The Bloody Siege Continues...
So far I have been able to hold back Karavox's armies. He has switched from hordes of peons to better equipped and trained troops. They are called The Unfalling Legion. There is a good mix of cavalry, archers, mages, heroes, and macemen. Unfortunately the AI insists on adding pioneers and scouts into the mix. If they would just group up better before attacking they might stand a chance. They also need to learn how to send more than one army per turn. If they had three or four armies of full strength, they could sack my castle. Instead, they just sit at the doors, waiting for me to come out and pick them off. I also use Pillar of Fire to weaken any army that might seriously damage mine. I give them no quarter.
Just two Apprentice Maces can hold this sweet battlefield. I don't know if my post about tactical maps was redundant or not, but this is exactly how I described ideal tactical maps. The hill in the middle only has a one tile opening, forcing each player to send a tank there plug the gap. the trees and the rock present two possible flanking positions. You either need enough units to go both ways or you are forced to defend and hope you can hold the middle. I am using some level 5 archers, so I put a mace in the middle and send one left to flank. The enemy will have to go left in this situation.
The enemy got wise and made some chainmail clad archers to try and counter my unarmored ones. But since I have longbows and three groups, I can decimate them. I have a huge advantage in archery because I get +8 Accuracy, +5 Dexterity, +2 Init, +25% against wounded units (I use Pillar of Flame to max this bonus). I shoot first and I can usually cripple all enemy archers in the first round. Archers feel really well balanced in both arch vs arch and arch vs melee. I spend alot of money to make sure I can dominate in archery. My maces get lucky and dodge the legionnaire. I strike back and instantly kill them. Their cavalry made a huge mistake and tried to help break the middle. I have far superior armor, only taking 2 damage on each strike. They should have flanked with that unit and brought both Unfalling Legions to bear on my Apprentice Mace. I now have the luxury of cleaning up with my archers and Lady Irane. I really wish she could get access to some better bows throughout the game. I am forced to dual class her with Air, Fire, Life, and Path of the Assassin. I think she makes more sense as an Assassin Sovereign. It adds flavor to the game. Trying to be both mage and Assassin is pretty difficult. Something to think about.
They keep on getting to the gates and deciding to wait there indefinitely. Please make them send a scout and sit somewhere protected. I waited for three seasons like this before I got fed up and came out. The battles are once again hindered by having scouts and pioneers in the mix. They should never enter a warzone.
They were right next to another group. Wish they would have combined and attacked.
This army just had the one settler. I hit it with Pillar of Fire just because I can't afford to be healing with this many enemies around. I am really annoyed that my archers get put on the front lines. I understand that this is probably being worked on, but are we going to get to choose or will you try to make the game know good formations? I would prefer setting the up myself. If you notice, the AI has an Unfalling Legion behind a settler. This costs him the battle.
Anyhow, my archers in front are not hit. It is nice to be able to cast Haste for +4 Init. I Haste both Maces and reap their wargs rather quickly. Now I have made a front line and can pick off the more dangerous elements.
By the time their second Unfalling Legion makes it to my units, the battle is over. I make their deaths quick.
UI BUG
After killing two units on the same tile, the icon stays there for multiple turns until another units moves to the square.
This is the best army Karavox has sent at me. I thought about using Pillar of Flame twice, but that would be no fun. they have an equal number of archers, so they at least stand a chance. Unfortunately their best melee unit is far in the back and only has two moves. I have better Initiative and Longbows while they are still using Shortbows. Since I will fire first I will be able to cripple them before they can strike. I also cast Obscuring Fog for +4 to Dodge and +5 to Air Dodge just in case. Their lack of traits for archers and lack of a hero to cast spells, spells defeat for this otherwise strong army.
I should have saved my mana. Unfalling Legion is dastardly slow to be in the back.
This is a great siege map. Both sides have a good pocket to place archers in. It can be protected by one unit as the faster ones sit on the far right, waiting to flank the enemy. A great map.
But for some reason Fireball, when given to a unit from that enchantment spell I researched, only takes two turns to cast. My caster just happened to have Impulsive and a magical staff. The entire enemy army was wiped out before they could move. I will post this in support later today.
Meanwhile...
Despite Kraxis sending wave after wave of legionnaires at my eastern fortress, I was able to sack the Calder, the capital of Capitar. It was just a matter of building my economy to the point where I could train some heavy units and leather clad longbows. Once their capital fell, their cities were split and thus unable to coordinate attacks. Merchantcross intelligently sent armies far east through the Tarthan swamps in hopes of catching me off guard. It never worked as I have many scouts on my borders. With the roads form outposts, I was always one step ahead of them. It was only a matter of time before Merchantcross was mine. Now to my southeast I have Merchantcross, a greatly defensible city. West of there I have Calder to protect the south proper and the Calderan Mountains. Between Calder and my western fortress is the capital of the Kraxis. It is heavily fortified, forcing me to gather my most elite units for this attack. I leave the western fortress to be guarded by the local defenders and a Guardian Statue and send Lady Irane to sack the Krax.
Those poor Krax just can't catch a break. This is one of the worst bugs in the new beta. Because they only have a logistics of 7 and there are so many city guards in the capital, five units are expelled from the city before the battle. Instead of sending out the weakest or not including the city defender, who have no armor, the trained mages got the boot. Peons were kept inside as well. This was a grave turn of events for the Kraxis Empire.
I wiped them from the earth in but a few turns. The ones that were booted from the battle were found right outside the capital afterwards. It was a foul victory. We Tarth take no pleasure in wanton slaughter. We tried to make it as quick as possible. Now, this may be a bug or this may be a design choice that is not fully fleshed out, but it really kills the fun of the game. Capitals and cities are SUPPOSED to be hard to capture. They should be able to have 15+ units regardless of logistics. Bell Tower, city level and Fort should make cities have an unfair advantage. Capitals especially should be treated as something almost impossible to take until the endgame. don't let all the nations get wiped out so easily. Let them be weakened and mere annoyances until catapults or powerful spells can defeat the steadfast men holding the city walls together. This will be much more fun. In Ivory Towers, a capital can potentially become powerful enough to be called impenetrable. When that happens, you are going to at war with everyone and have to defend it constantly. You don't have to take it that far, but at least make the option of defense more viable than what I just experienced.
In the end I now have a total of 4 capitals. I currently control 25% of the map, though much of this is water. I am almost tied with Umber for power and have a really nice economy building up. I just signed a non-aggression pact with Gilden, who may have otherwise attacked me soon. Capitar is severely weakened and Kraxis is just about done. After this battle I moved further west and captured another of their fortresses. It seems Umber is getting ready to make an assault on the fortress I just captured. It will be interesting to see how good his armies are...
