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In Progress Let's See the World Die. Dominions 4.

Azira

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Questions about some abbreviations;
SC? Sacred? Seriously though, I'm somewhat stumped..
EA? Does this mean Early Age?
MA? Middle Age?
 

Grimwulf

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Questions about some abbreviations;
SC? Sacred? Seriously though, I'm somewhat stumped..
EA? Does this mean Early Age?
MA? Middle Age?

SC = Super Combatant (A commander capable of fighting solo: without any units whatsoever).
Thug = A commander that participates in battles personnaly (like Penda or Selvaria), usually equipped with artifacts and stuff, but not gud enough to fight solo.
Sacreds = Units with "Sacred" trait. Only these kinds of units can be blessed. Almost every Helheim commander is sacred, as well as Valkyries and Helhirdings.
EA = Early Ages (this session is played in EA).
MA = Middle Ages.
LA = Late Ages.
PD = Province Defense.
RP = Research Points.
 
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Azira

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SC sounds risky. The other abbreviations I seem to've understood, but this explanation is good for newbs like I was before playing the game myself. :) Now I'm only slightly better than a newb, but not by much.
 

Grimwulf

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SC sounds risky. The other abbreviations I seem to've understood, but this explanation is good for newbs like I was before playing the game myself. :) Now I'm only slightly better than a newb, but not by much.

I'm sure you'll grasp it eventually. I try not to use abbreviations in update posts, apart from "PD" and magic schools (A2S1D5, etc). Only when replying to comments.

I'll get to SC eventually. They are gud in pbem and against standard AI. But not so much against Impossible AI, with his handicapped legions (Eginolf and Bobo are just tiny scouting patrols, they are not even small parts of Ulm current forces).

SC is an interesting and complex topic, actually. Coz some SC require certain buff spells, others need artifacts. And some are just "hire and send them YOLO in vanilla", they don't really need anything (especially with good blessing). Like Melqarts of Hinnom, for instance.

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Some players take awaken SC Pretenders to guarantee super-fast expansion. Any kind of Dragon, Gorgon, Wyrm, Ancient Kraken, Cyclops, The Virtue - tons of capable ones. Just be careful not to send them in provinces with hostile dominion - they are much weaker there.
 

Kashmir Slippers

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I have one last question for now. What is the point of casting Burden of Time? It is your be all end all, but I don't know what you have to gain exactly.

Are you just trying to kill everyone else off because all of your people are dying anyway, so it will even the playing field, or does Helheim have special dead units/abilities?
 

Grimwulf

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I have one last question for now. What is the point of casting Burden of Time? It is your be all end all, but I don't know what you have to gain exactly.

I'll explain it in all details at turn 18, when it takes effect. She short story is this: Vanirs lifespan is between 300 and over 1000 years, while humans rarely live up to 80. BoT will hit me hard enough, but it will hit my enemies much harder. And just a couple of nations in the entire world have means of countering it, others simply don't (not so damn early) - they are doomed.

Are you just trying to kill everyone else off because all of your people are dying anyway, so it will even the playing field, or does Helheim have special dead units/abilities?

Yes, I can cope with dead population, my enemies can not. They are dependent on gold income and supplies for their massive armies, while I can summon undead commanders/researchers/units as long as I have a death gems income, which I'm sure will increase rather soon. You can't even assigh PD if there is no population in the province.

When it comes to living, I'm using almost exlusively sacred units and commanders. All sacreds cost twice as cheap to maintain than normal ones.

Foul Air, the next global spell I'm aiming for, affects only the alive wounded ones. Once again, I'm using almost exclusively Vanirs, which can be a bitch to land a hit. With all their glamour, high defense and shit. Humans, on the other hand, are constantly get hit. Every scratch is going to be basically fatal for them.
 

Grimwulf

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Time to host a new turn. Not worried at all, just as usual.

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TURN 17

LATE SUMMER IN THE YEAR 2 OF THE ASCENSION WARS


I don’t care about other news, BRING ME THE HEAD! I want to see that bastard Eginolf’s fuckface before I give it to Crispy.

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Medammit. Slipped again. Where is he?

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Misty Hollow. But of course.

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Neat black sky, eh? Throne of Night bestowed so-called “partial darkness” effect upon the world. Similar to Solar Eclipse, it gives -3 attack, -3 defense and -3 precision to every living unit who can’t see in the dark. Could be worse, though. “Full darkness” gives -6 penalty to everything, turning everybody into helpless little girls.

Back to Eginolf. Bloody bastard managed to escape my wrath, but he is currently trapped deep inside Helheim’s territory.

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Meaning, he won’t have anywhere to run from there. Both Eginolf and his men will die next turn, or my name is not Grimwulf.

Gotta read the messages, though.

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We did some quality research, yar. Oceania’s Prophet claimed The Throne of Might (+2 str to blessed troops). LundB cast Auspex upon The Hanging Tree (nothing was found there, unfortunately). Harkon wasn’t successful this month as well. As for “Worldwide Event” message – it’s just another Throne of Night message, same as previous one. I guess it will spam as long as effect is active.

Only 2 Thrones remain unclaimed.

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I wish I had The Throne of Pestilence instead of Brass Throne.

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It’s doesn't take a genius to figure out that it’s far away, one of three Thrones near Agartha. No matter.

Let us look at spies and their reports.

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Amusing. Kantena, Queen of Gambling, is nowhere to be seen. And Ulm didn’t even conquer every province adjacent to their capital, but already exchanging blows with me, Marverni and Caelum. Aggressive motherfuckers.

Last turn they finished building fortification in fairly decent location. That makes them rather alluring target for offensive actions, since Vanheim is currently pacifistic.

Scales are kinda stupid. Order scale decreases amount of random events, nihilating effect of positive Luck scale. They would be better off with Magic 3 and Misfortune 1 instead of Luck 2. Growth 3 will buy them some time after I cast BoT. It won't stop slow death of population, but it will sure make it veeery slow. If I don't do anything nasty with their dominion, that is.

Ok. Instead of army reinforcements, Bobo got a mercenary band.

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To Hel with Bobo. Eginolf must die! But first, a quick overview of the score graphs.

Oceania Is feeling pretty damn good, having strongest dominion among Pretenders, and four fortifications including the capital.

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They can’t really put up a fight on surface, but aggressive dominion strategy can make wonders for them. In current situation, they are destroying Marverni’s dominion with their own. Building priority is right bet, as well. And considering that underwater provinces are uneffected by Foul Air, I'd say that Oceania will last pretty long in this War.

Arcoscephale’s dominion doesn’t’ feel so well.

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Seems like Ermor, C’tis and Agartha have more charismatic Pretenders.

Apart from that, nothing interesting happened during last month. Moving on to orders.

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Penda goes for Eginolf himself. This is personal matter. Krummi and 3 Valkyries are coming to support him a bit. Two barbarian raiders and Heimskr will go to Misty Hollow too. Heimskr was supposed to build temple in The Hanging Tree, but it would be a waste of gold in case Eginolf attacks it (hostile temples are destroyed upon conquering a province). Besides, Penda could use another priest in upcoming battle.

Codex Troll, Ragnar Lothbrok and Selvaria Bles go to Edge of the Melt province. Several reasons for that:

1. Eginolf can simply move that way before Penda reaches Misty Hollow. Not good.

2. Bobo and Black Bone might conquer the province. Then, even if I defeat Eginolf in Misty Hollow, he and/or his men will be able to escape to Edge of the Melt. Not good.

3. I hope Bobo attacks EotM, so I can kick his shaman balls.

Tactical approach will be discussed during next War Council meeting, as usual.

Meanwhile in Helheim.

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Crispy is ordered to forge another Dwarven Hammer, while I am FINALLY casting Burden of Time. Magnificent. Too bad that I have only 73 death gems (70 to cast + 3 to empower, and you only have one chance to empower your global ritual – upon the casting). A bit nervous about Arcoscephale dispelling it.

LundB will be researching in Helgate, until C’tis or Caelum attack.

Time to hire stuff.

Helheim: 5 more helhirdings to accompany arriving Hangadrott. I’m not planning to send him immediately into battle, though. Rather to search some provinces for death and air gems. 7 helhirdings will accompany him in case we need reinforcements at some point.

Helgate: Helkarl-skald.

10 PD in Edge of the Melt (will need it for the battle next turn).

10 PD in Weeping Falls (will come in handy if Eginolf is stupid enough to attack me himself, besides it’s gud type of PD: heavy cavalry + heavy infantry).

Increasing PD in Helgate from 5 to 10 (basically, just for patrol’s sake: PD 10 and above receive a “patrol” ability, having a chance to discover enemy spies).

That leaves me with 13gp.

The worst scenario of next turn is Eginolf, Bobo and Black Bone attack Chillmoor.

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With Eginolf avoiding Penda encounter. In that case they will unite their armies and I’ll be unable to do shit against that kind of force. Even if Chillmoor will be attacked by Bobo/Black Bone alone, that is still bad. Coz that will provide Eginolf with escape route.

Unfortunately, nothing can be done about that.

We shall discuss tactics very briefly, coz I’m busy casting sinister ritual.

Eginolf must die.

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Basic idea is still the same: attempt to kill him at the start of combat via Helhird and Valkyries. If it doesn’t work out, fight to the death. In the latter scenario Terror and Frighten should help us win this early enough by morale.

Worldwide darkness gives us hope of winning without any Vanir losses. Humans suffer greatly from this effect, while Vanir still remain above-average fighters. Compare this:

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To this:

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Or even this:

Blessing will boost all stats even further
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Under partial darkness, Ulm’s infantry has 8-11 attack each, considering their experience level (only elite Steel Warriors have 11, though). Eginolf was lucky enough to survive that long, so each member of his band has level 1 experience.

Still, all our huskarls and most of helhird have experience level 2. All our Vanirs have unbelievable defense skill, decent shields, long spears and huskarls have javelins too (effective vs Ulm, since they don’t use shields). Dual-wielding Conans can hit us once or twice, and most likely annihilate human part of our shieldwall, but in the end they will fall. Not a single doubt about that.

Single archer is going to pew pew them.

Barb chiefs participate in this fighting too. Hiring three barbarian leaders was a mistake. We would be better off with one (having a decent number of units under command) or none at all. Besides, Burden of Time won’t let humans live for too long.

Heimskr is scripted to cast two blessing, to make sure everybody is blessed on turn 2. “Windrunner” spell doubles movement speed, which will allow Heimskr reach Eginolf in one turn, should he pass morale check (otherwise he will attack enemy infantry like an idiot he is).

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Penda, Krummi and 3 Valkyries will move out on turn 4.

This should be a fine creamy victory, with a vengeance-cherry on top.

Now, Bobo and Black Bone encounter.

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If they both attack Edge of the Melt, we’ll be severely outnumbered. Instead of shieldwall and any kind of infantry, we only have PD 10, and a shitty one.

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25 humans on our side vs 63 on theirs. Pirates are as average as they come:

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Bobo’s band is nothing special too. Most of them don’t have experience levels, not a single Steel Warrior in their ranks, archers are useless during darkness. If we calculated everything right (heh), not a single one of Bobo's lot will have more than 9 attack skill. If our PD will manages to take initial hit and distract at least 1/3 of their forces, Valkyries and Helhird won’t have a hard time fighting on their own.

Of course, we all hope that SVD manages to reach commanders and kill both of them on turn 3 or 4. Bobo is worthless in melee, Black Bone is only slightly better than his own men.

But even if they fail, we should still pull this one out. Codex Troll will have a huge hp and strength boost fighting in native dominion, and his stats are unbelievable even during darkness:

These stats already include -3 penalty from darkness, and he's gonna have much more hp and str in Edge of the Melt.
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We don’t expect fast morale victory without Penda and his Terror spell, thus there may be some casualties among Vanirs. Still, this has to be done, or we shall never drive Ulm forces off our territory.

For Death and Glory!

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Valescere

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I have left the lands of lurking simply to say that I LOVE this LP and am watching it closely. Thank you Grimwulf!
 

Grimwulf

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Ok, I was mistaken in my last update AGAIN, when I said that worldwide darkness gives me an edge vs Ulm. It does not. They had equally low chances of hitting me, and -3 penalty to attack, defense and precision doesn’t make a difference, since both of us suffer the same penalty. DRN system works in solid numbers, not in percentage.

I would see it myself after getting some sleep, but Lizzurd Lord noticed it first. All credits to scaly little creeper.

Since I care about my LP followers, I’ll make it easier for you to correct me. Here you go:

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And this one for all you lizzurds.

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Waiting for turn 18? You’ll have to wait a little longer. Because now it’s time for


BOBO AND EGINOLF SHOWDOWN: PAYBACK TIME

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That is correct, my bloodthirsty vengeful warmongers. We engaged both of them in a single turn. Christmas came early this year! No such holiday in Helheim, btw.

Bobo attacked Edge of the Melt, living up to my expectations.

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Wait, but what’s this?

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Seems like your Godess Kantena didn’t assign any reinforcements for you, after all. Black Bone was ordered to move elsewhere, leaving you all alone.

Take a deep sniff, Bobo. Can you feel this in the air? That’s what BETRAYAL smells like.

Look at you and your formations. Lines are only good when you prefer slow-paced fighting (want to do some buffing during first turns, or just need a wall for your damage-dealing mages). When you have just one spellcaster without any good spells whatsoever, you’d better use standard “box” formation (fastest movement speed, morale boost). Lines move slower than boxes.

Let the buffing commence!

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Bobo is still loaded with magic gems, so he isn’t going to run out of stamina anytime soon. A shame.

Our PD is simply useless. One light infantrymen already died. Shot by an arrow, that sorry loser. Which was actually the only missile attack in the whole battle that hit it’s target. All other arrows, javelins and throwing axes were flying around, hitting air and soil. Darkness, sir.

Which isn’t bad. Because this one made me nervous:

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Valkyries failed morale check and charged into infantry, instead of archers/Bobo. At the same time our PD moved closed enough to throw javelins. It never feels pleasant, catching a friendly javelin with your back. Thankfully, they all missed.

I didn’t expect Bobo to make any formations. If he used regular boxes of Ulm, his warriors would be already fighting with our PD. And now they are all focused on Valkyries.

Casualties are inevitable. … NOT BEFORE MY GIRLS KILL YOU DAMN HOOMANS FUCK YEAH

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That’s not just some ordinary Valkyries. You are facing Selvaria’s elite!

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You’d better run now, mortals.

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Shit. Of course, dual-wielding units of Ulm are much more dangerous In melee than Iron Warriors with mauls, not mentioning near-useless Shield Maidens. But Valkyries are not particularly fit for fighting that kind of numbers on their own. Thus one of them lost an arm.

Still, pitiful humans are outright struggling to land a hit on Vanir battle girls. They have so many checks to pass:

1. Repel check (length of spear can prevent attacks of shorter weapons, like swords and axes)

2. Attack vs Defense check (units with Attack 9 statistically have a 5% chance of hitting unit with Defense 18)

3. Mirror Image check (landed a hit? Don’t get all excited yet – it could be just an illusion)

4. Shield Check (Checking Attack value vs Defense+Parry Value; in other words 9 vs 22. Didn’t pass the check? Sorry, SHIELD HIT)

Let’s see how are they doing, bypassing all those checks?

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What’s wrong Ulm? Your, hm, WEAPONS are not BIG ENOUGH for my girls? Awww, what a shame. Maybe it’s the right time to retreat?

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You. Fucking. Maggots. You’ve just signed yourself a death sentence.

Both Selvaria and Helhird decided to go for enemy infantry. Actually, I don’t mind anymore – gotta help the Valkyries. But then

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Thaumaturgy 3? WHY? Kantena, you stupid bitch, why would you prioritize Thaumaturgy research, being N7W5 Pretender of Ulm?

Panic is somewhat similar to Terror, having slightly larger aoe with slightly weaker effect, and affecting only enemy units. And using different path of magic, of course.

Well, that leaves all my militia with 5-6 morale. Even a loud sneeze can make them rout at that point. Yay.

Two more Valkyries got hit. One has just a minor scratch in the leg (3 hp), the other one was hit badly. One hp left and profuse bleeding. She won’t make it, I’m afraid. DAMMIT.

We keep fighting. Well, mostly.

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Meanwhile, Troll and Ragnar charge in, Bobo casts another Panic on light infantry, and Vale faints.

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Who is Vale? This useless guy:

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PD chiefs are the worst. What’s the point in buffing yourself so much, when even a child can kill you right now, using only a lollipop? Idiot.

No matter. Bobo’s infantry fails morale check and retreats. And you know what Helheim does best? Slaughters routing foes.

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Nothing worse than cowards. Even our PD under Panic didn’t flee yet. Your band is fucking pathetic, Bobo.

What do you know, he casts yet another Panic spell, fainting (116 fatigue).

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Because we are not afraid of retarded savage shamans wearing deer headdresses. But you know, giving your life in hopes to see Helheim army flee – that’s what I call determitation.

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And so ended the sorry life of Eginolf. He devoted himself to false goddess, just to be betrayed and sent to his death. Serves him right.

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Only four archers managed to escape. Let them be. They will tell the story of Codex Troll, Prophet of King Grimwulf.

We’ve lost 2 Valkyries. Two experienced Valkyries. Ulm will pay for every dead Vanir in blood.

Meanwhile in Misty Hollow.

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Surprise, motherfucker.

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Fucking EGINOLF! Escaped? Again! Making Penda waste his turn on shitty PD 1! Wait…

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He’s not here, at Misty Hollow. But that means…

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My I. He did it. He attacked Weeping Falls.

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Unlike Edge of the Melt, I have actually decent PD in here. Does it count as vengeance, if my target has a death wish?

Seriously, though. Heavy cavalry charge annihilates two warriors of Ulm instantly, another one gets wounded. And that’s just TURN 1.

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Of course, they all die immediately…

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But that’s not the point! The heavy infantry from PD!

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Fucking butchered. Well. Hm. This is nothing. COME AT ME, FUCKFACE!

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Valkyries and Helhirdings begin surrounding maneuvers, shieldwall is very close by. Krummi and her Valkyries are not as experienced as Selvaria and her squad, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to hit any of them.

The fight is tough and bloody. Eginolf’s band are truly much more formidable opponents than Bobo’s noobs.

They do not fall easily.

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One squad of Helhirdings passed morale check. One squad is more than enough.

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Penda didn’t go for him personally. Want to know why? Because he prefers MASS MURDERING!

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After all, it was Eginolf’s warriors, not Eginolf himself, who killed Penda’s men back in Midvale, half a year ago. Using cowardly tactics, mind you. Vengeance was never so sweet.

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And the ENTIRE FUCKING BAND routs. I kid you not: we didn’t kill even 1/4 of them yet. This battle would last forever, if not for those two helhirdings.

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Who are you trying to outrun? Valkyries and Helhird? Good luck with that.

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Meanwhile in Misty Hollow.

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Sorry, mate. I’ve got better things to do. Besides, that’s just three pesky humans, how hard can it be?

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You’ve got to be shittin’ me. Don’t try to flee, you idiot, your horse is crippled!

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Go to Hel. Heimskr is dead, ladies and gentlemen.

I’ll get to turn 18 later. There was one more battle, involving Black Bone. But right now I want to enjoy the moment.

Yes, I know, Eginolf and Bobo were nothing by Ulm’s standards. You can see that on army score graph:

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And they had at least one more battle with Marverni this month, successfully conquering their province, while probably having more casualties. And it's still didn't affect their overall army situation.

These two were not even experienced leaders. Eginolf's band gained all the expirience on our lands; Bobo was as green as they come.

But this month the whole world saw the message: one does not simply enter our lands and go away in one piece.

And just you look at latest Hall of Fame rankings:

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Not even Champion of the Arena can keep up with Helheim’s killing machine. Krummi made her way into the Hall too. She was granted Valor heroic ability.

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The girls make me proud. Unfortunately, 3 Vanir and one Heimskr joined the Feast that month. I guess I technically owe him a plaque, since he was a named commander. That is more than he deserves, but whatever.

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First blood was spilled, marking the beginning of real war between me and Ulm. Soon we’ll see their main army, I suppose.

I’ll never forget Eginolf, that bloody bastard. Oh, look! Them ravens just brought me his head. How do we look together?

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Dreaad

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Wait, if a unit has less than 5 members don't they have to take a morale check every round to not leave the battle in addition to morale checks every time they take any damage what-so-ever... seems risky, then again maybe sermon of courage will do enough.

Also your prophets HP won't go up if he fights this turn, even in a higher dominion province. His max HP will be higher but the current value on changes after combat/movement, basically it will be a bit harder for him to get afflictions but that's about it. At least that's how it works if you go from high Dom to low Dom so I assume vice versa is the same.
 

Grimwulf

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Wait, if a unit has less than 5 members don't they have to take a morale check every round to not leave the battle in addition to morale checks every time they take any damage what-so-ever... seems risky, then again maybe sermon of courage will do enough.

No such thing in Dominions 4. I believe you might mistake it with any leader's maximum numbers of squads, which is indeed 5.

Splitting cavalry and flying units into as much separate squads as possible is exactly the reason of clean victory over Eginolf. 4 squads were ordered the same command, only one of them passed the check and pulled it off.

Also your prophets HP won't go up if he fights this turn, even in a higher dominion province. His max HP will be higher but the current value on changes after combat/movement, basically it will be a bit harder for him to get afflictions but that's about it. At least that's how it works if you go from high Dom to low Dom so I assume vice versa is the same.

Yep, you are right on that. Totally slipped through my mind.

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Grimwulf

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From the diary of Ulm’s Prophet:

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TURN 18

EARLY FALL IN THE YEAR 2 OF THE ASCENSION WARS


For some reason nation-caster does not see the tasty description message, and only gets “Caster-name has cast spell-name. The global enchantment was cast succesfully”. Everybody else get this:

Don’t mind incorrect titles – I had to recreate the situation in different game session, so I could see this message playing as other nation. And titles are generated randomly at the start of each session.
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And so the act of ultimate evil was done. Every turn I’ll receive messages like this:

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Soon there will be hundreds and thousands of units suffering from BoT every turn. But how does it work exactly and how do we counter it’s effects – that’s for War Council to discuss. And I want to see them messages.

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Enchantment 2 researched; Harkon managed to get laid capture more blood slaves; something happened in Frozen Hills.

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Barbarians incomin'! I'll get to that later.

Thunder Falls province was captured by Black Bone. Didn’t have any defence there.

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The captain himself is nothing special.

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I would consider sending Valkyries to reclaim the province immediately, but I can’t see what’s going on in Lower Ulmwood.

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Same goes for Midvale. I’ll need everything I got before attempting to attack it. If those Steel Maidens (don’t mistake with useless Shield Maidens) move out from Anvilwood, I’ll get my arse kicked.

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They are arguably the best offensive thing of Ulm.

Despite our victory over Eginolf and Bobo, Ulm still has the upper hand. We didn’t free Misty Hollow from their presence yet, and now they occupy Thunder Falls and Midvale as well. And I am currently unable to do shit about that. So, here is the plan:

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Penda and his men move out to Edge of the Melt, so they can attack Midvale from there. Ragnar will wait for their arrival, searching for magic sites. Meanwhile, Codex Troll and 6 helhirdings are going to sneak into Midvale. You remember all those times when Eginolf managed to escape before our forces reached him, right? Well, I won’t allow this shit to happen in Midvale. If you have a hidden squad in enemy province and order it to attack, then enemy won’t have a chance of moving. Hidden squad always makes the first move. So, Trolls mission will be setting up an ambush (Midvale Ambush №2) and preparing a guaranteed movement path for all our forces.

Raiders (all three barb chiefs) are going to regroup in Chillmoor. There is a squad of 3 archers, somebody needs to pick them up.

Selvaria and her elite Valkiyries attack Misty Hollow. Shouldn’t be a problem fighting a bunch of humans. Then she will join everybody in Midvale.

Same goes for Krummi, but she’s flying to Frozen Hills instead. If barbarian horde attacks next turn (which I’m not sure about) and/or Black Bone decides to move further into our lands, she will assist Headless in repelling them.

By the way, let me introduce you to Headless the Hangadrott.

I find it a bit strange that there isn’t a Headless Horseman unit/commander in Dominions - game that covers pretty much every mythos ever existing.
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HH can be found in Celtic, German and American folklore in different forms and varieties. Since Hangadrotts are masters of illusion, let’s say that enemies see Headless as if he was really without a head. LARPing!
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Headless takes 7 Helhirdings from Helheim and sets off. He won’t participate in Second Midvale Ambush. Someone needs to search Frozen Hills for gems.

Helgate is strangely peaceful. No sights of C’tis or Caelum forces.

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Since I have a second Dwarven Hammer, which is currently not required for anything particular (not until I research Construction 4), I order LundB to craft some Rings of the Warrior for 3 slaves/ring.

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That’s quite a bargain, if you ask me.

Everything’s fine in capital.

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Current research speed is 171 RP/turn.

I order Crispy to revive king. He gives me that special look, as if I lost my last screw. No, I don’t mean THE King, you little evil faggot. I mean this:

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I currently don’t have spare death gems to summon an army of undead for him, but he can still attack those underwater provinces with a retreat order, scouting and waiting for neutral commanders to die of old age. Meanwhile, he can patrol Resting Shore province, maybe even find the source of that unrest rising that annoys me so much.

Hiring orders!

First of all, gotta hire bodyguards for Grimwulf. There are some random assassination events that may occur, and Ermor has recruitable assassins as well. Grimwulf is currently guarded by a single legless human, which is more suitable for Crispy. Here you go, Crisp. (that svartalf is so creepy when he’s happy).

Spears are good for shieldwalls, not for bodyguard duty. Need something more offensive for that. Therefore, I hire best of the best:

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Helheim: 5 hirdmen-bodyguards; 1 Vanherse for temple building

Helgate: Helkarl-skald

… Alright, PD 10 in Frozen Hills. I could use a human buffer if barbs and Black Bone both decide to attack me next month.

That leaves me with 33 gold.

Another news! Vanheim lost a province to Oceania, while Marverni lost one to Ulm:

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Kailasa and Marverni won’t make it to year 3 at this pace. C’tis is still dominating, but their expansion seems to slow down at last.

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Time to discuss some minor tactics for upcoming possible encounters, and talk about funny human lifespans. Boring stuff We’ve got Wychwood ale.

First of all, a brief overview of everyone’s tactics for next month.

1. Codex Troll and his Helhird will retreat if discovered in Midvale (no chance of that happening, but still).

2. Selvaria has a simple and straight-forward approach, since Misty Hollow has a barbarian PD type with several survivors from Bobo and Eginolf encounters.

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She waits&buffs til barbarians come close, then flies to enemy’s rear and attempts to castrate commander. If it doesn’t work out, she kills them all, plain and simple.

3. Penda and Ragnar were given standard shieldwall + cavalry-on-flanks orders. We don’t know what can attack them, apart from random events. But just in case.

4. Krummi and Headless will aim for fast morale vitory.

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Because both barbs and pirate mercs have morale issues. Double Terror combined with friendly dominion and several kicks in the butts will do the trick. Here is the layout:

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Now, let us talk about Burden of Time. The world won’t feel the effect of this ritual in nearest future, but give it just half a year, and then watch them suffer.

How does it work exactly: every living unit gets older every month by a random number of months/years. Meaning, Black Bone the merc captain may get 3 months older next turn, if he’s lucky. If he’s not, he’ll get 5 years older. During the same month. Previously a unit under BoT could gain up to 10 years of age, if we remember right, but BoT was nerfed a bit in newer versions. Now the maximum is 5 or 6 years per month, which is still decent.

So, a nation receives taxes and hires commanders and units. Next turn there is less taxes, due to dying population, and freshly hired army turns out to be useless on the battlefiled and/or dies of old age. The nation hires new commanders and units, but not so many this time. They have to constantly hire new blood, while receiving less taxes, and pay wages to useless old crippled soldiers. Exciting.

When units hit the “old age threshold”, first of all they receive an Old Age trait, that gives penalty to almost everything. The penalty gets worse as unit gets older. Crispy has a minimal penalty:

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A unit/commander with Old Age and without any afflictions WILL NOT die next turn. First he/she gets an affliction from Old Age trait (the older unit gets – the more afflictions will spam). Afflictions spammed by Old Age cannot be healed by any means. After unit/commander gets at least one Old Age affliction, he can die any turn from that point. It is highly recommended to remove all artifacts he/she is carrying, because otherwise they will be lost (even if commader dies in province with lab).

Pretender Gods get old, but never die of old age. Not that King Grimwulf should concern himself with that (he is currently 288 years old, with 1230 years threshold).

Most of our commanders have 1000 years threshold, so it will take a lot of time for them to grow old. Hangadrotts are more vulnerable to this, since they start already ancient (Penda is 805 years old, Headless is 807). Helkarls, Vanjarls and Disir shouldn’t be bothered about BoT. We should keep an eye on Vanherses, who don’t live that long (Old Age at 300 years). Just to make sure we strip them of Owl Quills before they die.

As for gold income: the more death gems we have, the less gold we need. Our current income is 782gp/turn, while upkeep is 255. We should not let those values come close to each other until we reach at least 15-20 death gems/turn income. To do that, we have to go offensive (conquer&search new provinces).

Previously we planned to start with Vanheim, but Ulm seems much more alluring at the moment. With their Growth 3 scale, capital of Ulm must have something like 35 000 population. We might be able to grab it as soon as BoT takes full effect (all currently hired humans will grow old), gaining a new major source of income for next few years. If we'll need it, that is.

Almost every nation will suffer from BoT, but it's not a death sentence yet.

- Lizardmen of C’tis, birdmen of Caelum and underwater monstrosities of Oceania – all of them have similar to human lifespans.

- Agartha and Vanheim are able to withstand it for a long tme.

- Sauromatia and C’tis can counter BoT easily with death magic, having good D casters and decent death gem income. If they will research necessary schools of magic, of course. Besides, their nature casters are somewhat useful to deal with supply shortage for units that are still alive.

- Arcoscephale may attempt to dispel BoT, if they live long enough.

- Ulm and Caelum still have a chance, if they throw everything at us in desperate attempt to crush our capital and murder King Grimwulf. They might even succeed, who knows.

- Oceania has defence-effective postion, with all those underwater forts. Even if they won’t win the war, it’s unlikely someone would wipe them out completely. Agartha might be able to.

- Ermor is pretty much the only nation that does not have a single chance to win, starting from this turn. They have absolutely no means to counter BoT, and thus join Kailasa and Marverni in nations-outsiders list. Watching their agony will please us greatly.

When people care about shaving more than war, they don’t deserve to win.

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P.S.: There wasn't a Throne of Night message this turn. Maybe we'll see daylight next month.
 
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Grimwulf

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Looking at Crispy’s new bodyguard, I kinda get it why human morale is so low here in Helheim.

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TURN 19

FALL IN THE YEAR 2 OF THE ASCENSION WARS


Messages! Let’s read them til our eyes bleed out!

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Crispy has revived something! Reading the description of mound king, there is not a single doubt about how to name him.

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Yep, vengeance is coming.

Let’s see. Ragnar didn’t find shit. Mebbe next time.

Lord Harkon was more successful. Finding virgins is hard, though. People begin to show their discontent. Gordon Cageman had to execute one of trouble makers to keep the situation under control.

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Don’t know what’s the big deal. We’ve lost 1000 people of population just in capital last month. Yet when I take a few girls or kill a single moron for Greater Good and Higher Purpose – they go retard on me. To Hel with them.

What? Yes, you heard me right: 1000 people died last month in Helheim. Before casting BoT population was decreasing slowly (4000 dead after 18 months), now they die like raving rabbits. Isn’t it glorious?

Don’t worry though. We should only receive a minor hit on our income.

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Well, maybe not “minor”, but we’ll manage.

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Ok, game. Stop that. Not funny anymore.

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Who do you call “cruel”, you ungrateful suckers! I’ll get to you soon!

But first, 2 battles in Frozen hills. Good call sending both Headless and Krummi there, combining with PD 10. Black Bone was the first one to attack.

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I feel sorry for you mercs. You never learn. There are contracts that never should be accepted, orders that never should be executed. And nations you should never mess around with.

Show me what you’ve got, captain.

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Instant fail. I placed Headless too far away for casting Terror on second turn. Maybe I should make decisions sober? Nah, that ain’t fun.

Flying Shield isn’t a bad buff. It requires A1E1 caster, which isn’t common in Dominions, and most of the time it’s not worth wasting a turn, but it’s probably better than Holy Avenger for a Hangadrott.

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Double fail: Headless was so far away, he couldn’t cast Terror even on turn 3. What was I thinking?

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Actually, PD 10 could almost beat the pirates by themselves. Yep, some mercs are beyond pathetic.

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The rest was free exp for Valkyries and Helhird.

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So long, captian.

Now it’s high time to deal with barbarian horde, led by Pizzo the barbarian lord.

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Unlike barb chiefs, these are capable commanders. Average morale is still low, but not as much as usual (average 9 instead of 7).

Armed with spears, our PD managed to hold the initial charge.

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Then came Valkyries and Helhird.

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The end.

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There was one more battle this month. Let’s see if it was more amusing.

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I was a bit worried that Ulm may hire a shitton of PD in a single turn. But nah. Just the last of Bobo and Eginolf’s bands plus local PD 3 or smth.

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Immidiately after buffing Selvaria charged. First one dead was Warrior Chief (the only commander). Bull’s-eye.

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That’s my girl.

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What’s new on score graphs?

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Marverni has only their capital left. Ulm facerolled the poor suckers. Meanwhile, Agartha lost some turf to Sauromatia. It’s good to know they are at war with each other, because Sauromatia is pretty much the only southern force capable of fighting Agartha. Oceania, Ermor and Arcoscephale can’t do shit against underground creepers, while BoT is active. Next.

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Everybody builds stuff. Except for nations-outsiders (Kailasa, Marverni, Ermor) and, strangely enough, C’tis. I know them lizzurds – they have something on their mind.

Actually, they might use the same strategy as mine. But that still requires at least one additional fortification. Oh, well. Even without any buildings, they have the largest army in the world, and middle-tier research.

We are SUDDENLY second on dominion score graph.

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No stability in this one. Right! On to scout reports.

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Nothing serious stationed in Lower Ulmwood. A good time to conquer Thunder Falls, but I won’t do it right now. I want everybody in Midvale, and Headless should search Frozen Hills first. Jon will stay in this province for now.

Everett has seen enough. There are plenty of neutral provinces between Ulm and Ermor, and we already know Marverni’s situation from score graph. I’m thinking of sending Everett to Anvilwood, so he can pop some black candles. That would make sieging easier. I can move only one province while sneaking through enemy territory, so moving him to Druid Hills.

Caelum is showing off.

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They might even attack us at this point. We’ll see. Meanwhile, let LundB forge some more Warrior Rings. Moving on to capital.

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Lysandus is moving to Resting Shore (scout underwater provinces and do some patrolling after that), while our new Vanherse Roark goes forth to build stuff. Maybe he’ll do better than Heimskr. Crispy casts Gnome Lore on Valkyrie Peak.

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Because that’s exactly what he needs: to bestow some goddamn knowledge upon himself. (also, we never searched that mt. province for earth gems)

Headless searches Frozen Hills. As for army of Helheim,

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We attack Midvale. I have this funny feeling that somebody’s going to move that way from Anvilwood castle. And they don’t call me God of Ambush for nothing. What? They actually don’t call me that? Well, they should!

Since my treasury was raped on a large scale this month, I can only hire Vanherse-skald in Helgate and another Vanjarl in Helheim. I need somebody to cast more Auspex spells, but don’t wanna bother Harkon and LundB with that task.

That leaves me with 0gp. Figures.

Nothing else to do. Except for listening to councilor’s bullshit. Are you with me? No?

Sigh. See ya next time, then.

Eh? You’ve actually come? Have a drink then!

Let’s plan a sinister ambush, Crispy-style.

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And that’s pretty much it. We shall face a shitton of PD, and even more Steel Maidens, if they make a move. Who knows how many commanders will lead them? (PD can’t have more than two commanders – that much we know for sure)

Many elements of tactics were discussed countless times, like why do we split our SVD and cavalry into as much separate squads as possible. Or the combination of Terror, Frighten and Sermon of Courage spells. Today we shall only discuss newly implemented elements:

1. Ragnar casts A1 Flight spell on turn 2. That will grant him ability to fly and therefore reach any spot on battlefield in a single turn (making him a Valkyrie with balls). Good when combined with “attack rearmost” order.

2. Shieldwall consists of three sections instead of regular 2, due to heavy wounded units (1 one-armed and weakend huskarl, 3 limping/crippled/frightened serf warriors).

3. Archers go ahead of our forces and attempt to provoke enemy. Sometimes it may break their formations, other times enemy spellacsters/archers make such provokers their target. We lose nothing, anyway.

4. Barb chiefs go behind shieldwall, because they don’t have shields. If huskarls/serfs fall in melee combat, they will replace them immediately, effectively filling those “holes in the wall”.

The idea is still the same: behead hostile commanders; finish off routing enemies. If it fails, then break their morale with magic; finish off routing enemies.

... Crispy, why the fuck is your bodyguard naked? Forget it. We don't want to know.

Since we all want to get out of here, that will be all for today. You may finish your drinks now.
 
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Emily

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Messages
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Great LP so far.
I have a question, does AI know how to counter the commander killing strategy you seem to employ mostly?(attack rearomost enemy)
Or is it a bit cheesy in a way.
 

Grimwulf

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Thanks again, guys.

Great LP so far.
I have a question, does AI know how to counter the commander killing strategy you seem to employ mostly?(attack rearomost enemy)
Or is it a bit cheesy in a way.

It only works against some nations during early game. Or when you fight PD. Later on there will be a lot of commanders, including so-called "thugs" (like my Penda, Selvaria, etc., only with artifacts - damn hard to kill). And most of commanders won't be standing at the rearmost part of formations.

I've got other tricks on my mind, though.
:M
 

Grimwulf

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TURN 20

LATE FALL IN THE YEAR 2 OF THE ASCENSION WARS


Holy beard, now THAT’s a hangover.

Maybe reading will help?

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We’ve finished researching Enchantment 3, and reached average level of 200 RP/turn.

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The exact value may vary, depending on my orders (sometimes I need crafting/rituals/summoning and other stuff instead of researching).

Crispy and Headless found nothing.

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I’m starting to feel butthurt about magic sites. Oh, well. Can’t be lucky in everything.

Harkon was unlucky this month as well, but it’s nothing. At least Gordon Cageman managed to nullify unrest in capital.

Midvale Ambush №2! That must have been one epic battle.

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DAT PD! Must be something like PD 40+, can’t tell exactly. Still, only two commanders. They are well-protected now, on turn 1, but we’ll see about that a couple turns later.

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Enemy archers aimed for our provokers, just as I hoped. That does not always work, mind you. But this time, enemy wasted 2 turns in a row shootin’ decoy. Splitting archers in 4 different solo-squads was because of this:

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When one of them gets reckd and fails morale check, others stay and go on provoking.

And that’s how you deal with enemy archers and buy yourself some time. Meanwhile hostile infantry moves:

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And leaves commanders behind. Our archers boldly catch more arrows.

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And flee. By the way, Terror and Frighten leave most of those humans you see with 3-8 morale.

Turn 3: 2 out of 3 Valkyrie squad manage to target rearmost enemies, ALMOST hitting exact commander square.

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Third Valkyrie squad charges into rear part of infantry.

Start of turn 4: Ragnar, Selvaria and Krummi make DAT CHARGE:

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Killing both commanders instantly. Now look at that:

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The sorry losers didn’t even come close to our lines. The battle hasn’t started yet, but all that horde is routed already.

Conclusion: PD is a waste of gold. You can’t setup formations or script PD commanders, and it’s only useful in some very specific situations, complementing your main forces. There are dozens upon hundreds of methods to counter PD 100 fast and easy, without any losses. This was just one of them.

Everything would be fine, but the ambush was a failure again:

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I was hoping that we’ll murder some commanders from Anvilwood, slaying routing Steel Maidens afterwards. Ulm, I am disappoint. (Good call staying in dat castle)

Next message.

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When you see those “our troops” messages, don’t worry too much. It includes all hired PD in allied provinces. Our regular troops are fine at the moment (double-checked that).

Next message.

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Negative random event? Who would have guessed!

Next message.

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Peace at last. That was the last message. And the hangover is still strong.

Making random decisions! That usually helps.

Let’s start with Helgate.

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There are two Rings of the Warrior in the treasury already. Let them be, I say. As soon as Selvaria and Krummi get access to any lab, they can equip them. That will grant both girls 23+ attack when blessed, and morale boost. High morale is always good (helps to charge into intended target – most useful for Valkyries).

I should let LundB forge one last ring, though. Then he will probably go sneaking around Caelum or C’tis, maybe pop some black candles – we’ll see. Can’t believe neither of them attacked me yet.

Now to Helheim area.

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Freshly hired Vanjarl Ulfric Stormcloak (yes, my imagination refuses to work today) goes to search Resting Shore province. At first I had another plans for Ulfric (either stop crafting Owl Quills and cast Auspex for a few rounds, or assist Lord Harkon in blood hunting), but I want B1 caster to search Resting Shore. There are several blood magic sites that cause unrest by simply existing. If that's the reason of Resting Shore unrest, don’t want to miss an opportunity.

Crispy casts another Gnome Lore. Earth gems are pretty damn useful.

Lysandus takes a sneak peak at those neutral defenders.

Howard Roark patrols the province. What, you expected him to start building immediately? That would be too TRADITIONAL for him. (ok, seriously speaking, I don’t want to spend everything I have on a temple – mebbe next turn)

Now to army logistics. But before making them bad calls, let’s take a closer look at Fort Anvilwood.

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Gate House doesn’t look pretty. We’ll be breaking that kind of defence forever, paralyzing our main army for a long time. And those towers (shoot arrows every turn, high precision) are never a good sign as well (target commanders quite often on my experience, no matter where I place them).

Seems like half of those Steel Maidens have left the fort and moved either to Eponi Plains, or to Ulmen river. Looking at scouts reports:

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Lower Ulmwood is free of enemy units, which makes Thunder Falls perfectly safe to attack. Marverni still bites – maybe they will keep Ulm occupied with south.

Ordering Jon Snow to take a look at Ulmen River, and Everett to hide and preach.

As for our military forces,

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Headless will be just fine on his own. No sight of Ulm reinforcements, and Thunder Falls is reported to be “free from enemy units”, so either there will be symbolic PD next turn, or none at all. But if anybody actually wonders about tactical approach, here you go:

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No tactics this time. None needed.

Two raiders are sent to pick up survived archers. They can still be useful, or at least die in hilarious ways.

Selvaria takes just one Valkyrie with her and sneaks to Lower Ulmwood. From there she can set up ambush if needed, or pop some black candles, or provide us with intel, or just fly away to where she’s needed – we’ll see.

Others are staying in Midvale for next turn. If I get lucky, somebody from Anvilwood will attempt to reclaim the province – free frags. If not – oh, well. At least we may find some magic sites, virgin girls, and spam some white candles.

I wonder, who even reads this? How autistic and nerdy one should be to actually follow this LP? Sheesh.

Let’s see what I can hire with those incredible riches.

Helheim: one more Svartalf (will arrive in 2 turns)

Helgate: Vanherse-Skald

PD 1 in Misty Hollow (didn’t have a single spare gold pound last turn)

PD 1 in Midvale

That leaves me with 90gp. Should be able to build a temple next turn without slowing down research speed. Besides, I might need to hire minimal PD (like 10 or 20) in province with temple, coz I don’t wanna lose it to random neutrals attack. However, it will die soon, along with province population. ... I need to think of a way of defending those temples.

As for Svartalf, let’s hope it will be D2E2F1, so we can craft some stuff with those fire gems. D3 or E3 instead of F1 would make a nice combat-support svartalf. Of course, they are not sacred (and thus expensive), and arrive old already (won’t live long under BoT effect). But since we are researching Enchantment 4, both of these drawbacks are neutralized with Twiceborn.

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After resurrection, our svartalves will be free to maintain and never die of old age. It might be a good idea to send them die in combat instead of waiting for death of old age. That way they won’t get nasty afflictions that lower magic and research skills (like Dementia or Mute). But when I ask for Crispy’s opinion on that, he goes berserk.

You know who else died this month? Önder.

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Judging by experience and ranking, I was pretty sure he’s the guardian of the only level 2 Throne in the world.

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But now I’m not that sure anymore. This Throne is somewhere near Agartha, so only Ermor, Arcoscephale, Oceania, Agartha or Sauromatia could reach it that early. Neither of them had province changes, except for the last two (Agartha reclaimed lost province from Sauromatia). Whoever was this Önder guy, may he find strong mead and bootyful women in the Underworld. He killed a lot of our enemies.

Another good news. Tradional national overview is coming back.

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Since it doesn't fit in one screen, I jes merge a few images together. Can't say why I never thought of that before. Are you happy? You don't care? Okay.

Province score graph is interesting this month.

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Ulm lost three provinces (1 to us, 2 to Marverni) and now has 13, just like us. Kailasa’s capital is no longer under siege. That will keep lizzurds busy for a while.

Heh, no one wants to give up easily.
 
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Kashmir Slippers

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There is just something special about picturing a lone shadowy rider sneaking through the enemy countryside preaching the word of a God of Death as everyone ages unnaturally. Good show.
 

Grimwulf

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Crispy is really, REALLY bad at finding magic sites. I wonder if he’s doing it wrong?

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TURN 21

EARLY WINTER IN THE YEAR 2 OF THE ASCENSION WARS


Can you handle that much reading?

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I am so unlucky with magic sites. It hurts.

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At the same time, I’ve suddenly received a lot of blood bags virgin girls. Do I even Helheim? What am I to do with all that blood?

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Besides, 10 girls gathered by Ragnar need to be delivered to royal treasury first (any province with lab). Maybe I should give them to Krummi and send her to Helheim? She could pick up the rings and some freshly hired Valkyries. Hmm.

Making decisions is hard. Reading is easy.

Battle reports.

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This neutral band is led by two triton commanders, both 28 years old with 50 years threshold. One of them even has some exp and a primitive artifact.

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There are two possible approaches to conquer this province.

The cheap and long way is to wait for triton commanders to die (shouldn’t take more than a dozen of turns), then order Lysandus enter the province. Remaining defenders won’t attempt to fight him in that case.

The expensive and fast way is to summon some undead stuff for Lysandus, and let him go for it immediately. I am currently low on death gems to do that. Previously I thought of investing some RP into Blood Magic, to be able to summon Bone Fiends – rather good stuff for such a low cost.

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The spell requires D1B1 caster (it’s possible to roll a Hangadrott with blood path, with a bit of luck). Being undead, Bone Fiends don’t require gold to maintain. But only recently I noticed that they can’t go underwater. I don’t know if it’s a bug or feature, but the logic behind that is beyond me.

That’s why I’ll stick to long way for now. After triton commanders die and Lysandus conquers Mirror Lake, he should be able to hire some underwater units there, and conquer Weeping Lake immediately.

Headless Horseman claimed Thunder Falls, no surprises there.

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Ulm hired some PD. AI just loves to waste money (actually, some players love doing it as well).

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Since Headless and his Helhird are still green, a couple of them caught some arrows. Bare scratches, no afflictions. Each of them is exp level 1 now.

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Burden of Time is gathering speed. Slowly, but surely.

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I would recommend all humans of this world attend to whatever unfinished business they have left. Atone for your sins, bid your farewells, and accept the only God that matters now.

Can’t get enough of reading messages!

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Why?! Of all units and commanders! FUCK!

Ok. Three of our guys were cursed. Random chose one of wounded Serf Warriors (with “Battle Fright” affliction PTSD), Raider Brutus and, unfortunately enough, Penda Pybbing Iceling. A Curse can never be lifted by any means.

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I guess Penda’s glorious days of melee combat are over. It’s sad to leave a Hangadrott with “Lightning Reflexes” ability behind our lines, but at least he can put those A3D3 skills to good use.

I hate random events. Nothing good has ever happened to Helheim.

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… 2 water gems?

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The last are patrolling messages. Killing your people, neighbors, friends, family, is not a pleasant task. But somebody has to do it, for the sake of Order. Order is imptnt.

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Scouts report heavy reinforcements in Anvilwood.

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Half of them are just militia meat bags, the other half is vicious Steel Maidens. Jon Snow spotted a band of 60 warriors marching through Ulmen River, mostly barbarians, forest warriors and archers. Everett continiues on preaching at Druid Hills, where no enemy forces were seen. Same as Lower Ulmwood.

I order Jon Snow to sneak into Ulm’s capital one more time. It’s somewhat risky (Jon may be busted there), but I want somebody near Ulm/Caelum borders in case they will fight again. Caelum has the highest research in the world. Watching them in action may reveal what schools are they focused on.

Speaking of Caelum, their doomstacks start to get on my nerves.

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Anyway, I send sneaking LundB and his 20 huskarls to Valley of 1000 Deaths. Maybe he’ll do some preaching. Maybe he will search it. We’ll see.

Having just 9 research ability and not being able to craft anything useful (no air gems to spare on artifacts; no good blood stuff in Construction 0-2; no other magic paths availiable), LundB isn’t very useful at Helgate. And I don’t want him to join our main army, leaving Helheim/C’tis/Caelum borders without a single capable commander. So it’s either assisting Harkon at Helheim, or spying/searching/preaching around Helgate area. I chose… Rapture second option.

Helheim area, and non-combat movement.

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Crispy transforms 2 water gems and 2 fire gems into 1 earth gem via alchemy. Yeah, not the greatest bargain I’ve ever had, but I won’t find any use for water gems in a lifetime, and fire gems will only be somewhat useful if I roll a E2D2F1 Svartalf. Which isn’t likely. I could save those gems, hoping that I’ll find some way of hiring neutral F or W casters, but screw it. Crispy must find at least one magic site in his sorry sinister life.

Ulfric Stormcloak searches Resting Shore for magics. Let’s hope he won’t start a rebellion while doing it.

Roark is a pain in my ancient arse. His temple project requires all my current gold to be invested. You know what, Roark? Can’t make it cheap – stay there and do fucking nothing.

Lysandus proceeds to Resting Shore. To do some patrolling, scare some peasants. Sing his favorite “Vengeance” song. The usual stuff.

Raiders Lod and Horas return to Midvale with archers-deserters.

Cursed raider Brutus receives 10 virgins from Ragnar and proceeds with them towards Helheim (can’t reach it in one turn, though). There he will lock them up in my chamber royal treasury, pick up 2 Rings of the Warrior for Selvaria and Krummi, and return to our army. It has to be done. Unlike magic gems, bringing blood slaves into combat is somewhat risky. Coz they actually participate in it, not just as inventory items.

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They are vulnerable, and I don’t want to lose them in vain. The only Blood Magic combat spell I have atm is Bleed.

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Ragnar is the only one who’s able to cast it (in my present army). The spell is fun, but not very effective.

Thus, the girls come with Brutus.

It’s high time to make Teh Main Decision.

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Should I attack Anvilwood; Lower Ulmwood; or just hold my ground in Midvale some more? Let’s give it a thought.

1. Defending Midvale is the safest option. I have enough gold for PD 10, I’ll fight on my turf, and even have spare units to set provoking maneuver again (barb raiders will arrive in Midvale before attackers, coz turn resolution sequence). Dat army that arrived in Anvilwood recently are most likely coming to reclaim Midvale, so staying there seems pretty logical. The downside is:

- I’ve got nothing to do here, but preaching/blood hunting. Not the most suitable task for army of Helheim.

- There is no guarantee that Ulm will attack it at all. It’s the only province he can currently attack, but maybe he has learned the lesson by now?

2. Attacking Anvilwood might be rewarding. It will take some time to break it’s walls, and we will certainly require reinforcements for that task. But having such a well-placed fortress will give us the upper hand against Ulm. The downside is:

- It’s risky as fuck. There are a lot of troops in the fortress, and more are coming from Ulmen River, and maybe from Eponi Plains that we don’t see.

- Neutral dominion doesn’t give us an edge, that we could very well use.

- Besieging is a long process. It’s gonna be much easier when we do some more research and/or gather more troops.

- Headless and his Helhird can’t attack Anvilwood from Thunder Falls.

- I’m pretty sure Ulm will forget about Marverni and Caelum if we besiege Anvilwood. He’ll throw everything he’s got at us.

3. Pwning Lower Ulmwood. If we conquer it now, we shall destroy the temple stationed there. That will open people’s eyes on our righteous religion! Neutral scouts can be recruited in forest provinces quite often. And Holy Gallows, I NEED more scouts so fucking much. You can’t imagine how much easier is making those decisions when you are aware of surroundings. Attacking this province has downsides too.

- Ulm capital most likely hosts major Ulm forces. Anvilwood hosts an army too. Ulmen River has a band of barbs. Upper Ulmwood might as well. They can all move to Lower Ulmwood next turn. We can sure pwn some of Ulm’s forces, but not if everybody attacks simultaniously. In that case, our army is done for. Caelum might attack from The White Forest – who the fuck knows?

- Hostile dominion is too stronk.

- We’ll have to leave somebody (Ragnar or Selvaria) hiding in Midvale. Because Anvilwood army will most likely attack it next turn, and we’d better counter-attack that shit immediately. Having someone sneaking is the only guaranteed way we have at the moment. Otherwise we’ll have Bobo and Eginolf all over again.

Awright. I’m sorry, but we’ll stay in Midvale. I know that our “War” is lacking action lately, and sometimes I wish to go YOLO and ACT VIKING too. But my guts tell me otherwise. I hearby declare one more month of waiting.

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Codex Troll, Ragnar and Penda will spread the word of God of the Gallows. People of Midvale must open their eyes: suicide is the only way out. No point in waiting and suffering. Embrace Death, and she will embrace you in return.

Ragnar could search the province for B1 sites or do some more blood hunting, but not much point in that. Not many blood magic sites in Dominions 4. As for blood hunting - I don’t believe I’m lucky enough to catch 2 jackpots in a row.

Besides, have you ever seen Ragnar’s preaching? Truly a sight to behold.
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Krummi and SVD will butcher those who refuse to convert. No place for heretics in my Kingdom. Flying and mounted units are more effective at patrolling, btw.

Headless Horseman will search Thunder Falls for gems. Coz why not?

Selvaria will do some stealthy preaching in Lower Ulmwood. Did you know she can reach Valley of 1000 Death in one turn from there? Just sayin’.

If anybody wonders, our battle formations are almost identical to what you’ve seen last time. Only some minor changes:

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Moved shiedwall a bit closer, so I could place commanders behind it and keep their spell range reachable.

The main reason to do that is Penda, who can’t fight in melee anymore (too risky because of Curse). He will spam Terror. Don’t really need him to cast Holy Avenger, but Terror doesn’t have enough range to reach enemies at turn 1.

Since Krummi and Ragnar will engage in melee, they could both use Air Shield. Ulm seems to favor archers lately, and some of it’s warriors have throwing weapons too.

Troll doesn’t make much of a difference in melee now, when we have relatively decent number of troops. He will stay behind and cast Sermons of Courage (other guys are too busy to cast it themselves). On turn 5 he will attack (if I don’t order him that, he’ll just waste turns on useless Animate Skeleton/Animate Dead spells).

The rest is pretty much the same. Let’s go shopping.

Can’t hire commanders in Helheim, coz we’re awaiting new Svartalf’s arrival (any naming suggestions?).

Thus, traditional Helkarl-skald in Helgate and PD 10 in Midvale. The rest of gold (258gp.) is saved for next month. Maybe I will finally invest in Roark’s temple.

Selvaria has overtaken Skögu’s place in Hall of Fame.

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Dead and alive mercs will occupy all the entries during early game and partly midgame. Nothing can be done about that.

Enchantment 4 is coming next turn.

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Why invest 50 points in Enchantment instead of required 49? Because I can’t control it, that’s why. Higher values of research are only changeable by a certain amount. I can invest 48 or 50 RP in Ench, not 49. Don’t ask.

Traditional National Overview:

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Today’s War Council will only feature a quick overview of score graphs. We don’t have enough ale for long discussions.

But there is always a spare keg for you :3

Everyone’s here? Let us proceed then/

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Ulm has taken a serious beating. Previously the second largest surface nation, now stuck in middle-tier. They will attempt to reclaim lost territories, including Midvale, as soon as possible. And when their counter-attacks will fail, and they will lose part of their forces, our moment will come. They will be vulnerable and unprotected. Truly a moment of opportunity.

Meanwhile, Kailasa and Marverni put up a fight. Judging by army graphs, Marverni actually managed to win a battle against Ulm. As for Kailasa, we believe that C’tis forces relieved the siege, and went elsewhere themselves. C’tis didn’t suffer any army or territory losses. Thus, they must be currently expanding other borders, while leaving slow-to-siege Kailasa capital alone. Interesting.

Caelum is as passive as they come. Is it even legal to be that passive? Probably not.

Agartha and Sauromatia seem to keep fighting. The latter has the upper hand

Ermor finally expands somewhere.

Oceania has an easy time expanding, because they have no competition underwater atm.

Vanheim acts strangely passive. But that’s fine with us.

Arcoscephale is doing better than we expected. That’s highly unnerving.

Fortifications.

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C’tis finally pulled out first fortification. We are afraid to imagine their architecture. It must be something disturbing, with stupid shape and color. Like sand-colored pyramids, if that even makes any sence.

Oceania has built 7 fortifications already. Our architecture specialist Gordon Cageman says they are gud. Another specialist Howard Roark comments on this as “Somewhat predictable for traditional and so-called “cost-effective” building”. We don’t understand what he meant by that. Fact is, Oceania has 7 forts. We’ve got 1. And a shitty one, too.

Gold Income.

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Kailasa may have a chance to recover, if C’tis leaves them alone for a while.

Ermor is still dominating, mostly due to rich territory and positive scales. They didn’t put their money to good use, that’s for sure. Slow expansion, not a single fort, worst research, default capital-only gem income, below-average army size. And now, after BoT was cast, it’s already too late to change anything for them. Still, good income. Let’s hope they will maintain it by the time we reach their borders.

Gem income.

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One of Marverni’s provinces has a mighty fine gem source(s). It was temporarily overtaken by Ulm, then reclaimed by Marverni once more. We believe it to be Vale of the Ambibates. It is very possible for Marverni to be domkilled relatively soon – we must prepare ourselves to race for that province, and Marverni’s capital, by that time. Do whatever is necessary for that.

Research graph is mostly the same.

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Marverni is experiencing major boost and will soon overtake our 3d place. It might be related to some magic site, since they have just one fortification (capital), and not doing too good in general.

Dominion.

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We must pressurize weaker dominions of Ulm, Marverni and Caelum. Building temples will certainly help, but stealthy preaching is our best bet at the moment.

As for the army, we are almost at Kailasa’s level.

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Which is… almost an achievement. Sad, but true.

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Note to self: never ask Google about “Viking ape” again
 
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Grimwulf

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Andhaira it is, then. I'm gonna piss off half of Codex oldfags by the end of this LP.

Grimgravy, why do you want to be an old grumpy svartalf? He will most likely die before the next years end. There are glorious Hangadrotts and Vanjarls hired almost every turn.
 

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