Bay 12 Games Forum

I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you mean by "suggestion squads". Are you saying they're people who can comment on the battle situation, sort of like fellow officers in the field discussing the current battle situation?

Naw. Just squads that are moved by "player suggestions", instead of, well, a single player. Would make the game appeal to more than just the ~6? officer players. Might just be my bias for suggestion games though.

You know, I never thought of foxholes or trenches. I was definitely going to include artillery, mortar teams, anti-tank guns, and other types of divisions. In terms of artillery though, I'm not quite sure whether it should be like an off-map entity that you can only call a certain number of arty strikes from or an on-map unit that someone could control.

Huh. Trenches actually were the first thing that I thought of, considering 1921 to still have WWI war-tech. Then again, hoping that the enemy troops leave their trenches, as to assault our trenches, doesn't make for very interesting gameplay. Taking pot-shots at each other with sniper fire and artillery, isn't all that peachy either. Foxholes inside a forest, as to ambush or delay enemy troops, or storming a smaller set of trenches, sounds workable though.

About artillery, I guess the big shots would sit outside of the mission, with smaller cannons and mortars in possession of the squads themselves. Then again, artillery was key in smoking out trenches, which is not something very interesting in the long run. Having a limited number of shots, and or cooldown, sounds good though.

Cavalry? Interesting idea. Perhaps on a larger battlefield.

Well, Napoleon made them relevant enough that they still were used as combat forces until, well, trenches became the "main" battlefield. Pretty much any other scenario than VS tanks, trenches, and artillery, and they were viable even throughout ww2, so there's that, I suppose. In the end, it really depends on what kind of missions we will be going on.

Or, rather, it also depends on how close to history you want to base this game, instead of your own thoughts on the matter, and gameplay reasons.

Perhaps we could have some variety in combat

How does everyone feel about adding other types of combat other than just land combat? Maybe we could have some dedicated air combat or naval combat? I dunno, it's a possibility.

Truth be told, sometimes less is more. If we are to include officers commanding naval or aerial forces, wouldn't our missions become restricted to all-out battles that include both? Or, we would give these officers forced time-outs, for as long as the newest mission goes on - easily a week or two. The only "other" way of dealing with this, afaik, would be to have multiple missions running at the same time. So yeah, it sounds great and interesting - but at a steep price.
To pitch my sales about the suggestions, having these forces guided by the players, instead of a single one, would rid us off the aforementioned problems. ;3

I was also considering hidden soldiers (ie sniper teams) and how to illustrate fog of far with hexographer.

Honestly, the easiest way for doing this that I know, would be to work over the hexograper-map.jpg in gimp. Get a second layer above the map, get a "black hex", and get working. Get a "white hex" and "draw over" previously blacked hex-es, and then delete all white from that layer. This method would also allow you to add in custom units, structures and terrain, unlike the demo version of hex'.
(Unless of course, you have the non-demo hexographer. Not sure if they have second layers with that, or other means to solve this problem. [They really ought to, though. Seems like one of the key bonus features to me])

Move to E6
Brute Force Attack on F6

That'll show him. Well, or maybe not. We will see.

Name: Ingir Cotts
Gender: Male
Profession: Porter, Thief, Bandit

I doubt we have seen Farquads kids yet, so it should be our first grand-child which we actually see, isn't she?
Be sure to find some time to spend with Joy and Lanette
Because we want to. Simple as that.

Okay Talcutta's Privateer Fleet
Peachy, that. Dean gets his ascension spot, and since great-gramps will be in our soon-to-be-immortal hands, Tiv' won't have to worry about his employer either. I'd say, give him the go-ahead. Accepting the deal, clears away several of our problems - Denying it, not only will have those coming back, but also several demons pissed at us, over an amount of souls which is - in the long run - not all that much.


Chieftess Ivy's Demands

Ivy herself wishes to partake in the blood of your demonic ancestors
How about we let Talcutta foot that bill? He kinda owes us, I guess - and if not, we just owe him a bit of back-up for his fleet. A good deal for both of us, unless he himself is all against it, for personal reasons.
Having another link between axebeach and clan ivy, while not necessary, isn't bad for business either.

Ivy wishes the newborn Lanette to found her priesthood
Setting our half-breed-bastard grand-daughter up with a ~high priest position, in an organization that atleast we have a pull in? That sounds good. We'd be hard-pressed to give that child a "better chance at life", than that. In the mean-time, the child will recieve care in her family, be it at her mothers, or her grandmothers side.
While this requires the input of Joy, I get the feeling that the girl will be all for this, given her loyalty to trance and stuff.

Marry Nuxhidieon / Midieon?
Having this legendary dark mage turned demon as our political husband, would have way too many boons to pass up lightly. It is also one of the less "offensive" options.

Chieftess Joy?
Truthfully, even if we would consider this, we would need to have a talk with her. I'd wager we feel more than a bit squeamish about the thing with her bearing many offspring. On the off-side, with her loyalty to trance, we already know with ~80% certainty, that she will jump at that. I guess, she would even welcome such a grand role in the service of her deity, even thrive in it. Still, I am very unsure about this one.

Yaugurs Demand
What he says, goes. Btw, does great-great-gramps know of Fortunes fate yet? Albeit we would need to ask our daughter, if her fate might possibly include a heir. Either way, we actually might fancy her having children of her own, once she reaches adulthood.

Sounds good so far, though I'd supplement some points.

Decline Syzzik's offer, saying that we are actually going on a diplomatic mission to Clan Ivy. We would love to go wih him, but right now we can't. This is just really important business. But tell him not to worry, because his ambition has rubbed off on us.

If you guys can write something better, it would be really nice. But the final phrase is what matters the most.

Not sure this is any "better", but I would like us to attend this matter personally, and tell him the straight-up truth. If Syzzik is to be our lover, we owe him that much; It is a most important political matter, one, that fortune even got wind of by her "own" means. It is also a prerequesite to both of them taking that "little boat trip" - and getting this whole war on the right track. "I" actually am of the opinion, that Maeris really could use some down-time from all the scheming, and a nice weekend with Syzzik would be just the thing for that - but either way, right now his presence in such an openly political setting, might complicate things.

Go with Dean and talk business with Tiv, about the following:
-Any contacts that he wants to have for his demonic business.
-Offer to do some advertising for him. We are proably going to encounter other dark mages from the East Coast, so we can recommend him or even impose that they do business with him. But we may need to demonstrate our might, so:
-See if he can allow Yaugur to come for free just to show off during the Sunday night. Note that this doesn't mean that we will summon him, we just want to consider the options. We don't want to make him fight, we don't want to take risks. The idea is to just do some advertising for the family business.
-Ask about what he will need to expand his operation, something that he may need to do in case we get him enough customers. The contacts we have gained recently means that we are in condition to invest in his otherwordly business. We can just buy souls from the goblins, and we can contact the City of Toombs to buy staff for him.

I'd like an orcish opinion or two on mighty Yaugur attending the festivities of, well, the presumably somewhat lesser Traaaacieant. I would imagine it would do the later honour, but it could also be a faux-pass.
Else, this would be a nice gesture to show that not only the bonedust-branch of maeris and the clan ivy, but also their backers, are in a good relationship. This would complicate things for our Uncle though. Not that it should matter much, seeing how this war currently seems to play out - or well, the plans for it.

As for what we actually may do on that black magic show, I'd wager we pack any reagents that might be needed to put on a show befitting of us. I'd wager that most dark mages will flock to our "cause" soon-ish anyways, about the time we reveal ourselves to own axebeach, and the implications thereof - but having their support sooner, would put is in a better position.

---

"This trip we are taking could be the point of no return for us. You will be given the opportunity to forge a mighty collation, that will plunge the kingdom into a war that shall not cease until your descendants are either royalty or extinct."

Oh boy. If we are to believe this, and her hopeful husband gets wind of it, what are the chances that he will switch sides? ^^
(To be bonus cryptic - "our descendants", might also imply our grand-children. Which we really should get more of, I guess ;o )

Won't becoming Head of Axebeach, put up a possible tripping hazard in our "Cannon Quest"?
I'd double check that we won't need the support of this "City-State of Lagoona on Titan Rock", that our potential goblin-vassals are enfeuded with. Or, at least, how strong this faction actually is. Just a precaution - I'd most likely be for Axebeach either way.

The enchanted Glass, is dead capital right now. Let's not keep it that way.
I'm completely fine to sell it to Ovinsial, and go on a soul-fueled shopping spree, as I would be with possibly buying a dark elven crafter to make stuff out of it. Sounding out our contacts on any such crafters, obviously also a fine idea.

Elven Shopping
Getting some elven slaves for our cartel, is a tad overkill - or rather, their price. Some of the useful members of that household, sure. But if it is just plain work-force, I'd argue we could drum those up in other, less costly ways.
I'd have a mind to ask for an elf with which we could do soul-cleaning. Could become quite the boon. While we already "have" her, and Mable is a nice kid, she's also only a half, and our possible future antics with her, are restricted by her father.


Some thoughts on Fortune's prohpecy. I am a bit unsure in which way her husband would work, especially since she could always (be made to) remarry.
Will her future husband be drawn by the prophecies fate to become a king? Or will the girl be drawn by the prophecy to become the wife of the "actual" king?
It just as easily could go somewhat into both ways, but if it is the former, our faction becomes even more of a "mover and shaker" of the kingdom, than it already is.

Actually, the prophecy says "crowned sovereign". It doesn't say which kingdom, nor that the title actually needs to be "King". The implications of this, might be quite interesting.

Ask Igor how much he thinks six months experience on a military caravan will help out our prospects of landing better military jobs down the road, especially compared to a civil route.

The elderly dwarf strokes his ever-greying beard, as he considers your question - a habit of his, that you and your fellow recruits have come to know well in these past years. Clearing his throat once, he answers your query; "Well, it won't help you much more than guarding any other old caravan. Only consistent effort, good luck, or talent that none of you have displayed yet, will get you anywhere near the ladder. Still, your first military mission at -", he chuckles lightly "At twenty." He shakes his head with a musing smile. "That carves a nice picture, for all that is worth."

Seemingly falling into thought once more, it takes a moment before he continues. "How about this: If you don't have the bite, you might as well not bother. It won't help you achieving something that is above you. It won't open any doors for you, and doing something else won't close any either.  Just, well. If I didn't think it might be worth your time, why bother to go out of my way to tell you, no?"

For Greent, we should definitely talk with him and point out the obvious.  Once Chastity has an heir with the prince her life is forfeit and now she has no chance of keeping the duchess title if we win.  This action was never going to be part of her plan, she was already set up to be heir with our oldest son disinherited and everyone else not interested.  If he wants to save Chastity his only choice is to oppose the prince and gather evidence that she was a victim.  We can then exile her to Bleaksoil and task her with recovering one of the other ancient seats of Bonedust power which she can then rule.

I guess talking about this with Redding once he is sober, and then breaching this talk together with him, sounds a bit better than immediately talking with his son. Especially, because we actually shouldn't know this - if we are together with his father, Greent will be far less wary, and much more receptive about our opinion on the matter. Or, well, the facts, I guess.


About the Soul, if we are going that route, I would actually give it to Dean, and A-OK his transformation
With our lineage, we are going to become an undead litch for the family vault at the very least, safe our soul being imprisoned or destroyed.
Investing this mighty soul into our son, who could use this power far more readily than ourself, and already is considered to become the next head of magic of the family, would make things easier for us on multiple levels. It would almost guarantee his ascension, while at the same time providing about as much of an immediate boost to our forces as should be possible.
Will we miss out in the long turn? Maybe - but giving such a chance to our son, isn't something that we should grieve about.


About those pesky Half-Moon-Moon's
The move to have Dean father a bastard, sounds like a no-loss thing at first. Still, getting a new clan as kin, is not only a boon - but also a responsibility. One, that we would have to pander to.
We currently have only three main factions in town, that we have to pander to, and things are already moving at paces, and into places, that are out of our control. Getting new kin, which might mess with this already fragile balance, isn't really worth a few - possibly mighty - baubles from some old vault.
I'd rather have Moon-Moon's children fill out some positions as figureheads, or curbstomp him for his overall insolence. Provided we would not loose face with the other orcs for doing this, going to war skirmish with them, is actually an option we might want to consider more earnestly.


"No" to the balrog summoning
We already have clan Ivy as kin, and play an important part in their plans. We don't actually need their respect, as we have better.
If we summon our ancestor, this will send a signal to the crown, that we might not want to mess around. This might give them more time to brace themselves against the coming storm. I'd rather keep our true intentions hush-hush for a bit longer, at least until those cannons are going into production, or are out shipping. Better yet, with us visiting there, we might even handle out some deals to hush it up longer. Which translates into less time for the crown to prepare against our several trump-cards in-the-making. (As if our lover-to-be would actually plan on having "only" a romantic honeymoon. I'd wager he already has plans on how to use ourself to our advantage up there.)

Going through it all in one-ish swoop, what's your impression of the kind of person our noble Duchess is? I've been getting it as it comes, so I'm not sure I have an overly coherent image of her.

Well, that one, is a bit difficult to answer. The Duchess is not fazed much by anything, safe her children, and things going south. The rest of the time, she is about as much of a manipulative schemer and monster, as these forums allow. Torture, soul-stealing, assasination, high-treason, demons, undead, demonic undead as ancestors, anything without as much as a flinch or second thought. Even going through all of that in a short time, it is one confusing mess that we find ourselves in, as we try to jumpstart a rebellion against - by now - the crown.

The most emotion that we have displayed, at multiple times, are the feelings for our children. Which is coherent with our backstory, and many of our actions. (Also one of the reasons why I propose to just give the soul to Dean.)