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Author Topic: Wands Race - [Arstotzka] {COMPLETED}  (Read 386158 times)

Roboson

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Re: Wands Race - Revision Phase 912 [Arstotzka]
« Reply #75 on: March 20, 2017, 09:13:34 pm »

*cough* could have had pikes *cough*  :P

How about revise the Fireball Spell into Minor Fireball? We sacrifice some of the power to make it simpler (and less detrimental to soldiers near the caster).

Or we can make use our revision to revist the Magic Caltraps idea? That would certainly help in our zone control.
« Last Edit: March 20, 2017, 09:26:08 pm by Roboson »
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OceanSoul

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Re: Wands Race - Revision Phase 912 [Arstotzka]
« Reply #76 on: March 20, 2017, 09:26:14 pm »

How about a smaller, easier wave of heat? It would hit more enemies at once, and while the range might be shorted, it could be used to set large areas on fire.

I would also like to note that our enemy is based in the desert. On one hand, they are used to the head, but on the other, they would really feel it if we made it that much hotter...when/if we bring the battle to them.
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RAM

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Re: Wands Race - Revision Phase 912 [Arstotzka]
« Reply #77 on: March 20, 2017, 09:29:42 pm »

Yep, baby fireball for our apprentices. They need a thing because fake gas doesn't work anymore... And also try to focus that waste heat into something useful, like the fireball, or a vision-distorting mirage to obscure the caster's precise position, or teleport it into a relaxing hotsprings in the capitol...
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Roboson

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Re: Wands Race - Revision Phase 912 [Arstotzka]
« Reply #78 on: March 20, 2017, 09:31:51 pm »

I feel as though fire balls probably have an advantage over fire waves. Waves are probably close range, and we need to keep our mages away from the front lines. Plus, we can target arches and other important enemies with a projectile spell.

EDIT: If anything, it will really help us against the enemy ships if we can get small fireballs useable by all mages.
« Last Edit: March 20, 2017, 09:33:54 pm by Roboson »
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Playergamer

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Re: Wands Race - Revision Phase 912 [Arstotzka]
« Reply #79 on: March 20, 2017, 09:45:49 pm »

Minor Fireball.

like, maybe firesoftball.
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FallacyofUrist

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Re: Wands Race - Revision Phase 912 [Arstotzka]
« Reply #80 on: March 20, 2017, 09:58:46 pm »

Various things:
Lesser Fireball: Scaling down the fireball spell to create something our lesser wizards can use... when the main issue is waste heat and danger to those around the caster. While this is useful, and I'll go for it if my other plans don't get support, I do have some other ideas.
Caltrops: Eh. But fireballs are so much better at destroying enemy morale. Unless you want to make them cursed caltrops or something?
~~~
Various fireball ideas:
Bombarda Infernia Maxima: I see now what we could use this fireball for. Rather than firing several fireballs, the spell will be used to generate a single massive fireball, the excess heat also going into making the fireball more and more powerful. Once complete, the fireball will either...
emphasis on Bombarda: Be fired at enemy armies or what have you as a weapon of mass destruction. This variant will emphasize explosive power, using the excess heat to burn at even higher temperatures.
emphasis on Infernia: Be used as area denial. This variant will emphasize duration, using the excess heat to burn longer.
emphasis on Maxima: (my personal favorite) Be used as an extremely long-ranged attack on Moskurg itself. This variant will emphasize range, using the excess heat as propulsion.

I would suggest a mirage variant, but don't the enemy have magical sensing?
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Roboson

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Re: Wands Race - Revision Phase 912 [Arstotzka]
« Reply #81 on: March 20, 2017, 10:51:38 pm »

Judging by the description, it seems like the wand only shoots one big fireball right now.

If it wasn't clear, my vote is for minor fireball
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10ebbor10

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Re: Wands Race - Revision Phase 912 [Arstotzka]
« Reply #82 on: March 21, 2017, 12:38:29 am »

minor Fireball

And, as a non-design decision :

Organize several of our best longbowmen into an elite group, whose task it'll be to take out as many enemy wizards as they can. Considering those guys keep trying to infiltrate our camps, that should be easy.
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Roboson

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Re: Wands Race - Revision Phase 912 [Arstotzka]
« Reply #83 on: March 21, 2017, 01:25:15 am »

Organize several of our best longbowmen into an elite group, whose task it'll be to take out as many enemy wizards as they can. Considering those guys keep trying to infiltrate our camps, that should be easy.
+1. We should also have guards on our thanes/commanders/whoever knows the plan with the purpose of killing mind readers. And alert the foot soldiers to this issue if we haven't already. Everyone needs to be on this.



Ok, I have a question here. We gained a bunch of prisoners last round, can we interigate them until they spill the beans on the enemy's research/plans? If they're wizards, can we persuade them to teach us their spells?

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Iituem

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Re: Wands Race - Revision Phase 912 [Arstotzka]
« Reply #84 on: March 21, 2017, 02:04:20 pm »

Unfortunately, neither side has successfully captured wizards alive.  Note that with the Minor Fireball as the main revision I am treating the elite longbow guard as an Order.

Minor Fireball: [6+1]  Rather than trying to conjure the full fire-and-explode fireball from before, you remove the last step to create a weaker fireball which only incinerates half a dozen men instead of fifty.  The upside is that the new fireball is extremely efficient; it takes very little time to cast and most skilled wizards can reliably produce them; even apprentices can pull off one or two in a fight.  Expensive.

Longbow Guard: [Disadvantage: 1]  You try and arrange for the best longbowmen to guard your thanes, but without spending the time to dedicate a formal set of bodyguards (time you are spending conjuring fire) you leave it up to the thanes to gather the men.  It has... poor results.  Some fists fly, there are some insults, and by and large the thanes end up with the same bodyguards as before, who are mostly their drinking buddies.  You might want to actually dedicate time to formally creating a bodyguard.

Combat Phase later tonight.
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Roboson

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Re: Wands Race - Revision Phase 912 [Arstotzka]
« Reply #85 on: March 21, 2017, 02:28:53 pm »

Occasionally (I'm looking at you, Arstotzka) I've had players vote to try sending an Order in addition to revisions, where they suggest a use for an item without spending the testing time of a revision phase or making any changes to it.  These get rolled at Disadvantage (roll twice, pick the lowest), since you guys aren't doing it yourself, and don't have a great success rate.  But sometimes it makes sense.

Clarification question here: Where is the line drawn here? Like the longbow guardsmen, is the problem that we tried to make some bowmen elites (which implies training) or is the problem that we tried to move resources around? Like if we wanted to just assign regular longbow men or random soldiers from the general army to be guardsmen, would that also roll at a disadvantage?
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10ebbor10

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Re: Wands Race - Revision Phase 912 [Arstotzka]
« Reply #86 on: March 21, 2017, 04:08:14 pm »

I think the issue is that we didn't use an action or revision around them.

But, as you can see, as long as we don't give too many or complex orders it doesn't actually fail spectacularly.

Edit : Anyway, this should go great. Our fireball spell can kill 6 people at a time, whereas our old spell could kill 50. Given that our old spell could kill entire squads, this makes me assume that a squad is 50 people. We have about 1 wizard per 5 squads. Given that each wizard can cast at least 2 fireball spells, that means we can expect this spell to straight up obliterate 5 % of the enemy forces.

And that is ignoring our wizards and masters.

I expect to win big in the sea, continue winning in the mountains, and hold in the plains and jungle.

Edit 2: Presuming the enemy did not accomplish anything usefull, which being Moskurgians, they didn't.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2017, 04:18:36 pm by 10ebbor10 »
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Iituem

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Re: Wands Race - Revision Phase 912 [Arstotzka]
« Reply #87 on: March 21, 2017, 07:34:36 pm »

Forenia, 912

In the mountains, Arstotzka is ruling supreme.  Whilst neither side are capable of actually getting to a battle with their full forces, due to the brutal ambush tactics employed by both sides, Arstotzka proves that it does not need to.  When a handful of troops reach the last held Moskurger castle in the mountains, the defenders think themselves ready to fend off their weakened foe, only for a dozen of their mages to hurl balls of fire at the defenders, scattering and burning them, allowing them to press forward with their infantry.  Under the devastating offensive power of fireballs, the castle is taken, and efforts by the beleaguered Moskurger forces are in vain against a castle now held in the mountains by Arstotzkan forces.  Worse still for the Moskurgers, the inhabitants of the castle are forced into surrender and captured or butchered, costing them nearly all their troops in the mountains.

Arstotzka now holds the mountains.  If they can maintain this hold, they will gain possession.

A brilliant success from our glorious new pyromancers!  Although they are far less effective in a defensive position, their lesser fireballs are excellent at blasting through defensive fortifications.  A feast has been held in celebration, now that we have taken the last of our ancestral forts back from the Moskurger scum!


In the jungles, advantage has shifted decidedly to Moskurg.  As clouds of rolling smoke move to conceal the position of Arstotzkan skirmishers, a strange and terrible noise fills the jungle, like the blaring of a poorly tuned horn or - flatulence.  Roars of terrible flatulence fill the jungle as strong foetid gusts of wind blow the clouds of smoke away, revealing terrified and exposed Arstotzkans.  Only a handful of skirmishes go the Arstotzkan way, and even with their new pyromancers their ability to fight back when so many troops are dead is limited.  Moskurg seizes several jungle villages and have fortified their position, capturing local defenders.

Moskurg has gained territory in the jungle.

The Moskurger scum have devised a spell to blow away our fog clouds, removing the shielding.  Even though we should be all rights have a better force, their whittling of our numbers keeps giving them a worthless advantage even with our soldiers' bravery.  Worst still, we have a disturbing report from Thane Osric, who informed us that he deliberately deviated from our intended battle plan at the last moment, having told nobody of his plans.  The enemy somehow knew exactly what he was planning and were able to surround him with five squads; he alone escaped.  It is as if they were reading his mind.


Fighting in the plains has ground down to a stalemate.  Fire rains down on the battlefield whilst careful formations encircle and break up the army.  Even with more pyromancers in the Arstotzkan line and the dissolution of Arstotzkan cloud cover, neither side is able to gain any territory, but neither are significant troops lost.

At sea, despite the advantages of pyromancers flinging fireballs and fire wasps, luck favours Moskurg for now.  Neither side are able to make coastal gains.


The King has chosen to reinforce the jungle, now that we actually aren't losing more troops than we're recruiting, for once.


An exiled princess from Europe has arrived on the shores of Forenia, along with an armed retinue to secure her independence.  She has been invited to and attended the courts of both Kings, and attracted by her great beauty and great wealth, both have made marriage overtures to her to persuade her to gain her hand in marriage.

Expense Credit:  The side that produces a more persuasive gift, ode or other means of enticement for the exiled princess to marry their monarch will gain an expense credit the following turn.

It is 913, the Design Phase.


Spoiler: State of Forenia, 912 (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Arstotzkan Equipment (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Arstotzkan Spells (click to show/hide)
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OceanSoul

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Re: Wands Race - Design Phase 913 [Arstotzka]
« Reply #88 on: March 21, 2017, 07:48:08 pm »

It seems like they can dispel our fog with wind. If that's the case, then we ought to make a more solid anti-mindreading spell. I suggest new wasp variant, one with stronger minds. Not smarter, mind you, just stronger. They radiate a field of their own primal thoughts around them, and while it has no mundane effect, it creates a more figurative mental cloud than the mental for previously suggested that would now be quickly dispelled. Plus, it is a start into the mental field using a living organism we are already experienced with conjuring, so we may have some sort of bonus from the research on them we made last year. Admittedly, their wind could blow them away, but storing them in personal jars for each of our generals might be sufficient. Even if it isn't our new experience with mental magic could lead us into another spell- radiating the thoughts of a man outward, interfering with the mind reading of other officials. Of course, the chosen target would need to be kept in the dark about plans, etc., but I am getting ahead of myself.
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Work on a potential forum game for my return to Bay12. Figure out parts that puzzled me before. Find more things to figure out that I can't. Work on another game instead of solving them. Get distracted and stop working. Remember it a week or two later. Remember I'm still on hiatus. Illogically, Be too ashamed to return yet. Repeat ad nauseam.

Finally have a game completely ready. Wait a week before posting it out of laziness.

FallacyofUrist

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Re: Wands Race - Design Phase 913 [Arstotzka]
« Reply #89 on: March 21, 2017, 08:03:15 pm »

Okay, here's my plan...

Magical Masks: We will conjure fearsome animal masks for our leaders to wear. In addition to being badges of rank and making them look fearsome, these masks should gradually disintegrate into gases that induce changes in thinking that can be worked around with practice. Mind readers won't be able to well understand the mask wearers as a result of this, while with practice, the mask wearers will be able to function as well as normal.

Extra function in kidnapping: they can be used to inhibit the thinking of somebody we try to kidnap to stop them fighting back.
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