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Author Topic: Angel Team - Chiaroscuro Arms Race: Strategy Phase 10  (Read 29633 times)

m1895

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Re: Angel Team - Chiaroscuro Arms Race: Design Phase 8
« Reply #390 on: August 15, 2020, 08:40:37 pm »

Quote from: Votivebox
Champion/Unique Monster Designs:
The First Warden: (3) Powder Miner, Failbird, m1895
The Horntaker: (0)
The Sculpted Warwell: (0)
The Shard of the First Song: Love: (0)
The Shard of the First Song: Destruction: (0)

FFFFUCKIN NOOOOORMIEEEE Designs:
Mass Acolyte Training Camps: (0)
Lessons from the Horse Wars: (0)
Investigators: (3) Powder Miner, Failbird, m1895
Golem Cavalry: (3) Powder Miner, Failbird, m1895
Heavenly Martial Arts: (0)
Oaths of the Righteous: (0)
Stone Riders: (0)
Sunbow Snipers: (0)
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Failbird105

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Re: Angel Team - Chiaroscuro Arms Race: Design Phase 8
« Reply #391 on: August 16, 2020, 12:05:36 pm »

Mana Crash
Mana Crash is the newest spell in our repertoire for combating the demonic menace. Some may say it is Heliels most brilliant idea yet. We have been assured that the sound she emitted shortly before offering the idea was probably not laughter, and even if it was, it was certainly not maniacal.

Mana Crash is, on the surface, a 'chain lightning' spell. Firing off dangerous bolts of electricity that jump between multiple targets.

The difference is in the more subtle aspects. First of all, Evil is effectively considered a 'conductor' to Mana Crash while Good is a nonconductor, thus meaning the electricity fired seeks out Evil over the ground or metal, and attempts to avoid our own soldiers. While it's still not a good idea to fire it in a group of allies without any enemy for it to target, it's safer to fire into the middle of an ongoing battle.

Secondly, Mana Crash has an interesting property, in that a moment after being fired, it will begin to sap pure Magic from its targets to make more electricity, thus limiting the drop in effectiveness per chain, and allowing it to potentially jump a few extra times.

We expect this spell will be extra deadly against the enemy Casters, but well, all of their forces are now casters to some degree are they not?
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Twinwolf

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Re: Angel Team - Chiaroscuro Arms Race: Design Phase 8
« Reply #392 on: August 16, 2020, 12:47:08 pm »

Quote from: Votivebox
Champion/Unique Monster Designs:
The First Warden: (4) Powder Miner, Failbird, m1895, Twinwolf
The Horntaker: (0)
The Sculpted Warwell: (0)
The Shard of the First Song: Love: (0)
The Shard of the First Song: Destruction: (0)

FFFFUCKIN NOOOOORMIEEEE Designs:
Mass Acolyte Training Camps: (0)
Lessons from the Horse Wars: (0)
Investigators: (4) Powder Miner, Failbird, m1895, Twinwolf
Golem Cavalry: (4) Powder Miner, Failbird, m1895, Twinwolf
Heavenly Martial Arts: (0)
Oaths of the Righteous: (0)
Stone Riders: (0)
Sunbow Snipers: (0)
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Of course, Twin is neither man nor woman but an unholy eldritch abomination like every other Bay12er. The difference is they hide it better.
Quote from: Caellath on IRC
<Caellath>: Twinwolf, your thirst for blood has been noted.

NUKE9.13

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Re: Angel Team - Chiaroscuro Arms Race: Design Phase 8
« Reply #393 on: September 01, 2020, 02:50:15 pm »

Angel Team: Design Phase T8
TURNTURNTURN
The First Warden

Simply joining the cult implies a degree of fortitude and willpower beyond that of your average peasant. It takes a special kind to take up arms in the selfless fight for Good. Our average soldiers are dedicated and devoted, with a level of morale that would make the commanders of regular militaries green with envy. Some of our congregation are so devoted that they serve us beyond death, in the form of Bright Shadows, showing the tenacity of a human soul dedicated to righteous purpose.

Even the Bright Shadows pale in comparison to the First Warden’s tenacity, devotion, and sheer stubbornness.

In life, the man who would become the First Warden had it rough. He grew up on the streets in the Lawless Capital, and committed no small number of sins simply to survive. When he came of age he was shipped off to the Frontier as a soldier, and there he saw more than enough bloodshed and violence. By the time our struggle began, the man was an old soldier, his better years left long behind. He returned to his home in the West on retirement, only to find that his village had been burnt to the ground - one of the first signs of demonic forces stealing supplies to set up their base. He was one of our first recruits, drilling his unit into a well oiled machine of war that was more than the equal of any regular army. He has fought battle after battle in the name of good, even when his age and health should have seen him back in the camp training our soldiers, by sheer stubborn refusal to stay in the back lines.

The most recent battle was his final. Or it should have been. His unit was surrounded, and killed. Man after man cut down. The old soldier was the last of his unit to die, in a bloody rage scything down the inhuman enemy by the dozen. But eventually, even this whirlwind of vengeance died. He breathed his last. His killers turned to the rest of the angelic army, eager to continue the battle.

And they got stabbed in the back.

In the aftermath of the battle, the old soldier’s soul hadn’t even realized he’d died. He didn’t realize he wasn’t supposed to be able to lift the spear he’d possessed. He felt better than he ever had, like all those creaking bones and the slowness of age had melted away. He only accepted his death when they showed him his body. He was brought back to Heliel, who took even more interest in this old soldier than she’d already had. He offered his immortal service, and she accepted, ordering the creation of strong armor and exquisite weaponry to enable his continued service to the cause of Good as the “First Warden”.

----

The First Warden is a combat hero, the ghost of an old highly skilled soldier risen to fight again due to his dedication and tenacity. Lacking his former mortal body, he fights with the full strength of his soul, and that is a mighty strength indeed. The First Warden, being a spirit, doesn’t have to worry about getting tired or requiring sustenance. He also is significantly stronger than an average person, and has decades of experience fighting in order to put it to use.

The First Warden possesses a suit of high quality plate armor, and wields a massive two handed greatsword that cleaves through the enemy like butter. Both are moderately enchanted, the first for durability and the second sharing the fiery enchantment of the Sunbows. This allows the First Warden to be a personal combatant without peer.

His most unique quality, though, is his sheer stubbornness and hatred of the demons, and how that manifests in his spiritual form. Namely, his sheer, stubborn refusal to stay dead. While he can hardly win a battle on his own, he fights without regard for his own safety because even when his spirit should be dispersed, it returns after a short time ready to fight again. And again. And again. This allows him to stay in the fray as long as he has suits of armor to possess and weapons to use.
The First Warden: Normal: (3+4)=7: Superior Craftsmanship
Stubborn souls refusing to go into the afterlife (or wherever it is that souls go after death; the topic is debated, as while souls can be recalled to the mortal plane, they are incapable of remembering where they went, other than that it was very different) is not unheard of. A strong spirit with unfinished business will often linger on the mortal plane; those who had spellcasting abilities or a particularly strong will may even be capable of significant interaction with the world. Such 'natural' ghosts may be empowered by an Angel/Demon, further augmenting their strength, and to have such shades/spectres haunt physical equipment is also not unheard of. What is unheard of (to your knowledge) is a natural ghost being as physically strong as they were in life (if not stronger). Yet here you have the First Warden.
Perhaps the Warden was able to absorb large amounts of ambient Good into his spirit before his death. Perhaps he possessed an inhuman degree of stubbornness, unlike any human before him. Perhaps his death coincided with some freak release of natural magic. Perhaps a combination, or perhaps something completely different. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter- some things are destined to remain mysteries.

The First Warden may well be harder to kill than you are- which is saying something. It appears that his soul is indestructible (which raises the fascinating question of what would happen if you or the Demon were to try consuming it, but one that will have to go unanswered for now), and capable of empowering itself with Good without your intervention. Even if his ghostly form is destroyed, a fragment will always remain, capable of rapidly relocating to a suitable location to reform, a process which typically takes a minute or two. On top of this, the Warden's mental resilience is also top-notch; mental trauma barely seems to affect him, such that where lesser spirits would be daunted by repeated violent destruction, the Warden can soldier on with grim determination.
His only limitations are the need for equipment- which is not much of a limit, as any equipment that is not tainted with Evil will do-, and the need for a source of Good to reform. Fortunately, your armies are portable reservoirs of Good, as every cultist has soaked up small amounts whilst training in the Blessed Desert. Therefore, so long as your forces are on the field, the First Warden will come back again and again- though he will be forced to retreat if the rest of the army does.

While the Warden is capable of using any non-Evil equipment, you opted to provide him with custom armour and weaponry to further enhance his combat strength.
Your smiths and enchanters were ecstatic to finally have a task where they could go all-out, and go all-out they certainly did. The Warden's armour is made of celestial iron (chunks of iron that fall from the sky, said to be gifts from the gods) collected from the depths of the desert, forged into a suit of full plate, augmented with bands of gleaming brass in which are seated sigils carved of precious stones in many colours. While the appearance is stunning, it is not purely ornamental, as the sigils anchor and enhance the suite of durability-enhancing enchantments placed upon the armour. These include: an enchantment that bolsters the already sturdy iron such that it requires twice the force to dent; an enchantment that generates a barrier around the armour that blocks magical attacks (similar to that projected by Barrier Shields); an enchantment that reinforces the Warden himself, empowering his ghostly form (slightly); and a weak but versatile ward against malicious magical effects of all kinds (eg curses that weaken the target in some way). Devising these enchantments and layering them all onto a single piece of equipment without adverse interactions pushed your enchanters to their limits, and required the full attention of the Angel of the Forge as well as yourself- but it was worth it.
The Warden's greatsword, like his armour, is made of celestial iron, the hilt embellished with brass and precious stones. Two enchantments are weaved into the weapon: one that lends strength to the wielder, allowing for a more powerful swing; the second engulfing the blade in righteous golden flames, whose arcane heat will burn both mundane and magical substances, especially those tainted by Evil.
Together, this equipment will make the First Warden a terror on the battlefield, all-but impervious to lesser weapons, and able to cleave through foes like stalks of wheat. It will not make him invincible, of course, and in fact damage can still be dealt to his spirit while the armour stands, meaning the Warden may be forced to abandon his armour if overwhelmed. In this case, he can pick up fallen equipment to rejoin the fight- making him less effective, but by no means ineffective. In most cases he will try to recover his equipment and re-possess it (assuming it has not been damaged too severely), and obviously if the battle is won the equipment can be retrieved and hammered back into shape. (If the battle is lost, it will take the rest of the month to recreate the equipment)(Due to the infusion of Good, neither the sword nor armour will do the Demon's followers any good except as scrap metal)

Deployed to the battlefield, the First Warden is likely to have a greater impact than you would (though you are more well-rounded, and capable of adapting to a variety of circumstances, meaning in some situations you would have the advantage). As a combatant, he can single-handedly turn the tide of battle, as well as bolstering the morale of those around him. It should be noted that the Warden is, at heart, a footsoldier, and should not be expected to provide much strategic assistance.
The First Warden is unlikely to be helpful in infiltration, and should therefore only be deployed in combat lanes.

The First Warden is obviously Unique.




Investigators
Spoiler: wip flavor text thing (click to show/hide)
Investigators are in some ways the equal opposites to Shadow Walkers. Gifted with enhanced analytical abilities and information retention(using a spellsong for efficiency), trained by the best investigators we can get our hands on, and given more direct insight to the criminal by the Shadow Walkers themselves; The Investigators legitimately very good detectives, but their main strength is their ability to legitimize info secured by our intel network and piece it together into a greater whole. We technically have 2 different "styles" of Investigators based upon their positions. Embedded Investigators already have jobs as lawmen and have been gifted these enhancements. They simply go about their day not drawing attention to themselves and being very good at their jobs, especially when it benefits us. Unembedded Investigators cannot fully take advantage of the main law enforcement structure wherever they are stationed, but this also means they aren't bound to the daily grind and can focus their efforts where we need them most. Typically they affect an eccentric "Master Detective" behavior to cover any leaps of logic and to get their name as a private Investigator out there. Others act as retainers for friendly nobles, merchants and the like, using their analytical abilities and training to see through lies and treachery. Another side effect of being outside the law is that they can't be nearly as heavily armed or armored as true law enforcement, so most unembedded Investigators use cane swords, or truncheons and shillelagh if they prefer something with more heft, though some have mixed together the Monks martial art with more pragmatic fighting techniques like boxing and wrestling; Their analytical abilities make them surprisingly formidable. Other safety measures include having other Cultists acting as valets and bodyguards (nicknamed "Watsons"). The most valuable service they provide however, is tying all the different ends of our enemy's infiltration together. The local law can't find a connection between The Orange University and the thugs ? Well let's see what our Investigators can find. That Republican Noble is consorting with someone connected to the gangs? They'll all be sent to the gallows. This all wouldn't nearly be as easy if the demons hadn't so entwined their operations with criminals, so we have to thank them for sinking deeper into the shadows, as it makes it so much easier to drag them kicking and screaming into the light.
Investigators: Easy: (1+4)+1=6: Above Average
You're a loose cannon, Heliel. You get results, but you're off the case. Hand in your badge and, uh, crossbow.

You were slightly offended when a cultist suggested that forcibly rewiring Investigators' brains might not be the best way forward- you've had practice, what're the odds of things going wrong a third time?-, but you agreed to a more ordinary enhancement to their abilities. The Investigators receive a mutation that enhances their analytical ability and memory. There is a relatively minor side effect of the Investigator's head glowing when engaged in deep thought, a phenomenon that is easily disguised during the day or in well-lit spaces, and avoidable in the dark by simply not thinking too hard.
In addition to their mutation, Investigators are hand-picked experts at their role already, and receive additional training so as to help them make the most of their new gifts, rendering each one a master detective. A little training with the Monks of Minos also grants them surprisingly effective self-defence skills, which should let them defeat armed attackers with no or improvised weapons.

Investigators will serve as intended, both embedded and unembedded, using both their own skills as well as information received from your other operatives to identify and unmask demonic servants. This will surely endear them to local law enforcement, while serving to bring the Demon's followers into the light even as Shadow Walkers strike from the dark. Their activities are codified as "Police Cooperation" and "Investigate".
 
Investigators will make working alongside local law enforcement considerably more effective, and make things harder for demonic operatives engaged in shady business in all influence provinces. The mutations, training, and natural skill required render Investigators Rare. Investigate represents their specialised information-gathering activities, and is Rare as only Investigators can handle it. Police Cooperation represents techniques for contacting law enforcement, and is Uncommon, indicating that other agents can also use these techniques to cooperate.



Golem Cavalry

While mounted and mobile elements are usually considered an essential part of warfare, the terrain of our war against the Demon is broadly speaking not all that suitable for cavalry - the mountain passes and river deltas provide few flanking routes and are unwieldy terrain for traditional horse-mounted knights and the like. Moreover, against the demonic hordes, traditional mounts would be incredibly vulnerable to both fear-inducing magics and mutagenic alchemy, potentially turning against rider and the army as a whole. These concerns are as much a worry for the Demon army as our own - and thus, if one side were able to gain the use of cavalry while the other did not, the results could be devastating. But what living being would be able to resist those concerns? Well, who said it had to be a living being?

The artificers of the Bright Forge have been hard at work in conjunction with the military workshops to create our new mobile forces. The new units will be golems, artificial beings sculpted of clay or stone into shape, and then animated by the magic of enchantment, with Heliel summoning a spirit into the vessel to control it. The constructs are crafted to the best quality we can manage in numbers, with careful attention to joints and weight distribution for stability and range of motion. While constructs can be any shape - and indeed, some are already laying plans for different golems for different environments - as the baseline unit until we can devote more resources to this avenue, the artificers decided to model them after certain kinds of insects, featuring six legs and the ability to go on four and use the front two to fight once battle is joined.

The role of the golems is essentially to play hammer to the main force's anvil; due to the enchantments on the construct, the golems are deceptively fast for their material and shape, and their unusual shape allows them to work well in rough terrain. They are tough and strong, and a charge into an enemy's flank can be a devastating blow - although they don't work quite as well in a head on charge, admittedly.
Golem Cavalry: Hard: (1+2)-1=2: Utter Failure
In principle, this can work. Probably. You think.

In practice, however, animating golems proved a step too far for your artificers. The enchantment needed to make the stone or clay flexible would fail sporadically, causing it to crack. Which was not a huge issue, as the team responsible for designing the limbs and the team responsible for creating a control scheme for said limbs suffered some miscommunication, with the result that the golems can not even begin to walk. Even if they could walk, it would not last very long, as tests performed at the start of the project to determine how much magical energy the golems would need were done with scale models, and unfortunately none of the cultists assigned to the project had heard of the square-cube law. And somehow the issue that consumed the most time was an intense debate amongst the artificers regarding minutia of the golem's final appearance.

As a result, your artificers have nothing to show for their efforts, except for a few non-functional statues and some notes regarding the principles of golem-creation- which should at least make future attempts easier.   



It is now the Revision Phase. You have two revisions.



Spoiler: Equipment (click to show/hide)



Spoiler: Map (click to show/hide)
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Twinwolf

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Re: Angel Team - Chiaroscuro Arms Race: Revision Phase 8
« Reply #394 on: September 02, 2020, 05:30:58 pm »

Morceau in Major Key

Missile in Major Key does, to a degree, do what it set out to do - a wave of magic created by a spellsong. The thing is, just summoning something as pure magic may be reasonably easy, but it is also incredibly inefficient, and doesn't make use of spellsong's strengths. Thus, we've been hard at work improving the spellsong.

This new version is somewhat similar; it uses spellsong to generate magic for an attack in the form of a wave. But where it used to be pure, unfiltered magic, this new version takes the form of a wall of sound. Natural philosophers and alchemists are hotly at debate over this, but we've come to a conclusion that sound does have a physical form - and if there's enough of it moving fast enough, it can have physical force too. By doing this, the efficiency of the spell should be significantly increased; besides making it a lot less flashy (and thus, it's worth consideration, not broadcasting the location of the congregation's most powerful spellcasters to the enemy in the middle of the melee), we expect this will increase the effectiveness of the spell, particularly in regards to it's range and area of effect.
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Sigtext!
Of course, Twin is neither man nor woman but an unholy eldritch abomination like every other Bay12er. The difference is they hide it better.
Quote from: Caellath on IRC
<Caellath>: Twinwolf, your thirst for blood has been noted.

Powder Miner

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Re: Angel Team - Chiaroscuro Arms Race: Design Phase 8
« Reply #395 on: September 07, 2020, 01:03:46 am »

Lessons from the Horse Wars

Our close cooperation with the officers of the Fortified Frontier has exposed us to a military tradition far greater and more experienced that the paltry one we can lay claim to; though that war might have been far away, the grand war that Lesimor had with the horse nomads of the east, skilled in mobile skirmishing and skilled in devastating wheeling charges, has imparted important lessons upon the Lesimor military which still last today. These Lessons from the Horse Wars have now been imparted onto us, and represent a significant change in our command structure.

Lesson One: From the tone in which this was explained, we get the distinct sense that the Hawk officers were genuinely disgusted by the simplicity of our command structure, but they still worded this as a proper Lesson from the Horse War: when faced with pernicious skirmishing or the chaos of a charge, a singular formation led by only a few officers is potentially going to make or break as a whole. Instead, we were instructed to create a proper chain of command -- Lieutenants, Captains, Majors and Colonels with some intermediate ranks -- and apportion our troops into successively smaller formations under each level of command. Lieutenants command troops, captains command companies, etcetera. In this way, formations have closer junior commanders to operate under in the event of wider chaos, giving them the ability to still function under command, but larger formations can be commanded together by senior officers for wider movements and maneuvers.

Lesson Two: When confronted by charges, the proper option is sometimes to hold position, and sometimes it is not -- and in the current circumstances where we're being charged by infantry and don't have polearms, the latter is often the case. Our senior officers are taught to be able to rotate in formations on the flanks or draw back the center to guard against or envelop charges coming at them, in order to rob the charges of some of their momentum and to punish them from their sides -- the tactical response from the Angel side should become not "either hold or break", but "actively maneuver to fight back".

Lesson Three: Mobile and powerful skirmishers can be a pernicious problem which either whittles away at your troops if you ignore them or causes them to break forward to respond if you do not. The response to this has to exist, but it cannot be piecemeal -- there should be coordinated and clear options to deal with them. In this case, this means integrating our archers and Sunbow Skirmishers with our larger formations led by our senior officers, though keeping them in their own smaller formations with their own junior officers. Our response to skirmishing should be cutting them down with arrows or with our own counter-skirmishers, leaving our heavier infantry free to focus on the rest of the battle.

As a whole, these lessons completely overhaul the way that our army is commanded, giving it the latitude to maintain cohesion within smaller units if the larger formation breaks, but giving it the tactical maneuverability to respond to the powerful charges and vicious skirmishing of the Demonic forces with active counter-maneuver and coordinated responses, not with just standing there and dying or breaking and dying.

Quote from: Votebox
Lessons from the Horse Wars: (1) Powder Miner
Morceau in Major Key: (1) Powder Miner
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Twinwolf

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Re: Angel Team - Chiaroscuro Arms Race: Design Phase 8
« Reply #396 on: September 07, 2020, 08:43:20 am »

Quote from: Votebox
Lessons from the Horse Wars: (2) Powder Miner, Twinwolf
Morceau in Major Key: (2) Powder Miner, Twinwolf
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Sigtext!
Of course, Twin is neither man nor woman but an unholy eldritch abomination like every other Bay12er. The difference is they hide it better.
Quote from: Caellath on IRC
<Caellath>: Twinwolf, your thirst for blood has been noted.

Failbird105

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Re: Angel Team - Chiaroscuro Arms Race: Design Phase 8
« Reply #397 on: September 07, 2020, 08:49:24 am »

Quote from: Votebox
Lessons from the Horse Wars: (3) Powder Miner, Twinwolf. Failbird,
Morceau in Major Key: (3) Powder Miner, Twinwolf, Failbird
« Last Edit: September 07, 2020, 02:30:37 pm by Failbird105 »
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chubby2man

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Re: Angel Team - Chiaroscuro Arms Race: Revision Phase 8
« Reply #398 on: September 07, 2020, 03:21:44 pm »

Quote from: Votebox
Lessons from the Horse Wars: (4) Powder Miner, Twinwolf. Failbird, C2M
Morceau in Major Key: (4) Powder Miner, Twinwolf, Failbird, C2M
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Sindari Immortals Play as an immortal being trying to subvert an evil empire of (for now) stronger immortals. On *very* long term hiatus.

NUKE9.13

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Re: Angel Team - Chiaroscuro Arms Race: Revision Phase 8
« Reply #399 on: September 18, 2020, 12:09:21 pm »

Angel Team: Revision Phase T8
TURNTURNTURN
((Minor change in terminology from here on: the name for the energy used in mortal magic (and used in combination with Good by your acolytes) is now Mana, not Magic. The potential for confusion has been bothering me for a while, and I finally decided to change it. This has no mechanical effects or anything, but hopefully it makes things a little easier to read.))



Morceau in Major Key

Missile in Major Key does, to a degree, do what it set out to do - a wave of magic created by a spellsong. The thing is, just summoning something as pure magic may be reasonably easy, but it is also incredibly inefficient, and doesn't make use of spellsong's strengths. Thus, we've been hard at work improving the spellsong.

This new version is somewhat similar; it uses spellsong to generate magic for an attack in the form of a wave. But where it used to be pure, unfiltered magic, this new version takes the form of a wall of sound. Natural philosophers and alchemists are hotly at debate over this, but we've come to a conclusion that sound does have a physical form - and if there's enough of it moving fast enough, it can have physical force too. By doing this, the efficiency of the spell should be significantly increased; besides making it a lot less flashy (and thus, it's worth consideration, not broadcasting the location of the congregation's most powerful spellcasters to the enemy in the middle of the melee), we expect this will increase the effectiveness of the spell, particularly in regards to it's range and area of effect.
Morceau in Major Key: Easy: (4+4)+1=9: Unexpected Boon
It's a crazy idea, singing in order to create sound, but it just might work.

In fact, it works very well indeed. Everything just seemed to fall into place as you worked- the process of creating the song was more like remembering a tune you heard a long time ago, as opposed to coming up with a brand new one. Of course, this is impossible, as you are not even a year old... well, whatever.
Regardless of how it happened, the new Morceau in Major Key is a masterpiece. The inefficiencies of Missile in Major Key have been all-but eliminated- no more vortex of lights, just a faint shimmer in the air-, with the result that the amount of magical energy that is thrown at the enemy is easily doubled (without costing the casters more). Though there were some concerns about the use of sound to cause damage, these fears proved unfounded, as the wave of music is capable of shattering a brick wall and causing enemy soldiers to 'pop' in a grisly fashion. Even a glancing blow is enough to render victims unconscious for hours and deaf for days. While some targets may be less vulnerable to sound than others, you believe that for the average enemy soldier, the sound is half again as deadly as the raw Mana used in the original MMK was- which compounds with the already doubled efficiency for a threefold increase in damage output. It is worth noting that the sound is magical in nature, not a purely physical phenomenon, and so would be largely blocked by Barrier Shields and similar (this also explains how the 'sound' remains so focused, with those outside the path of the wave hearing only faint echoes of the devastating tune).
The massive increase in damage is a nice bonus on top of the focus of your efforts, which was to improve the range and area of effect (had damage been your focus, you believe you could've attained even greater heights of devastation). Where Missile in Major Key had a range equivalent to that of an archer, Morceau in Major Key works at almost twice that, considerably outranging both archers and Sunbows. The wave is also 50% wider (~12 men wide). Finally, casting time is also slightly improved- not drastically, but noticeably.

On a mostly unrelated note (literally), whilst working on Morceau in Major Key, one of the Angel's Voices randomly found a musical note with strange magical properties. You know of several such magical notes, as all your spellsongs use one or two, but they were all uncovered through meticulous experimentation- to stumble across one by accident is unusual. Now, a single note does not a spellsong make, but it will make your next attempt to create one a little bit easier. ((Your next new spellsong will be slightly easier. By new, I mean not similar to any existing ones))

Morceau in Major Key drastically boosts the lethality of Angel's Voices, giving them enhanced range, area of effect, damage, and rate of fire. Despite this, it is only marginally harder to sing, and so remains Uncommon. (The original MMK will remain on the books, but is unlikely to be used again)



Lessons from the Horse Wars

Our close cooperation with the officers of the Fortified Frontier has exposed us to a military tradition far greater and more experienced that the paltry one we can lay claim to; though that war might have been far away, the grand war that Lesimor had with the horse nomads of the east, skilled in mobile skirmishing and skilled in devastating wheeling charges, has imparted important lessons upon the Lesimor military which still last today. These Lessons from the Horse Wars have now been imparted onto us, and represent a significant change in our command structure.

Lesson One: From the tone in which this was explained, we get the distinct sense that the Hawk officers were genuinely disgusted by the simplicity of our command structure, but they still worded this as a proper Lesson from the Horse War: when faced with pernicious skirmishing or the chaos of a charge, a singular formation led by only a few officers is potentially going to make or break as a whole. Instead, we were instructed to create a proper chain of command -- Lieutenants, Captains, Majors and Colonels with some intermediate ranks -- and apportion our troops into successively smaller formations under each level of command. Lieutenants command troops, captains command companies, etcetera. In this way, formations have closer junior commanders to operate under in the event of wider chaos, giving them the ability to still function under command, but larger formations can be commanded together by senior officers for wider movements and maneuvers.

Lesson Two: When confronted by charges, the proper option is sometimes to hold position, and sometimes it is not -- and in the current circumstances where we're being charged by infantry and don't have polearms, the latter is often the case. Our senior officers are taught to be able to rotate in formations on the flanks or draw back the center to guard against or envelop charges coming at them, in order to rob the charges of some of their momentum and to punish them from their sides -- the tactical response from the Angel side should become not "either hold or break", but "actively maneuver to fight back".

Lesson Three: Mobile and powerful skirmishers can be a pernicious problem which either whittles away at your troops if you ignore them or causes them to break forward to respond if you do not. The response to this has to exist, but it cannot be piecemeal -- there should be coordinated and clear options to deal with them. In this case, this means integrating our archers and Sunbow Skirmishers with our larger formations led by our senior officers, though keeping them in their own smaller formations with their own junior officers. Our response to skirmishing should be cutting them down with arrows or with our own counter-skirmishers, leaving our heavier infantry free to focus on the rest of the battle.

As a whole, these lessons completely overhaul the way that our army is commanded, giving it the latitude to maintain cohesion within smaller units if the larger formation breaks, but giving it the tactical maneuverability to respond to the powerful charges and vicious skirmishing of the Demonic forces with active counter-maneuver and coordinated responses, not with just standing there and dying or breaking and dying.
Lessons from the Horse Wars: Easy: (4+1)+1=6: Above Average
You might think that horses would've come up in "Lessons from the Horse Wars", but surprisingly they were never mentioned.

With a number of senior officers from the Fortified Frontier offering their assistance, you had no difficulty in improving your command structure and drilling your troops in more advanced formations.
The new raft of officer ranks ensure better organisation from the top, and better flexibility from below. Plus, all their new epaulettes, badges, and fancy hats look very snazzy, and are sure to bolster their morale. Efforts to improve the flexibility of formations will surely pay out on the battlefield, as your rival's manoeuvres are adeptly countered by well-drilled soldiers. Training archers (and other ranged troops) and spearmen (and other melee troops) together improves their coordination, providing better ranged support in the melee, especially punishing to enemy skirmishers.



It is now the Strategy Phase. Choose where to send Heliel, the Silver Markswoman, and the First Warden.



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Long Live United Forenia!

Twinwolf

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Re: Angel Team - Chiaroscuro Arms Race: Strategy Phase 8
« Reply #400 on: September 18, 2020, 03:22:10 pm »

Quote from: Strategy
Silver Markswoman
Darrin:
Xa-Nam: (1): Twinwolf

First Warden
Darrin: (1): Twinwolf
Xa-Nam:

Heliel
Lawless Capital: (1): Twinwolf
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Sigtext!
Of course, Twin is neither man nor woman but an unholy eldritch abomination like every other Bay12er. The difference is they hide it better.
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Failbird105

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Re: Angel Team - Chiaroscuro Arms Race: Strategy Phase 8
« Reply #401 on: September 18, 2020, 04:41:18 pm »

Quote from: Strategy
Silver Markswoman
Darrin:
Xa-Nam: (2): Twinwolf, Failbird

First Warden
Darrin: (2): Twinwolf, Failbird
Xa-Nam:

Heliel
Lawless Capital: (2): Twinwolf, Failbird
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Powder Miner

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Re: Angel Team - Chiaroscuro Arms Race: Strategy Phase 8
« Reply #402 on: September 18, 2020, 04:44:49 pm »

Quote from: Strategy
Silver Markswoman
Darrin:
Xa-Nam: (3): Twinwolf, Failbird, Powder Miner

First Warden
Darrin: (3): Twinwolf, Failbird, Powder Miner
Xa-Nam:

Heliel
Lawless Capital: (3): Twinwolf, Failbird, Powder Miner
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m1895

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Re: Angel Team - Chiaroscuro Arms Race: Strategy Phase 8
« Reply #403 on: September 18, 2020, 05:14:35 pm »

Quote from: Strategy
Silver Markswoman
Darrin:
Xa-Nam: (4): Twinwolf, Failbird, Powder Miner, m1895

First Warden
Darrin: (4): Twinwolf, Failbird, Powder Miner, m1895
Xa-Nam:

Heliel
Lawless Capital: (4): Twinwolf, Failbird, Powder Miner, m1895
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chubby2man

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Re: Angel Team - Chiaroscuro Arms Race: Strategy Phase 8
« Reply #404 on: September 19, 2020, 07:50:12 pm »


Quote from: Strategy
Silver Markswoman
Darrin:
Xa-Nam: (5): Twinwolf, Failbird, Powder Miner, m1895, C2M

First Warden
Darrin: (5): Twinwolf, Failbird, Powder Miner, m1895, C2M
Xa-Nam:

Heliel
Lawless Capital: (5): Twinwolf, Failbird, Powder Miner, m1895, C2M
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Sindari Immortals Play as an immortal being trying to subvert an evil empire of (for now) stronger immortals. On *very* long term hiatus.
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