Arise, Riders of Rohanna! Ride for Molach! [SPOILERS!]

[Ranamar]

Just one loss. Rookie warrior attacked at 75% odds. Spectre only took around 50HP damage, so he healed right up with 2 promotions.

That's not too bad... I feared worse.

[Ichabod]

What a pickle! Hopefully the damn thing kills itself on the warrior. It'll attack at 5.6 strenght, that's a lot... Damn bonus xp from FfH! Warrior will have, 70% defense, so 5.1 strenght... Hopefully the scout is healthy and pray for the RNG gods, this can get ugly. And hopefully the spectre goes for the hill and attacks across river. Luckily, I think that's what he's more likely to do, trying to get advantage of the defensive bonus. Then we should be safe.

[Molach]

Turn 33

It was a period of terror. The valiant defenders had sallied forth in high spirits. The few that returned all had a hollow-eyed, vacant stare. "...so cold...so very cold" was all someone were able to whisper. The Horse-Lords were under siege. "The undead are on the hills" went up the cry from the terrified populace. The idea that the spectres had the high ground and could see their every move sapped the will of the defenders, and a deadly lethargy spread like wildfire.

But minister Ichabod stepped foreward. "The undead are soulless killers, but not invincible. They took the hills, but now must cross the river to attack us. We will make a stand here. Light many fires along the riverbank, and keep your vigil", he ordered. The garrison warriors, just returned from an aborted southern scouting mission, prepared for the inevitable onslaught.

Meanwhile Ranamar, in charge of training a replacement band of warriors, knew what was at stake. With his knowledge of hidden and secret dark lore, he knew that if the evil spirits absorbed enough souls of the living, an even darker dread would appear, one that would surely engulf all Hippus lands in blackness. He spread the few battle-ready survivors of the desert raiders among the new recruits, and quietly gave instructions to them in the event that the first defense of Rochirost should fail. He also took the head ranger of the 'Wilwarin' scouting troop aside and told him to loop around and approach the spectres from behind as they attack the city.



Warrior has no fortification bonus, but city is on hill, luckily.
Testing shows that spectre has only 30.8 % chance of success, 5.6 vs 6.3. +40% str, -40% river -45% tile and -25% city defense bonus. He might of course win, but then I'll have scout and brand-new warrior to mop up. And then I'll go put TWO warriors on my defensive post, see if that won't do the trick.

Capital:


Will change one dye to 2/1 forest next turn so warrior completes. Painful but needed. Then worker, warrior, worker and settlers, if the barbarians let me kill them quietly in line with the odds.

Nothing much in Amon Harad:


Two turns floodplain, then wheat plains to finish warrior faster. Worker has 4 more turns of farming.

Lurker contest: Did I explore lair again?

Find out in 3 turns.

Went all gold for a turn, don't need mining till my new worker is built, 2 turns from now.

Deimos:

Opps, sorry typo, meant demos:

[Molach]

Here's a little analysis after initial diplo with the Clan.

Serdoa. Serdoa IS a man of few words. I sent him the 'hello nice to meet you we are south, watch out for spectre, we are backwards" greeting message. His reply: "Thanks for warning about spectre (no smiley though). What do you mean backwards?" I give him the brief elegy of the Ljosalfar, and end like "So. How are things at Braduk? Still burning?".

No reply.

So either he sees that there is little to talk about this early, or he has an AI-diplo approach to the game. He does not seem to update very often, he highjacked Ryan's Sheaim thread instead of making his own. No more info from Molach going your way, mister. And I can't really see how I can build an alliance (of the "lets kill the other two then see which of us wins"-type) with him. Maybe he doesn't need one, but is gonna choke & kill us all soon. But on the other hand, the Sidar gave some info freely, build relations and at least appear to be friendly can't hurt. I'd think.

But he is surely very capable general. When I do declare on him, I suspect the exchange will go something like

Molach: "Seroda of the Clan! You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city."

Seroda: "If"

...

I really need to get some scouts out to my east ASAP, don't trust the orcs futher than I can throw their severed heads.

[Molach]

Hm, seems I lost my report of turn 34.
Spectre moved around my city, onto a jungeled hill.

Turn 35:
Spectre attacked EOT. He killed warrior, but was heavily damaged and will be easily destroyed next turn. Finished mining, will probably grab exploration (3t). Then decide on bronze working (13t) or festivals (5t) first.

[Ichabod]

Here's a little analysis after initial diplo with the Clan.

Serdoa. Serdoa IS a man of few words. I sent him the 'hello nice to meet you we are south, watch out for spectre, we are backwards" greeting message. His reply: "Thanks for warning about spectre (no smiley though). What do you mean backwards?" I give him the brief elegy of the Ljosalfar, and end like "So. How are things at Braduk? Still burning?".

No reply.

So either he sees that there is little to talk about this early, or he has an AI-diplo approach to the game. He does not seem to update very often, he highjacked Ryan's Sheaim thread instead of making his own. No more info from Molach going your way, mister. And I can't really see how I can build an alliance (of the "lets kill the other two then see which of us wins"-type) with him. Maybe he doesn't need one, but is gonna choke & kill us all soon. But on the other hand, the Sidar gave some info freely, build relations and at least appear to be friendly can't hurt. I'd think.

But he is surely very capable general. When I do declare on him, I suspect the exchange will go something like

Molach: "Seroda of the Clan! You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city."

Seroda: "If"

...

I really need to get some scouts out to my east ASAP, don't trust the orcs futher than I can throw their severed heads.

at your messages. Indeed Serdoa seems to be a man of few words. I'll try and chime in a bit on how I think we should handle with him in diplomacy matters later.

Good news about the Spectre. I think the Wraith upgrade thing was changed in EitB, making it require one extra battle. That was a close call.

[Ranamar]

Good news about the Spectre. I think the Wraith upgrade thing was changed in EitB, making it require one extra battle. That was a close call.

not empty quoting...

[DaveV]

Spectres were a lot scarier when they had Fear (duh?). I can't tell you how many times my guys decided to pee their pants instead of attacking, even against a badly wounded spectre.

[Molach]

Spectres were a lot scarier when they had Fear (duh?). I can't tell you how many times my guys decided to pee their pants instead of attacking, even against a badly wounded spectre.

I suppose the sad part, for me, is that they probably were not changed to help poor Molach with his barbarian problems, but as a downgrade to death II - spectre summonings ruling the world. Well, I'll take all help I can get.

[Molach]

Turn 36

Lurker contest: Did I explore lair again?
Find out in 3 turns.

Well 3 turns passed, and the lucky winner is....

Noone. Deadline postponed another 3 days. Stay tuned.

Tech finished:

But where is the copper?

Oh there it is.

A bit of a strech. Barren north, but with copper. Also a source next to my demon warriors.

The spectre, having exhausted all strength against Ichabod's Faithful, were easily dispatched by Ranamar's Chosen

They got 2 exp. I wanted to send out scout but would put city in unrest, so he got to stay. I think I'll build one more warrior, probably one-turn due to overflow from worker, then another worker, then settlers. Don't wanna lose all this food surplus into no-growth. I'll send up an additional warrior from Amon Harad. Leave one in city and two on the defensive post, hopefully to slay some invading barbs. Used to deity barbs, so a bit put off by the low activity level just now.

Forget this last paragraph if my first own-produced worker gets chilled to death by a mistform next turn, though...

A big bunch of graphs and demos, all after ending turn:

Not doing too bad, gtAngel has low power, maybe barb troubles there? Serdoa - not so low power. I really hope he is occupied elsewhere. Maybe HE is the barb that is troubling gtAngel. Next turn I get another farm complete for better +crop yield.

Also managed to slide in a quick detour to

this tech. Question is, do I need it? Extra hammers from chops can't hurt, I've got an ancient forest to lumbermill. But building an archery range in, say, Amon Harad, would take a lot of hammers. And I would end up with units that could defend well, but just watch enemies pillage the land.
It is also on the way to stirrups, perhaps I could re-engage the beeline there as well now. That's Animal husbandry (which has it's own benefits scoutingwise) HBR - Stirrups. Compared to BW-Masonry-Construction-AH-HBR for catapults and chariots. Plus jungle chopping and bronze warriors. Need to think a bit.

Yeah BW is not strictly mandatory on the chariot line, but need it to make chariots as good as the HAs.

Yes, I did pop the lair, and got a tech. It was a weekend and I was feeling good 3 days ago, but was very nervous today. Finally a bit of luck. Demon warrior got 5/5 exp so he can promote. I sent him SW-wards, see if I can loop around to the hut I see to my west.