Combat for 928Neither side develops anything related to skirmishes, so the raids are once again mostly even, leaning towards Arstotzka.
The jungles this year result in combat developing a fundamental shift in practice.
We deploy our new cannons and our Theatre Commander immediately makes good use of them. Once again we approach the edge of Moskurg's area of control, and once again their ballistas begin raining death with the same unnatural accuracy as before - in greater numbers, even. Our commanders hold back, however, staying just out of range. Our mages are not so lucky and must be closer to the front lines, but their sacrifice is not in vain. Our cannons thunder in response to their hailstorm, and the first cannon barrage in Forenia's history go sailing towards their lines.
The foolish Moskurgs do not know well enough to keep their troops back; they were clearly expecting a counter-charge from our infantry and calvary to stop their artillery, not a barrage of our own. Their men are standing in front of their siege weaponry and our cannon balls go ripping through their lines. They die in droves in the first volley, and as the second, third, and fourth hit our troops charge forward to take advantage of that confusion. Our men are still torn to shreds as they charge through the jungle, and the progress is made slow by the thick mud generated by the non-stop rain and lack of vegetation, but by the time they reach Moskurg lines the battle goes in our favor. Most of the casters operating the cannons die as Moskurg bolts come down on them, but with their anti-magic keeping us at bay they do more damage from this range than they would casting fireballs. It's a difficult fight the first time without our traditional fireballs crashing into massed Moskurg troops, but we win the first battle. In subsequent fights the battles are much less in our favor; Moskurg keeps their men back until they see us charge,
then moving their men forward to meet us. Our inferior accuracy means at long-range they can snipe us to death before we can return the favor, but the first battle was so devastating it's practically even. It doesn't help that our cannons explode with alarming frequency. Even when they don't, a misfire will result in the cannon jamming and being essentially useless for the battle. The fact that our mages are almost uniformly restricted to this one use is also frustrating, even though they wouldn't do very much otherwise due to Moskurg Anti-Magic.
When they return the assault they find the same thing happening; their men are shot to death before they can get in appropriate range, and once ragged from artillery shelling they break and rout. They can still out-snipe our artillery, however, and through patience they are generally able to gain the advantage. It doesn't go well for us, but we don't lose a significant amount of ground. Another battle like this and we will, though - Arstotzka is on the back foot.
Our Theatre Commander is in love with our new artillery. He thanks the design team with tears in his eyes for finally taking his advice. He asks for even longer range artillery - by holding them at a more extreme distance, we can kill them without ever having to commit our troops. More accurate artillery would also be nice; failing that, area-of-effect ammunition would be great. Something to deflect their shots would also be nice, if you can manage it.
Neither side gains a section of jungle. Moskurg surprises us with an assault on the mountains.
Our men, having grown complacent with their "magic cards", do not expect the assault. Moskurg stones crash into our ramparts from down below, and with alarm we find our arrows are less effective than before due to Moskurg armor. New cannons, freshly sent from the capital, do a decent job at beating back Moskurg troops but it's not enough. The cannons can't be angled down far enough to hit down-slope, and once in our blind-spot the Moskurg artillery can shoot up at us. Our castles fall and for the first time in decades Arstotzka loses a section of mountain to Moskrug. We will not gain any further metallurgy bonuses until we retake the mountains.
The Theatre Commander asks you to design a cannon with a greater range of fire to allow us to fire down-slope at invaders. He also assures you that he has whipped the complacency out of our men in the mountains and that we will not be caught off-guard again. He also suggest that perhaps Moskurg suffers from the same problem - an assault on the plains might catch the enemy off-guard after so many years of inaction?
Moskurg gains a section of Mountain.The seas reach a stalemate.
Moskurg artillery is much more accurate, but Arstotzkan cannons do a better job of doing damage when they hit. The battle on the seas results in both sides at extreme ranges pelting one another until their ships sink. Moskurg does slightly better, as their accuracy allows them to hit us more reliably. We tank most of their hits due to our heavier ships, but we need to do something here or else we will lose the seas next year. Arstotzka is on the back foot.
The Theatre Commander asks for either longer-range projectiles or - more preferably - something more accurate. Fire projectiles would be nice too, since they'd be especially effective at sea. Or if we could catch Moskurg ships, we could simply use our fireballs and sink them out-right.
Neither side gains ground in the Western Sea.Revision Credit: Arstotzka has offered a more attractive mercenary force and won the revision credit. Their troops are gone for the time being, and should the battle go well overseas they will return next year.
It is 929, the Design Phase.Northern Taiga: 4/4 Arstotzka
Central Mountains: 3/4 Arstotzka, 1/4 Moskurg
Western Jungle: 3/4 Arstotzka, 1/4 Moskurg
Eastern Plains: 4/4 Moskurg
Southern Desert: 4/4 Moskurg
Western Jungle: 1/4 Arstotzka, 3/4 Moskurg
Western Sea: Disputed
Eastern Sea: Moskurger
Southern Sea: Moskurger
Broadsword: An iron age classic. A double-edged blade designed for speed, flexibility and force. Requires training to wield, can be used one or two handed. Removable pommel for throwing.Cheap.
War Axe: Can be used as a tool in a pinch, this is a single-handed weapon that does well against heavily armoured foes. Can be used with minimal training. Cheap.
Wooden Shield: General infantry equipment. Couples well with an axe, cheap, easy to replace. Works best in heavy melee. Can be used with minimal training. Cheap.
Hide Armour: General infantry armour. Cheap, thanks to the plentiful sheep in the taiga. Turns aside weak blows. Cheap. Obsolete.
Gambeson: A leather armoring doublet designed to go with plate armor. Helps protect against arrows.
Chain Mail: Officer armour. Expensive, due to the steel required. Very effective against most weapons. Expensive. Obsolete.
Plate Mail: General infantry and officer armour. So well designed it costs surprisingly little to make. Normal cost.
Longbow: General infantry weapon. Difficult to find wood and requires a lot of training, but long ranged and powerful. Cheap.
Shire Horse: A heavy riding horse. Survives and rides well in cold weather. Powerful charge. Normal Cost.
Longship: Oar-rowed wooden ship. Slow, but sturdy, and can carry large numbers of landing troops. Very Expensive.
Steam Engine: A highly inefficient, dangerous, expensive, and enormously heavy steam engine. Uses a steam turbine to generate power. Currently Experimental. Very Expensive.
Extreme-Range Hybrid Cannon: Arstotzka's first cannon. Uses a fireball and steam to propel a fist-sized rock long-range. Inaccurate, but can be loaded quickly. Has a tendency to explode. Expensive.
Arzotskan Academy for Adequate Apprenticeship: Basic magic training for apprentices. Allows them to be more useful on the offensive. Very prestigious. Actively recruits new apprentices.Expensive.
Wand of Fireballs: Hurls fireballs at a distance, able to destroy whole squads at a time. A National Effort. Obsolete.
Tower of Forever Frost: An astoundingly expensive tower that has to be assembled in place and requires the skill of a master wizard to operate, as well as countless other skilled wizards. Creates a very powerful cold evocation and then channels it directly into the air, consistently lowering temperatures within a radius of about fifty miles. Can induce snow in the jungle during the winter, freezing rain in the summer. A National Effort.
Anti-Magic Charm: A magically enchanted quartz crystal. Hums loudly in the presence of magic, and prevents magic from being conjured inside the very limited range. Expensive.
Anti-Magic Bomb Arrows: Arrows that explode on contact with magic into red-hot, razor-sharp crystal shards.
Magic Lance: Conjures a set of lances for a cavalry squad. Thick enough not to break on use, and lasts long enough to be useful in combat. Expensive.
Magic Axe: Conjures a set of long axes for officers. Weapon is anchored to a small gem in the handle, allowing it to exist longer than 24 hours. Expensive.
Dogwood Wand: Wand that allows the user to accelerate the growth of a single plant to a limited degree. Wands are cheap to make, but don't last very long. Cheap.
Anti-Mages: Mage hunters equipped with longbows, anti-magic charms, anti-magic arrows, and the best armor we can give them. Excel at sniping enemy mages.
Obscuring Mist: Cloaks a squad in a fog cloud, hiding their numbers and equipment, and making them harder to hit at range.
Variant (Channeled Fog): A denser form of Obscuring mist, continuously generated.
Summon Swarm: Conjures a swarm of stinging wasps to harass foes. Expensive.
Variant (Fire Wasps): Conjures stinging wasps that can start small fires. Expensive.
Webs: Conjures a sticky web, immobilizing an entire squad and preventing them from moving. Very Expensive.
Fireball: Hurls fireballs at a distance, able to destroy whole squads at a time. Damaging side effects harm morale. Very Expensive. Obsolete.
Minor Fireball: Smaller version of fireball. Doesn't cause collateral damage, but doesn't explode on impact. Expensive. Obsolete.
Streamlined Fireball: Hurls small balls of fire that explode on impact. Devastating against massed troops. Cheap.
Firewall: Creates static walls of fire. Long casting time, concentration sustain. Very Expensive.
Crystal Caltrops: Jagged crystals designed to lay in the grass and catch enemy troops unaware. Good for defense. Normal Cost.
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 - [Arstotzka] {COMPLETED} (Read 376986 times)