Beta 2 is starting off great. A little back story for this game, I had a terrible starting position and a bug is making people start way too close to me. Medium map and all the sliders at default. Challenging for everything, except one Kingdom and one Empire. Altar started at the very edge of where we could both start a settlement. We were on a thin piece of land in the corner. My land had an iron mine. His land had a Fireshard, Gold mine, Iron Mine, Wargs, and a Scenic Outlook. Needless to say he did not see us as equals. I got the occasional jest and some bragging about how technologically advanced he was. We Tarth don't take kindly to such boasting. To make things worse, his metropolis blocked off that side of the peninsula so I couldn't even explore over there. I was forced to fight my way through the swamps and build outposts to get resources.
By the end of Act I it was clear that Lord Relias and I were far behind because of our unfortunate start. It was also clear to the other factions, who began throwing money at us to go to war or demanding tribute. What Lord Relias didn't realize was that all that time he spent researching civics to make his metropolis so wonderful, I was refining my army and specializing them in siege warfare. He fell in half a year. The victory brought me nothing but trouble. Because I attacked a Kingdom, every Kingdom grew sour towards me. Except Gilden, who later offered a trade treaty. Greedy bastards got no honor. Then Kraxis, now to my west from Athica, declared war due to territory disputes over Altar's land. I was in trouble. Taking Altar down was something I had planned for years. I knew nothing of Kraxis or his empire. I could not guess what would happen next in Act II.
HORDES!
Kraxis came by the hundreds. They were all peons enslaved by their emperor. They used primitive clubs and staves. We Tarth are infamous for our keen archers. We also had the benefit of some Maces to hold our front line. There were only a few dozen on us and hundreds of them. Luckily we had secured two Fireshards and could cast Pillar of Flame to thin out the horde. Our strategy was to blast them with fir as the approached. Then we would dart out of the castle and defeat the survivors. The battles were easy as they had been in the time before (.77). Any defeat would mean the end of our Kingdom. This is nothing new to us.
This continued for years. Kraxis could build units as fast as we could kill them as long as we were his only enemy. My goal was to win by attrition, for I knew that when he attacked me, all the other Kingdoms would take offense and be pushed over the edge into war. The endless horde would not last forever. We just had to keep fighting. Tarth has been fighting for centuries. This is nothing new to us.
After years of bloody battles, the endless horde had stopped. New enemies had forced Kraxis to regroup. The day was mine. Athica was mine. The price was high. The foreseen attacks on Kraxis by the Kingdoms led the Empire factions to retaliate against the Kingdoms. The next chapter of Act II would be interesting.
TOTAL WAR!
As I fought the endless horde in the west, a group of the Knights of Capitar attempted to sneak through the swamps to my east. Any Loremaster would have known that the Tarth use the swamps to hide their numbers. This ambush would present me with an equal battle. This is a first for FE.
We are very evenly matched. I have few spells that can sway this in my favor. I haven't bothered much with the Magic Tree.
The enemy has some very fast horsemen. I need to block the middle in order to protect my archers from their advance.
I cast Haste on my Berserkers and take control of the middle of the battlefield. That will be the linchpin of this fight.
The enemy casts Obscuring Fog, but my Berserkers stop them cold. They don't have the power to threaten my tank unit. I just need to hope I can hit those enchanted units.
I was smart enough to take advantage of that +5 to Accuracy from Training camp and trained all my archers there. They have no problem hitting these knights. I do need to take out their archer first though. I hope my front line holds out long enough.
My Berserkers really took a beating, but that shield is a godsend. Now it's just a matter of conserving health as I clean up. This battle really would have gone the other way if not for my carefully design unit and a specific choice of where the battle was fought. Nice to see that some of The Art of War is valid in this game.
In a turn of fortune, I lost my Berserker. The loss is acceptable. They will be honored in the halls of Hope.
Side Notes!
In a strange turn of events, Kraxis rushed my fortress with some scouts, pioneers and peons in hopes that his ridiculous level and the fact that he obviously cheated to get all Paths would ensure victory. This mistake will cost him the city he was defending. An end to his dominance in the war. So sad that just one AI miscalculation ends in me winning the war. Such is life. But fix it...
I just want to note how frakking awesome it felt to get a tech that opens roads to all my outposts. It had a huge impact on my ability to defend what is now referred to as the Tarthan Swamps. This was a great idea. I love it! Little things like this are going to keep people coming back for decades to come. It is so much better that anything the other TBS games have come up with.
