thing is, Helheim was never easy on that map. Even with more classical approach.
Sorry, can't help you there. The discussions about AI script are raging on Dominions forums since Dom3, maybe even earlier (never played Dom1 or Dom2). Some say he knows what r u doing and creeping on you while you sleep. This is my first session in 4.14 (haven't played since 4.07), and I noticed some massive changes. Mainly, he actually uses national troops. Previously it was a big issue - every high-level AI used mostly neutral units, hired in conquered provinces. You didn't feel the difference, whether you were fighting Ashdod or Pangaea. People even used mods to fix this, smth like "AI national troops" or something (memory issues, sorry). Now it seems to be fixed in vanilla, awesome.
Sounds magnificent to me. Also,
even if I can outspam them with skellies over time due to bloated gem income, it's not worth the time investment
Did you try a Throne rush?
* * *
This LP isn't a strategy showcase. It's actually the first time I try it out myself, so it might end up boring. Probably should have said that in the beginning.
Sounds magnificent to me. Also,
Did you try a Throne rush?
* * *
This LP isn't a strategy showcase. It's actually the first time I try it out myself, so it might end up boring. Probably should have said that in the beginning.
I've got a couple of thrones. Had massive dominion and gem income (used a rainbow pretender to sitesearch rather than research) even without them. If you mean the throne victory, most of them are too far away, and I got bogged down at Ulm-owned (ex)capitals, then got DoWed by Ermor and Kailasa and had to retreat to a more defensible line. Now Oceania got domkilled too, and Ermor skellies are overrunning it before mine could, so my defensive line is doomed too.
What I imply is that BoT tactic eventually backfired at me. Got no income other than burning my giant gem income on alchemy every turn to fund the few remaining living squads, and the enemies happily switched to skellyspam once they run out of people. Now it is whoever spams more skellies per turn, and that's not very fun to play. Imagine a bunch of LA Ermors infighting... meh. If your game survives the current onslaught, it will probably end up the same.
Is that just me, or in Dom4 AI got more versatile in switching gears? Back in the day BoT was indeed overkill when used as Ermor, now everybody seems to shrug and become Ermor lite overnight.
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Holy crap, I would never thought that AI EA Ermor will manage to attune his playstyle to that kind of circumstances. If he has brains to spam Augur Elders surrounded by healers (or just Twiceborn them all), that's just shocking. In a good way.
Yes, it had to happen eventually. There are ways to maintain some important alive commanders (shouldn't be too hard), but not alive units, so you'd be better off without them. Skellispam is for chaff; thugs/SC/offensive magic for teh damage.
We'll see. Even if I manage to survive, I have yet to establish gem income. My current one is shite.
I remember BoT as overkill as well. It was nerfed though (in 4.07, IIRC).
AI changed a lot in my subjective perception. It now uses national troops and attunes well to what's currently happening.
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