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Author Topic: Necro arms race -Eidolon Vigil thread  (Read 3849 times)

frostgiant

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Necro arms race -Eidolon Vigil thread
« on: July 17, 2018, 01:58:44 pm »

Core
Discord
The Necropolis, A city without peer in this world.
Its outer walls are as man-made mountains, build from enchanted stone, and the power of the dead working non-stop for a period of time that can be measure in centuries.
In all the time since its completion, the walls have stood unbreached and the armies of light repelled time and time again.

The city is so large that one may travel within its districts, one to the next, be travelling to the other end of the city in a few months time. Every ward of the city is created in a parody of nature, in which the peasant population spends their lives under the necromancers protection, in exchange for a lords Tax and the gifting of their bodies after death.

Now the Necropolis faces peril.
The Necromancer King is dead, with no clear successor left to take his place.
His two star pupils have rallied the other necromancers that live inside the city to their side to seize control, From the apprentices spending their time commanding the dead and repairing minor damage, to the Masters who spend their days toiling within their workshops to advance their understanding of death in all its forms.

You are of the Bleached skull.

The world scorns you and your magic, hunting down those of you that committed the terrible crime of learning such forbidden magic.
Outside the walls of the necropolis, safe places for you and yours are rare, With the dominant religion of the world declaring that you must be hunted down and exterminated where ever you and yours are found.

If the world has scorned you so then you must pay that scorn back to the world.
The necropolis is home to the strongest necromancers in the world, and is a defensive structure unmatched. Should the gates of the necropolis, Mountainous in size and made from obsidian coloured Iron and armies of the dead march to war, few are those that can match you and fewer still that could stop you.

Of course, in order to gather the necropolis into such an act, you must take the throne via force, defeating the fools of the black rose that desire to sit in their workshops and bot the world out of mind.

Your leader Damien Blackthorn has promised to lead you to conquest outside of these walls. For him you will take control of the necropolis by hook or by crook, and scorn the world.

No one truly wishes to fight a civil war. For now control of the city has been split in half, and the Castle has been locked shut behind some of the most powerful magics of the late Necromancer King. Hopefully, an agreement can be reached before fighting breaks out.

As necromancers flow into the city many new ideas and skill sets are getting many of the master necromancers excited. A buzzing energy flows around the makeshift necromantic academy that the necromancer joining you have set up and the various workshops that surround it.

it is currently Turn -2
No fighting for the first 3 turns. Dice set at 10 until turn 1.
Dice cannot be banked during preparatory turns.
Projects can be canceled during Preparatory turns, but only during the design phase and those dice are only usable in the revision phase.


Spoiler: map (click to show/hide)
Spoiler:  Resources (click to show/hide)

The design phase of Turn -2 begins now.
Do you wish to rename the Makeshift-necromantic academy?
« Last Edit: July 29, 2018, 04:47:05 pm by frostgiant »
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Shadowclaw777

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Re: Necro arms race - Bleached skull thread
« Reply #1 on: July 17, 2018, 03:16:49 pm »

Joining: this turn should be two economy projects and a units; also is their anyway to kill the apprentice? I really don’t want to utilize necromancy after we take the capital for evil purposes; as in I hate this guy guts and ideology
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crazyabe

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Re: Necro arms race - Bleached skull thread
« Reply #2 on: July 17, 2018, 03:22:22 pm »

I'll be on this side.
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Doubloon-Seven

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Re: Necro arms race - Bleached skull thread
« Reply #3 on: July 17, 2018, 04:42:53 pm »

We will be the Eidolon Vigil, masters of undeath.

Garden of Charon
A garden of herbs and various plants fed and enriched with the bodies of the recently passed. This enrichment means that the plants themselves contain necrotic fluid, and can be pressed to release it. Given that Necromancy is an art of life, so shall the ingredients of necromancy arise from the living fruit of the dead. The Garden also acts as a hub for corpse requisition, for once the flesh has given its energy to the soil, skeletal corpses can be recovered.

Excavation Bore
A circular borehole dug into the ground by undead workers, overseen by a cadre of necromancer-engineers who make sure the workers are operating right and a collapse won't occur. Access in is provided by a few ramps dug into the sides and a large gantry overhead. Operated by a wheel turned by zombies, it is capable of lowering and raising a large platform to carry out ore and stone.
« Last Edit: July 18, 2018, 09:58:16 am by Doubloon-Seven »
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KhazintheDark

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Re: Necro arms race - Bleached skull thread
« Reply #4 on: July 17, 2018, 07:22:57 pm »

Skeletons - A corpse stripped of flesh, it is somewhat faster than a zombie and quite coordinated due to both the more advanced (compared to a zombie) necromantic weaves and lacking the quite literally dead weight of flesh. More resistant to damage due to the weaving and part of its cost is mitigated through the use of the meat in other ways. Some for necromantic fluid, some for flesh golems. I’m fairly certain Eric is a cannibal though why he’d eat this is beyond me. The skeletons themselves can be armed with spears, swords and shields or bows. They are clad in loincloths and occasionally have a peasants cap somebody put on their heads. Intended use is cheap basic infantry capable of being a threat to people who aren’t farmers and probably labourers too since they’ll drop the picks less than a zombie. Cost estimates: -100 Corpses, + X necromantic fluid, -50 to 100 metal (unarmoured), -20-50 non-metal depending on how/spear/sword.etc

As for names, I’m partial towards The Embrace. Something slightly menacing but not immediately obvious.

How do potions & spells.etc work?
« Last Edit: July 17, 2018, 07:44:35 pm by KhazintheDark »
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frostgiant

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Re: Necro arms race - Bleached skull thread
« Reply #5 on: July 17, 2018, 07:56:31 pm »

Potions can be created and used as equipment for units (check the Equipment tab in the core thread, for a little more information). The cost and effect will depend on the potion, but Necromantic fluid will most likely share a large part of it. also remember that if a potion needs to be ingested, that the unit should probably have a working stomach or something.

Spells, Hmm let me think on that a little more.
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KhazintheDark

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Re: Necro arms race - Bleached skull thread
« Reply #6 on: July 18, 2018, 09:48:15 am »

Bone Giant - The reanimation of a Giant's skeleton and the production of a large siege-bow of a size more commonly compared to ballista or trebuchet. Said siege-bow is enchanted to produce... I'm not going to describe Volskinya's Third Theorum for the Thaumaturgical Transformation of Shadow here so I'll sum it up as 'a large detonation of arcane force upon the fired projectile's impact site', such an enchantment has limited use, merely twenty to fourty shots depending on the quality however it can be recharged over the course of an hour or so by only a middling practitioner of necromancy. The recharge, as always, follows Thaum's Law of Magical Capacitance so a stronger reservoir of power will recharge the enchantment faster, i.e. if Master Blackthorn were to do it the task would likely be accomplished in minutes. The Giant's skeleton is somewhat lightly armoured around the torso and lower legs due to the inherent toughness of Giant bones thus mitigating both the largest target and the most likely to be assaulted by infantry. Like most skeletal reanimations it has a lovely decorative loincloth displaying the crest of its owner. The Bone Giant has limited practicality in the urban, jungle, forested or hilly environs however it excels in siege warfare and combat on plains or grassland. Estimated Cost: -50 to 200 Special Corpse (as I am unaware of the conversion factors and requirements), -100 to 200 Necrotic Fluid mitigated by the use of the Giant's flesh, if the corpse is a fresh or preserved one, 100-200 metal primarily for the bow, greaves and boots and 100 or so non-metal for the torso and the yak leather with hair we use to protect against swords and other slashing type weapons.
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Doubloon-Seven

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Re: Necro arms race - Bleached skull thread
« Reply #7 on: July 18, 2018, 10:00:34 am »

Quote from: Votes
Names:
Eidolon Vigil (1): DoubloonSeven
Remain Bleached Skulls (0):
----------
Designs:
Garden of Charon (1): DoubloonSeven
Excavation Bore (1): DoubloonSeven
Skeleton (1): DoubloonSeven
Bone Giant (0):
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Shadowclaw777

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Re: Necro arms race - Bleached skull thread
« Reply #8 on: July 19, 2018, 03:12:17 am »

Quote from: Votes
Names:
Eidolon Vigil (2): DoubloonSeven, SC
Remain Bleached Skulls (0):
----------
Designs:
Garden of Charon (2): DoubloonSeven, SC
Excavation Bore (2): DoubloonSeven, SC
Skeleton (2): DoubloonSeven, SC
Bone Giant (0):

Yeah I don’t got much here, while the skeletons have finesse over the zombies by being able to utilize weapons and even bows more effectively, they will be weak against raw physical force. I think for our next designs though with skeletons, we could make something like a skull lord though getting boney wyverns that can transition into ice-breathing scourge dragon flight would be great, bone wyverns would just be raw physical attackers like the role the giant eagles play in warhammer except stronger, yeah I make the Fel Bats and Boney Wyverns Designs

Fel Bat: The zombified risen corpse of a bat that carries a body nearly long as a grown man, Fel Bats are a fearsome sight as they are like feudal lords that treat falcons as prized pets as could be the same for the necromancers. The creatures are darker than midnight and nearly as silent as death, even when in full flight, and their wing muscles that allow flight still carry them to their graves. The bats would serve as effective reconnaissance and light skirmishing swarm units on the field, they allow aerial spotting and the have the ability of many bats as a collective swarming against fragile units like distant archers or artillery crew. The zombified bats corpse carry heightened intelligence that is used much more for to commune information back to the officers, but to also allow a form of pack mentality in the skies to form and allow them to swarm against units during skirmishes.

Bone Wyvern: This lighter than the dragon, yet still a draconic cousin of a skeletal creature is still a fearsome sight to behold as it is much larger than a horse and compares to the size of a grown elephant. The creature being from a wyvern corpse only carries two stocky bone legs and the skeletal framework of a wingspan, as well as its boney and barbed tail.  The creature in the skies is a great force of aerial superiority as it is an physical powerhouse and retains it agility as the arcane soulfire that energizes the creature’s undead soul, allows it with the power of undead’s source retain its ability to utilize their boney wingspan for somewhat effective flight. Against ground troops it utilizes the power of shock and awe for the kinetic energy of it pummeling to the ground through diving to knock over soldiers and unit alike, as the rest are attacked by tooth, claw, and its swinging spiked tail attacks the rest of the forces that coordinate against it, and when it sees the that it brought the attention of all the soldiers it will flaps it skeletal wingspan with energy as it goes back to the skies. Several of these creatures would serve effectively as an air force
« Last Edit: July 19, 2018, 03:34:43 am by Shadowclaw777 »
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crazyabe

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Re: Necro arms race - Bleached skull thread
« Reply #9 on: July 19, 2018, 03:32:40 am »

Golems - A golem is a mixture of stone and bone, about as slow as a zombie but far stronger physically. To prepare a corpse to make a golem is rather simple, you strip off all the flesh and set it aside, next you grind up this flesh and mix it thoroughly with a mixture of locally sourced er "clay" and Necrotic fluid before wrapping it back on the skeleton and baking it for a few hours, once done you have a rather well armored creation ready to animate.
-No clue how much it would bloody cost.
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Failbird105

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Re: Necro arms race - Bleached skull thread
« Reply #10 on: July 20, 2018, 09:46:00 am »

Quote from: Votes
Names:
Eidolon Vigil (2): DoubloonSeven, SC
Remain Bleached Skulls (0):
----------
Designs:
Garden of Charon (3): DoubloonSeven, SC, Failbird
Excavation Bore (3): DoubloonSeven, SC, Failbird
Skeleton (3): DoubloonSeven, SC, Failbird
Bone Giant (0):
Fel Bat (0):
Bone Wyvern (0):
Golem (0):
FFFFFF-Fuck it. Joining up with the skulls. As much as I'd like to vote for any of these other ideas, I do agree that a strong base of resources to work off of is important. Hopefully with this vote we can get the update moving.
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frostgiant

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Re: Necro arms race - Bleached skull thread
« Reply #11 on: July 20, 2018, 03:29:51 pm »

Turn -2 Design Phase

The city is filled with quiet tension, even with the lack of any real conflict. Peasants can feel the near electric tension that has filled the city recently. On the other hand you would barely notice the difference in the cities masters, the elder necromancers.
Research continues apace as always, but the observant would take notice of the focus on mass production over Niche boundary-pushing research as it had been for years.

Design: Garden of Charon
Quote
Garden of Charon
A garden of herbs and various plants fed and enriched with the bodies of the recently passed. This enrichment means that the plants themselves contain necrotic fluid, and can be pressed to release it. Given that Necromancy is an art of life, so shall the ingredients of necromancy arise from the living fruit of the dead. The Garden also acts as a hub for corpse requisition, for once the flesh has given its energy to the soil, skeletal corpses can be recovered.

Time => 5 Progress=> 6 Cost=> 2

The Project is stationed in one of the greenhouses that are used to feed much of the peasant population in ward 14, Transferring much of the already growing plant matter out in order to be replaced by the plants and herbs used in the making of necrotic fluid in order to test the Concept. As simple as the Idea is it should be rather easy to test.

“Garden of Charon” 0/6 [4] /  20 corpses + 20 metal + 45 non-metals/ Rushed 0 times / Nothing Invested

Prototype

Efficacy: 2d4=> [4]


The problem with the Garden of Charon becomes apparent rather easily, The plants eating of the corpses, and the decomposition that happens during this time period, is causing the spectral matter inherent in the flesh to dissipate, either turn into plant soul (which is rather useless except from specific rare strain) or dissipating into the afterlife.
This requires that the workers at the garden then add spectral matter (usually in the form of necrotic fluid funnily enough) to the cauldrons when it comes time to mix together the herbs and Plant matter.
In addition, The loss of body mass from the decomposition limits the amount of corpse matter we gain from the Garden of Charon.


-Design: “Garden of Charon”

Infrastructure
A building that attempts to use plants and herbs grown on a diet of human flesh in order to better create necrotic fluid and preparing skeletons for use. Loss of spectral matter from the corpses and a loss of body mass from the decomposition and feeding process means its not very good at doing both jobs.
+125 Necrotic fluid, +50 corpses/Per turn
100 corpses, 100 metal, 250 non-metals

Design: Excavation Bore

Quote
Excavation Bore
A circular borehole dug into the ground by undead workers, overseen by a cadre of necromancer-engineers who make sure the workers are operating right and a collapse won't occur. Access in is provided by a few ramps dug into the sides and a large gantry overhead. Operated by a wheel turned by zombies, it is capable of lowering and raising a large platform to carry out ore and stone.
Time=> 1 progress=> 3 Cost=> 1

The project is riddled by problems before it even begins, with incompetent engineers, faulty corpse worker and necromancers that had claimed their engineering capabilities turning out to have only done theoretical work, with almost no actual practice. The project is predicted to run heavily over budget quite easily.

“Excavation Bore”  0/14 [2]/100 metal, 125 non-metal ,40 corpses  Rushed 0 times/ Nothing invested

Prototype
Efficacy: 2d4=> [2]

The Excavation bore hole’s a massive, unwieldy, ugly pit in the ground that rekills more undead workers everyday then our experts believe we would see in combat.
This is because of generally poor designs and tunnel planning that is almost begging for the bore to collapse in.
The walls of the borehole prove time and time again that the layout of the mine is a disaster, and the materiel crane built to carry out a load of ore and stone, are incapable of even carrying a small party of people, with the road loosing tension part way up and sending whatever is on the platform to the bottom on an express fall.
The ramps that lead into the bore are the safest part of the whole design, and even then that is with the associated risk of going into the bore hole.
The necromancers that claimed engineering ability’s have disappeared into the night. Leaving a crumbling mess of a project behind them.

Design “Excavation borehole”
Infrastructure building
An utter disaster that was an attempt into the art of mining, everything that could go wrong did and will go wrong with this project. The sheer attrition to the zombie workers alone is estimated to match light battlefield casualties.
Every turn roll a 1d10, on a roll of a 1 the Excavation bore is damaged and requires repair

Income: 25 metal, 50 non-metal, -150 corpses/turn
400 metal, 500 non-metal, 150 corpses.

Design: Skeletons

Quote
Skeletons - A corpse stripped of flesh, it is somewhat faster than a zombie and quite coordinated due to both the more advanced (compared to a zombie) necromantic weaves and lacking the quite literally dead weight of flesh. More resistant to damage due to the weaving and part of its cost is mitigated through the use of the meat in other ways. Some for necromantic fluid, some for flesh golems. I’m fairly certain Eric is a cannibal though why he’d eat this is beyond me. The skeletons themselves can be armed with spears, swords and shields or bows. They are clad in loincloths and occasionally have a peasants cap somebody put on their heads. Intended use is cheap basic infantry capable of being a threat to people who aren’t farmers and probably labourers too since they’ll drop the picks less than a zombie.

Time=>1 Progress=> 4 Cost=> 5

Skeletons are rather basic creations, even ones with binding weaves that are more complicated, and it rather easy to scrap the results and start over with the abundance of skeletons. The problem comes in with how difficult it is to make such a weave mass producible by the journeyman necromancers. The necromancers in charge of the project say that they should be able to work out the crimps in the magic enchantment but it will take time.

“Skeleton” 0/10 [3]/ 25 corpses + 10 non metals Rushed 0 time/ Nothing invested

Prototype:
Efficacy: 2d4=>[7]

The necromantic spell weave on the skeleton is really rather elegant for a mass-produced creature, providing the skeleton a host of benefits besides the basic animation spell.
This includes an improved intelligence over the zombie, such as the ability to walk up stairs, go around a wall and stab things with a pitchfork or hit it with a club.
Usually, most skeletons are less durable then a regular zombie, this is due to losing the cushioning and padding that the Enchanted flesh and muscle provides the bone, without which bones are relatively easier to shatter, and easier still to knock apart.
The Weave, however, allows the skeleton a measure of durability, with its bones being stronger then a regular skeleton should be, and is able to take a fair amount of damage before the weave is disrupted.
Combined with its slim nature to protect it against stabbing weapons or projectiles, the skeleton is actually rather durable, it is still rather vulnerable to impact force such as mace's, and clubs.
Additionally, they move faster than a slow drunken shamble, which the apprentice necromancers are rather happy about due to how boring it could be for their zombie’s hordes to actually get anywhere.

Design: Skeleton
Unit
A rather elegant piece of necromantic corpse manipulation that one usually doesn’t find in such basic mass produce undead constructs. The skeleton is as durable as a regular zombie, in addition to being harder to hurt with Stabbing weapons and projectile weapons. Smart enough to wield weapons such as clubs and pitchforks and to walk up stairs, the Skeletons are capable of moving at walking speed and can even run for a short time before tripping due to balance issues.
(Can be equipped with clubs or pitchforks upon production)
 125 Corpses, 50 non-metals.

Spoiler:  Projects (click to show/hide)

Spoiler:  Resources (click to show/hide)

The Revision phase of Turn -2 has begun. You have 1 Dice.
(I'll resolve the name change at the end of Turn -2, its still open till then.)

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Failbird105

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Re: Necro arms race - Bleached skull thread
« Reply #12 on: July 20, 2018, 04:52:16 pm »

Soooo, revise the bore?
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Failbird105

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Re: Necro arms race - Bleached skull thread
« Reply #13 on: July 20, 2018, 06:16:51 pm »

Revision -
Stricter Plant Selection: Simply put, the Garden of Charon, while it does work, is not as efficient as it could be. This comes down, at least in part, to the lack of forethought into what sort of plants are used. While we don't particularly expect this method to improve the bodies we get back from it, we do believe that by searching for particular plants that can hold more spectral matter without processing as much into plant soul, and filtering out the rest, we can increase the amount of necrotic fluid that can be created, if not necessarily decrease the amount of necrotic fluid used in doing so.

Quote from: bonebox
Revision
Stricter Plant Selection (1): Failbird

Scrap the Borehole
Yes (1): Failbird
No (0):

Here's my proposal forna revision to the Garden. Meanwhile the borehole could have just barely failed harder if we tried, there's no point to keeping it as is, it needs to go.
« Last Edit: July 22, 2018, 08:51:35 am by Failbird105 »
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Doubloon-Seven

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Re: Necro arms race - Bleached skull thread
« Reply #14 on: July 20, 2018, 07:56:01 pm »

Quote from: bonebox
Revision
Stricter Plant Selection (2): Failbird, DoubloonSeven

Scrap the Borehole
Yes (2): Failbird, DoubloonSeven
No (0):
Shame that the Borehole ended up so poorly.
I mean, what are the chances of getting the single worst possible roll?
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