3rd AAR Thread

[Velociryx]

This AAR incorporates a number of the new features we're adding, with the goal being that we'll have an early version to release to the general public.

Autumn, 204AC - The House of Mourngrym

We begin by ordering the construction of a pair of Taverns in our two provinces, WestKeep and EastGate. Of course, the people hate it when their leaders do ANYTHING, even if they'll love the drinking halls when completed, so amid the general grumbling, unhappiness among the masses occurs. Nothing to be done about it though, so we endure it.

The lowered loyalty hurts our coffers, and even though we are the wealthiest House in the Kingdom, there are limits to what we can do. Turn 2 sees us only able to afford a single festival in WestKeep, but the citizens there respond favorably to it, and Loyalty begins to recover.

The party in WestKeep turns into a month long affair, and loyalty is recovering nicely in that province. The scent of war is on the air though, and the fragile peace will not hold long. We must prepare.

[Velociryx]

new population overview screen.

[Velociryx]

Over the next month, our taverns complete in both provinces, and we continue to lavish our attentions on our citizens.

Blessedly, we come across an unexpected boon (Mourngrym only event), allowing us to buy influence with either the Mystics or the Holy Church. We opt to buy a Bishophric, and gain a significant amount of Influence, which will enable us to make use of Miracles (Binding Chants) to further enhance the loyalty of our people.

[Velociryx]

By the time winter arrives, we're in a position to begin training additional forces for our fledgling armies (we are limited to 600 Infantry, mostly house guards). Training commences of 600 new infantry, and while we're doing this, we're still paying loads of attention to the pulse of our population, holding regular festivals to help keep our uneasy population from getting too rowdy.

To bolster our forces further, we take the unusual step of pressing 200 infantry into service, so that by the time our regular infantry have completed their training, we have 1400 Infantry, and we consolidate those in WestKeep.

As soon as they arrive and recover from their march, we order the whole of the force into neighboring Micklenach...

[Velociryx]

Turn 12.

In many ways, turn 12 was the crossroads for the whole game, and not only because I just invaded another province, but this is the point at which the whole shape of the strategy hangs in the balance.

Early sigil focus, or shrine? And it's important, because the current suites of abilities offered by each are very different.

Besides that, the army is, no doubt going to take losses, and I don't have the money to do everything, so in a nutshell, right here, right now I've got a big decison.

Build more troops and recover from that loyalty hit (not as severe as buildings)

OR

See to my longer term security by foregoing troops in the short run, and focusing on one or the other building type (they can be built in the same province, but it's not a good idea as they partially negate the other's effects). I'll be writing more about the thinking behind such decisions in an upcoming strategy article, but I decided to go with Shrines in my two core provinces, so we simply save our money for the time being.

Turn 13 sees us with just over 2200g in the bank. Enough to begin a shrine in EastGate, do a festival there to offset (partially) the loyalty hit, and then follow that up with Bread & Circuses from our growing collection of Espionage Points. Note the possible dangers to using this particular tool:

[Velociryx]

Turn 13 sees progress on the Micklenach siege (4), while Turn 14 sees a reversal of fortune (no progress, and 100 men lost), but it is of no consequence. Turn 15 brings the spring thaw and the start of 205AC.

With it comes the fall of Micklenach (1.5 Month siege)

Our loyalty in the Core Provinces (WestKeep and EastGate) is sufficiently high that we feel secure begining the training of an additional 600 Infantry to bolster our army. Because Micklenach has a significantly smaller population than our cores, Festivals are much more effective here (a greater percentage of the populace gets to attend), and so, a single Festival raises the loyalty of our newest province to an impressive 49%.

It's still possible that this province could rebel, however, and if it were to, it could spell trouble, so we opt to leave our troops stationed there for the time being.

[Velociryx]

For the next several turns (thru to turn 19) we spend time paying close attention to the loyalty of our various provinces. It is during this time that our Shrines finish (20 Influence per turn, giving us a Binding Chant every three turns if we want it), but I get ahead of myself. On the turn of capture, it's clear that the Micklens are none too fond of us....

[Velociryx]

Anyway, during the period thru to turn 19, we spent a lot of time and effort on our provinces, and it really paid off!

So much so, in fact, that Micklenach wound up with loyalty of over 100%!

How's that, you might ask.

A good question.

There are factors that can cause loyalty to dip below zero (in which case, the province costs you moolah every turn, and they can also go above 100%, thusly:

[Velociryx]

So after Micklenach, our army turns its attention to ShroudWater, and Calimbar, and we get a special event (mourngrym only) that allows us to hire the first and only great leader in the game! (there will be others later, but for now, General Zander Kane reigns supreme!

[Velociryx]

With Kane in command of the army at Calimbar, and winter setting in, he marches them to Gloim to begin a campaign there (eventually we're going to have negative modifiers for winter warfare, but for now, you get a free pass ), so off he goes.

The siege lasts for 2 months, and Gloim is added to our growing collection, and by the time Gloim is brought to heel, we have reversed the unfair opinion that our peers around the real had of us, and instead of being seen as a Scoundrel, we are now viewed as a full on Peer of the Realm.

[Velociryx]

Okay, so note that we're more than a year into this thing, and we haven't even turned research ON...that's no biggie, and in fact, research before you're ready for it can either be brilliant or it can kick your a$$, so be careful with it! (right now, it doesn't do a lot for you, which is why I opted to leave it off).

Anyways, at about this time, we're recruiting and festivaling all over our territory in a bid to a) keep Zander's army strong, and b) raise enough troops to be able to field a second force. We've got enough provinces now that we're getting a good mix of shrines and sigils, with taverns tossed in liberally on both sides, because they don't "interfere" with the others, like the others interfere with each other, so that's fun.

On turn 40, however, we bite off slightly more than we can chew and Langborne gets into a spot of trouble, loyalty wise.

We fix the issue, but have to do so with "Bread and Circuses" which comes with issues of its own....

[Velociryx]

Now, after turn 40, things get strange.

Zander attacks into Ascaaphol, which is council lands (we lightning stormed the council's army out of existence as a prelude to the attack). And it works. We attack Ascaaphol, and do damage to their defenses.

Then we teleport to Ironport the following turn.

Then back to Ascaaphol.

Then...you guessed it, back to IronPort.

Now...because we were gone from the province, the siege counters "reset" each turn, so we never made any progress, and eventually, Zander's army died out. Had I been thinking about it, I would have invaded Ascaaphol when Zander's army was in IronPort, then they could have "swapped places" but...meh...I'll try that later.

So we left well enough alone and turned our attention to the rest of the Serpent's Back (mountainous region in the south) and then to the hill country that borders Castillaren lands.

On a whim, I had a force attack IronPort again, and got blocked by an intercession! Go AI!

[Velociryx]

I ended the game by invading Sutheron, and discovering that my army here did the same thing as my army in IronPort/Ascaaphol...that is to say, it teleported each round between Sutheron and Ouestron.

Very intriguing, and I conquered not enough provinces to win, but a worthy collection indeed!

-=Vel=-