Let's Rip Off Something Awful - Dark Omen or No Love For 56K

[bezimek]

@ Jasede

Could you tell me how run Dark Omen on win xp ? In win 98 era I played Dark Omen but now game don`t work on my comp.

 

[pkt-zer0]

@ Jasede

Could you tell me how run Dark Omen on win xp ? In win 98 era I played Dark Omen but now game don`t work on my comp.

Check here. Also, Jasede, that link might be worth including in the first post of this thread.

As for the update: well played. I'd have thought you'd suffer greater losses with just these few regiments. Seems like I underestimated the awesomeness of a Grudgebringer/Bright Wizard combo.

 

[Jasede]

Thanks!
I will update tomorrow, if photobucket allows me to upload more images by then. I had a great run of the next mission, and it's a cool one.

I find it easier to avoid losses when I have to control few regiments than when I have to manage many at once. When I have few units around, I can use them to lure enemy regiments into spots I want them to be, something that would be too hard (for me) with more troops.

 

[Shannow]

Thanks!
I will update tomorrow, if photobucket allows me to upload more images by then. I had a great run of the next mission, and it's a cool one.

I find it easier to avoid losses when I have to control few regiments than when I have to manage many at once. When I have few units around, I can use them to lure enemy regiments into spots I want them to be, something that would be too hard (for me) with more troops.

You meantioned that you really like the game being rt, but honestly, what would have made the game better for me is a pause function and the ability to issue commands during pause and on the map.
I would also have been interested in a turn-based Warhammer game and I don't mean chaos gate or liberty war (correct name?).
What Mark of Chaos could have been... *sigh*

I'm really interested how you'll manage with the final battle

 

[Jasede]

Update #4 / Chapter 5 - Choices and Consequences

Last time we valiantly defended Bogenhafen from the undead, wasting time that could have been spent to get to Helmgart in time. Oh well... Let's ride!

:riding noises:

Ze undead have overrun ze tower. I warned you, Morgan. I warned you back in Bogenhafen zat we didn't have time to waste.
:evil: Failing the coin let's go for the glory- we retake the tower! Attack!

Battle 6 - Reclaiming Helmgart

Tower of Helmgart

Behold the tower- the undead have overrun it. Helmgart is a defensive key position of the empire, and as such, very easy to defend- it is situated on a hill that can only be climbed by ascending a narrow path. And since we wasted time in Bogenhafen, the undead now hold this hill.

Note the archers.

Our load-out should be familiar by now: Cavalry, Crossbows, Cannon and the Bright Wizard, CCCB for short. The infantry... uh, I don't know. They're suffering from hangover and can't fight. I just don't like them, sorry.

Let's do some reclaiming! Please note that it is imperative to place the troops as far south as is possible or the large amount of undead archers will, of course, mow them down.

We're too far away from them for them to harm us, though, and they are reluctant to leave their safe spot. Safe until we order our cannon to shoot at them! It has a longer range than archers.

The undead send some zombies down the narrow path to get to our cannon.

We work them with the crossbows and the wizard.

Didn't think so, zombie-boy!

Meanwhile...

...we use our cannon to wreak some havoc to the undead archers.

Now, the AI is kinda cranky at times. Sometimes it will retreat archers that are being fired at into safety, but not always, so we could, in theory, wait until the cannon destroys every single archer - only the left of the two archer regiments has the sense to retreat a bit when severely cut down by our cannon.

However, that would be lame. We need some sort of "commando" unit we can sneak behind enemy lines to decimate the archers more quickly.

y hallo thar

The Bright Wizard has access to a spell that can teleport him anywhere on the map- perfect!

Commander, I do not think it's a good idea to teleport close to archers, me being an unarmored wizard and that...
:evil: :twisted:

Aieeee!!!

The nancy-boy teleports right back because he spotted something. Something bad.

A necromancer (remember, they can take out half the cavalry if you do not get rid of them quickly) and something far more sinister... we haven't seen that banner before. Let's zoom up.

Egads!

Undead... cavalry!? But the only weakness of the undead was that they were slow, apart from burning easily... Oh dear. And they're advancing rapidly to our position. Cannon! Crossbows! Wizard! All fire!

Oh god! The AI decided to move the archers along with the cavalry and the wizard and they're all pouring down the narrow path!

FUCK! The undead cavalry broke through and is duking it out hand to hand with the vastly disadvantaged crossbows- and Morgan can't help! If he doesn't stop that necromancer, who knows what havoc he'll wreak? Also notice the two regiments of zombies the necromancer raised... that's just great. Did I mention Warhammer likes to always outnumber you heavily?

The good news: Only a single undead rider survived our ranged attacks, so the crossbowmen dispatch him and are ready to rain dead upon the undead archers while the wizard sets them on fire! Please note that our cavalry is really, really tough, holding off vast numbers of zombies all by themself. It's 300 all over again.

We are turning the battletide!

:twisted: Arghl! :die:
:evil: Good work, men! Up the narrow path!

We order the troops to climb the hill... no undead are in sight...

D'oh!

Fine, fine- two large units of skeletal warriors are advancing on our position. We keep trying to avoid them so we can soften them up with quarrels and fire.

:evil: For the Emperor! Haha, fat chance!

And as the last skeleton perishes, it dawns on us- Helmgart is ours once more!

After the battle...

Success! Helmgart is ours. The reinforcements have joined the remnants of the tower's garrison. Also an unexpected bonus: The commander of the tower has shown his gratitude by giving us a potion of strength.

:D 'ello commander! You didn't expect to meet your old friend Azgaz Bloodfist here, did you?
:evil: Indeed I didn't. Good to see you again, Azgaz.
:D Up to your neck in trouble again, eh? From what I have seem from the undead... give me a greenskin any day.
I know what you mean.
:D Yeah, they're everwhere! Walking away from their tombs. Swarms of 'em! When you swing yer axe at a corpse it's like... hacking mush! And 'ey keep on comin'! We dwarfs have a real war on our hands.
It's the same for everyone, Azgaz.
:D Aye, I know o' that. Here, I'll give you a tip, a hint from one who knows. When you see the Emperor tell him to take a look into the Liber Mortis. We dwarfs know more than we sometimes let on. And there's something you can do for me if you don't mind... I have to report back to Karak-Norn, but the undead army blocks the way. Would you help me?

Choice time! Shall we...
A: Help the dwarf fight the undead blocking the pass
or
B: Ignore his plea and ride back to Altdorf to report to the Emperor?

You decide!

 

[Otingocni]

Help the dwarf, it surely cannot hurt to have a grateful dwarf on your side, and there is no apparent time pressure for reporting to the Emperor.

 

[Marsal]

I like the dwarf regiment. They are slow, but at least they rarely flee the battle. I use them as mortar/cannon/crossbowmen bodyguards. Help the dwarf!

[I don't want to ruin it for you if you didn't finish Dark Omen before, but seeing how you like crossbowmen and cavalry, 3 or 4 missions from the end, you'll get a special treat ]

 

[Jasede]

Like what? Mounted crossbowmen??? Omg omg omg!

I'll do whatever gets three votes, so if you don't want me to help the dwarfs, now's your chance.

Edit: This means vote, you slowpokes, I want do do that mission today.

 

[puppyonastik]

Help the dwarves by all means!

 

[Shannow]

Well, hopefully you like cavalry, crossbows and cannons

Since there really seems to be no time pressure this time help the dwarves.

 

[Jasede]

Chapter 6 - A Man's Confessions

Hey guys. This is Sergeant Schepke, leader of the Grudbebringer Infantry. People keep writing to me and complaining, I will quote "HEY Y U NO EVAH FIGHT??? PUSSYS". There's a myth going around of the infantry not doing anything. I am here to debunk this myth! Let's get started.

:evil: I'll help you, my friend.
:D That's great! Together we'll squash the undead legions.

We followed Morgan and his men southwest, just one, two miles... when suddenly-

:D Living dead up ahead!
:evil: Prepare to attack!

Battle 7 - The Bloody Slopes of the Axebite Pass

Morgan surveyed the battleflield- it was a narrow, sloping ravine that was, err, sloping from the south to the north, and from here we could already spot two units of skeletal archers, just waiting for us to get to close. As you can see the Commander has chosen not to deploy us to fight... again. But we're not frustrated. Because, think about it- who actually paints all those pictures of the battle for you? That's right, Grudgebringer Infantry Battle Paint Squadron! We zip about the battlefield and write those reports for YOUR enjoyment, available for a half-crown at every good bookbinder!

Ahem. Sorry about that guys. Shoo, go away Sergeant Schepke, let real men write the report. Why are you giving me that look? Oh come ON!

Anyway!
As you can see we use our usual troops- CCCB (Cannon, Cavalry, Crossbows, Bright Wizard) as well as a new unit- the dwarven axemen infantry. We have to use them, sadly, else I wouldn't deploy them. Why not? They are SLOWER than normal infantry. They might be tough and are hard to get to flee, but Jesus Christ are they slow! Soooo slow! They make fine guards for the cannon, and nice cannon-fodder, but nothing else. I'll abuse their temporary presence in this mission as much as possible - meaning I'll recklessly throw them into battle so they get killed instead of our troops. Then again, that would be wasting precious experience points... Hmm. Now I know! I'll use them as meatshields to take the blows while charging better fighters to actually do the killing into the enemy's back! I r genius!

I am beautiful flow-, commando!

Now, again, we *could* bomb the hell out of the archers with our cannon, but that's... lame. So I send the Bright Wizard right to the front. Please check that tooltip. That's right, new spell.

Hell yeah! This powerful spell, as you can read, will create a blazing field of fire that'll burn everyone who happens to be inside it, or enters it. And we're fighting undead. Oh yeah baby!
Let's try it out. Wizard!

This spell just massacres the skeleton archers because they have to stand still to take aim. They soon retreat northwards.

Not without suffering some losses from stray cannonballs, that is.

The undead are pissed that we are destroying their ranged attackers, so their necromancer raises two units of zombies. Zombies? Yawn! Give me a fucking break!

We use a Flamestorm to make the narrow ravine they have to pass even more narrow, forcing them to pass one unit by one unit and giving our fine, fine crossbowmen ample time to wreak havoc on them.

Gwehehehe!

The remaining numbers of zombies are easily dispatched.

:twisted: Watch, Bloodfist, as your dead brothers rise from the grave to slay the li- WHAT THE HELL ARGH!!! *crunch*

The undead send their necromancer in an attempt to kill a few of our units- little did he know that there is no spell that makes you immune to bolts and A CANNONBALL INTO THE FACE YEAH TAKE IT BITCH!

We teleport the wizard up north to get some recon. Seems like the archers are still not at peace, and there's a small horde of skeletons and a new banner moving to our troops... wonder what that is?

More skeletons? :yawn:

Well, whoops. Now, this page says they are only "2" on the threat range, but trust me, they're worse. Their fear effect can decimate normally ultra-powerful regiments if you get unlucky.

Cannons! Fire!

We send the cavalry against those bad wight buddies because they're my worst nightmare in this mission and I'd rather get rid of them before they do too much damage. A furious battle ensues, but the full armor on our cavalry pays off- without incurring any losses at all, our men slay all the wights AND the skeletons that charged their backs. Hardcore!

Pretty!

Once we moved north and assembled a new defensive line we spot more undead advancing- let's give our crossbows a workout again!

And while we're at it, our bright wizard too- behind the zombies, some skeletal archers appear to piss us off. Did I mention Flamestorm is useful?

They survived the Flamestorm- well, more corpses to light ablaze for !

Sweet, the skeleton-archers dropped a chest with 250 gold.

We send our scout, err, wizard ahead to check for more undead... score!

Firestorms to slow their progress and crossbow-bolts to actually do some killing!

They finally reach our (beautifully aligned) defensive line, suffering heavy losses on the way. Hold your ground, dwarfs! Altough wights can inspire fear, the good thing is that dwarfs get a bonus on morale checks, counter-acting that nicely and giving the cavalry time to deal with the surviving skeletons.

Do you know when cavalry is most useful? That's right, when they charge enemies at the back- this gives them *insane* boni to strength and their number of attacks, so decimating the wights is just a matter of time.

Let's throw the crossbows and the wizard into the melee so they get a workout too! Quite the gangrape.

:evil: We are victorious!

Nice. However, this is going to be useless because replacing troops is very expensive and we surely lost many...

Nevermind.

:fanfare:

Grudgebringer Crossbows level up! +1 To Hit!

:D I thank you, commander. Here, accept this gift- the Enchanted Shield. A dwarf's magic always comes in handy, eh? Now I must be off to Karak Norn. Good luck!
:evil: Klaus! We must return to Altdorf

But not without taking a look at our new baby. Now we can leave. :riding noises:

:!: Ah, Bernhardt. You smell of death. More than usual, that is.
:evil: Someone ambushed us on the way to Bogenhafen. The target was your cousin Countess Isabel- someone paid the ambushers to get her. Here is the letter we found with them.

:!: Ah.. I recognise this seal. It belongs to none other than Manfred from Carstein, the last and most terrible of the vampire counts. [Fancy that, my uncle is called Manfred] It is believed he once entered the realm of the dead and returned with the secrets of unlife. He's a master of the mysteries of evil. His abode is castle Drakenhof in [Tran-]Sylvania, a land of silent forests and whispering evils in the night. Have you heard, commander, that the countess was kidnapped from Bogenhafen after your departure? [!] The mayor apparently fled as soon as he laid sight onto the troops of the count. The townsfolk is grief-stricken and the mayor is whimpering about his career prospects.
:evil: I should have stayed to protect her....
:!: It is my wish that you rescue her without delay. Have you any other news?
:evil: Helmgart has been secured.
:!: I am pleased to hear of it.
:evil: Azguz Bloodfist gave me a message to pass on to you, my Lord. He suggested you consult the "Liber Mortis". [That's Latin and means "Book of the Dead", not meaning to insult you if you knew]
:!: Ah yes.. the Book of the Dead. [FUCK YOU EMPEROR] In the present circumstances a most appropriate choice. Do you not agree, Volkmar?

:idea: As the Organist, supreme master in all matters arcane, I must tell you of the utmost caution that must be taken when consulting the Liber Mortis. It is an enterprise which I alone may survive. Even to attempt to touch it's demonskin-bound cover may result in minor damnations were I not protected by my faith in Sigma. Once the blasphemous book has been opened, 29 major damnations await. Despite my sorcerous powers I stand in constant peril of my soul being twisted inside-out as I scan the unholy grimoire's pages.
:!: Yes... I have heard of the perils of reading that book. In the past, many have been swallowed by the book and then regurgitated into different hells. Of course should you agree to read the book you will do so in Altdorf's highest, sealable tower, to shield the town from the diabolical forces reading the book may release. But given the circumstances, we have little choice- Will you accept the task of reading the Liber Mortis, Volkmar?
:idea: Given the severity of the undead threat, I see no other option than reading the dreaded pages.
:!: Well, commander. I owe you my thanks on the advice about the Liber Mortis. Volkmar, prepare your spirit to scan the pages of the grimoire of death in the Chamber Unbreachable. We earnestly hope you survive the endeavour and bring us the fruits of the dreaded book.

To be continued...

Edit: Guys, I'd like to buy maximum armor for my crossbowmen and the cannon. Sure, if they get into melee I am doing something wrong, but then again, you know I have a penchant for using my crossbows in melee whenever I can get away with it. What's your next decisions on armor? Keep saving money or fitting out the cannon and the crossbows?

 

[Otingocni]

Upgrading the armour of your primary troops seems the best plan. Will the shields armour bonus stack with the fully upgraded armour of your calvary? Seems as if you could make them slightly more unstoppable with it, and they are the ones most in danger; also, they are expensive to replace.

 

[Surgey]

I'm not sure what else you can use money on, so upgrade the cannon armor. Living cannoneers = more ordnance!

 

[puppyonastik]

Equip them with better armor.

BTW would you be keen on making a SOTHR version after you complete this campaign of mercilessly hacking the undead?

 

[Jasede]

I can't, I don't have the SOTHR cutscenes and the HOTU version crashes when I try to read the text in-between missions (though it is playable).

God, I'd love SotHR. It starts out a lot more merciless than Dark Omen, though I suppose the difficulty here will soon pick up steeply anyway. Also, Skaven. <3 <3 <3

And as you suggested, I will spend half my current gold on armor for the cannon and the crossbows, maxing it out.

As a little taste of things to come, the next missions are going to get progressively harder already. We'll be heavily outnumbered in the next battle and in the battle after it, and soon we'll even storm a fort- again... but this time the enemy has artillery, and by the quarter-dozen! x.x

 

[puppyonastik]

I can't, I don't have the SOTHR cutscenes and the HOTU version crashes when I try to read the text in-between missions (though it is playable).

*begins a crusade to find the perfect version of SOTHR with cutscenes and all*

 

[Jasede]

Do those cutscenes, I daren't ask, have MOVING Skaven? omg omg omg

 

[abstract]

so I hear there's this torrent search site which points to a 411 mb version of SOTHR with a few seeds... but they're probably just rumors. I saw a mudcrab the other day.

 

[Jasede]

No sweat... this LP won't be over until... December? Let's say 3 updates a week and the game should have, I guess, around 27 battles and we fought battle 6, that's 21 battles remaining, or seven weeks.

Edit: No update tomorrow, I must do more homework that I allowed to pile up. For the same reason, no update the day after tomorrow.

Are people liking this so far and should I keep updating?

 

[sqeecoo]

Yes! It's great! Please go on. You are doing a great job.

Two questions: how do you read the enemy descriptions (like in the wight screenshot)?

And are there any good warhammer 40k games? I love that setting, but the incredibly overpriced miniatures are beyond my means. So I am hoping for a nice PC game, if there are any (I don't even want to try the recent dawn of war thing, I need something good and atmospheric, like dark omen).

 

[Brother None]

Wait...the lands are being overrun by the undead and they actually...need a dwarf reminding them that they have a book that contains secrets about the undead?

Man, no wonder the empire is going to shit

PS: armor for ranged troops is so counter-intuitive. plz upgrade and utilize your infantry.
PPS: dang better keep going!

 

[Jasede]

Yes! It's great! Please go on. You are doing a great job.

Two questions: how do you read the enemy descriptions (like in the wight screenshot)?

And are there any good warhammer 40k games? I love that setting, but the incredibly overpriced miniatures are beyond my means. So I am hoping for a nice PC game, if there are any (I don't even want to try the recent dawn of war thing, I need something good and atmospheric, like dark omen).

One, go to "Multiplayer" in the main menu, select "Edit Army", click "Undead" and click the "Hire Regiment" button. Now you can browse all the undead troops with descriptions and slick art! I'll keep posting enemy descriptions when some art strikes me as especially observe-worthy.

Two, I have no idea! They all say Dawn of War is pretty good, and there's an expansion of it that has a sort of strategical map, like in Dune 2 or Command and Conquer, but with more choices and consequences (or so I am led to believe). I heard of a game called Final Liberation which is supposedly a mediocre turn-based WH40K game. Oh, and there's Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate

It plays like X-COM's evil twin, you can (somewhat) adjust your teams between missions and that jazz. It's pretty... okay. But good luck getting that one to run under XP.

Brother None: Hmmm, fine, fine. As a compromise, I'll upgrade everyone's armor, but only by one, and use the infantry in the next few missions- if only to suck up arrows, cannonballs and evil spells. D)

 

[Destroid]

Keep up the good work Jasede, Lets Plays are always entertaining to read.

There is a new wh40k tactical combat game coming out for DS soon, could be good (I imagine it will be somewhat like chaos gate).

 

[Shannow]

I got Final Liberation, Chaos Gate and SotHR as a Warhammer bundle a few years back. SotHR is by far the best. Tho other two are riddled with bugs. Nevertheless I liked Chaos Gate pretty much too.
Final Liberation was kinda meh. 40K, turn based with maps that included all three axis and enemies would reconquer maps. I can hardly remember it, but I think cumbersome interface and bugs ruined it for me.

@Jasede: There were skaven in the cut scenes and they moved (sort of).

 

[Jasede]

Bonus

Hey guys, I am knee-deep in homework at the moment so I won't update this until the weekend, at which I hope to manage at least 3 missions. So meanwhile, check out this art:

The standard unit of the undead, zombies die just from looking at them. A single lucky hit with the crossbows can kill five, six zombies, and they need to be very, very lucky to even harm one of your men. You should send threat level (the number of skulls) 1 units against them so they can farm XP. They're rarely ever a threat since they're also very, very slow. They do cause fear, though, which means it would be very, very unwise to engage them with an unit of yours that flees easily, like, for example, a 66% dead grudgebringer infantry regiment.

The skeletons are a much bigger threat than the zombies. While their armor is low most of the time, they have a greater Toughness than zombies, which means they are vastly better at shrugging hits off. They aren't a threat in melee if you engage them with at least 2-skull infantry regiment or better, but you have to consider their high toughness, which can mean fighting them can take a lot longer than the zombies if you get unlucky rolls.

Ah, the undead archers. They suck at shooting, and have horrid aim, but they're still bound to hit and kill at least something- so archers should be either a main priority, or should stay out of range, or you engage a regiment nearby in melee- the enemy may not wish to make his archers fire into his own troops and will cease fire or pick a new target, possibly giving you time to charge them with some emergency cavalry. Only trouble: The skeleton archers are exactly as good as the skeletons in melee. That bites quite a lot, and most of my losses so far was from killing archers, and nothing else, and in melee to boot.

We saw those guys briefly. Not much to say, really, they usually show up in such small units that they are not a big deal, especially since they flee so easily.

Ooooh boy. Even worse than the skeletal archers, this is undead cavalry, doh. The trouble is just... the only flaw the undead armies have, aside from weakness to fire, is their speed... and those guys have speed, and buckets of it. Since they are usually such a large unit size, they also have a much easier time beating your unit's morale (resist fear) check, making them flee- and can you imagine what happens when a slower unit tries to flee from a faster unit? I can and it's not pretty. Kill those guys ASAP, even if it means having to take some arrows in the face.

And this is it. Necromancers. You know the havoc our Bright Wizard can wreak? How he can teleport around and kill whole regiments on his own?
Well, here's the catch- the enemy can do the same. Necromancers will slaughter your units with they very, very powerful direct damage spells. It is not at all rare for a necromancer, if he gets close enough, to kill about five of your Grudgebringer Cavalry in a single round of magic, costing you 1250 gp. You know the drill- kill them absolutely as soon as you can, aiming the cannon and the crossbows at them. Do NOT engage with a wizard though- they can dispel your own protective magic and then kill you a lot faster than slow me can click to instruct counter-measures in time. I'd go so far as to say that killing enemy necromancers is just as important as horsemen. If you encounter both at once, go for the necromancer first, at least in my (still limited) experience.