Combat for 929Nightly raids still result in death for both sides, as no new technologies have been developed to assist in skirmishes. Arstotzka does slightly better.
Combat has been much different since the advent of artillery that's reliable, plentiful, and accurate enough to be a crucial component of warfare. The majority of casualties is no longer a result of arrow, axe, sword or lance. Most of those who die never see the face of their attacker, only hearing instead the whistle of an artillery shell or hiss of a javelin. Even the structure of forces has changed; infantry now hide
behind their vulnerable artillery pieces, rushing forward only to meet a charge. Archers are mostly useless, being out-ranged by the artillery and out-defended by both sides armor (although they are still modestly effective against Moskurgs at close range). Their main use now is to shoot down incoming calvary charges, as the horses still gallop with their manes in the wind.
Arstotzka begins nearly every engagement. Their cannons strike from beyond our range, but the shells are few in number. Despite the increased range they still hit more accurately than before; after being targeted, it's only a matter of time before a stray shell spikes through a ballista and destroys it. Though the jungle is mostly dead aside from the largest of trees and the occasional oddly-sprouted plant, we have difficulty knowing when a barrage is about to happen until it happens. Their lines are frequently clouded with mist, keeping us from viewing their actions. At this extreme range their shells don't "skip" along the ground, instead hitting more perpendicular to the ground as they have further to fall. As soon as shelling starts our siege engineers hurriedly wheel their weapons forward, marching through the artillery fire until they're in range. At this point the rest of Arstotzka's cannons begin firing in full-force, covering the nearby area with craters. Moskurg returns the favor, sending our new Firestorm Shells sailing towards the enemy lines.
The first time they hit it's...devastating.
With Lucky Strike we can't miss. The first shell lands square on one of their cannons, instantly engulfing it and everyone nearby in flame. Before it would take several shots with boulder or javelin to render a cannon inert, but now only a single hit will destroy it. They manage to destroy several of our ballistas from extreme range; enough to make a significant difference and hamper our ability to return fire, but our accuracy is superior. Once we start gaining the upper hand Arstotzka moves their infantry forward. With fewer working ballistas we can't hit their infantry as hard as we would like to, but Firestorm still does the heavy lifting this fight. Our Alnnar Almuqaddasa splashes on impact, alighting multiple Arstotzkans at once who then either cook inside their armor or suffocate from the fumes. The battlefield is a hellish sight; dead vegetation, craters pock-marking the ground, and patches of flame illuminating the heavy steel armor of men charging through the rain. Once joined in melee we push them back, but it's not as sound a routing as it'd been the past few years. Our own men are ragged from the shelling, and no matter how many cannons we destroy there are always a few at extreme range chipping away at our forces.
When we assault them, it's just as bad for our troops. They begin firing long before we're in range from behind a curtain of mist that is difficult to blow away. Our ballistas go ahead first to soften them up, but they start off at a disadvantage and it shows. Still, our superior accuracy and Firestorm pushes their lines back the tiniest amount with each assault, and our men continue to be pelted from extreme range as they march forward.
We make a small amount of ground; it's not much, but Arstotzka was on the backfoot last year and we press the advantage to secure a section of jungle.
Our Theatre Commander enjoys the anti-infantry capabilities the Firestorm affords him, but the fact that Arstotzka can out-range our men by some small degree is worrisome. He asks if there's any way you can extend the range of the ballista to match?
Moskurg gains a section of jungle. This longer-range artillery is especially effective in the mountains. Our castles are chipped to death from far away, requiring us to sally forth to meet them. These sallies almost always end in defeat; we're ambushed or shredded by artillery fire. Our advancement is likewise stymied; the enemy is expecting us now, so we don't have the element of surprise. We cannot sit back and chip them to death as both sides have equal range and their cannons have a height advantage atop their walls. Unlike last year, their cannons can also aim down, meaning we can't sit in their blindspot and fire at our leisure and must make dedicated assaults. We make limited progress here, and lose a castle. Moskurg is on the back foot.
Our Theatre Commander asks for longer-range ballista to prevent us from being shelled to death from extreme range. Fire is great, but it doesn't burn stone walls and is of limited use here.
Neither side gains ground in the Mountains.Both sides exchange lethal blows on the Western Sea. Arstotzka has few cannons that can out-range our ships, and cannon fire is especially effective when it hits. The story changes when we manage to close the distance to long-range, however; our Firestorm shells hit with deadly effect. A single hit causes a ship to burn up and
continue to burn even as it sinks below the waves. The fact that our faster ships let us determine the range of combat is our saving grace; we lose many ships from their long-range and accurate cannons, but our fire does more damage from closer range. It's not a great deal of progress, but we manage to secure a bit more coastline since Arstotzka was on the back foot last year. We now hold the majority of the coast, and will control it entirely if they gain another section.
Our Theatre Commander surprises us by asking for longer-range ballistas.
Moskurg gains ground in the Western Sea.Expense Credit: We spy a familiar sight this year; Ma Tuan-lin sails once more into our harbors. He has picked up a bit of the Moskurg language since the last time we saw him and greets us with enthusiasm. It appears he made quite a bit of money selling the Wands of Gust of Wind in his home country. His ship isn't as heavily laden as before, but he explains that he came here straight away to try and buy more magic to share with the outside world. He offers to buy another magical artifact from us, offering enough to give us one Expense Credit. We could always sell him something, but if we choose not to we could always just seize his ship. By how deeply it sits in the water, there might be enough treasure on board for an Expense Credit. What do we do?
It is 930, the Design Phase.Northern Taiga: 4/4 Arstotzka
Central Mountains: 3/4 Arstotzka, 1/4 Moskurg
Western Jungle: 2/4 Arstotzka, 2/4 Moskurg
Eastern Plains: 4/4 Moskurg
Southern Desert: 4/4 Moskurg
Northern Sea: Arstotzka
Western Sea: Disputed
Eastern Sea: Moskurger
Southern Sea: Moskurger
Sabre: Officer weapon. A single-edged blade that favours cavalry combat over infantry combat. Requires training to wield, one-handed. Expensive.
Spear: General infantry weapon. Essentially a dagger on a long stick. Very cheap, requires minimal training to use. Can be used double-handed, or single handed with a light shield. Cheap.
Halberd: An axe, a hook, and a spear all rolled into one. Does well against armor and in formation. Cheap
Buckler: General infantry equipment. A small iron shield, held in one hand. Only protects a small area, but can be wielded alongside a shield. Moderate cost, requires training to wield properly. Cheap.
Pavise Shield: A large, thick, high-quality shield to guard against arrows. Can be staked into the ground, or slung across the shoulders. Needs both hands to use while on the move. Very Expensive.
Padded Armour: General infantry armour. Very cheap, just layers of cloth, but doesn't protect against much. Well ventilated in hot conditions, though. Cheap.
Scale Mail: Officer armour. Scales of steel on a leather backing. Expensive, but lighter than chain mail. Expensive. Obsolete.
Elite Lamellar Armor: All-purpose armor. Worn over padded armor. Thin plates of steel sewn together with leather thongs, backed by more leather. High quality, decent protection against arrows and melee attacks. Cheap.
Recurve Bow: General infantry weapon. A light bow composed of laminated wood and horn, curved backwards to provide more force. Inexpensive enough to equip many troops with, with very reasonable medium range and power. Can be wielded by horse archers.
Bodkin Arrows: Arrows with needle points. Can reliably penetrate plate armor at point blank range. Can penetrate less reliably further away.
Arabian Horse: A light riding horse, from short-lived Iberian settlers in the past. Very fast and maneuverable, but not too strong. Expensive.
Horse Breeding Program: Mass amounts of horses available. Tend to do poorly in the desert, and aren't quite as high quality as the Arabian Horses. Cheap.
Lances: Essentially a heavily upgraded spear. Has a tendency to splinter after the first use. Cheap.
Sailing Ship: Wind-propelled wooden ship. Fast, requires minimal crew, cannot carry many passengers, but does carry at least one wizard - so long as they don't make puns. Very Expensive.
Ballista: Large siege weapon. Can fire javelins or stone shot great distances accurately. Reliable enough for consistent use. Can be mounted on ships. Wheeled. High-quality siege engineers.Expensive.
Firestorm ammo: Pots filled with Alnnar Almuqaddasa - "Holy Fire". Bursts into sticky flame on impact. Incredibly lethal, incredibly dangerous. Nearly impossible to extinguish. Normal Cost.
Wand of Heroism: Makes a squad fight beyond human levels. A National Effort.
Teletalk: Short-ranged psychic communication between mystics. Enough beacons can be produced to outfit an army. Expensive.
Staff of Tubikh Rrahim Albarq: Area-of-affect spell anchored to the caster. Prevents all magic from being cast within a short range. Spell contained within a staff of ivory, field of effect controllable. Produces a glow. Expensive.
Dispell Enchantments: Dispells enchantments on items, including standard crystal weapons. Expensive.
Detect Ambush: Reveals non-magical ambushes prepared by enemy troops or physical traps.
Lucky Strike: Magical guidance makes a squad shoot or strike true far more often than usual. Expensive.
Detect Thoughts: Read the mind of an enemy commander to determine their tactics ahead of time. Expensive.
Zen Inception: By putting enemy soldiers in a zen-like state, we can use their minds as a relay system to read minds further away. The spell is easy to disrupt, but simple to use.
Gust of Wind: Evokes physical force to create a heavy gust of wind, sufficient to disperse fog and most minor concealment, as well as disperse irritating swarms. Expensive.
Cyclone Shield: Protects the beneficent from most arrows and some blows with a sheath of wind. Expensive.
Storm Strike: Summons heavy rain and winds over the course of a day. Expensive.
Clear Weather: Negates inclement weather within the given area. Nests within Storm Strike for protection.
Hammer of Allah: Induce lightning from summoned storms. Strikes indiscriminately, so can't be used in "danger close" situations.
Spear of Allah: Call down an individual bolt of lightning to target enemy commanders. Difficult to control, has a tendency to hit the caster as often as not. Our mages refuse to use it.
Tubikh Rrahim: Area-of-affect spell centered around the caster. Prevents all magic from being cast within a short range. Cheap.
Dispell Enchantments: Dispells enchantments on items, including standard crystal weapons. Expensive.
As inspired by the "Behavior Rule" attached to Sensei's new Arms Race thread, I've decided to adapt them to Wand Race. Most of these are blatantly copied from his thread, and I expect them to be followed. After running this game for a few weeks now and following the last Arms Race, I'm aware that they're prone to attracting bad attitudes. Keeping the game smooth, on schedule, and argument free is probably a greater concern of mine than whatever you are arguing about: I expect you to be mature and adopt the same attitude.
1. Don't be salty! If at any time you find yourself having an urge to mouth off at another player, step away from the keyboard, go outside, and take a breath. Seriously. Players who repeatedly get angry or passive aggressive will be asked to leave. If you have an issue with the way the game is being run, DO NOT expect a tantrum to get you what you want.
2. Keep in mind that I am not a historian, so there will sometimes be mistakes and inaccuracies. Even in the best of circumstances, minor inconsistencies are a common occurrence. If some piece of equipment is imbalanced/unrealistic, I might consider changing it if you bring it up once -AND ONLY ONCE- and politely state your argument. However, I will err on the side of consistency with my own game, I do not like to go back and change things. Sometimes it is more important to simply keep the game running smoothly than other concerns.
3. Do not accuse me of being biased. Do not accuse me of being biased. I put a lot of effort into being objective and fair and being accused otherwise is pretty fucking irritating. On multiple occasions this has nearly derailed the game and made me want to abandon it all together. I have absolutely no more patience for this, and if you do it YOU WILL BE BANNED.
4. Do not spy on the other team's private thread. Trust me, playing fair is more fun for everyone! If you suffer from a lack of self-control and cannot stop yourself from spying, keep it to yourself. Do not use it to metagame. And do not post what you saw in the central thread. This has happened multiple times now, and if you do it you will be banned with no warning.
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Topic: Wands Race - [Moskurg] {COMPLETED} (Read 203580 times)