Game looks really fun, too bad you can't upgrade your magical units. Its pretty funny how it keeps the naming convention from Panzer General, i.e. 1st Elf Chariots, 13th Treemen.
Awesome LP.
EDIT: I like how the first continent was governed by an incompetent orc. The ShadowLord's rule might not be so terrible if he didn't put worthless people into power and actually ordered lugnuts, damn you crippling lugnut shortage and a government of incompetent robot elders.
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Kane Red RobeMaster of MagicArcanusRegistered Userregular
Game looks really fun, too bad you can't upgrade your magical units. Its pretty funny how it keeps the naming convention from Panzer General, i.e. 1st Elf Chariots, 13th Treemen.
Awesome LP.
I always get grumpy about the fact that the number is just what number of troop in your army a unit is, rather than what number of that particular kind it is. So if you have 16 units they are numbered 1-16th x, rather than having 1-3rd x, 1-2nd y &c. But then I am a bit OCD.
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Alfred J. Kwakis it because you were insultedwhen I insulted your hair?Registered Userregular
edited March 2010
Kayne, I have but one wish and it is this: If I fall in combat, resurrect me as a Zombie. (after further reading, this apparently isn't possible, so just make it so I don't die please :P)
I am in disbelief that anyone remembers this game let alone is playing it.
Loved the MoM LP and this so far is a blast from the past. Keep it up.
I kinda feel that Let's Plays should be used to showcase games people may have missed that were awesome, or really bad, whatever. This isn't a concrete feeling, since at some point if no one else does I'm going to do Mega Man 9, because I am awful at it and it will be hilarious, but that's a whole different matter.
More realistically, I'm doing these games because they have a lot of nostalgia appeal for me and I am reasonably confident I can beat them. I've been playing them for years after all.
Regarding the game mechanics, Lord Marcus is going to try and cover them in the next update. (Which I am attempting to write immediately following this. It could be a bit though, don't hold your breath).
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Kane Red RobeMaster of MagicArcanusRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
Episode 5, Onward Brave Arcadians
The road had been long and hard; you and your fellow volunteers had marched from one end of Keldonia to the other, making camp in the midst of an army of strange magical creatures, and engaging in desperate combat with the vile forces of the former king Dragga. Now it was time to go home, already the brave squires who had joined you during the Battle of the Scarlet Plain had packed their saddlebags and set off for their homes. Even the strange, but oddly friendly lizardfolk who had joined after that battle had taken their leave and set off for the swamp that was their home. And yet, you and your fellows had found reason after reason to put off returning homeward. Perhaps it was the dread of returning Devoutly Apathetic and Xtarath's bodies to their families; you could still remember vividly how they died, speared by what seemed like a multitude of goblin lances. Perhaps you just wanted to see the army on it's way, so that you could be really, truly certain that even without you the war of liberation was continuing. The Archmage had been busy these last few days crafting floating islands of cloud and mist with which to ferry the army to the Isle of Four Winds. Rumor had it the Isle was ruled by another wizard, an evil wizard, with whom the Archmage bore a deep grudge.
Regardless of the reason, on the morn the rest of the army would set out and you and the rest of the Arcadians had yet to leave the army. Finally it was a_m_a_t who broke the silence, asking what everyone was thinking. "What do you think will happen to Keldonia if the Archmage loses?"
There is a long silence as the Arcadians imagine the horrible retribution the Shadowlord would visit upon their homeland. "We should go with them." You state hesitantly, "If only to make sure we did everything we could to prevent that."
A much shorter pause is followed by agreement from the Arcadians, hesitant at first, but ending with shouts and cheers, and with a new enthusiasm the former farmers head to speak with Lord Marcus about receiving some actual military training.
*******
Huh. I guess Calis was right, he said you lot were more than just an average group of volunteers. Alright, let's get you some real weapons and armor and I'll give you a quick rundown on how combat really works.
Not too shabby, not too shabby at all. Let's take it from the top then. You lot are Militia, tier 1 light infantry, mortal of course, since there isn't any other kind. It costs 16 gold to outfit a group of militia. Like all non-hero, non-spellcaster units, you fight as a group of 15, and as we aren't in combat, you currently have maximum strength.
To use an example of an earlier fight, you can take Deaths, indicated by the skull symbol on the left, and Wounds, indicated by the bloodsplatter on the right during combat. Wounds represent all sorts of stuff, from stragglers to actual minor injuries, but all can be regained by spending a turn resting instead of attacking. You can still move before resting, just can't engage in combat. Deaths on the other hand, are exactly what it says, and can't be replaced unless you recruit from a deployment zone around a friendly castle or town, though they are automatically replaced at the end of a battle. Regardless of whether it is from Deaths or Wounds, a unit which has 0 effective combatants is destroyed.
Returning to your info sheet, you lot currently have 55 experience, for every 100 you get, you will increase in rank, and gain a couple of bonuses. More specifically you get +5 to your starting and max morale, +2 to armor, +2 to your main attack (in your case melee) and +1 to melee if melee isn't your main attack. The Kills value over there keeps track of how many enemy units you are specifically responsible for. Speaking of Morale, your current and maximum morale is listed under Experience. Normally at the beginning of battle your current would be your max, but since we are being led by Krell, who is charismatic as a dead treeman, all units start out at -20. If Calis were in charge the opposite would be the case, as that man can make one hell of a damn good speech.
Below that is the number of attacks your unit can make, units make a number of attacks equal to their maximum strength minus wounds and deaths, so as a unit is damaged, it becomes less effective. Below that is a listing of the attack values of a unit, most units have melee and perhaps either skirmish or missile listed here. Far as I know there is only one guy crazy enough to try and have all three. Following that is armor, then magical resistance (out of 100), search range, which is how far a unit can spot enemies, and movement.
When a unit is attacking, it compares its attack value, whether missile, skirmish, or melee, against the target's armor and rolls a number of attacks equal to it's strength against that modifier. There's some heavy duty math in here, but I usually just play it by ear. Keep in mind that the opponent does the same thing simultaneously for each phase of combat (missile, skirmish, then melee). A low result does no damage, a slightly higher result will cause a suppression, which takes causes morale damage, a medium result causes a wound, and a high result a death. Wounds and Deaths naturally have a morale penalty associated with them as well.
That's probably enough yammering for now, we're about to head out. I'll get back with you lot and talk about movement, combat modifiers and morale in greater depth later. If we're all still alive of course.
Our researchers have been busy, and our mortal unit research has by and large caught up with our magical unit research, for the moment.
In addition, our supply train has expanded enough to support another 4 units.
It should, of course, go without saying that we don't have enough cash on hand to upgrade everything and afford new units. Your thoughts?
I'd also like to say that despite Krell's background as a mage, Spell Caster units like the ones that just became available aren't terribly useful compared to other types. If we're short on gold, that'd be a good place to make budget cuts to.
So the options are upgrade the existing units or buy more troops? How much of a step up is the upgrade? I vote buy more light cavalry unless the difference between the upgraded units and the current ones is really big.
Kane Red RobeMaster of MagicArcanusRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
We can afford to upgrade everything and purchase some units, purchase 4 expensive units and upgrade a few things, or upgrade some stuff and purchase some or 4 medium expense units.
Regarding spellcaster units: I usually like to get up the Healers and then cut funding there. They would be a lot better if they kept all the spells the previous tiers knew.
Absent any input, my plan is to buy 1 cavalry, 1 light cavalry, 1 light infantry, and 1 skirmisher, and upgrade as much as I can.
Edit: Hold on, let me get a bit more info for you guys, this isn't quite fair. I just got burned out on writing halfway through that update and cut it short.
We can afford to upgrade everything and purchase some units, purchase 4 expensive units and upgrade a few things, or upgrade some stuff and purchase some or 4 medium expense units.
Regarding spellcaster units: I usually like to get up the Healers and then cut funding there. They would be a lot better if they kept all the spells the previous tiers knew.
Absent any input, my plan is to buy 1 cavalry, 1 light cavalry, 1 light infantry, and 1 skirmisher, and upgrade as much as I can.
Sounds like a better plan than me randomly guessing what sounds like it might be effective. I'm assuming Total War style massed cavalry probably won't work if your suggestions are so balanced.
Kane Red RobeMaster of MagicArcanusRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
Episode 5.5, Number Crunching
I thought I was in charge of Intelligence, not logistics.
Just run with it. You didn't have any lines in the main update anyways.
*Sigh* Fine, whatever. We currently have 133 gold in reserve, and enough supply to support 4 new units. In addition, we have the Amulet of Resistance in the Item Vault.
The above are the troops available to us, in general, we will always want to purchase the best unit available, buying magical units if available. We're not going to buy any siege units, so I'm not sure why we even included that as an image. Krell's plan to purchase another Elf Chariots, a Staff Slinger, a Militia, and an Elf Knights would cost us 80 gold leaving 53 for upgrades.
We have 1 units of Slingers that we can upgrade to Staff Slingers for 11 gold.
We have 2 units of Elven Archers that we can upgrade to Longbowmen for 16 gold each, or a total of 32 for both.
We have 2 units of Light Cavalry that we can upgrade to Elf Knights for 11 gold each, or 22 for both.
That adds up to 65 for upgrades needed, not counting the additional 48 gold replacing our Air Warriors with more Treemen would cost. If I had my druthers, I would leave upgrading the Archers for last, since their job is mostly to grant our infantry covering fire, so they shouldn't be in danger much. Hopefully. Your input will, of course be noted, probably ignored, but noted.
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Kane Red RobeMaster of MagicArcanusRegistered Userregular
We can afford to upgrade everything and purchase some units, purchase 4 expensive units and upgrade a few things, or upgrade some stuff and purchase some or 4 medium expense units.
Regarding spellcaster units: I usually like to get up the Healers and then cut funding there. They would be a lot better if they kept all the spells the previous tiers knew.
Absent any input, my plan is to buy 1 cavalry, 1 light cavalry, 1 light infantry, and 1 skirmisher, and upgrade as much as I can.
Sounds like a better plan than me randomly guessing what sounds like it might be effective. I'm assuming Total War style massed cavalry probably won't work if your suggestions are so balanced.
We-ell, it works, until the third continent, whereupon cavalry heavy armies tend to get rodgered but good. (It is a jungle continent you see).
I am REALLY enjoying this LP, despite initially thinking it was a silly looking game.
Kayne, could you put embedded youtube links to (relevant) music in your episodes like you did for episode 2? You've gone through a lot of trouble making a fun story, and the music in episode 2 really helped the atmosphere while reading.
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Kane Red RobeMaster of MagicArcanusRegistered Userregular
I am REALLY enjoying this LP, despite initially thinking it was a silly looking game.
Kayne, could you put embedded youtube links to (relevant) music in your episodes like you did for episode 2? You've gone through a lot of trouble making a fun story, and the music in episode 2 really helped the atmosphere while reading.
Planning on it, except that not much of the music is available online and I can't get it to work here, so I am husbanding them for future episodes.
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Kane Red RobeMaster of MagicArcanusRegistered Userregular
It's about time you guys got here, I've been getting my butt handed to me here.
A Sorceress may travel on Seahorse back, but an army must move slower.
Whatever. The rebellion on the Isle of the Winds went pretty well at first, we liberated Castle Highwatch and nearly reached the Caerovian Peninsula. At about which point Aelcar got a little bit crazy. It's been undead and mechanical monstrosities ever since.
Undead? Monstrous!
Yes, well, Aelcar was always a bit short on morals. I regret I failed in my attempt to instill them.
You two have a history?
Indeed. Aelcar was my apprentice once. Now I suppose I must put aside my memories of those happier times and deal with him once and for all. But enough of that maudlin nonsense, what is the situation Mordra?
Right. As you can see, the Vale of Sorrow makes Cynehelm Valley look like a cakewalk. Our objectives here are to protect Ellerbrook, capture the towns of Leavesly and Watelford, and successfully invest the Tower of Tombs.
Not asking much are we?
The terrain here constrains us a bit.
I'll say, this is perfect cavalry country. Which, of course, means that if we want to establish a defensible position we'll need to hold the Tower.
Precisely. That's not all though. Aelcar has Mechmaster Ferras locked up the the Caerovian Peninsula, but after we nearly got to him earlier it's unlikely that Ferras will be there for much longer. If we clear the Vale quickly we might have a chance to go liberate him.
I am, not fond, of mechanical constructs, but I suppose denying Ferris to Aelcar would be worthwhile.
And, but this is just rumor mind, but I've heard that the legendary Priest of Handola is fighting against Aelcar's undead around the Temple near the Tower. If we act fast we might be able to get there before he gets overwhelmed.
The Priest would be a welcome addition to our forces, he is a man of saintly temperament, and no mean fighting skill.
What?
He's a good guy, not bad in a fight either.
Thank you, Krell is starting to wear off on you.
Is that so bad? A small vocabulary is the hallmark of a small mind.
Whatever.
16 turns, riiight, well we will do our best to clear the Vale quickly. To that end I deploy our forces into two battle groups. The cavalry will follow the road to the south-west, while the bulk of our forces will march straight south.
Aelcar's forces, being undead, desecrated Wachian's rest, but did not loot it. Our newly upgraded Elf Knights feel Wachian would agree the treasures of his tomb would be well spent fighting the Shadowlord and his minions.
We really need another unit of archers.
Yes, I think I may have erred slightly in our unit purchases, ah well.
At least the cavalry looks good, let's see Aelcar try and force the river. But what are the Arcadians doing over there?
I'm sure they know what they are doing. Well, let's go ahead and see what Aelcar does.
Hey, what gives?
Aelcar knows the same combat spells I do, weakness is an interesting choice though.
He chose; poorly.
Those elves deserve some sort of commendation for this.
I'm not really certain what Aelcar has against them.
Well, they did have to retreat finally.
Who cares about that? They kicked ass and took names!
Well that was, something.
Given how well those Screamers are performing, I am suddenly a lot more optimistic about the air war.
The 10th Elf Knights don't appear to be made of the same stuff as the 6th.
Those Goblin Archers are either very brave, or very stupid.
I'd give my hat for some archers that could keep up with cavalry, this could have been so much better with missile support.
Don't be silly, no one could possibly fire a bow from horseback. At least those Undead Cavalry got what was coming to them.
This could take a while; Bronzemen aren't a joke, unlike Screamers.
I have every confidence in our Staff Slingers. Besides, while Aelcar has the Mechmaster, he doesn't have an engineer.
What kind of idiot would field mech units without the ability to repair them?
Aelcar the Shadow Wizard lady and gentlemen!
Cavalry do not belong in the forest.
Undead Cavalry, meet Loric.
A bloodless victory for the Arcadians.
Admittedly, the enemy unit had been worn down a lot beforehand.
Well that could have gone better.
Damn insufferable random number generator.
I'm tired of Skeletons already.
At least those archers are pulling their weight, barely.
Those skirmishers took a beating.
Better them than anything else really.
Damn. Didn't quite get them.
That's the first time those Conjurers have seen actual combat.
Yes, mostly because they are terrible at it.
Case in point.
Now that's just not fair. standing up to a cavalry charge is just not in their job description.
Well no, but they do suck.
Fair enough.
So much for that bloodless victory thing.
Hey Krell, light infantry gets major bonuses in rough terrain.
You could have said that a few seconds ago.
Turns out archers even give defensive fire against skirmish attacks, who knew?
Uhm...
Quiet Marcus.
Right. I think Loric has those Skeleton Slingers well in hand. Was what I was going to say.
Sure you were.
I wish he would go back to casting weakness.
A lucky break, we've been stuck on this Bronzeman for far too long.
Those cheeky bastards.
Aelcar moved one of those beat up Skeletons back towards Ellerbrook, so a few units were diverted from the front lines to protect the town.
We lose automatically if it is captured, even if by a crappy beat up bunch of skeletons.
And back to doing well, we'll make real soldiers out of you lot yet.
Capturing the poorly named Dead Stones nets us our first basic hero.
That fellow looks familiar somehow
Loric takes a break from the slingers and goes to deal with some cavalry.
The archers keep the slingers occupied though.
Do elven archers get a bonus for fighting from the trees?
You know, I have no idea.
We picked up the Shrine of the Winds and the town of Spearsleah this turn, once we liberate Aelfwalt from those slingers we'll have cleared the top third of the map. More importantly, we've pretty much annihilated Aelcar's mobile forces, should get easier from here.
Stop that!
Yep, smooth sailing from here, note the poorly defended victory location.
Oh goody, another Bronzeman.
Actually, that went pretty well, hopefully this one can be dealt with faster.
They dealt with that counter attack really well, we should take the town this turn.
We do, and then Aelcar brings up reinforcements and promptly takes it back.
We'll see about that.
The Goblin Archers do the sensible thing and surrender.
Units without a clear retreat path will surrender if they fail a morale check.
Watelford falls to our forces. Both the Tower of Tombs and the Temple of Handola are just beyond that river.
Which, conveniently, cavalry can get across at a reasonable pace.
Indeed.
*Grumble*
We might actually do this, it's only turn 7.
Skirmish, skirmish, lol.
Please don't do that.
Sorry.
The Temple is cleared of foes, but we have no one around to liberate it, next turn though.
Cavalry is not for Tower storming!
Eh, they'll get it eventually.
We got some volunteers from the Shrine of the Winds, they promptly "volunteered" to take point.
Let's do this.
Excellent, it is good to see the Priest again.
Gah! Can you maybe get him to put some clothes on?
The Priest is an ascetic, he feels excessive clothing weakens the soul.
Are we allowed to get any heroes that wear pants? Just one, that's all I'm asking for.
See, they figured it out.
If you say so.
Almost had it this turn, we'll get it next turn then.
Elves don't like fire. Who would have thought?
His paltry cantrips won't save him though. We have won the first real battle of the campaign, handily even.
Fast enough that Mechmaster Ferras hasn't been moved yet even.
Right, there are three possible battlefields opened, but we'll be going there first.
More Elf Knights, that's good.
They are volunteers.
That's bad.
The Sergeant isn't though.
That's good!
Also some research we're probably going to never need finished. Hurray.
I may have missed it, but is there a section that describes what all of the unit types are supposed to do, as well as what all the special abilities mean?
It's also scary to watch your name slowly move up the list of the Volunteers ...
Is there any calvary archers? Or was Calis not joking?
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Kane Red RobeMaster of MagicArcanusRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
Underwhelming is a pretty good way to describe Bombardiers. They are pretty much flying archers, and for some reason archers never really do a whole lot of damage in direct combat.
Some of the later light cavalry appear to be cavalry archers, but they still act as skirmishers on horses rather than cavalry archers. It's pretty much impossible to get defensive fire bonii for your cavalry.
I don't think I ever explicitly laid out what the unit types do, hopefully it becomes obvious as they are used. If not I'll throw that in the next Marcus boot camp update.
The beginning of that battle looked a lot rougher than any on the first continent, though it was pretty easy going once you broke through.
That is one of the cool things about Fantasy General, each continent is ruled by a different evil minion type, and they all have their own quirks. Aelcar tends to be really aggressive and throw everything at you within the first couple of turns. This can get hairy, but it does allow you to use your archers to sucker him into making rash attacks. Since he doesn't really know the meaning of "strategic reserve" after that battles on the Isle tend to be pretty easy. Dragga of course was just dumb, and lazy. The next guy we'll run into is a bit of a pain, for reasons I will go over when we get there.
3rd contitnent suckkkkkssss! At least I knew and have some good light and heavy infantry, but still those maps are huge. You need calvary for some of the open spaces to rush and cap cities once the battle is winding down.
This is a weird feeling. I never played Master of Magic, but I played and liked Age of Wonders which was kinda/sorta based on it. I never played Fantasy General, but I played and liked Fantasy Wars/Elven Legacy which was kinda/sorta based on it...
With this game, I find myself wishing Fantasy Wars had the option of playing 4 different armies at the start like this game does. I also like the added details with the researching and such.
Kane Red RobeMaster of MagicArcanusRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
Episode 7, The Battle of the Caerovian Peninsula
And by the Council of Five, they mean me, just because they called me up to ask me to scry the place doesn't mean they get to take credit for it. Anyways, what's the sitrep Mordra?
Not much to report here chief, we've caught Aelcar off guard. the peninsula is a pretty small battlefield, jam packed with places of interest. Realistically, I would guess we'll be seeing a lot of mech units here, which isn't that bad, as Aelcar has no way to repair them.
Given how aggressive Aelcar is, we can probably just establish a defensive line and wait him out.
Right, no time constraints for this battle, play it safe.
Cramped deployment area aside, I think this should be pretty simple, we might actually outnumber Aelcar's forces here if that's all he has available.
I somehow doubt that.
Well, let's take a look around then.
Well. Nevermind then, this should be fun.
Alright then, let us get this show on the road.
Starfall Altar is cleared easily enough, now we see what Aelcar will do.
Prepare to receive charge!
Ouch.
Indeed. Our Pegasi get hammered as a result of their reconnaissance. Thankfully, we switched their Wand of Fireball for the Amulet of Resistance, so Aelcar's whirlwind fetish should prove less troublesome now.
Much like Dragga, Aelcar uses his siege weapons to fire on our sky hunters, although Mercury Guns are a bit more potent than Disease Throwers.
Meanwhile the 12th Elf Chariots also absorb a lot of heat, including a charge by one of Aelcar's Rolling Men. They survive to fight another day though, as do the Pegasi, albeit barely.
Sometimes it is necessary to attack into defensive fire, in this case to open the path so Loric could more permanently deal with those archers.
Who is the aggressive commander in this battle again?
Hush you.
The Steamphont found the Priest's arguments rather unconvincing.
He found a hail of staff sling bullets a bit more so though.
You know, that guy looks kind of familiar too, what is going on with these Sergeants?
Ah, Nothing important Marcus. Best not to dwell on it.
At the end of the 2nd turn, Aelcar is already running low on combat effective troops.
Ah! Someone kill that damn thing!
Fortunately our newly upgraded Longbowmen are up to the task, and the Pegasi are finally able to rest and recuperate.
There's a lot of that going around this turn.
About the only notable event is a veritable slew of Arcadians liberating the town of Stonegate.
It seems Aelcar's forces are catching up on their R&R as well, the only thing of note during his turn was that those Balloon Hangers finally joined the fight.
Those are the most ridiculous things I've ever seen.
And how does that qualify as a magic unit anyways? It's a guy tied to a balloon with a rifle?
No idea, part of the reason we don't have any.
Aelcar also recruited a unit of Flying Monkeys to replace the Screamers he lost.
It is actually possible to hire and deploy troops mid-combat, although I think this is the first time we've seen it happen.
Naturally we shouldn't ever be forced to such drastic measures.
The Pegasi are back in the fight, and we teach Aelcar why bombardiers shouldn't be left unescorted. And give his Monkeys a taste of Aelcar's favorite spell to ensure that the bombardiers stay unescorted.
Xtarath continues to kick ass, while Devoutly Apathetic continues to be so profoundly mediocre that he hasn't done anything worth noting yet.
Iron Giants are way overpowering at this point. Which is, of course, why the volunteers were there to take the brunt of that.
So very, very mediocre.
Can you spot the difference?
Xtarath remains awesome.
And the Arcadians claim the cave, netting us some loot, and Aelcar a unit of very badly positioned Skeletons, who proceed to get whomped on.
Oh.
That'll do DA, that'll do.
That is the worst assault I have ever seen.
And DA pummels the Iron Giant into submission
Soo-per-man...
*sniffle*
Excellent, time to upgrade our infantry finally. We had enough gold to upgrade our Air Warriors before this battle, but since the research on Giants was so close to being finished I decided to hold off.
Speaking of research, we can research Mech units now that we have Ferras.
Yes, but while we can field them now, we can't repair them until we find a competent field engineer.
Ferras is more of a design kinda guy, not good at fixing combat damage.
We now have the option of attacking either the Forest of the Weeping Wind in the north, or Broken Fang Pass in the south. Mordra?
Neither one is a good option, lots of rough terrain, perfect for ambushes, also Aelcar has some sort of barrier up that prevents scrying, so we won't know about the exact are Aelcar's forces will attack us until we get there.
Unfortunately, we have to pass through one of those areas to enter the eastern side of the continent.
Lord_AsmodeusgoeticSobriquet:Here is your magical cryptic riddle-tumour: I AM A TIME MACHINERegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
Forest of the Weeping Wind!
Edit: And I wouldn't mind a unit or two being named the Asmodean Asskickers. Maybe some of those new Heavy Infantry dudes?
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Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. - Lincoln
Also, were those elephants wearing Canons? How could your army stand up to such a force?
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Kane Red RobeMaster of MagicArcanusRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
Steam powered cannons nonetheless. Mostly we fireballed it a bunch and then threw rocks at it. Throwing rocks at things seems particularly effective, oddly.
Kane Red RobeMaster of MagicArcanusRegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
Episode 8, The Battle of Broken Fang Pass
The terrain around here is what might be best described as: "Awful."
Our deployment area is almost entirely mountains or hills, that's not going to work well.
As you can see, the pass runs mostly north-south, and then it hangs off to the east. Most of the combat here will center in that pass.
Mostly because the terrain constrains us from going anywhere else.
Primary objective here is to eliminate Aelcar's forces, secondary objectives include looting some shrines and liberating the town in the south-east, but we're not going to lose any sleep over those.
Wonderful. We deployed to face an attack from the south and it looks like Aelcar will be coming at us from the east, to start with at least. This will get interesting.
First things first, send the expendable scouts forward to get a look at what we're facing.
Looks like freeing Ferras has removed Mech units from Aelcar's army.
Or lessened their number at least. On the other hand, that means he'll focus on summoning new units, like those Treemen there.
The Arcadians strike the first real blow and eliminate some of Aelcar's Apprentices.
And now we're just being mean.
Right, by blocking all the non-mountain provinces with our light units, Aelcar's forces are basically immobilized.
Light Infantry fighting in rough terrain, lot's of bonuses to each side. Tends to get pretty bloody.
Unfortunately, being broken by that fight, they didn't fare so well against Aelcar's Treemen.
Those Goblin Archers sallied from the shrine they were guarding, which turns out to have been a really bad decision.
Our forces put the screws on Aelcar's first force, while our scouts in the south have spotted the first line of his second.
Excellent, the shrine those archers were in had a magic shield.
The Chariots will hold onto the item for now, we can reassign it once we get back to camp.
The 3rd Giant doesn't enjoy being skirmished it seems.
Fortunately, those Wolf Riders aren't going to be around to bother it anymore.
Giants are interesting because they, like heroes, are single entity units, meaning they only take wounds, but they only have 10 of them to take, unlike the 15 health squads get.
Functionally, this means they are a bit more fragile, but can rest up to full strength regardless of how much damage they've taken.
We scrapped those Air Warriors for Giants, but kept the Treemen. Not for any real reason, it just felt right.
It seems Aelcar's second force is moving north as well.
Speaking of Air Warriors.
Yes, perhaps losing Ferras hurt Aelcar more than I thought. He never was as adept a summoner as myself, or even you Mordra.
Even me? What's that supposed to mean Krell?
Ah.. perhaps I misspoke.
Holy...
That was one hell of a fireball.
The southern shrine was a bit less favorable to us.
Another archer sallies forth.
Maybe someone should tell Aelcar what archers are supposed to be used for?
Hell no!
It should be noted that those are highly experienced Air Warriors at least.
Did we go over how bad magic-user units are yet?
I think so.
Some Conjurers somewhere right?
Probably. Anyways, Apprentices are the tier 0 spellcaster units. They are so awful.
A shrine does not count as clear terrain, so those Undead Cavalry don't get a bonus for charging. Which as it turns out, they could have really used.
You know, I would still prefer Malric, but Loric is turning out to be pretty good in his own right.
You know, looking at them, I wonder if he's got any giant blood in him?
Those Apprentices don't seem to be getting the message.
This turn went very badly for Aelcar in general.
Well, we did seize the mountains.
We have the high ground, Aelcar cannot win!
I wish you would stop doing that.
The Treemen politely inform the Apprentices that this is a battlefield, not a classroom.
I'm not very fond of siege engines, but that's not because they aren't useful. It's just that they are so slow it's hard to get them in position to be useful. In this case though, they are doing excellent work softening up Aelcar's forces.
Haven't seen that in a while.
We decline.
Aelcar continues to suffer the results of attacking light units in rough terrain.
The last shrine is looted, making us 80 gold richer.
And the Arcadians finish off the last unit, but not without cost.
I think, at this point, we probabyl know some gold is spent on research, they can stop telling us.
Hurrah, more supplies! We can support another two units.
We're buying another archer, and I have no idea what else.
And the fruits of that "some gold."
The Arcadians will appreciate some new gear I think.
Unfortunately, Hydras are a lot less cool than they sound.
Like Giants, they are single entity units. However, they are 1 hex slower than previous cavalry, and aren't a significant improvement stat wise.
Now that we've broken through the mountains, we have three options. We can attack either Cape Havoc in the north, the Sundered Plains in the center, or Rholmere in the south.
The choice isn't terribly important, we'll probably be visiting at least two of these before we can safely assault Aelcar's castle.
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Edit: Also damn this thread for making me want to play again, I had other plans for tonight. Ah well.
Awesome LP.
EDIT: I like how the first continent was governed by an incompetent orc. The ShadowLord's rule might not be so terrible if he didn't put worthless people into power and actually ordered lugnuts, damn you crippling lugnut shortage and a government of incompetent robot elders.
I always get grumpy about the fact that the number is just what number of troop in your army a unit is, rather than what number of that particular kind it is. So if you have 16 units they are numbered 1-16th x, rather than having 1-3rd x, 1-2nd y &c. But then I am a bit OCD.
Loved the MoM LP and this so far is a blast from the past. Keep it up.
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Truly I will die the way I lived - not knowing what's going on.
(Is there a way to summarize the game mechanics? This looks like a game I would be interested in.)
Totally worth it.
It's a hex-grid based tabletop wargame, essentially.
I kinda feel that Let's Plays should be used to showcase games people may have missed that were awesome, or really bad, whatever. This isn't a concrete feeling, since at some point if no one else does I'm going to do Mega Man 9, because I am awful at it and it will be hilarious, but that's a whole different matter.
More realistically, I'm doing these games because they have a lot of nostalgia appeal for me and I am reasonably confident I can beat them. I've been playing them for years after all.
Regarding the game mechanics, Lord Marcus is going to try and cover them in the next update. (Which I am attempting to write immediately following this. It could be a bit though, don't hold your breath).
Regardless of the reason, on the morn the rest of the army would set out and you and the rest of the Arcadians had yet to leave the army. Finally it was a_m_a_t who broke the silence, asking what everyone was thinking. "What do you think will happen to Keldonia if the Archmage loses?"
There is a long silence as the Arcadians imagine the horrible retribution the Shadowlord would visit upon their homeland. "We should go with them." You state hesitantly, "If only to make sure we did everything we could to prevent that."
A much shorter pause is followed by agreement from the Arcadians, hesitant at first, but ending with shouts and cheers, and with a new enthusiasm the former farmers head to speak with Lord Marcus about receiving some actual military training.
*******
Congratulations! Your PEASANTS evolved into MILITIA!
Below that is the number of attacks your unit can make, units make a number of attacks equal to their maximum strength minus wounds and deaths, so as a unit is damaged, it becomes less effective. Below that is a listing of the attack values of a unit, most units have melee and perhaps either skirmish or missile listed here. Far as I know there is only one guy crazy enough to try and have all three. Following that is armor, then magical resistance (out of 100), search range, which is how far a unit can spot enemies, and movement.
When a unit is attacking, it compares its attack value, whether missile, skirmish, or melee, against the target's armor and rolls a number of attacks equal to it's strength against that modifier. There's some heavy duty math in here, but I usually just play it by ear. Keep in mind that the opponent does the same thing simultaneously for each phase of combat (missile, skirmish, then melee). A low result does no damage, a slightly higher result will cause a suppression, which takes causes morale damage, a medium result causes a wound, and a high result a death. Wounds and Deaths naturally have a morale penalty associated with them as well.
That's probably enough yammering for now, we're about to head out. I'll get back with you lot and talk about movement, combat modifiers and morale in greater depth later. If we're all still alive of course.
[Edit]
I'd also like to say that despite Krell's background as a mage, Spell Caster units like the ones that just became available aren't terribly useful compared to other types. If we're short on gold, that'd be a good place to make budget cuts to.
Steam: Drokmir
Regarding spellcaster units: I usually like to get up the Healers and then cut funding there. They would be a lot better if they kept all the spells the previous tiers knew.
Absent any input, my plan is to buy 1 cavalry, 1 light cavalry, 1 light infantry, and 1 skirmisher, and upgrade as much as I can.
Edit: Hold on, let me get a bit more info for you guys, this isn't quite fair. I just got burned out on writing halfway through that update and cut it short.
Sounds like a better plan than me randomly guessing what sounds like it might be effective. I'm assuming Total War style massed cavalry probably won't work if your suggestions are so balanced.
Steam: Drokmir
We-ell, it works, until the third continent, whereupon cavalry heavy armies tend to get rodgered but good. (It is a jungle continent you see).
Kayne, could you put embedded youtube links to (relevant) music in your episodes like you did for episode 2? You've gone through a lot of trouble making a fun story, and the music in episode 2 really helped the atmosphere while reading.
Planning on it, except that not much of the music is available online and I can't get it to work here, so I am husbanding them for future episodes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilakQH6ayP4
Actually watching the LP might be more fun than playing this game. Great Job!
It's also scary to watch your name slowly move up the list of the Volunteers ...
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Some of the later light cavalry appear to be cavalry archers, but they still act as skirmishers on horses rather than cavalry archers. It's pretty much impossible to get defensive fire bonii for your cavalry.
I don't think I ever explicitly laid out what the unit types do, hopefully it becomes obvious as they are used. If not I'll throw that in the next Marcus boot camp update.
That is one of the cool things about Fantasy General, each continent is ruled by a different evil minion type, and they all have their own quirks. Aelcar tends to be really aggressive and throw everything at you within the first couple of turns. This can get hairy, but it does allow you to use your archers to sucker him into making rash attacks. Since he doesn't really know the meaning of "strategic reserve" after that battles on the Isle tend to be pretty easy. Dragga of course was just dumb, and lazy. The next guy we'll run into is a bit of a pain, for reasons I will go over when we get there.
With this game, I find myself wishing Fantasy Wars had the option of playing 4 different armies at the start like this game does. I also like the added details with the researching and such.
Great update, Kayne! Keep it up
Also, I vote Broken Fang Pass!!
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Edit: And I wouldn't mind a unit or two being named the Asmodean Asskickers. Maybe some of those new Heavy Infantry dudes?
Also, were those elephants wearing Canons? How could your army stand up to such a force?
Broken Fang means ez-mode ritÉ ?
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Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2