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Author Topic: Let's Play Dominions 5 MA Abysia - Burning Sun  (Read 17947 times)

oldark

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Re: Let's Play Dominions 5 MA Abysia - Burning Sun
« Reply #30 on: March 30, 2020, 10:03:25 am »

Turn 18. Early Fall in the year 1.

Blood Magic level 2 research is finished.  None of these are of particular note to us that I'm aware of.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Ogorol successfully claimed the Throne of Spring, putting us on the scoreboard. I don't think there's a way for him to actually fail the claiming ritual unless he gets attacked by something. Steve's new expansion army drives forward crushing all resistance in the Gold Mountains and Carniel at last succumbs to his disease.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)


Steve continues on towards the last independent territory within our claimed borders. I order a Slayer (scout/assassin) trained up in our new palisades in Ba'an Dagor if anyone wants to claim him. I should use him as a scout but I will most likely give into the temptation to use him for his other vocation sooner rather than later.

Some clumsy oaf in Binophe broke a mirror, but 11 air gems spilled out of it somehow so we're not complaining, the Throne of Summer continues to heat up the world and the palisades in Ba'an Dagor are completed.
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oldark

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Re: Let's Play Dominions 5 MA Abysia - Burning Sun
« Reply #31 on: March 30, 2020, 01:38:58 pm »

Turn 19. Fall in the year 1.

Uneventful turn all around.  Steve laughs as his Lava Warriors kill nearly 50 "deer tribe warrios" with only a single loss among themselves, securing the lands within our borders.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Our nation in all of its glory:
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A couple of positive events this turn; a good harvest in Dumna lowered unrest and doubled tax income this month  and a small gold deposit in Binophe resulted in another 896 gold added to our treasury.  I modified our research queue as well. First finish Blood 3 for Infernal Breeding, then work on Alteration 3 for Iron Skin on our goddess. I also remembered that alchemy is a thing and I learned the hard way that clicking the alchemy arrows back and forth is a great way to cause all of your gems to vanish.. Thankfully there's a 'reset turn' button that I promptly smash.

I'm not entirely sure what the best use of Ogorol is at the moment - probably to rejoin Steve's army to bless the troops but I'll leave him for now and do the rest of my actions. I queue up another slayer in Ba'an Dagor on the decision that getting scouts into elf lands is more important than gaining one more researcher every other turn. We have a couple of groups bloodhunting now, 3 in Dothian with Bogliod's ex-mercenaries patrolling to keep unrest down, and one in Abysia with Jack-of-all, the Fairy patrolling there with the Lava Warriors from our barracks.

In Dunheim (the throne of spring) we start recruiting a Mage of Spring. He'll take four turns to be ready and then finish building the fort there to help protect it from sneak attacks. We have another Astral level 3 warlock in Abysia now so I'm changing our site searchers into two parties. Demonbred and the new Warlock heading towards the wastelands southwest of Abysia, while the original party heads towards the bridge and the Vanheim/Agartha borders. This also decides what to do with Ogorol. He can start construction of the palisade and then catch up with Steve just as he reaches the border, allowing the mage to finish up his work.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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EuchreJack

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Re: Let's Play Dominions 5 MA Abysia - Burning Sun
« Reply #32 on: March 30, 2020, 06:39:16 pm »

Things certainly seem to heating up.  :P
Sorry, I couldn't resist.

oldark

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Re: Let's Play Dominions 5 MA Abysia - Burning Sun
« Reply #33 on: March 31, 2020, 11:00:53 am »

Eh, what's life without pad pun? ;)

Turn 20. Late Fall in the year 1.
First thing of note here is that the Anathemant Dragon, Harut, that we have site searching for fire and holy sites has contracted a disease. We should have him for another 10 turns or so but will need to remember to train a replacement for him at some point.  Our new Warlock in Abysia has some rudimentary Earth magic skills.  He's ordered to put them to use creating a magic item, the Blacksteel Helmet.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It offers a large amount of head protection and will be given to our goddess next time she's in a province with a lab (giving gems or magic items to a unit requires them to either be located in a lab or to have another unit deliver them).  There were a few minor events throughout the nation but only one particularly noteworthy one. We found a local wizard conspiring with Abysia's enemies. After his execution a wide variety of gems were confiscated.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A Vanheim scout was found and killed in Dothian.  Dothian is very far from the Vanheim borders and is where we were performing blood slave collection so this is somewhat worrisome.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

After ordering recruitment this turn we have quite a bit of gold remaining in our treasury. Fenric the Commander is ordered to upgrade the palisades in Ba'an Dagor to a Fortress.

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oldark

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Re: Let's Play Dominions 5 MA Abysia - Burning Sun
« Reply #34 on: March 31, 2020, 02:27:44 pm »

Turn 21. Early Winter in the year 1.

Research to Blood Magic level 3 was completed as well as Construction level 1.  Construction 1 doesn't really unlock anything for us but Blood 3 does. Infernal Breeding is a ritual unique to Abysia. It takes 25 blood slaves and returns a number of unique units of mixed usefulness. Bind Devil also becomes available here for 7 blood slaves. This allows any warlocks also skilled in fire magic to summon 1 devil per month. Devil's are decent combatants but not outstanding. They do fly though which means they can be given orders to attack the rear of enemy armies and try to kill their commanders.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I also change the research queue here. Instead of Construction 4 we will pursue Alteration 3 for self buffs for the Veiled One. Several Astral Pearls were found in Dumna and some kind of heat wave struck Aenasia, increasing unrest and killing a few hundred people. I order Abaddon the Warlock to forge a Blacksteel Kite Shield this turn and alchemised some of our astral pearls into earth gems in order to do so. 

Agartha reports that Vanheim is striking him in multiple locations at once with small forces now while avoiding his larger armies. Man does not seem interested in joining this war and instead is trying to clear some thrones in their own territory. I notice while moving my site searching squads around that our Demonbred unit's naturally come with the magical skills needed to summon devils. I'm wondering if it would benefit us to spend 2-3 turns training these in the capital and just have them start summoning every month. I think it would be a great idea if these guys weren't slow to recruit, and when construction reaches level 4 we can build an item that boosts the wearer's fire magic skill, at which point some of our warlocks could do the summonings. Given that, we're going to keep producing warlocks in Abysia to keep the research train ramping up. Would love to hear you guys' thoughts on the matter.

Ogorol and Steve are meeting up in Dumna in preparation for our first strike against an enemy nation.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)


Edit: Almost forgot, the strongest of our blood mages in Abysia is ordered to perform the Infernal Breeding ritual. We'll see the results next turn. Turns are slowing down as Bannerlord steals the interest of a few of the players :)
« Last Edit: March 31, 2020, 04:11:21 pm by oldark »
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oldark

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Re: Let's Play Dominions 5 MA Abysia - Burning Sun
« Reply #35 on: April 01, 2020, 05:33:26 pm »

Turn 22. Winter in the year 1.

Long event log this month.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Man sent us the 1 earth gem because he got it from an event and had no use for it. He's pretty clearly not going to join in attacking the elves, instead focusing on clearing a throne or two in his own lands.  The gem is a token show of support I suppose.  Alteration level 1 research gives The Veiled One access to barkskin - I know that it's natural protection and that makes it different somehow from normal protection but no one that I've asked has bothered explaining it to me yet.  Distill gold may be useful during gold shortages. It converts fire gems into 15 gold each with small bonuses based on the fire magic level of the caster.

Alteration 1:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Infernal Breeding gave us 15 winged Hellspawn. The guys are 'part demon' and can fly. Presumably this means that they will sit in the back lines of combat with orders to wait a round or two and then fly to the rear of the enemy.  Several of them have injuries or conditions of some kind, I think that's a side effect of the ritual. Anyway, let's go ahead and cast this ritual again!
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The unexpected events, in order:
A crone cursed Aenasia, Misfortune +3.
A broken mirror in Kunal revealed 5 air gems.
A troll lair was raided in The Obsidian Waste. The troll escaped but we fold a mix of gold and gems.
The power of Rhuax (who's this guy? Old god? Hero? He has some spells named after him.) manifested, stirring a dormant volcano! 3000 population killed but the volcano gives us 3 more fire gems per turn and helps to increase the region's heat (which is already maxed out).

Steve and Ogorol will be invading elven lands next turn. Jack-of-all stops patrolling and begins moving his contingent on the long march towards the front. We do not empty the rest of the barracks. Those will form a defensive force if needed against either Vanheim or Man.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Edit: Further concern over an early win by Vanheim after Agartha messaged me that most of his lands are gone and his capital is under siege. I counted up the potential thrones that Vanheim can access without having to war on Abysia or Man. Van has a a likely victory just from his + Agartha's thrones alone and an ensured one if you include the border thrones that we can see.  To get more information I've ordered warlocks in Abysia to Astrally Project to the circled positions.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: April 01, 2020, 05:55:14 pm by oldark »
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Il Palazzo

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Re: Let's Play Dominions 5 MA Abysia - Burning Sun
« Reply #36 on: April 02, 2020, 12:16:18 am »

Wow, that's going to be a quick win, if they manage to pull it off. All my games have been protracted slugfests, so it's interesting to watch a blitz.

Rhuax (who's this guy? Old god? Hero? He has some spells named after him.)
He's one of the two kings of the elemental plane of fire. You can summon them with the King of Elemental Fire ritual.
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Jilladilla

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Re: Let's Play Dominions 5 MA Abysia - Burning Sun
« Reply #37 on: April 02, 2020, 12:34:23 am »

Natural Protection somewhat stacks with normal armor. There is some loss, but it's still an overall boon, as long as you find the -5 Fire Resist acceptable.

Rhaux is one of the 3 Kings of Elemental Fire (Antrax may have been corrupted by Death, but he still counts lore wise; though he has his own Ritual to summon), specifically with a domain over Magma. IIRC, the Abysians have their existence thanks to Rhaux. If not that, given how the earliest Abysians were basically only a few steps away from being magma elementals, the link between the too seems fairly obvious.
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oldark

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Re: Let's Play Dominions 5 MA Abysia - Burning Sun
« Reply #38 on: April 02, 2020, 08:35:01 am »

Thanks for the info everyone!  So far neither of my other games with this group have gone beyond turn 45 or so and I get the impression that this isn't uncommon for them. The small player size and high throne count with low AP needed to win makes things very swingy.

Turn 23. Late Winter in the year 1.

Alteration level 2 finished up this turn. There are several self buffs here that seem useful. The Veiled One will be able to cast Quicken Self, Ice Shield, Resist Lightning, Stoneskin, Cheat Fate, and Enlarge.   Of course we're limited to 5 spells that I can script her to cast so I'll have to pick and choose.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Our five casts of astral projection had results and none of our warlocks were mentally whammied by the attempt.  I take it back, 4 of our warlocks are feeble minded or crippled and two of the sites we targeted are still un-scryed. Guess the failures just aren't reported in messages. The northernmost throne marked in the last post is controlled by Agartha still so that's good news.

Infernal Breeding was interesting this turn. It gave us a commander and 8 units. Introducing Soferic (name available!) the Hell Spawn and his squad.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Our first foray into Vanheim territory was successful. Steve led our forces to a flawless victory but the elves themselves did give us battle - instead we fought a handful of human cavalry and milita.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And now I see the messages about the astral cords of two of our mages being severed. They're just separated from the casting messages in the log. The last message of this turn is the completion of the palisades on the Throne of Spring and the successful recruitment of a Mage of Spring there.

As for orders, I'm not entirely sure the best way to run this war. With their units being stealthy Vanheim can choose when to engage my army or when to let it pass. They're also likely faster than me as far as map movement. Abysian armies are slow, moving only a single province in a turn and I suspect a mounted elven one could move 2 or even 3 with the proper terrain.  Steve's force is also a small one by size and only has Ogorol as mage support so it wouldn't be a surprise if the main Vanheim army can crush ours if we sit down for a siege of one of his fortresses.  For this month, I give the orders to try and catch a group of crossbowmen near by. After that, Steve can work his way back northward and meet up with reinforcements in a few months.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I give a couple of our slayers assassination orders and queue up more recruitment across the nation.





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oldark

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Re: Let's Play Dominions 5 MA Abysia - Burning Sun
« Reply #39 on: April 02, 2020, 04:13:39 pm »

Turn 24. Early Spring in the year 2.

The big things this turn were two assassination attempts and one battle.  Diplomatically speaking, Man contacted me with a warning that Vanheim is trying to coerce him into attacking me and reported my troop numbers in Lorborough.  Maybe Bogliod's patrols will catch us another sneak thief soon.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Steve's attack on the Range of Shadow is our first contact with Vanheim's standing forces (other than province defense) but still the elves didn't reveal themselves. Instead we faced a hail of armor piercing crossbow bolts.   
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

They did take a small but noticeable toll on Steve's men before the Lava Warriors made contact with the enemy lines and completely destroyed them.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

First assassination: Charygas tried to assassinate Fjolvar the Vanherse.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Our second strike was carried out by Marou. I had expected him to kill some of the sages reported in the area, but he instead saw a chance at one of the mighty Vanadrotts. The most elite of the Vanheim forces.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Regarding marching orders, I considered for a little while where best to send Steve and Ogorol. Eventually I decide that getting the extra manpower to him sooner rather than later is more important and order him to move back northward to meet Jack-of-all with his reinforcements that much sooner.  As much as I hate to abort site searching, I also request that The Veiled One make her presence known in Ba'an Dagor.  She can forge herself a heavy blacksteel plate of armor next month and march with the army after that. The other site searchers will carry on as usual but we'll be lacking the water and nature entirely and have reduced capacity to find earth.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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oldark

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Re: Let's Play Dominions 5 MA Abysia - Burning Sun
« Reply #40 on: April 02, 2020, 05:11:29 pm »

Turn 25. Spring in the year 2.
Fast turn. The other players submitted within a few minutes of mine.

Research completed for Construction level 2. This unlocks "lesser magic items".

After clicking through my construction menu there are a few notables I think.  Handful of Acorns costs nature gems but will cause 3 Vine Men to always be with their holder.  Bracers of Protection provide +2 defense and +2 Protection. Soul Contract for blood will spawn one devil every turn as long as the wielder remains alive. I would love 3 or 4 of these in our capital but at 90 blood slaves each I don't think we have the economy to support that.

Ring of the Warrior gives morale and attack skill +5. I think this would be very important. Hitting the elves his hard and the attack skill bonus could definitely help with that. Burning Pearl also gives +4 to attack skill.  Ice Aegis is a shield that protects from cold and gives decent looking stats on shield protection and parry, alternatively the Eye Shield has lower protection and parry abilities but has a chance to remove an opponents eye when they hit it.

Boots would almost have to be the Ranger's Boots. These give me 2 Reinvigoration, which will be critical with the heavy armor to not just collapse on the battlefield.  Unsure about weapon choice. 

Pause for discussion with the discord channel for help understanding how some of these stats and items work.

Came to the decision of keeping the blacksteel helm and full plate. Changing the shield to an eye shield and pairing it with a Stinger (armor piercing spear) then adding on Boots of the Ranger, Burning Pearl, and Ring of the Warrior.  I've split the crafting up among several of our mages that are capable. Though The Veiled One is the only one capable of making both the full plate and the shield so it will be two months until she's geared up. I've also swapped research priorities again to Enchantment after realizing that I completely forgot the regen spell, which is somewhat important here! We only need Enchantment level 2 so it shouldn't take too long.

I also realized I"m out of time to play at the moment. I don't want to lose what I've written so I'll post it and do the rest of the turn later this evening.

 
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oldark

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Re: Let's Play Dominions 5 MA Abysia - Burning Sun
« Reply #41 on: April 02, 2020, 08:21:08 pm »

Turn 25. Part 2

Perceval the Castellan claimed the Throne of Misfortune in the name of Lifebringer which immediately begins spreading misfortune across the world.  That brings Man up to 3 ascension points.

Steve's force encountered an invading force of ape people flying Vanheim's colors.  It was a victory of course, but a bloody one with most of our veteran Lava Warriors crushing their last skulls.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A lucky find in Bitra gave us a gold vein that brought in nearly 1100 extra coins this month. Bogliod's patrols found both a sneaking Monk from Man and a scout from Agatha but no sign of the elvish one that they expected. It seems everyone is insistent on violating Abysian sovereignty. We won't forget. The monk was killed on the spot but Agartha's scout managed to escape.

Steve moves back to Ba'an Dagor. He'll meet Jack-of-all, the Fairy with his reinforcements there as well as The Veiled One.  Man agreed to produce an Eye Shield as a show of support (for the materials to be sent later of course) so that will save us the second turn of forging before she's ready for combat. Soon we'll see if all this guesswork pays off.  The order was given for a palisades to be build in the northernmost point of our nation, where Agartha and Man borders meet ours. That leaves a little gold from the mine that was found this month as a remainder that may be used for a temple next month if possible.
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oldark

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Re: Let's Play Dominions 5 MA Abysia - Burning Sun
« Reply #42 on: April 03, 2020, 03:41:04 pm »

Turn 26. Late Spring in the Year 2.

We finally received a missive from vanheim. Well a threat really. Their treacherous elven asses dared to accuse US of being dishonorable aggressors in this war and threatened to wipe us out completely if we didn't immediately cease. They seemingly have forgotten that it was their sneaking forces near Abysia itself that was the first violation of national sovereignty.  We told them as much and they left a box in Abysia. Records of ages past have warned us to burn all such boxes without opening them, apparently the unleash some unnamed horror, and we did exactly that.

Enchantment research for levels one and two were both completed.  That gives The Veiled One access to the Personal Regeneration spell that will help keep her alive in combat. Research continues towards Conjuration levels 4 and 5 to improve the size of our elementals.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The only other thing of note in our message queue was the discovery of 18 nature gems. That'll pay for the gear we're forging that uses them with some left over.

The Veiled One went ahead and geared up with what we have. It will be next turn before she's fully prepared.  One of our feeble-minded warlocks begins building a spare palisade in Lorborough. The expense will prevent us from recruiting as much this month but any advance by the elves will have to cross one of the bridges to that province unless they come through Man or unclaimed lands. A palisade and some patrols here could help catch and slow down their advance if they try to sneak into our heartland.

Jack-of-all, now that he's delivered his reinforcements to Steve, begins moving back to Abysia to pick up another group. Steve patrols this turn to catch any Vanheim spies watching the Veiled One in Ba'an Dagor while Ogorol spends his time aiding our researchers.
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oldark

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Re: Let's Play Dominions 5 MA Abysia - Burning Sun
« Reply #43 on: April 03, 2020, 04:38:24 pm »

Turn 27. Early Summer in the year 2.

Seems like Vanheim didn't want to wait to see if we would leave them alone or not. They sent a force of bird men to capture the Range of Shadow. 30 of them were really no match for the half dozen men we had there but in reality we didn't expect to hold it. Also now that we've seen he has a flying force we can adjust our battle lineup so they can't completely devastate us by flying into our rear.

Conjuration level 4 has been completed. The most interesting one for us here is the Fire Drake.  A few of this should be able to burn any unprotected units alive. They've proven ineffectual against Vanhiem's sacred units in the past but so far we're fighting a lot of his auxiliaries so fire drakes could prove useful. I also noticed Strength of Gaia here which isn't a spell I'm familiar with but it casts Regeneration, Barkskin, and Strength +4 all at once for the same fatigue and in the same amount of time that we're currently spending casting Personal Regeneration. Seems like a no brainer to swap this in unless I'm missing something.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Here's The Veiled One, all kitted out with what we're capable of producing at this stage and her combat script.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Several minor event's this turn not really worth mentioning and then we had one of Abysia's hero units join us.
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The Fire/Blood combination on him makes him great for summoning devils and he also has a +8 bonus to Infernal Breeding. I think for now he'll do some Infernal Breeding for us. We may need a larger force if Vanheim comes at us in numbers and that's one of the fastest ways we can increase our army size.  Steve reorganizes his army based on the new information we received regarding flying units last month. Roughly 1/3 of his Lava Warriors are put in a square formation and instructed to hold in the far rear of the battle line. That should hopefully draw any enemy fliers or flanking cavalry with attack rear orders into their formation instead of into the vulnerable mages that would usually be in the rear.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

All 5 fire adepts in Ba'an Dagor are ordered to summon Fire Drake's while Steve and the Veiled One continue patrolling for enemy scouts. I debated sending Steve and/or The Veiled One out either capture the adjacent Vanheim province or to defend another that is likely to be hit by the same flying squad but decided eventually to keep them in Ba'an Dagor until they're ready to march out with mage and firedrake support.

It's been a few posts since a wide map shot so here you go:
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Karlito

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Re: Let's Play Dominions 5 MA Abysia - Burning Sun
« Reply #44 on: April 03, 2020, 07:33:35 pm »

Very nice, things are getting interesting! Keep up the pressure on Vanheim.

The Veiled One is looking good, but she'll want some regeneration from spells or items at some point.
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