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[Kashyyk]

I remember Iituem saying that the range of their longbows was screwing us pretty bad in the mountains and combine that with fireballs, which are presumably of similar range, we are getting gunned down before we can close to melee.

[Taricus]

Ah. Guess we really need these bows then. The look on their faces when these recurved bows are cheaper than their longbows :3

[Iituem]

I wouldn't want to risk giving an order and it going awry, though some assistance in the mountains would not go amiss.

Although al-Mutriqa is subservient to the King's orders, you have pull with him.  You can re-assign him as an Order without needing a roll because there is literally no way to fuck that up.

[Kashyyk]

Whilst we've got you Iituem: If the Arstotzkans maintain their hold on the mountains, what will they gain?

[Iituem]

Whilst we've got you Iituem: If the Arstotzkans maintain their hold on the mountains, what will they gain?

A currently undetermined bonus, most likely to material costs for armour or weaponry, and they will gain an additional army's worth of resupply each year (both sides current resupply value is 2).  They will also be able to attack the desert directly.

[Taricus]

Well, their armour is something we can counter by revision introducing bodkin arrows (Though we're buggered if they get plate mail. Though the chance of that are... well, 0 )

[Kashyyk]

A currently undetermined bonus, most likely to material costs for armour or weaponry, and they will gain an additional army's worth of resupply each year (both sides current resupply value is 2).  They will also be able to attack the desert directly.

So they'll effectively have access to 50% more soldiers than us.


We can't let them keep the mountains guys.

[NUKE9.13]

I wouldn't want to risk giving an order and it going awry, though some assistance in the mountains would not go amiss.

Although al-Mutriqa is subservient to the King's orders, you have pull with him.  You can re-assign him as an Order without needing a roll because there is literally no way to fuck that up.

Oh, well, in that case, we probably should move him to the mountains. Otherwise the reinforcements getting sent there are doomed.

Ah. Guess we really need these bows then. The look on their faces when these recurved bows are cheaper than their longbows :3

Do you think the recurved bows will have a similar range to a longbow? As far as I can remember nothing outranged a longbow until rifles were invented.

[Taricus]

Correction; 50% more reinforcements. If we can continue brutalising their forces they won't be able to take advantage of it.

And no, I don't think they'll have similar rage, but they will be more compact and more plentiful whilst offering more range over our current, non-recurved shortbows.

EDIT: Okay, doing some research, it's possible for our recurve bows not only to be just as powerful, but potentially moreso than their longbows. from what I can find on a cursory search of wikipedia a longbow might get up to 300m at best whereas our bow could get up to 400m, the force behind those shots would be pretty considerable too.

[NUKE9.13]

400?? Are you sure they didn't mean modern bows made out of carbon fibre or whatever?
...
Okay, so, I can find reference to mongol bows being able to reliably hit a target 500m away.
I'm pretty sure that's bullshit, probably just boasting on the part of the archer.
More realistically, there is some reference to historical composite bows having an effective range of 200m. Which is not much less than the effective range of a longbow, which is like 250m (effective range =! maximum range; that level of effort cannot be sustained throughout a military campaign)

I suppose it is possible for us to make bows with ranges longer than their longbows, but they would probably be expensive, which would limit their usefulness. If we aim for an effective range that is slightly shorter than a longbow, we still won't be at as big of a disadvantage, and we'd get horse archers. Which would give us an amazing lead on the plains.


Also, I keep forgetting to mention:

And deceiving the princess seems like a surefire way to lose.  What about a portrait?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Heck yes. That looks great. Much better than some third-rate poetry.

[Taricus]

Actually it's about 400m for a turkish bow, and this was prior to carbon fibre. And while this is a maximum range, we can safely assume that it'll handily beat the longbow's effective range. More to the point since we have lucky strike comparisons to accuracy are worthless; our archers will land more shots than anyone by virtue of magic regardless of bow type, just having a bow that can launch projectiles further in combination with that makes the bows that much more valuable.

[evictedSaint]

The point of our composite bow idea is that we are being continually held at range and slaughtered before we can reach the battlefield.  We need something that can compete with their long-range bows and fireballs.  Moreover, all of our inventions to this point have been to benefit our mass troops; the bravery wand, the communication wand, and the anti-mist wand.  At this point, our best bet is to continue with mass-benefits rather than trying to switch gears.

So regardless of the *exact* range compound bows would give, we can all agree they are indisputably better than shortbows. And since they're a simple, mundane change, we might actually not botch the roll like we usually do.

Don't forget, wars are won with the boots on the ground, not with a dooms day weapon.

[Iituem]

Recurve Bow:  [6, 6, 2]  The recurve bow is... powerful.  Working off a base of multiple layers of laminated wood and horn, you put together a bow capable of firing shots as powerful as the longbow, with very appreciable range.  The bow is surprisingly affordable to make, after you go through a few different materials, and you should be able to equip the majority of your archers with it, although they will not benefit from the same degree of skilled specialism that the Arstotzkan longbowmen get (made up for by their numerical superiority).  The range bonuses to defense however make up for this, and do not impede the Moskurger archer's ability to fire in forests and ambushes.

The greatest advantage is the bow's ability to be wielded by cavalry, creating Forenia's first true horse archer squads.  They excel at hit and run tactics and their effective contribution to skirmishes (already a speciality of Moskurger cavalry) is doubled.  They lack the armour to contribute any further to the main battle than they already do, even accounting for their new range advantage, as they must still come into range of Arstotzkan longbows to fire their own volleys.

There is just one problem; the bow is possibly too strong.  Owing to its strange design and unusual shape when unstrung, stringing the bow is not only difficult and likely to give even strong men a hernia, if not strung properly the arms snap back and break bones.  Several men have lost the use of arms or legs to these bows, and whilst the numbers are relatively small they are still deleterious to morale.  Normal Cost.


It is now the Revision Phase.

At the moment you are attempting to woo the princess with poetry, a portrait and various gold-and-silver trinkets.  Do you have anything else to offer/persuade with?

[evictedSaint]

Wow, I don't think that could possibly have gone better!

Gift the princess our our finest horse. There is literally no faster horse on the continent.  Should we also offer to instruct her in magic, if she chooses to stay?  We should also let her know that the barbaric Arstotzkans are the types who slaughter helpless prisoners.

Revise the Gust of Wind to be more powerful.  We need something - anything - to nerf their fireball advantage.

Order: have every man issued a recurve instructed in their proper use so they stop breaking their damn legs.  I know we're at disadvantage for orders, but if we can circumvent this minor bug then we might have a chance at keeping the Arstotzkans off our sand.

Spoiler: probability for 2d6 at disadvantage: (click to show/hide)

1:  30% chance
2:  25% chance
3:  20% chance
4:  14% chance
5:  8% chance
6:  3% chance

[NUKE9.13]

Gift the princess our our finest horse. There is literally no faster horse on the continent.  Should we also offer to instruct her in magic, if she chooses to stay?  We should also let her know that the barbaric Arstotzkans are the types who slaughter helpless prisoners.

Princesses like horses, right? A horse would make a fine gift. I don't know about offering to teach her magic. She may have heard about mystics going mad, and be turned off by the idea.

Order: have every man issued a recurve instructed in their proper use so they stop breaking their damn legs.  I know we're at disadvantage for orders, but if we can circumvent this minor bug then we might have a chance at keeping the Arstotzkans off our sand.

Spoiler: probability for 2d6 at disadvantage: (click to show/hide)

1:  30% chance
2:  25% chance
3:  20% chance
4:  14% chance
5:  8% chance
6:  3% chance

I think the army has probably thought of 'more training' by themselves, and concluded it would be too costly. Plus I don't like those odds. Belay that order

I do think we should consider moving al-Mutriqa to the mountains, as we really need all the advantages we can get in that theatre. So, like,
Order: Redeploy al-Mutriqa to the central mountains. (we automatically succeed in giving al-Mutriqa orders, according to Iituem)

Getting Gust of Wind to the point where it can deflect fireballs is an excellent plan. +1 to Improving Gust of Wind's Power