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[Madman198237]

EDIT: Just posted and already seeing messed-up grammar and spelling. Typical.

So, that went really fast. I missed all of it in less than a day. Anyway.
I think that those were overall decent choices. I love the ballista revamp. I would definitely suggest the invention of a thoroughly non-magical means of flaming and/or exploding projectiles for our ballista.

Yes, I realize this is long and goes beyond our present problem. But I want to roll all of these things into one, so that all our choices work together from the start.

Immediate issue DESIGN PHASE: Invent new ballista bolt(s), capable of lighting things on fire, preferably with a Greek fire-esque minor explosion/burn combination. Area of effect damage for ballistae? If non-magic, it would be better, since they might be inspired by our antimagic to do antimagic things themselves. Pottery-head bolts filled with oil and wrapped in burning, oil-soaked rags, perhaps?

REVISION ONE: Perhaps we can revise our arrows OR bows to be better at punching through platemail. Best option's probably arrows---revising bows for more power requires them to either be imbued with magic (AHHHHH EXPENSIVE!@!@#!) or made into longbows (Mounted archers are not improved, theoretical speed of fire is reduced, we don't know as much about longbows as they do, so the result may very well end up being inferior) with recurve and composite manufacture.
So, revise ARROWS for armor-piercing capability. We've mostly nullified their archers. make ours deadlier. If they've gone to the 15th century with their armor technology, we've got to go there with our bows and arrows. Unless anybody thinks we could invent firearms (Most likely not. Especially because the earliest man-portable guns----"hand cannons"---were woefully inaccurate)

EXPENSE CREDIT:
Bring down the expense of the palise shields. Get them out there among the troops. If we keep OUR numbers high throughout even the thickest arrow storms, we don't need to invest in magical protection. I mean, exploding magical arrows are cute, but when they don't explode and are stopped by a piece of wood, they're 99.99% useless, right? And that way, we don't need to invest in this ridiculously finicky magical business for simple things. Don't over do it. You don't need an impact wrench to remove a 1/16th inch bolt. I hope.


BONUS REVISION?
Is there no way to change the mind of an enemy? Could we, possibly, try a bonus revision on our read mind spell? It'd be risky, but if we could get it to allow the manipulation of the target mind, with the strength of the spell amplified by the minds of enemy/friendly soldiers touched by the zen-whatever component of the spell, we could conceivably sow a lot of confusion. While shooting the ever-loving crap out of the enemies.

As to acquiring the bonus revision, could we dedicate part of al-Mualiq's or whatever his name is (Sorry. Not.) personal guard to this guy's war? Best unit in the country, backed up by, perhaps, a squad of cavalry (However many will fit on, two, let's say, of our warships); mixed lancers/archers, plus the two boats they'll be sailing on. Put a single ballista on one boat, none on the other. Be expensive to lose, but hopefully not game-endingly so. Also, it sounds really powerful, especially what with our now more-powerful armor and ballistae.

[Mardent23]

Could we use an order to get volunteer reinforcements?

[evictedSaint]

Yes.  Orders are rolled at disadvantage, though: two dice are rolled, lower one is picked.  1's have around a 30% chance of being rolled and help the enemy. 2's fail.  3's and higher typically work.

[crazyabe]

Since we still follow Chivalry,  can we get a bonus to an  assist order?

HAHAHA oh my god, no, nah, dude.  You guys set up concentration camps a long time ago and you work captured Arstotzkans to death in mines.  I put it to a vote, and that's what you guys picked. 

then why aren't we Getting an Expense Credit if we are making them work for our Profit?

[Madman198237]

Issue an order for propaganda to be made, perhaps? Seems like a neat way to go about making more cannon fodder for our army, which has now become an army of heavily armed and armored cannon fodder.

Perhaps an order promoting ALL volunteering, but focused on mages? Overwhelming the enemy with magic would be a very neat way to amplify our strengths, especially if we could get guys somehow casting those heroism spells a lot more.

[evictedSaint]

Because balance, crazyabe.  By having them work, you don't get a penalty for keeping POW's and inspire a terror bonus in the enemy.

The enemy executes our men, inspiring a terror bonus in on side.

[Madman198237]

...Could we reverse that? Perhaps try to integrate the captured warriors into our society, INSTEAD of killing them? After all, as a general rule, a peasant is fine wherever he can get work and food. So they would mostly become grateful and productive members of society. Stories of this would encourage surrender instead of death-by-stubbornness (Continuing to fight when the battle's pretty much over).

[evictedSaint]

Nope.  That's not going to happen for the same reasons Russia never integrated captured German soldiers into their army in WW2.

[Madman198237]

I'm not saying army, and that's a SUBSTANTIALLY different idea. Integrate them into your labor force, as it were.

This presumes that the introduction is somewhat inaccurate, and we're dealing with COUNTRIES rather than CLANS. If it's clans, well, loyalties MIGHT run too deep. If it's countries, like medieval Russia/Germany/France/etc., and the two nations share a language (Not as necessary), then they would conceivably be fine with farming in Moskurg just as much as in Ara-land. It all depends on the ties they have.

In medieval times, the only real tie is to your clan, and your language because you can't sell stuff to people you can't talk to...mostly.

[evictedSaint]

Arstotzkans speak Arstotzkan.  Moskurgs speak Moskurg.  The two sides hate each other with a burning passion and have been at war since they've existed.

[Madman198237]

So, clan/nation situation rather than medieval/feudal countries.

Got it.

Will exploit when possible.

[crazyabe]

Design: Mindwashing: By Exposing Captured Arstotzkan Troops with even the slightest spark of magic to one way Mind-Mind Communication Repeatedly, we hope to install a Deep Sense of Loyalty to our own proud nation, and a Hatred to their own, Eventually Reducing Them to Extremely loyal, though much more expendable, Troops and labor.

Code: [Select]

Mindwashing: (1) Crazyabe
New B-Bolts: (1)  Madman198237

[S34N1C]

Mindwashing: (1) Crazyabe
New B-Bolts: (1)  Madman198237
 - Greek fire bolts [1]: S34N1C

[Devastator]

Also, @Devastator: You keep pitching pegasi, and I'm curious as to what advantage you see this having over just developing a flying spell

Some more thinking also hits into the microgravity issues.. if you're throwing out something that isn't right in line with your centre of gravity, you'll start spinning after it's release, and it'll be very hard to get back in line again.  Really, having a stable platform is a big help.

Anyway, here's my proposal.

Theoretical Summoning. Arstotzka has created bugs and swarms of insects with their minds, can we duplicate their efforts, but perhaps with a small bird or a bat?  The goal will be to create a permanent object or a living creature, rather than just a temporary creation of magic that vanishes or fades away.

Do note that the vote in the box is for Gale Stones.  I like that, but want to keep the summoning writeup in place.

Mindwashing: (1) Crazyabe
Gale Stones: (1)  Madman198237, Devastator
Greek Fire bolts: (1) S34N1C
Theoretical Summoning: (0)

[Egan_BW]

Summoning is fun, ye should go for that.

Mindwashing: (1) Crazyabe
Gale Stones: (1)  Madman198237
Greek Fire bolts: (1) S34N1C
Theoretical Summoning: (2) Devastator, Egan