CHAPTER XII - UPPING THE ANTE
Needless to say, we deny the baseless accusations against our royal person.
Which gets us a new healer that I give the elite cavalry. They have somewhat high mortality and reinforcement costs, so they might need him.
Also, the previous mishun gave us this pathetic relic that I forgot to present. As funny as it sounds to give Rick a +1200 HP boost, heroes are already unkillable enough. I send it to the pope instead.
We are now a king of satisfactory (5) faith. This lets our heroes equip 2 relics at a time.
If only those rerics weren't so worthless.
Anyways,
The map is fairly different from what we've seen so far.
First, there's this huge gorge in the middle that can only be crossed by the pictured landbridge
And this little pass here at the edge of the map.
On the other side is the oasis we're supposed to cap.
and only these two visible regiments of saracens... so you can be sure there are shittons of them hidden all around.
However, one of the regiments begs attention.
Saladin has decided to field his very own uncle Asad Ad-Din against us!
(nevermind that at the time of the Third Crusade, ol' Asad had already been dead for nearly 30 years)
A Saracen hero unit on the field is all we need to know to deduce that all bets are off.
But actually
The hell is up with his bodyguards? They look like the immortals from 300.
We get closer to the gorge, and still no one's coming out. This is like Hillary Clinton's victory party - empty, listless and silent.
Smelling a trap, I send light cavalry ahead to scout
And there you have it. TURKS HIDING IN THE FORESTS INSIDE THE GORGE
Retreating the cavalry, I then notice they get engaged in combat and start rapidly losing dudes, which leaves me very puzzled.
Until a closeup reveals ASSASSINS' CREED!
Assassins may not look like much. 8 offence, light infantry, just 12 dudes. But they are some of the MEANEST UNITS in the Saracen roster.
They can hide in plain sight, they are extremely tough for a light infantry unit, and they SHRED everything they get into contact with.
As if that wasn't bad enough, two Saracen heavy cavalry units spawn in the north.
Also, assassins are the primary reason why you want to have Styrian Infantry in your army. A single javelin volley brings them down to 6 men at critical hp, which lets us finish them off safely with other units.
Also2, for some reason the arab knights decide to take the long way around (or join up with the rest of their folks?), so fortunately we don't have to prepare for their imminent arrival. Das ist gut.
I try to scout for more assassins, only to get caught in hidden turk bowman crossfire...
Well, at least that revealed that there's 2 regiments of them, and let me remember their range.
ofc our cavalry is reduced to 20/36 dudes cuz of the barrage. For them, this battle is largely over.
Still, it was actually very profitable, because it triggered the turks to leave their cover and move towards us. The saracen knights are also approaching.
But this long trip across the desert has left them very tired. Our cavalry will stop their charge with no problem.
Note the huge discrepancy in power. The saracen horsemen at 25% fatigue were attacked by our fresh knights templar. The saracens are now at 8/21. The templars lost just one guy.
But our job is not yet over.
The way they march across the landbridge sets the table for a GLORIOUS cavalry charge.
unless assassins appear, of course... Fortunately, I can just run past them and--
This requires some extended manoeuvres, so I pull back everyone and shoot the assassins to death with archers.
Then turn against the turks once more.
The fucking assassin roadblock is still A PAIN IN THE ASS however
But nothing that good ol' bumrushing won't fix, although we might lose some dudes cuz of it.
The second turk regiment is chased down with haste and taken down in a matter of seconds.
We can finally advance.
Haha, yeah, no fucking way I'm going there through the front. There's probably caltrops up the ass everywhere or something to that effect.
The long way around should be safer, but I still send cavalry first to scout for assassins.
Looks like the coast is clear.
WHEN SUDDENLY CAVALRY IS HIT BY MISSILE DAMAGE
WUT
YOU SNEAKY FUCKING ASSHOLES
Get this trebuchet out of my face immediately!
Knowing that their jig is up, Asad's troops leave their hiding. Fortunately, they aren't particularly numerous, and they are still pretty terrible. A bunch of seljuk archers and nubian warriors. We'll want to look out for the nigga space marines, but still, it's nothing our archers can't handle.
HOW MANY OF THESE SHITHEADS ARE STILL HIDING IN HERE?!
This time it's just seljuk warriors, so we can murder them easily with cavalry. Also, that trebuchet is now officially out.
In the meantime, I also cap the oasis.
However, the rest of our army is slow as hell on the approach, so I gotta pull back from it fast.
Our archer regiments arrive to the scene first, and just in time too.
While the nubians are sent running, I flank the seljuk archers with the knights templar.
And then trample the fleeing noobians before they can rally and stuff me with javelins.
Once the other infantry starts retreating as well, the archers are perfectly exposed.
Asad might still be a problem, but
It's nothing multiple cavalry regiments can't handle.
Herding the seljuks into the oasis effectively corners them. They continue trying to run from the knights while our archers decimate their ranks.
Until there's barely anything left.
And even the Saracen commander turns and flees!
Run him down, no prisoners!
And thus, the mighty Lion of Faith has met his demise.
AVE MARIA!
that was fun
Ding ding.
I have so much cash, I might as well reinforce everyone for a change.
The knights get a new skill. Picked Disciplined, heavy cavalry can get tired very quickly in the desert, and the effects of that may be dire.
Also, I forgot to mention before that denying the accusations pushed us over another rep threshold for the French. It's not particularly useful at this point.
While Al-Jazira got us that Paypal best deal on recruitment costs back.
Now, finally...
Since we have SO MANY DUCATS, I do something Radical.
And change Richard into a heavy cavalry regiment
+100 damage boost (as well as a bunch of other things) for the meagre price of 10k geld, oh yeah baby
Rick and the Templars (this time as knights templar) are now going to become a ridiculously destructive force.
But enough of that, we have matters to attend to.
Who and where the hell this caliph might actually be, I have no idea. Still, our options are many, and all of them fairly attractive:
- Letting the Templars parley with the heathens will get us rep, a relic and a kaptin.
- Letting the French slaughter the heathens will get us rep, a priest and a light infantry unit.
- Letting Kingcomrade settle the matter will net us 5k ducats, a healer and 2 weapons.
As for our next conquest.
REMOVE KEBAB FROM THE PREMISES!
Seems like we'll be getting lots of free cannon fodder. Das ist gut.
Two plans:
The French... you guessed it. They want to give the Seljuks a glorious open field battle.
Assets include: Spread rumours, sabotage, scouts and destroy trap. Having both sabotage AND destroy trap in one mission says a lot about how prepared the enemy will be for our arrival.
The Papists have a bit more elaborate plan. Our attack will proceed in three phases:
1st, we must double time it to wreck the Seljuk fortifications and kill the local garrison. This will let us strike before the main Saracen army is assembled, but at the same time, we won't initially have the support of Prince Humphrey and the Templars.
2nd, once we've killed the defenders, we should take over their siege weapons and build some of our own.
3rd, we must withstand the approaching Saracen reinforcements with our entrenched positions. Humphrey and the Templars will arrive then as well.
Assets: Stonemasons, sabotage, scouts and destroy trap.
Seems like we have a lot of choices to make, ye Codex.
- How do we proceed in terms of Caliph diplomacy?
- How shall we stop the Seljuks?
- How do we proceed from there? Shall it be the Caliphate of Cairo or the Caliphate of Baghdad?
Needless to say, we deny the baseless accusations against our royal person.
Which gets us a new healer that I give the elite cavalry. They have somewhat high mortality and reinforcement costs, so they might need him.
Also, the previous mishun gave us this pathetic relic that I forgot to present. As funny as it sounds to give Rick a +1200 HP boost, heroes are already unkillable enough. I send it to the pope instead.
We are now a king of satisfactory (5) faith. This lets our heroes equip 2 relics at a time.
If only those rerics weren't so worthless.
Anyways,
The map is fairly different from what we've seen so far.
First, there's this huge gorge in the middle that can only be crossed by the pictured landbridge
And this little pass here at the edge of the map.
On the other side is the oasis we're supposed to cap.
and only these two visible regiments of saracens... so you can be sure there are shittons of them hidden all around.
However, one of the regiments begs attention.
Saladin has decided to field his very own uncle Asad Ad-Din against us!
(nevermind that at the time of the Third Crusade, ol' Asad had already been dead for nearly 30 years)
A Saracen hero unit on the field is all we need to know to deduce that all bets are off.
But actually
The hell is up with his bodyguards? They look like the immortals from 300.
We get closer to the gorge, and still no one's coming out. This is like Hillary Clinton's victory party - empty, listless and silent.
Smelling a trap, I send light cavalry ahead to scout
And there you have it. TURKS HIDING IN THE FORESTS INSIDE THE GORGE
Retreating the cavalry, I then notice they get engaged in combat and start rapidly losing dudes, which leaves me very puzzled.
Until a closeup reveals ASSASSINS' CREED!
Assassins may not look like much. 8 offence, light infantry, just 12 dudes. But they are some of the MEANEST UNITS in the Saracen roster.
They can hide in plain sight, they are extremely tough for a light infantry unit, and they SHRED everything they get into contact with.
As if that wasn't bad enough, two Saracen heavy cavalry units spawn in the north.
Also, assassins are the primary reason why you want to have Styrian Infantry in your army. A single javelin volley brings them down to 6 men at critical hp, which lets us finish them off safely with other units.
Also2, for some reason the arab knights decide to take the long way around (or join up with the rest of their folks?), so fortunately we don't have to prepare for their imminent arrival. Das ist gut.
I try to scout for more assassins, only to get caught in hidden turk bowman crossfire...
Well, at least that revealed that there's 2 regiments of them, and let me remember their range.
ofc our cavalry is reduced to 20/36 dudes cuz of the barrage. For them, this battle is largely over.
Still, it was actually very profitable, because it triggered the turks to leave their cover and move towards us. The saracen knights are also approaching.
But this long trip across the desert has left them very tired. Our cavalry will stop their charge with no problem.
Note the huge discrepancy in power. The saracen horsemen at 25% fatigue were attacked by our fresh knights templar. The saracens are now at 8/21. The templars lost just one guy.
But our job is not yet over.
The way they march across the landbridge sets the table for a GLORIOUS cavalry charge.
unless assassins appear, of course... Fortunately, I can just run past them and--
This requires some extended manoeuvres, so I pull back everyone and shoot the assassins to death with archers.
Then turn against the turks once more.
The fucking assassin roadblock is still A PAIN IN THE ASS however
But nothing that good ol' bumrushing won't fix, although we might lose some dudes cuz of it.
The second turk regiment is chased down with haste and taken down in a matter of seconds.
We can finally advance.
Haha, yeah, no fucking way I'm going there through the front. There's probably caltrops up the ass everywhere or something to that effect.
The long way around should be safer, but I still send cavalry first to scout for assassins.
Looks like the coast is clear.
WHEN SUDDENLY CAVALRY IS HIT BY MISSILE DAMAGE
WUT
YOU SNEAKY FUCKING ASSHOLES
Get this trebuchet out of my face immediately!
Knowing that their jig is up, Asad's troops leave their hiding. Fortunately, they aren't particularly numerous, and they are still pretty terrible. A bunch of seljuk archers and nubian warriors. We'll want to look out for the nigga space marines, but still, it's nothing our archers can't handle.
HOW MANY OF THESE SHITHEADS ARE STILL HIDING IN HERE?!
This time it's just seljuk warriors, so we can murder them easily with cavalry. Also, that trebuchet is now officially out.
In the meantime, I also cap the oasis.
However, the rest of our army is slow as hell on the approach, so I gotta pull back from it fast.
Our archer regiments arrive to the scene first, and just in time too.
While the nubians are sent running, I flank the seljuk archers with the knights templar.
And then trample the fleeing noobians before they can rally and stuff me with javelins.
Once the other infantry starts retreating as well, the archers are perfectly exposed.
Asad might still be a problem, but
It's nothing multiple cavalry regiments can't handle.
Herding the seljuks into the oasis effectively corners them. They continue trying to run from the knights while our archers decimate their ranks.
Until there's barely anything left.
And even the Saracen commander turns and flees!
Run him down, no prisoners!
And thus, the mighty Lion of Faith has met his demise.
AVE MARIA!
that was fun
Ding ding.
I have so much cash, I might as well reinforce everyone for a change.
The knights get a new skill. Picked Disciplined, heavy cavalry can get tired very quickly in the desert, and the effects of that may be dire.
Also, I forgot to mention before that denying the accusations pushed us over another rep threshold for the French. It's not particularly useful at this point.
While Al-Jazira got us that Paypal best deal on recruitment costs back.
Now, finally...
Since we have SO MANY DUCATS, I do something Radical.
And change Richard into a heavy cavalry regiment
+100 damage boost (as well as a bunch of other things) for the meagre price of 10k geld, oh yeah baby
Rick and the Templars (this time as knights templar) are now going to become a ridiculously destructive force.
But enough of that, we have matters to attend to.
Who and where the hell this caliph might actually be, I have no idea. Still, our options are many, and all of them fairly attractive:
- Letting the Templars parley with the heathens will get us rep, a relic and a kaptin.
- Letting the French slaughter the heathens will get us rep, a priest and a light infantry unit.
- Letting Kingcomrade settle the matter will net us 5k ducats, a healer and 2 weapons.
As for our next conquest.
REMOVE KEBAB FROM THE PREMISES!
Seems like we'll be getting lots of free cannon fodder. Das ist gut.
Two plans:
The French... you guessed it. They want to give the Seljuks a glorious open field battle.
Assets include: Spread rumours, sabotage, scouts and destroy trap. Having both sabotage AND destroy trap in one mission says a lot about how prepared the enemy will be for our arrival.
The Papists have a bit more elaborate plan. Our attack will proceed in three phases:
1st, we must double time it to wreck the Seljuk fortifications and kill the local garrison. This will let us strike before the main Saracen army is assembled, but at the same time, we won't initially have the support of Prince Humphrey and the Templars.
2nd, once we've killed the defenders, we should take over their siege weapons and build some of our own.
3rd, we must withstand the approaching Saracen reinforcements with our entrenched positions. Humphrey and the Templars will arrive then as well.
Assets: Stonemasons, sabotage, scouts and destroy trap.
Seems like we have a lot of choices to make, ye Codex.
- How do we proceed in terms of Caliph diplomacy?
- How shall we stop the Seljuks?
- How do we proceed from there? Shall it be the Caliphate of Cairo or the Caliphate of Baghdad?
